The Long Gaze Back: Irish female voices in the literary world come to Brussels

Categories: Interview
Date: 10/10/2018
Time: 20 h 00 - 21 h 45
Location: Passa Porta
Links: iCal - Google Calendar

The short story has a rich history in Ireland. Drawing on that tradition, Sinéad Gleeson collected in The Long Gaze Back 30 stories from the past 300 years. She selected only work by women, among others in order to map out the shortage of female voices in the canon. The Embassy of Ireland and Passa Porta invite Sinéad Gleeson and three leading Irish writers, Eimear McBride, Mary Costello and Lia Mills, to shed light on this rich Irish tradition. Elke D’hoker will ask the questions, while the authors will read from their own work.

One city One book

The annual One City One Book programme in Dublin highlights one book in order to get as many people as possible involved in a common reading project. A huge reading group that encompasses the entire city. This year, for the first time, a story collection lies on the bedside tables of Dublin: The Long Gaze Back.

Irish Tradition

Ireland boasts a fascinating tradition of short stories, from folk tales to modern classics like James Joyce’s Dubliners. With The Long Gaze Back, Sinéad Gleeson draws attention to a neglected and undervalued facet of that tradition: the wealth of women writers in the history of Ireland. For her collection, Gleeson selected only stories by female authors. Classic stories by Elizabeth Bowen, Maeve Brennan and Edna O’Brien, but also acclaimed contemporary works by Anne Enright, Eimear McBride and Mary Costello.

About the authors

• Eimear McBride wrote her debut A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing in six months but had to wait nine years for a publisher. Since publication, however, things have moved fast – very fast. McBride’s debut has won several prizes, including the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Goldsmiths Prize. Her second novel, The Lesser Bohemians, was also received to great acclaim and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
• Mary Costello writes short stories and novels. Her work has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies. Her debut, the story collection The China Factory, was nominated for the prestigious Guardian First Book Award. Her first novel, Academy Street, was voted Irish Novel of the Year and was acclaimed by J. M. Coetzee, among others.
• Lia Mills writes short stories, novels and essays. Her debut novel Another Alice was nominated fort he Irish Times Fiction Prize, and her second novel Nothing simple, was shortlisted for the Irish Novel of the Year. Her third novel, the WW I epic Fallen, was published in 2014 and was highly praised by fellow writers such as Kevin Barry and Anne Enright.
• Sinéad Gleeson is a writer, journalist and reviewer. Her work has appeared in Granta, among others. Gleeson collected the stories for The Long Gaze Back. In 2019 she will release her debut, a collection of essays titled Constellations.

Practical Info:

• Language: English
• Price: Pre-sale: €7/5      At the door: €9/7
• Tickets may be purchased here