Greystones Mother And Daughter In Irish Stories Anthology

Cathy Sweeney & Lucy Sweeney Byrne…

new anthology from Everyman Pocket Classics celebrating the history of the Irish short story boasts some of the world’s most renowned writers among its pages.

As well as celebrating the likes of James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Flann O’Brien and Edna O’Brien, Irish Stories also finds room to dig the new breed.

And that includes some fine modern Wicklow writers, namely the award-winning Claire Keegan (Foster, Small Things Like These) plus Cathy Sweeney (Modern Times, Breakdown) and Lucy Sweeney Byrne (Paris, Syndrome, Let’s Dance).

The latter two hailing from Greystones, and also, as it happens, mother and daughter.

“I was honoured to discover my work had been selected for inclusion alongside that of the Irish writers in this collection,” says Lucy, “many of whom make up the pillars of our national canon – my own mother not least amongst them.

Claire Keegan

“It’s not something she and I would say too much about, but it is lovely to think of our names being memorialised alongside one another.”

With the first Golden Age of the Irish short story occurring in the middle years of the 20th century, with such writers as both O’Briens, Frank O’Connor, Maeve Brennan, Seán Ó Faoláin and Elizabeth Bowen tackling the repression of the church and the vacancy of migration, the dawn of the 21st century brought new sensations and a vibrant blossoming in short fiction, thanks to writers such as Colm Tóibin, Kevin Barry, Lucy Caldwell, Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright and Yan Ge.

And, of course, young Keegan and those Greystones lasses.

The fact that Lucy is the offspring of GG has nothing whatsoever to do with our endorsement of this event or product. That’s not how we payroll.

You can grab your copy of Irish Stories down in The Village Bookshop, and catch Ms Keegan as part of the Greystones Book Festival on Saturday, August 8th.

In the meantime, go check out our history of local writers – or those who found their muse in the town – right over here.