Literary stars sign up for annual Irish Writers in London Summer School
Culture

Literary stars sign up for annual Irish Writers in London Summer School

A HOST of literary stars will feature in the annual Irish Writers in London Summer School – which takes place online next month.

The course - which runs over two nights a week, for five and a half weeks - was first established by Dr Tony Murray in 1996.

It is based at the London Metropolitan University, where Dr Murray is Curator of the Archive of the Irish in Britain and also a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing in the School of Art, Architecture and Design.

The short course is designed to provide an “informal but informed setting for students  to read and discuss contemporary Irish literature”, its organisers explain.

“It's also an opportunity to explore the different relationships writers have with place and identity, whether born in Ireland or of Irish descent,” they add.

Students will take part in lectures and seminar discussions as well as hearing from a number of guest writers.

For 2021 they include Kit de Waal, who will discuss her novel The Trick to Time, about a young female Irish migrant in Birmingham which explores grief, longing and love.

Catherine Heaney also joins the Summer School, where she will discuss her role in editing the recent anthology of her father's work, Seamus Heaney: 100 Poems.

Lin Coghlan will discuss her recent radio dramatisation of Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls, while Irish Times journalist Peter Flanagan will tackle the Covid-19 crisis and the impact of Brexit on the Irish community in Britain.

For further information or to enrol on the course click here.