Sebastian Barry: ‘When you get past 60, you do feel a licence to write fearlessly’

The Irish novelist and playwright on the positives of ageing, his struggles with depression and a golden age of Irish writingSebastian Barry, 68, is the author of 11 novels and 15 plays. Five of his books have been long- or shortlisted for the Booker prize, and his novels have won numerous awards, including the Costa book of the year (twice) and the Walter Scott prize for historical fiction. He was laureate for Irish fiction from 2018 to 2021. His latest novel, Old God’s Time, is about a retired policeman, Tom Kettle, and his struggles with the legacy of institutional child abuse in Ireland. It has been described as “a tour de force of transcendent power and complexity”. Barry was born in Dublin and lives in a converted rectory in the mountains of County Wicklow, Ireland.Was it good to be back in Ireland with Old God’s Time? Did it feel like coming home?I was in dread of coming home. I had spent two books [Days Without End and A Thousand Moons] in America, quite joyously… a kind of vast holiday. So, yes, it was coming home, but I was a bit… It’s not that I’ve been avoiding the whole strange cosmos of what we have done to children in this country, but I was certainly unable to write this book… until I did. When you get past 60, you do feel a sort of licence finally to write fearlessly about something that essentially is full of fear.Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry is published in paperback by Faber (£9.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-02-10 18:00:48 UTC ]
News tagged with: #golden age #booker prize #historical fiction #irish fiction #retired policeman #tom kettle #transcendent power #converted rectory #county wicklow #coming home #thousand moons #vast holiday #strange cosmos #observer order #delivery charges #paperback #costa book

Other news stories related to: "Sebastian Barry: ‘When you get past 60, you do feel a licence to write fearlessly’"


Marie Claire publisher claims new technology boosts newsletter subs 60% in a year

IPC Media claims its email marketing has been "revolutionised" by a new technology platform that has led newsletter subscriptions to increase almost 60% in a single year. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #technology platform #email marketing #single year


Centaur restructures with loss of up to 60 jobs

Centaur Media has confirmed a wide-ranging restructure of its publishing business that includes axing the print versions of two of its biggest titles, Design Week and New Media Age. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #biggest titles #print versions #publishing business


Writing young-adult fiction: Better than going to the prom.

Young-adult books are being sold to an audience that can't vote, yet they're being written by people commonly referred to on the Internet as "the olds." We should know. We're two of them. Both of us have made our living writing. One of us in journalism (Grady) and the other in literary fiction... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2011-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #young-adult books


Sebastian Faulks and Peep Show at Queen's Park festival

Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Thu, 19/05/2011 - 09:11 Novelist Sebastian Faulks, the team behind “Peep Show” and musician Edwyn Collins are to take part in the first-ever book festival at Queen’s Park in north-west London. The Queen’s Park Book Festival will take place on 11th... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #tim lott #philip hensher #include events #book festival


Helen Dunmore to write for Hammer

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 21/04/2011 - 10:29 Random House imprint Hammer has acquired the latest title by Orange-prize winner Helen Dunmore, in a special project for the Penguin author. Century and Arrow publisher Kate Elton bought UK and Commonwealth rights to The... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #latest title #helen dunmore


Spielberg to write for Palazzo retrospective

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 20/04/2011 - 15:13 Palazzo Editions will publish a "major" retrospective of the work of Steven Spielberg in August 2012, written in co-operation with the director. Steven Spielberg: A Retrospective will be written by film critic and documentary... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #film critic #steven spielberg


Forbes wins £50k Warwick Prize for Writing

Publication Date: Wed, 23/03/2011 - 07:50 Writer, journalist and editor Peter Forbes' exploration of mimicry and camouflage in nature, art and warfare has been awarded the £50,000 Warwick Prize for Writing. His Dazzled and Deceived (Yale University Press) was described by chair of judges... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Luke Johnson to write business advice for Portfolio

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 17/03/2011 - 15:57 Luke Johnson, best known in the book trade for his spell owning Borders, and fellow Financial Times journalist Mrs Moneypenny are writing business titles for Penguin's business imprint Portfolio. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book trade #luke johnson


Eric Carle to write first book in four years for Puffin

Written By: Charlotte Williams Puffin is to publish a new picture book by The Very Hungry Caterpillar author Eric Carle, his first in four years. The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse will be published in October 2011, in a global, simultaneous publication with Philomel, a Penguin Young Readers... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #motoko inoue #simultaneous publication #eric carle #picture book


Paste Returns? Music Mag Acquired, Set to Relaunch as Digital Edition

The assets of music magazine Paste—which folded in print last fall but kept Pastemagazine.com alive—have been sold to Wolfgang's Vault, owner of a variety of music sites including Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital edition


Adam Haslett on Stanley Fish's How To Write a Sentence.

In 1919, the young E.B. White, future New Yorker writer and author of Charlotte's Web, took a class at Cornell University with a drill sergeant of an English professor named William Strunk Jr. Strunk assigned his self-published manual on composition titled "The Elements of Style," a 43-page list... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2011-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #combined work