SOME 200 guests attended a book fair showcasing six recently published books of Irish interest at an event in the Irish Embassy last night hosted by the new Ambassador to Britain, Bobby McDonagh.
The event – the second of its kind – marked a further extension of the embassy’s promotion of new Irish literature in the UK as part of its cultural outreach.
Mr McDonagh was delighted to present the six very different books and that the authors – with the exception of the late Nuala O’Faolain – were able to join in the celebration. Nuala was represented by her sister Noreen.
The books in last night's showcase ranged across a wide spectrum of Irish history and contemporary experience, and included Nuala O'Faolain's last novel, Best Love Rosie.
Also featured was Adam Gouldby Julia O'Faolain – her first full-length novel in 17 years – about the estranged son of a turncoat Irish Catholic landowner who arrives in 1890s Paris to seek a position in an asylum where, among the inmates, is Guy de Maupassant.
The Literature of the Irish in Britain: Autobiography and Memoir 1725-2001, edited by Dr Liam Harte of the University of Manchester, was also featured, as were Safe Home, Coming Home, edited by Fran Browner; Ireland and the English World in the Late Middle Ages, edited by Brendan Smith of Bristol University; and Yesterday We Were in America, Brendan Lynch's account of Alcock and Brown's transatlantic flight.
As “a one-time author” himself, Mr McDonagh said he knew of the amount of hard work involved for the authors, not just in the writing but also in the promotion of their works.