Why are there so many well-known and successful Irish writers, particularly over the last decade I pondered.
In a recent (excellent) article I read about Colm Toibin, he acknowledges the energy and power that seem to resonate through Irish fiction and indeed somewhat dominates the Booker long list. Anne Enright and Anna Burns come to mind, along with Claire Keegan and Bernard MacLaverty and that is before you reach the high commerciality of Marion Keyes and the meteoric rise of Sally Rooney. I cannot read the last two but love the work of the others … and Colm Toibin even more so.
There is the rich history and literature of Ireland and there is the fact that the country is extremely generous and supportive of writers. However, Toibin is absolutely right I think when he says that there has been an opening up of space and things can be written about now that would not have been acceptable until recently. Edna O ‘Brian and her trilogy ‘The Country Girls’ comes to mind. Published in 1960, it was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, banned by the Irish Censorship Board and burnt in the streets of Dublin. O’Brien fled to London in fear of her life.
This is a very rich seam of fiction to mine I think and sometimes it appears to be quite therapeutic for the authors.