Video / Audio  Irish Authors

Join Fintan O’Toole as he explores Shaw’s ambivalent relationship with Ireland and Irish nationalism. “George Bernard Shaw described Irish nationalist fervour in 1913 as ‘a burning fire shut up in the bones, a pain, a protest against shame and defeat, a morbid condition which a healthy man must shake off if he is to keep sane’. The only cure was national independence. Shaw always remained a paradoxical nationalist, arguing simultaneously that Irish freedom would do no good in itself and that it must be gained in order for the Irish to be able to think about other things.” Extracted from his new book Judging Shaw, Fintan O’Toole is a columnist and literary editor with The Irish Times and Leonard L. Milberg lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University. He has written books on Irish history, politics, society and culture. He has been awarded the European Press Prize 2017 and the Orwell Prize for Journalism 2017.

Shaw, Our Contemporary? George Bernard Shaw was the most famous Irishman in the world for much of his life – yet, for many, the prodigious nature and quality of his output is forgotten. As well as being a prolific writer and polymath, he was one of the first global celebrities who carefully created and managed his brand. With his passionate interest in social justice and poverty, in human rights, in public discourse and in entertainment, he was a man with much to say to our times. Join us for a panel discussion where academics, archivists, publishers, theatre makers debate the relevance of Shaw today on stage, in the classroom and in print. Speakers: Catriona Crowe, Ruth Hegarty, Barry Houlihan, Lucy McDiarmid, Adrian Paterson, and Keri Walsh.

Renowned author Colm Tóibín will be in conversation with Roy Foster, Professor of Irish History, about subjects addressed in their upcoming works, both set in Ireland. Colm Tóibín's new novel Nora Webster dramatises the life of a woman and her family in a small town in Ireland in the late 1960s.