The events room at Wexford Town Library, glazed floor to ceiling on two sides, with Thunderclap Murphy standing at a table of instruments — keyboard, guitar and saxophone — and readers seated in the foreground.

Thursday 30 July 2026 Start 12:00 pm

Wexford Town Library Mallin Street, Wexford, Co. Wexford Y35 AY20

Readers spent an hour with their books at Wexford Town Library on 30 July 2026 while Thunderclap Murphy played live ambient music. The hour was free and booked through the library.

Readers came into the events room at Wexford Town Library at midday on Thursday 30 July 2026, most of them carrying whatever they were already reading. The room is glazed from floor to ceiling on two sides, with the garden on one and the street and the library entrance on the other. One picked a book called Moon off the shelves on the way in. Everyone put their phones away. They read for an hour, and Thunderclap Murphy played.

He played flute, saxophone and keyboard. Each phrase was recorded as he played it and repeated under the next one, so the music layered up and kept shifting. He stopped once in the middle, for a minute.

Thunderclap Murphy playing flute into a vintage ribbon microphone in the library events room.

What people wrote on the way out

Readers filled in a feedback form before they left. The answers below are printed exactly as written, under the question each one answered.

How was the hour?

Relaxing, enjoyable, interesting mix. I was pleased that we couldn’t use our phones — are constantly distracted by it!

Tina, Wexford

It went by very quickly and felt very relaxed and peaceful.

Katie, Castlebridge

How did the music sit with the reading?

Perfectly — in the way that I like to read in silence but the music made me more immersed in my book, like in a bubble, like I was nowhere else, and fully present.

Sara, Wexford

Very well — I had picked out a book called ‘Moon’ which was quite relevant!

Mark, Wexford

Thunderclap Murphy speaking to the room at a vintage ribbon microphone, a saxophone and guitar behind him.

Was there a moment that stayed with you?

Yes, the minute break, I thought hurry up and start again please!

Karen, Wexford

Looking around the room and seeing everyone else in their own little world.

Anonymous

All of it will, from the first note until the last one.

Sara, Wexford

Anything you would want the library to know?

This is a wonderful event idea! No commitment to a book club, easy to drop in.

Katie, Castlebridge

Excellent idea to do this. Again please.

Mark, Wexford

Would love this hosted again — in the evening so more accessible.

Paula, Wexford

Other comments on the form

Music sat so well with reading — almost created a cinematic experience in the mind merging the book content + music composition.

Paula, Wexford

Plenty of substance without being intrusive in any way.

Terry, Dublin

It provided a lovely ambience, helped focus on the book more and just ‘zone out’.

Anonymous

Please do more of this.

Anonymous

Thunderclap Murphy leaning over the instrument table, one hand on the keyboard, with a guitar, flutes and a saxophone around him.

Photographs by Niamh Ní Fhoghlú.

Thanks

Thanks to Heather and the staff at Wexford Town Library, who programmed the hour, took the bookings and set out books to browse.

The same evening he played So Say So in the Community Garden at Wexford Arts Centre.

Thunderclap Murphy’s Ambient Book Club
Enjoy a magical evening of communal silent reading, as a peaceful soundtrack of live music surrounds you. Bring a book, or take one from the shelves.

Any library in Ireland can book it. See what a library booking involves, or make a booking enquiry.

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Thunderclap Murphy’s Ambient Book Club at Wexford Town Library