From The Republic of Conscience

To the National Library last night for the launch of FROM THE REPUBLIC OF CONSCIENCE, a collection of 30 short stories by leading Irish writers, each one exploring a different article in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The stories, which were commissioned by Amnesty Ireland, ran on a weekly basis in the Irish Times last year but this is the first time they’ve been collected together in book format and the book was launched by former Irish President Mary Robinson.

The collection features new work by – amongst others – Maeve Binchy, Dermot Bolger, Eoin Colfer, John Connolly, Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, Carlo Gebler, Hugo Hamilton, Seamus Heaney, Jennifer Johnston, Neil Jordan, Claire Kilroy, Colum McCann, Frank McCourt, Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, Joseph O’Connor, Glenn Patterson, Colm Toibin and myself. I wrote THE ROUND HALL, based on Article 10, which states that everyone is entitled to a fair trial.

It’s available now in bookshops, also from Liberties Press itself and on Amazon.

Exam Stress

It’s almost 20 years since I did my leaving certificate in Ireland - our close-out exams at the end of school – and I haven’t given it a second thought since. Until this week when I learned that both THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS and one of my short stories which was originally published in The Sunday Tribune last year (PARADISE), featured on this year’s English examination papers. The idea of teenagers all over the country writing essays based on these is a somewhat surreal one. Still, it’s great to see that the English papers are allowing contemporary writers on to the syllabus (I wasn’t the only one – many more contemporary published novelists are poets are being studied in Irish schools. Or their work is anyway.) You can read PARADISE on the short stories page of my website. And you won’t have to answer any questions on it afterwards. Oh, and if you wonder what the accompanying photograph means – read the story.

Human Rights Stories

More on the 30 articles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights that 30 Irish writers are, week by week, responding to. I’ve just realised that if you don’t live in Ireland or don’t have access to the Irish Times every Saturday, you can catch up with all the stories at your leisure on Amnesty’s Irish site here.

UN Declaration of Human Rights stories

If you live in Ireland, not only are you very fortunate but you also have daily access to THE IRISH TIMES newspaper.

As this year marks the 60th anniversary of the thirty articles of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, a series has begun in The Irish Times every Saturday, edited by Roddy Doyle, where a different Irish writer responds to one of the articles in prose, fiction or poetry. The series began 2 weeks ago with Seamus Heaney and my own story, The Round Hall, was published last Saturday (in response to Article 10). 28 pieces are to follow from other Irish writers and they will ultimately be collected together in what will no doubt be a handsome anthology.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that the draft of The Round Hall which was published last week was slightly in error. It was the story that I sent in, however I had made a few subtle changes to the centre of the piece and it was that draft which was supposed to be published. Unfortunately, through no one’s fault, an error was made.

No matter. When the stories are collected together later in the year a slightly reworked version of this story will appear. In the meantime, those of you in Ireland should really get a hold of the paper every Saturday.