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Martin Dyar’s debut collection of poems Maiden Names (Arlen House, 2013) was a book of the year selection in both the Guardian and The Irish Times, and was shortlisted for both the Pigott Poetry Prize and the Shine/Strong Award. Martin will read from his work for the Irish Literary Society. Dyar is the author of an acclaimed play, Tom Loves ...
The 2015-16 season of ILS events kicks-off with the wonderful Órfhlaith Foyle reading from her short story collection Clemency Browne Dreams of Gin, her poetry and her new novel. Órfhlaith Foyle’s strange stories of violence and yearning beguile the reader even as they disconcert. She is a true original, a writer of great gifts, and I find her work immensely ...
A late addition to the programme to replace the cancelled John Banville appearance we welcome Dr Dennis Duncan to the Society to discuss Raymond Queneau's 1947 short novel On est toujours trop bon avec les femmes (We Always Treat Women Too Well ) set during the Easter Rising in 1916. The novel was first published as a purported work of ...
The Irish Literary Society in association with the Irish Studies Centre, London Metropolitan University, present a reflection on the Irish Literary Revival (1891-1922). Irish artists representing various literary forms will join academics in discussion on the artistic legacy of the Revival. The playwright Marina Carr, poet Nuala NÃ Dhomhnaill and novelist Jennifer Johnston will discuss the influence of the Revival ...
The ILS comes together with The Stinging Fly literary magazine to reflect on the literary legacy of 1916. The bumper anniversary edition, subtitled ‘In the Wake of the Rising’, brings together 43 writers to respond to the literature and events of the 1916 Rising. Readings by contributors: Martina Evans, Aisling Fahy, Grahame Williams, and Joan Win Brennan will accompany a ...
The Ambassador of Ireland Daniel Mulhall hosts the third Annual Yeats Lecture at the Embassy of Ireland with the Irish Literary Society. Following on from his highly praised television documentary on Yeats, the musician and activist Sir Bob Geldof talks about his appreciation of the great poet. Geldof argues that as a poet and statesman, at the vanguard of a ...
Our eclectic Rattlebag forum returns with the novelist Jess Kidd, poet Kimberly Campanello and academic Clare Walker Gore. Kidd’s brilliantly original debut novel Himself is a gothic detective story set in 1970s Mayo with a cast of ghosts. Having been abandoned on the steps of an orphanage as an infant, lovable car thief and Dublin charmer Mahony assumed all his ...
The ILS teams up with RTÉ's Poetry Programme to reflect on the London-Irish poetic tradition. Presenter Rick O'Shea talks to the ILS President Bernard O'Donoghue, and Vice President Roy Foster about the work and reception of Irish poets in London and how the city shaped those writers and fed back into Irish culture. A recording of this event is now ...
Renowned poet Nà Chuilleanáin is the current Ireland Professor of Poetry, she was a founding member and editor of the literary journal Cyphers and is one of the major Irish poets of her generation. This is her first visit to the Irish Literary Society and she will be reading from her own work. Nà Chuilleanáin is the Vermeer of contemporary ...
Widely considered to be one of Ireland’s most important contemporary poets, Eavan Boland is currently a Professor of Humanities and Director of the Creative Writing Programme at Stanford University, where she has taught since 1996. In 2015 a New Collected Poems was published, and Eavan Boland: Inside History, a book celebrating her long and distinguished career, was recently published by Arlen House, its editor ...
