New York Times reporter to discuss her new book on a Mayo stage

New York Times journalist Ali Watkins will visit Ballina Arts Centre on September 26 to discuss her new book, described as a true story of guns, country and the IRA’s secret American army.

Watkins' new book – The Next One Is For You (Icon Books) – was published in 2025 and described as the definitive account of America’s hand in the Northern Ireland conflict.

Watkins will be interviewed on stage by Booker long-listed author Elaine Feeney before an audience Q&A.

When the New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist discovered gun sales records in a cache of documents in Philadelphia, she couldn’t know that she was at the beginning of a nearly forgotten story about how Irish America helped shape the Troubles and the fate of Northern Ireland.

Through four years of reporting in Philadelphia and on the ground in Derry and Belfast, she pieced together the story of 'The Philadelphia Five' – a group of carpenters, family men and fugitives who smuggled hundreds of firearms from the States to the Irish Republican Army in the '70s, fueling the bloodiest chapter of the nationalist struggle.

Watkins will unspool each suspenseful chapter with a deft hand, following the men on missions from establishing the innocuous-seeming charity, NORAID, that would fund many of their purchases.

We hear about the forging of connections with shady dealers, transporting Armalites in the false bottom of a work van and disguising them for shipment overseas, FBI and British government co-operation, and finally close in on the Philadelphia Five and much more.

Filled with suspense, political intrigue and unforgettable revolutionaries, Watkins’ The Next One Is For You will grip lovers of true-crime, Irish history and Republicans alike.