Friday, 17 September 2021, 12 – 1pm

What can we learn about a writer from reading their letters? This online roundtable, organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub as part of Culture Night 2021, invites a panel of experts to reflect on the letters of three major writers, American author Shirley Jackson, American poet John Berryman, and Irish novelist John McGahern. The roundtable will feature Bernice Murphy (TCD), Philip Coleman (TCD), and Frank Shovlin (University of Liverpool), and will be chaired by Eve Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub.

About the speakers

Philip Coleman is Professor in the School of English, Trinity College Dublin. His is an expert on American poetry and short fiction, and is the author/editor of several books, including John Berryman’s Public Vision (2014), David Foster Wallace: Critical Insights (2015), and George Saunders: Critical Essays (2017). His most recent book is the Selected Letters of John Berryman (Harvard University Press, 2020), which he co-edited with Calista McRae (New Jersey Institute of Technology).

Bernice M. Murphy is an Associate Professor and Lecturer in Popular Literature in the School of English, Trinity College, Dublin. Her books include the edited collection Shirley Jackson: Essays on the Literary Legacy (2005), The Suburban Gothic in American Popular Culture (2009), The Rural Gothic: Backwoods Horror and Terror in the Wilderness (2013), and The California Gothic in Fiction and Film (forthcoming). Bernice was an expert consultant on The Letters of Shirley Jackson, edited by Laurence Jackson Hyman (Random House, 2021).

Frank Shovlin is Professor of Irish Literature in English at the Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool. His several publications include Journey Westward: Joyce, Dubliners and the Literary Revival (2012), and Touchstones: John McGahern’s Classical Style (2016). Frank is editor of the newly-published Letters of John McGahern (Faber, 2021).

Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/