Kevin Barry was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1969. He is author of the short story collections Dark Lies The Island and There Are Little Kingdoms and the novels Beatlebone and City Of Bohane. His awards include the IMPAC Dublin City Literary Award, the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize, the European Union Prize for Literature, and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. His stories and essays regularly appear in The New Yorker, Granta, and in many other journals. His work has been translated into 22 languages. He also writes for the stage and screen. He now lives in County Sligo, Ireland.
See the Spring 2017 Center for Irish Programs Newsletter as well as Sean Smith's interview in the Boston College Chronicle for more about Kevin and his writings.
In his Spring 2017 Burns Visiting Scholar presentation, Kevin Barry outlined the forces, the influences, and the circumstances that have come to bear on his work as a novelist, a short story writer, and a dramatist for stage and screen. He discussed the effect of place on his work, especially the landscape and psychogeography of the west of Ireland, which has so often been the setting for his fictions. He focused also on the excavation of memory as a primary method in his craft, and on the anxieties of influence from the Irish canon. The talk was interspersed with short readings from his work.
Listen to an audio recording of the presentation:
Audio licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Introductory remarks were given by Christian Dupont, Burns Librarian and Associate University Librarian for Special Collections, and James H. Murphy, Interim Director, Boston College Center for Irish Programs.
Discussion and Readings: "An Evening with the Editors: A Winter Papers 2 Showcase." Wednesday, February 1, 2017, 6:00-8:00pm, Connolly House
Kevin Barry and Olivia Smith, editors of Winter Papers, discussed the second volume of Ireland’s annual arts anthology. This thoughtfully curated and beautifully designed publication showcases a wide range of artistic talent—from literary and visual arts to essays and interviews on performing arts. This event included reading selections from Winter Papers 2 and audience Q&A.
Spring 2017 course: Barry taught an undergraduate creative writing seminar during the 2017 Spring Semester (ENGL 457902 - Fiction, In Many Forms)
