Ireland at the
Gothenburg
Book Fair
—
27–30 September 2012
C02:40
www.irelandliterature.com/irelandlandofliterature
IRELAND – LAND OF LITERATURE
Sinéad Mac Aodha
Director, Ireland Literature Exchange
—
In Ireland, as in few other nations on earth, literature is
a part of life.
As our president, Michael D Higgins, himself a writer and poet,
explains in an essay published in the book fair’s catalogue, ‘Ireland
is, in a very real sense, a country shaped by literature’. Scholars and
bards were revered in ancient Irish society, where the poet ranked
second only to the chieftain. In modern Ireland, that tradition is
reflected in the status afforded great writers, past and present.
Ireland’s four Nobel laureates, WB Yeats, George Bernard Shaw,
Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney rank amongst the country’s
most iconic figures. Other literary giants, including Jonathan Swift,
Maria Edgeworth, Oscar Wilde and James Joyce are similarly
revered, while contemporary writers like Roddy Doyle, Declan Kiberd
and Anne Enright are respected as the country’s most brilliant
intellects and eloquent representatives.
In Dublin, the city Joyce immortalized in Ulysses, ‘what’s the story?’
remains a common form of greeting amongst friends. The expression
is an illustration of the value that narrative holds in the nation’s
capital and the unique importance Dubliners ascribe to wordplay
and to writing. In 2009, the vitality of Dublin’s literary scene was
formally recognized when the city was designated a UNESCO World
City of Literature, an honour it shares with Reykjavik and just three
other cities around the world.
That vitality is not limited to the nation’s capital. Good writing is
celebrated everywhere in Ireland, with scores of literary festivals
each year bringing outstanding Irish and international authors to
all corners of the country ranging from Writers’ Week Listowel, Co
Kerry, in the lush deep south of the country to the Cuírt literature
festival which takes place each year in Galway on the edge of the
wild lunar landscape that is Connemara.
This September audiences in Gothenburg have an opportunity
to experience what it is that makes Ireland a ‘Land of Literature’.
As part of a special guest programme at the Gothenburg Book
Fair, over twenty different events have been arranged to highlight
Ireland’s extraordinary literary tradition and to showcase some of
the best of the country’s contemporary talents. Eight award-winning
Irish writers will be present; a range of established authors and
emerging talents who, collectively, represent many of the great
qualities of Irish writing.
A number of the visiting writers – including Colm Tóibín, John Boyne
and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon – will present new
work in Swedish translation. Others, like Paul Murray and Kevin
Barry, are being introduced to Swedish audiences for the first time.
The Irish programme will also look to the past, with special seminars
celebrating new Swedish translations of Ulysses and two new
volumes of WB Yeats’ poetry in Swedish.
Ireland, of course, is celebrated for more than just great literature.
The nation’s famous hospitality will be evidenced in the hundred
thousand welcomes afforded visitors to the Ireland – Land of
Literature stand at the fair where essays, information booklets and
a special commemorative DVD on WB Yeats will be offered to the
public. There will also be a display of Ireland Literature
Exchange-supported works of Irish literature in translation,
celebrating the on-going relationship between Ireland and the
Nordic countries.
As is only fitting, great music will shape the Irish presence at the
Gothenburg Book Festival. On 27 September, Mary Coughlan, one of
the world’s great jazz and blues singers, will perform, treating lovers
of Irish music and newcomers alike to the very best of her wide
repertoire.
We hope you enjoy Ireland – Land of Literature at the Gothenburg
Book Fair 2012 and become firm friends of Irish literature.
Visit www.irelandliterature.com/irelandlandofliterature for
more information about the showcase of Irish literature at the
Gothenburg Book Fair 2012.
IRELAND – LAND OF LITERATURE
Programme
—
Thursday
–
THESE DAYS, ONE LIFE
Thursday 10.00-10.45
Venue: G4
*In Swedish
Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses,
recently published in a new
Swedish translation by Albert
Bonniers Förlag, is discussed by
translator Erik Andersson, author
Sara Danius and journalist Jan
Gradvall.
MARY COUGHLAN IN
CONVERSATION
Thursday 16.30-16.50
Venue: Se Människan
Friday
–
MEET THE AUTHORS
Friday
Venue: English Book Shop,
C04:29
Throughout Friday afternoon,
Irish authors will appear at the
English Book Shop stand to sign
copies of their work and answer
readers’ questions.
TWO LAUREATES
Friday 10.30-10.50
Venue: Unga Scenen
Johan Unenge, Sweden’s first
reading ambassador, and
Siobhán Parkinson, Ireland’s
first children’s laureate, discuss
their work as ambassadors
for children’s literature and
the challenges we face in
encouraging the next generation
of young readers.
A legend of contemporary Irish
jazz and blues music and one
of the world’s great female
vocalists, Mary Coughlan speaks
about her life, her music, and the
intersections between the two.
MARY COUGHLAN IN CONCERT
Thursday 20.00
Venue: Hagakyrkan
Mary Coughlan appears in
concert at Gothenburg’s
Hagakyrkan, performing music
from her greatest hits collection,
The Whole Affair, with support
provided by The Young Folk.
PAUL MULDOON
Friday 11.00-11.15
Venue: Rum för Poesi
Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul
Muldoon and his translator
and collaborator Lars Håkan
Svensson read from A Hare at
Aldergrove, newly translated
into Swedish by Ellerströms
Bokförlag.
Programme
—
YEATS: IRELAND’S
FIRST LAUREATE
Friday 13.00-13.50
Venue: Rum för Poesi
SEBASTIAN BARRY: CULTURE &
RELIGION IN IRELAND & EUROPE
Friday 11.00-11.20
Venue: Se Människan
Playwright, novelist and poet,
Sebastian Barry, the pre-eminent
writers’ writer, speaks to Werner
Jeanrond about the interplay of
culture and religion in his writing
and the changing dynamics
of both in modern Ireland and
modern Europe.
A TRANSLATOR’S
TRIBULATIONS
Friday 11.30-11.50
Venue: J1
*In Swedish
Erik Andersson’s classic
translation of James Joyce’s
Ulysses was published by Albert
Bonniers Förlag this year. Here,
in conversation with Stephen
Farran-Lee, Andersson speaks
about the challenges faced, and
overcome, in translating the
novel of all novels.
MORE THAN CHILDREN’S TALES
Friday 13.00-13.45
Venue: G4
Award winning authors John
Boyne, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne and
Siobhán Parkinson reflect on
what makes their novels for
young people much more than
simply children’s tales.
Thomas Sjösvärd, translator of
WB Yeats’ The Tower, is joined
by Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish
poet Paul Muldoon and poet,
novelist and translator Eva Ström
to consider Yeats’ enduring
significance as a writer.
JOHN BOYNE
IN CONVERSATION
Friday 15.00-15.20
Venue: Forma Books
John Boyne reads from Noah
Barleywater Runs Away,
published in 2011 by Forma
Books, and discusses how he
created a modern fairytale that
has become a contemporary
children’s classic.
POETRY & THE
PEACE PROCESS
Friday 15.00-15.45
Venue: J2
Paul Muldoon discusses the role
of the writer in Northern Ireland
and considers how conflict and
peace are reflected in his poetry.
LOOK BACK IN ANGER:
HISTORICAL IRISH FICTION
Friday 16.00-16.45
Venue: H1
Sebastian Barry, John Boyne
and Siobhán Parkinson discuss
the unique opportunities and
challenges of historical fiction
with novelist Peter Whitebrook.
Programme
—
YEATS: HIS LIFE & WORKS
Friday 17.00-18.00
Venue: Gothenburg University
Central Library
JOHN BOYNE: TELLING TRUTHS
Saturday 10.30-10.50
Venue: G4
An exhibition documenting the
life and works of WB Yeats,
Ireland’s first Nobel laureate, is
opened at Gothenburg University
Library with readings and
reflections from some of Ireland’s
best contemporary writers.
The work of John Boyne often
sets out to reveal new truths
within and beyond history. Here,
in conversation with journalist
Peter Whitebrook, he discusses
the importance of truth to fiction
and the inspiration behind his
own work.
Saturday
–
DUBLIN & REYKJAVIK:
LITERARY CITIES
Saturday 13.00-13.45
Venue: K1
MEET THE AUTHORS
Saturday
Venue: English Book Shop,
C04:29
Throughout Saturday, Irish
authors will appear at the English
Book Shop stand to sign copies
of their work and answer readers’
questions.
Paul Murray and John Boyne
join Icelandic novelists Sjón
and Steinunn Sigurðardóttir to
discuss what is it that sets Dublin
and Reykjavik apart as UNESCO
World Cities of Literature.
A LOVE FOR DIFFICULT PLACES
Saturday 14.00-14.45
Venue: G4
Colm Tóibín speaks to Swedish
novelist Stewe Claeson about the
importance of place in a novel
and his love of difficult locations,
exemplified in A Long Winter.
CHILDREN & THE PRECIPICE
Saturday 9.30-9.50
Venue: Se Människan
John Boyne’s work challenges
the unwritten law that children’s
stories must end happily. Here,
in conversation with Werner
Jeanrond, he discusses how.
BEYOND ULYSSES: THE MODERN
IRISH NOVEL
Saturday 16.00-16.45
Venue: H1
Kevin Barry, Paul Murray, and
Sebastian Barry, three acclaimed
Irish authors with a common
heritage but contrasting
styles, discuss how Ireland’s
epic tradition, far from stifling
creativity, has shaped some
of the finest and most original
novelists writing today.
Programme
—
JOHN BOYNE
IN CONVERSATION
Saturday 16.00-16.20
Venue: Forma Books
John Boyne discusses how, in
Noah Barleywater Runs Away,
published this year by Forma
Books, he created a modern
fairytale that has become a
contemporary children’s classic.
Sunday
–
COLM TÓIBÍN
IN CONVERSATION
Sunday 10.00-10.20
Venue: Internationella Torget
Colm Tóibín speaks about the
international dimension of his
writing.
NEW WAYS TO KILL
YOUR MOTHER
Saturday 17.30-17.50
Venue: Se Människan
THE SHORT STORY: IRELAND’S
LITERARY FORM
Sunday 11.00-11.45
Venue: H1
Colm Tóibín discusses his latest
book of essays, New Ways to Kill
Your Mother, which reflects on
the impact writers’ development
has on their families and loved
ones.
Kevin Barry, Colm Tóibín and
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne discuss the
importance of the short story
form to Irish writers.
THE BOY IN THE
STRIPED PYJAMAS
Saturday 19.00-21.00
Screened at Sjömanskyrkan
A screening of the award winning
Disney adaptation of John
Boyne’s multi-million selling
novel.
TRANSLATING TÓIBÍN
Sunday 16.00-16.30
Venue: Literaturscenen A01:62
In a seminar arranged in
collaboration with the Swedish
Writers’ Union, Colm Tóibín
discusses style and the art
of translation with Stefan
Ingvarsson and Erik Andersson,
whose Swedish translation of
Tóibín’s novella A Long Winter
has just been published by
Norstedts.
IRISH AUTHORS AT THE FAIR
—
Kevin Barry
–
Kevin Barry is the author of
one novel and two short story
collections, the most recent
of which, Dark Lies the Island,
included the story ‘Beer Trip to
Llandudno’ for which he won
the Sunday Times EFG Private
Bank Short Story Award, the
world’s premier short story prize.
Barry’s writing is brilliantly vivid,
his style darkly humorous, in the
mould of Flann O’Brien. A unique
and compelling voice, he has
already been described by Irvine
Welsh as ‘the most arresting and
original writer to emerge from
these islands in years’.
©Martina Kenji
Sebastian Barry
–
©Richard Gilligan
Sebastian Barry is a playwright,
novelist, and poet. He has twice
been shortlisted for the Man
Booker Prize for his novels A
Long Long Way (2005) and The
Secret Scripture (2008), the
latter of which won the 2008
Costa Book of the Year and
the James Tait Black Memorial
Prize. The Secret Scripture was
published in Swedish in 2010 by
Lind & Co.
John Boyne
–
John Boyne has enjoyed huge
success as a writer of both
children’s and contemporary
adult fiction. His work has been
translated into 53 languages,
including Swedish, with his
2006 novel, The Boy in the
Striped Pyjamas, selling over
five million copies worldwide.
Two of his most recent novels
Noah Barleywater Runs Away
and The Mutiny on the Bounty
are published in Swedish by
Forma Books in 2011 and Bazaar
Bokförlag in 2012.
©Richard Gilligan
Paul Muldoon
–
©Oliver Morris
Paul Muldoon has been
described as ‘the most
significant English-language
poet born since the Second
World War’ (Times Literary
Supplement). He has published
over thirty collections of poetry,
winning many prestigious
awards, including the Pulitzer
Prize for Poetry and the TS Eliot
Prize. Formerly Oxford Professor
of Poetry, he is the current
Professor in the Humanities at
Princeton University and poetry
editor for The New Yorker
magazine. In 2012, Ellerströms
Bokförlag publishes the first
Swedish translation of his
work, A Hare at Aldergrove,
translated by his long-time friend
and collaborator Lars-Håkan
Svensson.
IRISH AUTHORS AT THE FAIR
—
Paul Murray
–
©Cormac Scully
Paul Murray is one of Ireland’s
most exciting young writers.
He is the author of two novels,
An Evening of Long Goodbyes,
which was shortlisted for the
Whitbread First Novel Award
in 2003, and the tragi-comic
masterpiece Skippy Dies, which
was long listed for the 2010
Booker Prize and was a finalist
for the National Book Critics
Circle Award.
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne
–
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne is a novelist,
playwright and short story writer
who has published extensively
in both English and the Irish
language. Her novel, The Dancers
Dancing, was shortlisted for the
prestigious Orange Prize. Best
known perhaps as a short story
writer, Ní Dhuibhne published her
fifth short story collection, The
Shelter of Neighbours, earlier
this year.
©Hazel Coonagh
Siobhán Parkinson
–
Siobhán Parkinson is one of
Ireland’s best-known writers for
children. She was appointed
as Ireland’s first Children’s
Laureate – Laureate na n-Óg
– in 2010 and, in that capacity,
has travelled around the world
promoting and supporting
children’s literature, including
a visit to the Gothenburg Book
Fair in 2011. Her most recent
adult novel, Painted Ladies, is set
in the fishing village of Skagen
on the very northernmost tip of
Denmark.
©FOTOEIRE
Colm Tóibín
–
©Richard Gilligan
Colm Tóibín, author of six novels
and two award winning short
story collections, is considered
amongst the finest writers in
the English language. His essays
and journalism appear regularly
in the New York Times Book
Review. His fiction has earned
him critical and popular acclaim,
including several major honours,
notably the Costa Novel Award,
the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
and the LA Times Book Prize; he
has twice been shortlisted for
the Man Booker Prize. In 2012,
Norstedts will publish a novella
A Long Winter which will be
launched at the Book Fair.
Ireland Literature Exchange (ILE) makes international friends
for Irish literature, by bringing the finest of Irish literature in the
best possible literary translations to readers around the world;
by awarding translation grants to publishers; by hosting literary
translators in Ireland and representing Irish writers at international
events, book fairs and festivals. A not-for-profit organisation, ILE is funded by the Arts
Council and Culture Ireland. Established in 1994, ILE has funded the
translation of over 1,500 works of Irish literature into 55 languages
around the world.
More information about our programmes for foreign publishers,
translators and festivals can be found on our website
www.irelandliterature.com