While I’ve been busy with One Dublin One Book, NORA has been shortlisted for two awards which, obviously, is thrilling.
Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year at Listowel and Irish Novel of the Year at the Dalkey Literary Awards. How is that for fancy? Delighted!!
I’ll be taking part at events at both festivals in June.
I’m taking part in a roundtable for NEI in Brazil (online) today as part of Ulysses 100. Join us on YouTube here. Discussion of Joyce’s family, life and work in contemporary literature, film, radio drama, and exhibition with me, Alan Gilsenan, Áine Stapleton and Colin Murphy. With thanks to Beatriz Kopshitz Bastos for having us!
This event is part of a UFSC and NEI project Ulysses100 Through Brazilian Eyes, launched by the Embassy of Ireland in Brazil and the Consulate General of Ireland in São Paulo, to celebrate the centenary of the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
I’m busy, naturally, as we get closer to the Ulysses 100 anniversary on 2.2.22, so here are a few of the events & things you can catch me at:
22nd January 2022 – I have a piece about the background to writing Ulysses – how life was for Nora and Joyce – in the Irish Independent. Read it here.
Saint Brigid’s Day / Lá ‘le Bríde – 1st Feb. – I’m talking live to Ambassador Eamon Hickey at the Embassy of Ireland, Bern, in Switzerland. 5pm Irish time. More here.
Saint Brigid’s Day / Lá ‘le Bríde – 1st Feb. – I’m taking part in the celebration of Ulysses at Embassy of Ireland Paris, with Ambassador Niall Burgess. Time tbc. Watch back here.
2nd Feb – Ulysses 100 day – the exhibition I’ve curated at MOLI – ‘Love, says Bloom’ – opens today. So exciting! Sadly, Covid restrictions mean we won’t be having a shindig, but please visit the museum to see this immersive audiovisual presentation, where I took the love between the four Joyces – and their love of music – as inspiration. It includes some magnificent performances from artists including Julia Spanu of Moxie, Ian Lynch of Lankum, and Lisa O’Neill. More here.
2nd Feb – Ulysses 100 day – I’ll be on RTÉ’s Arena talking Ulysses with Sean Rocks and a panel of Joyce fans. 7pm. RTÉ Radio 1. You can hear this here.
2nd Feb – Ulysses 100 day – I am giving away a signed copy of the One Dublin One Book edition of NORA (out Feb. 24th from New Island Books). Enter until midday 2nd Feb! See my insta for details.
4th Feb, 6.30pm – I’m launching the new edition of Ray Burke’s wonderful book, Joyce County – Galway and James Joyce, in Galway city at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop. Illustrated by Joe Boske. Published by Artisan House in Connemara.
4th Feb, 10.45pm – I’m on BBC Radio 3, on The Essay, concluding a week of Reading Ulysses, with my thoughts on the Penelope episode. Other essayists include Mary Costello, John Patrick McHugh, Colm Tóibín and Anne Enright. Listen here.
I had a fab time at Westival in Westport, this weekend gone by. My event was hosted by the magical Tertulia Books, run by Bríd and Neil, and they gave me such a warm welcome to their beautiful shop and town. They are up for a book award at the APIBAS (as is NORA!), and you can vote for them here. Big thanks to the Tertulia crew, to the yoga boys for the gorgeous venue, and to Caroline Healy for the interview on the night.
The San Francisco Book Review has given NORA a lovely tiny review. A snip: ‘a truly impressive work of biographical fiction, Nuala O’Connor pens a powerful and incisive account of the life of Nora Joyce, who despite being remembered as “Irish literature’s greatest muse” was really a far more complex, commanding, and intriguing individual than her lasting reputation suggests.’ More here: https://sanfranciscobookreview.com/biographies-memoirs/
I had a gorgeous time talking with the Irish contingent in the Irish Embassy Berlin about NORA and James Joyce. You can watch back here: https://youtu.be/kSY8Zbdxbb8
NORA and I will be doing several events for Bloomsday 2021.
Ahead of Bloomsday I was interviewed by Chiara Liberio for Radio Dublino on 90.3FM. The piece is here at 16 minutes in.
For Bloomsday, Elisabetta D’Erme interviews me for Il Piccolo, the newspaper in Trieste, Italy, that Joyce wrote for, about Joyce, Nora, and my trip to Trieste. Link here.
13th June, 6pm IST: I will be reading for the Cercle littéraire irlandais and Irish Embassy in Paris. More here.
14th June, 10pm IST: I will in conversation with Kerri Maher on Instagram at 5pm EST/10pm IST. Kerri’s book about Sylvia Beach appears in 2022.
15th June, 5pm IST/6pm ECT: I will be discussing NORA with the Irish Embassy of Belgium Book Club.
* 16th June, Bloomsday *
3.15pm IST: I’ll be talking about Bloomsday on the Afternoon Show on BBC Radio Scotland.
6pm IST: I am taking part in the James Joyce Centre in Dublin’s annual Bloomsday flagship event for Ulysses: Readings and Songs which runs on Facebook Live from 6pm.
7pm IST/2pm ET: I will be discussing life writing and NORA with the University of Notre Dame & the Kylemore Book Club. More here.
7pm IST, RTÉ 1 television: I feature on Nationwide with Anne Cassin. We go to Galway city and explore Nora and James Joyce’s haunts there. We also go to Kennys book shop. You can watch the piece on the RTE Player.
7.30pm IST: I speak about NORA with the Consulate General of Ireland in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of their Bloomsday ‘In Praise of Women’ celebration. Watch the video here. My bit starts at 25 mins.
I am interviewed by founding editor & publisher of the The Stinging Fly literary magazine, Declan Meade, for The Stinging Fly podcast. It is available now here.
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17th June: I’ll be on the Wexford-based Red Books podcast talking with Álanna Hammel about NORA, James Joyce, and writing bio-fiction. Link to follow!
17th June, 7pm Berlin/6pm Ireland: I will be reading from and discussing NORA with Melanie Neumann of the Embassy of Ireland in Berlin. Sign up here.
NORA is beautifully reviewed by Martina Devlin in the Irish Independent‘s Review magazine today: ‘…historical fiction brought lushly to life, laced with glorious prose…’. More here.
