This week, Susan will be chatting with multi-award winning novelist and poet Anne Michaels.
Born in Canada, Anne’s writing is rich with integrity and elegance. Her first poetry collection ‘The Weight of Oranges’ was released in 1986 and received wide acclaim, winning the Commonwealth Prize along with a variety of awards in her home country.
Her debut novel ‘Fugitive Pieces’ (1996) was equally successful, winning the Orange Prize for Fiction in 1997- now the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction. Additionally, the novel was adapted to a film of the same name in 2007. It tells the harrowing story of Jacob Beer, a Jewish child in Poland. Written with great skill and emotion and featuring great detail and research, it follows the adversity he faces along his life journey.
More recently, Anne released ‘The Winter Vault’ in 2009. Again, this novel features Anne’s adept take on historical fiction, with Egypt in 1964 the setting on this occasion.
Anne’s latest offering is ‘Correspondences’ a poetry collection released this year. At its core, this collection is an elegy to her father. However, ultimately it is a contemplative take on grief, delivered in her inimitable style. Unsurprisingly, this too has been met with much praise, further demonstrating the quality of her composition.
Join Susan as she chats with Anne about the intimate and thorough nature of her writing. How does she shape the enduring characters that define her novels? What does she mean by bringing the reader to a cumulative moment of thought and feeling? And why is she attracted to historical themes as a writer?
Susan with Anne before their interview
The Lilliput Press is celebrating its 30th anniversary this September. To commemorate this, Susan will be joined by the founder of the Lilliput Press, Antony Farrell, on ‘Talking Books’ this Sunday at 7pm.
As a young man, Antony harboured ambitions of cracking the literary world and the genesis of Lilliput Press began in his mother’s farmhouse! He then moved to London, where his passion for literature continued. Antony returned home to Ireland in 1980 and began to work for various Irish publishers before finally establishing his own publishing company in 1984.
Lilliput’s first published work was a collection of essays by Hubert Butler entitled ‘Escape From the Anthill’ and since then they have gone from strength to strength. In the past thirty years, Lilliput had published over five hundred titles with a great level of success. There range is wide and varied, from autobiography and memoir, to art and architecture.
Throughout, a strong Irish focus remains intact, as Antony and his company remain committed to emerging Irish writers, taking a very passionate and involved approach to the writers which pass through their walls. In addition, they provide a rewarding platform to success and distinction in the literary world.
Listen in as Susan and Antony chat about the history of the Lilliput Press. What are some of Antony’s most cherished achievements in the past 30 years? What is it like to discover some of Ireland’s brightest writers and poets? And what does the future hold for smaller publishing companies?
