September 2019

Cork International Short Story Festival

I was delighted to have a chat with Cónal Creedon & Lisa McInerney as part of the Cork International Short Story Festival in September 2019. Cónal Creedon is a short story writer, novelist, playwright, and documentary filmmaker. His books include the short story collection Pancho and Lefty Ride Out (Collins Press, 1999) and the novel Begotten Not Made (Irishtown Press, 2018). His short stories have achieved recognition in the Francis MacManus Awards, Life Extra Awards, George A. Birmingham Awards and PJ O’Connor Awards. “Creedon’s words are enough to create a world that is at once comic and dramatic, poetic and musical.” – Rachel Saltz, The New York Times Lisa McInerney’s story Navigation was longlisted for the 2017 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. Her debut novel, The Glorious Heresies, won the 2016 Women’s Prize for Fiction and the 2016 Desmond Elliott Prize. Her second, The Blood Miracles, won the 2018

Dark Passions – extract from a sports essay

I’m walking down the Ennis Road in Limerick. It is the summer of 2019. Cork have just beaten the All-Ireland champions, Limerick, and I’m feeling good. The Cork fans are buzzing – it doesn’t take much for us to roll back out our cocky strut. A lone and drunk young Cork supporter is taunting some Limerick people nearby. He sings (badly): ‘We’re from Cork and we’re better than you, We’re from Cork and we’re better than you, We’re from Cork and we’re better than you.’ Over and over again he sings it, smiling, pointing his finger at the Limerick fans, walking down the Ennis Road.