Christine Dwyer Hickey – POSTPONED

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO CONCERNS ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS. WE WILL LOOK TO RESCHEDULE IN THE COMING MONTHS

The Society is delighted to partner with the Dublin City Council for a second year to deliver an event on the Dublin One City One Book choice. This year’s choice is Tatty by Christine Dwyer Hickey. Dublin One City One Book is a Dublin City Council initiative, led by Dublin City Libraries it encourages reading for pleasure through a myriad of free public events throughout the month, held in libraries, galleries, theatres and museums. We will also be joining with the Hammersmith Irish Cultural Centre’s Book Club for this event and encourage all attendees to read Tatty in preparation for the event. The special edition for this years celebration will be available at our February Ciaran Carson event.

Tatty is the story of a Dublin family as told through the eyes of one of its children over a ten year period. During this time we see the destruction brought about by alcoholism as one little girl tries to come to terms with her parents’ drinking. This is the story of a disturbed childhood, yet it is also filled with humour and love. Chapter by chapter, the child’s voice matures and her perception becomes more honed; we are left with a stunning portrait of a disintegrating family and the child lost within it. Dorothy Allen is a former BBC journalist, currently writing for the German and Swiss Press, she will join Dwyer Hickey in conversation.

Christine Dwyer Hickey is a novelist, playwright and short story writer. She has published eight novels, one collection of short stories and a full-length play.

Tatty was published by New Island Books (2004) and by Vintage UK (2005). It was shortlisted for Irish Novel of The Year 2005, listed as one of the 50 Irish Novels of the Decade at the Irish Book Awards 2010 and was nominated for the Orange Prize (now the Women’s Fiction Prize). Her latest novel The Narrow Land (Atlantic UK 2019) is set on Cape Cod in 1950 and examines the turbulent marriage of American artists Edward and Jo Hopper. Christine’s stories have been published in anthologies and magazines worldwide and have won several awards the most recent of which was at for her story Back to Bones at the Irish Book Awards Short Story of the Year Award 2017. Her play Snow Angels premiered at the Project Arts Theatre in 2014. Her work has been widely translated into European and Arabic languages and she is an elected member of Aosdána, the Irish academy of arts.