A talk given to the Aisling Society of Sydney
On Wednesday, 24 July 2024 at 6 pm, live from Dublin at the Consulate General of Ireland
Level 26, 1 Market Street, Sydney and Livestreamed via Zoom Video Conference, Evelyn Conlon, novelist and short story writer, addressed members of the Aisling Society.
Evelyn Conlon is an Irish novelist and short story writer, who is well known to Aisling members and Australian readers. Born in County Monaghan, she lives in Dublin and has a deep interest in Australia where she lived in the early 1970s. A clear-sighted, observant and unsentimental thinker, her work is marked by originality and wit. She is an elected member of Aosdána, the Irish association which honours distinguished artistic work. She has been writer-in-residence in colleges in many countries, at University College Dublin and is currently Adjunct Professor and Mentor with Carlow University Pittsburgh (Master of Fine Arts). More information.
In this talk Evelyn discusses stories from her collection of short stories Moving About the Place
(which includes a novella set in 1970s Australia, called ‘How things are with Hannah these days’)
and her acclaimed novel Not the Same Sky, about Irish famine orphans coming to Australia: ‘If
fiction is a mirror, writing about historical events requires a lot of glass polishing. Let’s look at
some of the shadows of Violet Gibson attempting to assassinate Mussolini, Mary Lee from
Monaghan fighting for votes in Australia, and the young women sent out to Australia during the
famine.’
Editor: With thanks to Evelyn Conlon and Jeff Kildea for permission to share this talk. We suggest you do not use the sub-titles as they are full of errors.
Tinteán 