This event will take place at the British Library. It will be simultaneously live streamed on the British Library platform. Tickets may be booked either to attend in person (physical), or to watch on our platform (online) either live or within 48 hours on catch up.  Viewing links will be sent out shortly before the event. The online version of this event will be live captioned.

“Well, Our Lady mightn’t have shown up, but Francie Brady didn’t let them down. It was the best show that old town had ever seen”
Patrick McCabe, The Butcher Boy

It’s been nearly 30 years since Patrick McCabe and Fiona Shaw worked together on the film adaptation of Patrick’s acclaimed novel, The Butcher Boy. Patrick and Fiona had many a conversation around a kitchen table during the making of the film, and now they come together again, in an exclusive event for the Royal Society of Literature at the British Library, to pick up where they left off.

The pair discuss The Butcher Boy, Mrs Nugent, Patrick’s latest book, the rip-roaring verse-novel Poguemahone, depictions of Ireland and Irishness, and the importance of literature in their lives.

Patrick McCabe was born in Clones, County Monaghan. He is the author of The Butcher Boy, which won the Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Fiction; The Dead School; Breakfast on Pluto and others. The Butcher Boy and Breakfast on Pluto were both shortlisted for the Booker Prize and adapted into feature films by Neil Jordan. Winterwood was named the 2007 Hughes & Hughes/Irish Independent Irish Novel of the Year and his most recent book is the novel Poguemahone, a wild, free-verse monologue, steeped in music and folklore.

Fiona Shaw was born in County Cork, Ireland and studied philosophy at University College Cork before training at Rada. Her stage roles have ranged from Sophocles to Shakespeare, Beckett to Brecht; she has won two Olivier awards and directed theatre productions and operas including Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia. She has also appeared in numerous films, including My Left Foot and the Harry Potter movies, and television series such as True Blood and Killing Eve, for which she won a Bafta. Her latest film role is in Ammonite, a romantic drama about fossil hunter Mary Anning.

This promises to be a very special evening.

Image of Fiona Shaw by Suki Dhanda.

This online and in person event is part of the Royal Society of Literature’s bicentenary festival, RSL 200

Half Price tickets available for Members, Students, Under 26s and other concession groups.

Bookings details at:

https://www.bl.uk/events/rsl-literature-matters-patrick-mccabe-and-fiona-shaw-in-conversation

https://rsliterature.org/rsl-event/rsl-200-literature-matters-fiona-shaw-and-patrick-mccabe/