Laureate Barry visits Bridge Street Books
LOCAL AUDIENCE CAPTIVATED DURING READINGS
IN ONE of his first roles as Laureate for Irish Fiction 20182021, author Sebastian Barry carried out a reading in Bridge Street Books on Thursday evening.
Mr Barry was only officially announced by President Michael D Higgins as the Laureate for Irish Fiction 2018-2021 the previous Thursday.
The author was born in Dublin in 1955 and has been writing since 1977. In 1988, his play Boss Grady’s Boys won the first BBC/ Stewart Parker Award and his experimental novel The Engine of Owl-Light (Paladin) was published in the late 1980s.
Two of his novels, A Long Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008), were short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, while the latter was also shortlisted for the LA Times Book Awards, and won the Costa Book of the Year, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year.
The well-attended reading at Bridge Street Books was organised by the Arts Council of Ireland. Mr Barry was introduced by Catriona Crowe, former Head of Special Projects at the National Archives of Ireland and current Chairperson of the Irish Theatre Institute.
Barry carried out readings from three of his books and surprised everyone with a little musical interlude before each reading. Afterwards he happily signed copies of his books and mingled with guests.
Bridge Street Books co-owner Joanna Hamilton said: ‘It was a brilliant night and we had a massive crowd of over 55 people. The organisers were looking for an intimate venue to hold the event and felt Bridge Street Books was the ideal location.
‘Sebastian Barry was fantastic. He read from three of his books and sang for a little bit before each one. You could hear a pin drop in the place. No one even let out a cough.’