Feature: Literature - Irish writers at London Metropolitan University - from June 17

Published: 27 May 2010
by PETER GRUNER

A CLUTCH of well-known Irish writers will discuss their work at a summer school at the Irish Studies Centre in the London Metropolitan University, Holloway Road. 

One of them, Booker-nominated Julia O’Faolain, will talk about her short stories and the influence of her father, the legendary Irish writer Sean O’Faolain, at the series of events from June 14 to July 24. 

Her novel, No Country for Young Men, was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1980. She has been described as “a wonderful stylist” and her work as “joyous, urbane and intensely Irish”. 

Other writers appearing include Catherine O’Flynn, who will be discussing her 2007 Costa prize-winning first novel, What Was Lost. It draws on her experience of working in record stores – and of growing up as a child intrigued by clues, suspects and methods of detection. 

The book was described by the judges as “hugely compelling and inventive, it pulls the rug from under your feet from the very first page”, and by the Guardian as “an exceptional, polyphonic novel of urban disaffection, written with humour and pathos”. 

Poet Cahal Dallat will be reading from his new collection, The Year of Not Dancing, and playwright Gerry McKee will be discussing his radio play, My Sky Blue Trades. John O’Donoghue will be talking about his recent critically acclaimed memoir, Sectioned. 

First established in 1996, the summer school runs for two nights a week for six weeks and aims to provide an informal but informative setting for students wishing to study Irish literature over the summer. 

The course consists of a mixture of lectures, seminars, readings and cultural activities. 

Each week an established Irish writer comes to read and speak about their work to the students. Two evenings prior to this, students read, discuss and analyse extracts of the writer’s work with the course tutor. 

Writers’ motivations and experiences of emigration to London are also discussed in the context of their work. 

They talk about their background, experiences of getting their work published and performed. Students read and learn about a broad spectrum of Irish writing including fiction, autobiography, drama, travel writing and poetry and gain valuable insights into the different approaches such types of writing involve. 

• Julia O’Faolain, June 17; Catherine O’Flynn, June 24; Gerry McKee, July 1;
Cahal Dallat, July 8; John O’Donoghue, July 15.

For further information about the course and guest writers, contact Tony Murray
on 020 7133 2593 or 020 7133 2593.