Liverpool Literary Festival - Frank Shovlin "John McGahern: A Writing Life"
11:30am - 12:45pm /
Sunday 18th October 2026
/ Venue: Victoria Gallery & Museum
- Viola Segeroth
- Admission: £8
- Event website
- Book now
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In October Faber and Faber will publish the much-anticipated authorised biography of the Irish writer and novelist, John McGahern, written by Frank Shovlin, Professor of Irish Literature at the University’s Institute of Irish Studies. Prof Shovlin has previously edited John McGahern's Letters.
Drawn from more than two decades of research into one of the great prose stylists of the twentieth century, John McGahern: A Writing Life will allow – for the first time – insight into the life of this very private writer.
John McGahern was a novelist, short story writer and dramatist, and published his first novel The Barracks in 1963. His second novel The Dark was banned by the Irish Censorship Board, and he was fired from his job in a Dublin School. He went on to publish a further four novels and four collections of short stories.
Prof Shovlin will be talking to Dr Paddy Hoey, Senior Lecturer in Media, Culture and Communications at Liverpool John Moores University.
Drawn from more than two decades of research into one of the great prose stylists of the twentieth century, John McGahern: A Writing Life will allow – for the first time – insight into the life of this very private writer.
John McGahern was a novelist, short story writer and dramatist, and published his first novel The Barracks in 1963. His second novel The Dark was banned by the Irish Censorship Board, and he was fired from his job in a Dublin School. He went on to publish a further four novels and four collections of short stories.
Prof Shovlin will be talking to Dr Paddy Hoey, Senior Lecturer in Media, Culture and Communications at Liverpool John Moores University.