Bring Kirk to Your
Book Club!
Would you like to invite Kirk to visit your book group in person or online to discuss The Elephant of Belfast? She is available to visit book groups as well as other groups affiliated with zoos, libraries, universities, and other community organizations via zoom or other online platforms. For example, Kirk recently met on zoom with docents, educators, and zookeepers of the Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, New Jersey, to discuss her novel as well as her firsthand research with the Asians elephants at the Houston Zoo. (She has a Google-slide presentation about her historical research and creative process that can be apart of the event’s discussion.) In Texas and elsewhere, she is also available to participate in-person readings, presentations, and discussions. Please connect with Kirk via the Contact Form on this website in order to schedule a date/time.
Thank you!
resources & suggestions for book clubs
Questions for group: Reading Guide for The Elephant of Belfast put together by my publisher, Counterpoint. This reading guide is also published in the paperback edition of the novel, which will be available April 5th, 2022.
Kirk’s first-person essay about her elephant research at the Houston Zoo (May 2021 issue, Texas Monthly).
Interview with Kirk about her research, writing process, and how her own personal experience informed the narrative of The Elephant of Belfast. (Guernica, with author Karen Olsson).
Spotify Playlist featuring songs that appear in The Elephant of Belfast as well as Irish songs and artists that have inspired Kirk during the writing of the novel.
Other suggested readings about the Belfast Blitz:
The Belfast Blitz: The City in the War Years by Brian Barton (definitive history of the Blitz), The Emperor of Ice-Cream by Brian Moore (novel published in 1965).
Favorite Irish novels and story collections:
Favorite novels and stories that feature animals:
Favorite historical novels:
Movie pairings with The Elephant of Belfast:
