The Future of Reading (and Writing)

"I am not yet standing or even fully conscious but already I am in that impatient, flitty, online mode: I bound about like one of those neurotic petrol-sniffer hares you'll see at the Dublin airport car park. I stay nowhere longer than a minute or two, if that. I'll start to read a piece, but … Continue reading The Future of Reading (and Writing)

Barry’s Ulysses-caliber Tale

According to Irvine Welsh, Kevin Barry's "City of Bohane" is "the best novel to come out of Ireland since Ulysses."Listen to Barry read from the first chapter of the novel in this clip, and then hear more from the author next week (March 8) when he comes to Concordia University for a free public reading.

The “literary marvels” of Kevin Barry

Here is a taste of what The New York Times, in a glowing review of the novel "City of Bohane," calls Kevin Barry's "dense and flowing" prose: Black patent high-tops, tight bleached denims with a matcher of a waistcoat, a high dirk belt, and a navy Crombie with a black velvet collar. Wolfie was low-sized, compact, ginger, … Continue reading The “literary marvels” of Kevin Barry

Kevin Barry’s Short Story Tricks & Tips

What you’re after are the moments on the page that kind of make you blush, the moments that embarrass you. The uncool stuff. The places in the story that make you recoil in horror from the page – those are the good bits.Check out six more short story tricks and tips from Kevin Barry, and … Continue reading Kevin Barry’s Short Story Tricks & Tips

Kevin Barry’s “Mad Music”

"...the real star here is Barry's language, the music of it. Every page sings with evocative dialog, deft character sketches, impossibly perfect descriptions of the physical world." Read more of Bill Morris' review of Kevin Barry's City of Bohane for The Millions, which is as full of "mad music" as the novel he praises.

Doyle on Barry

“Kevin Barry is a unique, a one-man school. His work is hilarious and unpredictable - and always brilliant.” Roddy Doyle, a guest of Writers Read and The School of Canadian Irish Studies in October 2011, gives praise to Kevin Barry, who will be giving a public reading himself on March 8, 2013 at Concordia.

Getting to Know Kevin Barry

After a successful, stirring reading by Madeleine Thien last Friday, we are now looking forward to the irreverent humor and "naked seething ambition" of Irish writer Kevin Barry. Get to know Kevin Barry a bit better by reading his responses to Irish America's "What are you like?"KEVIN BARRYWHEN: March 8, 2013, 7 p.m. COST: Free to the … Continue reading Getting to Know Kevin Barry

Madeleine Thien – Today at 7PM!

“The beauty of Madeleine Thien's prose doesn’t reside only in its clarity and elegance. She’s a surveyor of damaged lives. Thien, a deeply empathetic writer, enfolds her wounded creations in morally precise language, offering the consolation of, in effect, storytelling.” — Globe and MailMADELEINE THIENWHEN: February 1, 2013, 7 p.m. COST: Free to the publicWHERE: … Continue reading Madeleine Thien – Today at 7PM!