We are pleased to present Glenn Patterson in conversation with Anne Flaherty.

About Glenn Patterson: born and based in Belfast, Glenn Patterson is a graduate of the University of East Anglia creative writing course. He is the author of 11 highly acclaimed novels, including Burning Your Own (1988), Fat Lad (1992),  That Which Was (2004), The Mill for Grinding Old People Young (2012) and Gull (2016). He also co-wrote the screenplay of the film Good Vibrations (2013) about the Belfast music scene of the 1970s. Glenn is also well known for his non-fiction titles which include his collected journalistic writings Lapsed Protestant (2006), Once Upon a Hill: Love in Troubled Times (2008), a memoir of his grand-parents and Backstop Land (2019) concerning Northern Ireland and Brexit. He has also written plays for Radio 3 and Radio 4. 

Glenn is the recipient of numerous awards including Rooney Prize for Irish Literature (1988), Betty Trask Award (1988) Guinness Peat Aviation Book Award (1993),  Arts Council Northern Ireland Major Individual Artist Award (2006), and Heimbold Visiting Chair of Irish Studies (2016).  

He is currently Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast.

About Anne Flaherty: A journalist born in London and growing up in County Clare, Anne has worked for The Irish Press in Dublin and  The Irish Times in Belfast as well as reporting from  Africa and Asia.  She is a graduate of  Trinity College Dublin, and holds an MA in Anglo-Irish Writing from Queen’s University Belfast and an MA in Children’s Literature from the University of Surrey.