(author photograph by Charly Rappo)
The Zurich James Joyce Foundation is proud to host a reading with the novelist Clare O’Dea (Website: https://clareodea.com/).
Moderator: Rafaël Newman.
Author of two non-fiction books, two novels and a collection of articles, Clare has been telling stories of Switzerland since she first came to live in the country in 2003. Formerly an Irish Times journalist, Clare spent a decade working for the international news service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. Clare’s first novel Voting Day (2022) is set in 1959 on the day Swiss men voted ‘no’ to granting women the vote.
Her latest novel Before the Leaves Fall (Fairlight Books, October 2025) is set in present-day Bern and Fribourg. In prose described as “understated and elegant”, it tells the story of Ruedi, a newly-trained facilitator for a fictional assisted dying organisation, and his first client Margrit. When the two characters realise their paths have crossed before, it sparks a journey of self-discovery for both of them.
The reading takes place on Friday, February 20, 2026, at 6.30 p.m., at the Zurich James Joyce Foundation, Augustinergasses 9, 8001 Zurich.
Places are limited. – For reservations, please write to info@joycefoundation.ch.