'Evelyn Conlon's voice is instantly recognisable:
wise, funny, insightful (inciteful, if that's a word) and irrepressible.'
Lia Mills

In Reading Rites, Evelyn Conlon brings her characteristic wit and keen intelligence to the task of exploring her writing life, drawing out the events, people, books and concerns that have helped to make her the writer she is.

Using the lens of her own life as a starting point, she considers a vast array of subjects, including education; the effects of the Catholic Church, particularly on the lives of women; the legacy of historical moments such as 1916; and, through it all, the power of books to free us, to offer understanding, and to help us to see outside and beyond ourselves.

Part memoir, part manifesto, Reading Rites is full of the sharp observation, restless questioning and hard-won wisdom that make Conlon one of Ireland's finest and most compelling writers.

'These essays amount to an alternative history of social change in Ireland ...
each one manages to keep faith with the truth of public speech.'
Sean O'Reilly

About the Author
Evelyn Conlon is one of Ireland's most important writers. She was born in County Monaghan and lives in Dublin. She is the author of four novels and four short story collections. Her work has been widely anthologised and translated. She is also the editor of four anthologies, including Cutting the Night in Two; Short Stories by Irish Women Writers, and Later On: The Monaghan Bombing Memorial Anthology, which became a centrepiece for a lecture series The Language of War at the University of Bologna. The title story of her first collection, 'Taking Scarlet as a Real Colour', has been performed at the Edinburgh Theatre Festival, her radio essays are heard frequently on national radio, and she teaches writing on Carlow University, Pittsburgh's MFA Writing Program. She is a member of Aosdana.


Book Information
ISBN 9781780733722
Author Evelyn Conlon
Format Paperback
Page Count 184
Imprint Blackstaff Press Ltd
Publisher Colourpoint Creative Ltd