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Irish Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Irish writers up for CWA Dagger awards
In The Irish Times this Saturday, Elaine Feeney tells Laura Slattery about her latest novel, Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way. Stephen O'Neill reflects on the 50th anniversary of Seamus Heaney's landmark collection, North, in advance of a big conference in Queen's University Belfast. Hazel Gaynor, author of Before Dorothy , her imagining of the backstory of Aunt Em in The Wizard of Oz, reflects on the importance of aunts. And there is a Q&A with Ciara Geraghty about her career and her first book for children. Reviews are Adrienne Murphy on Esotericism in Western Culture: Counter-Normativity and Rejected Knowledge by Wouter J Hanegraaff, The Witch Studies Reader edited by Soma Chaudhuri and Jane Ward, and Shamanism by Manvir Singh; Peter Murphy on Sam Tallent's Running the Light; Adam Wyeth on The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey; Declan Ryan on the best new poetry; Éilís Ní Dhuibhne on Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way by Elaine Feeney; Ruby Eastwood on Sister Europe by Nell Zink; Gladys Ganiel on Tom Inglis's Unbecoming Catholic: Being Religious in Contemporary Ireland; Malachi O'Doherty on Kincora: Britain's Darkest Secret by Chris Moore; Pat Carty on Air by John Boyne; Rabeea Saleem on The Names by Florence Knapp; Pat Nugent on Never Flinch by Stephen King; John Walshe on Deadly Silence: A Sister's Battle to Uncover the Truth Behind the Murder of Clodagh and Her Sons by Alan Hawe by Jacqueline Connolly; Ray Burke on For Valerie by David French; and Diarmuid Hester on Katie Goh's Foreign Fruit. This weekend's Irish Times Eason offer is The Coast Road by Alan Murrin, just €5.99, a €6 saving. Eason offer Tana French has been shortlisted for the prestigious CWA Gold Dagger award for her latest thriller, The Hunter. Also shortlisted are D V Bishop for A Divine Fury ; R J Ellory for The Bell Tower ; Attica Locke for Guide Me Home ; Anna Mazzola for Book of Secrets ; and Bonnie Burke-Patel for I Died at Fallow Hall . READ MORE Stuart Neville has been shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award for Blood Like Mine ; Also shortlisted are: Lou Berney for Dark Ride ; M W Craven for Nobody's Hero ; Garry Disher for Sanctuary ; Abir Mukherjee for Hunted ; and Don Winslow for City in Ruins . Frank Wynne's translation of Pierre Lemaitre's Going to the Dogs is shortlisted for the crime fiction in translation prize along with Hervé Le Corre's Dogs and Wolves, tr. Howard Curtis; Akira Otani's The Night of Baby Yaga, tr. Sam Bett; Satu Rämö's The Clues in the Fjord, tr. Kristian London; Asako Yuzuki's Butter, tr. Polly Barton; and Alia Trabucco Zerán's Clean, tr. Sophie Hughes Andrew Hughes has been shortlisted for the Twisted Dagger award for Emma, Disappeared . Also shortlisted are Amanda Jennings for Beautiful People ; John Marrs for The Stranger In Her House ; CS Robertson for The Trials Of Marjorie Crowe; Tracy Sierra for Nightwatching ; and Catherine Steadman for Look In The Mirror . The winners will be announced at a gala dinner on July 3rd. * The UCD Festival returns on Saturday, June 7th, with over 100 free events taking place across the Belfield campus. Broadcaster Rick O'Shea curates the literary strand with an eclectic mix of established and emerging authors. Belfast writer Jan Carson and poet and novelist Paul Perry will provide some reading inspiration with Shelf Analysis, sharing the books they love. UCD's writer in residence, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, and poet Moya Cannon will explore the Poetry of Folklore. Author Roisín O'Donnell, crime writer Claire Coughlan and soon-to-be debut novelist Sylvia Leatham will discuss new fiction writing. Writer and disability advocate Sinead Burke will be in conversation with journalist and UCD alumna Roe McDermott, exploring the power of representation, and Reeling in the Queers author Páraic Kerrigan will be in conversation with Chandrika Naryanan-Mohan about the fight for LGBTQ rights. Saturday, 7 June, UCD Belfield. Free, with some booking required. See . * Timothy O'Grady will be in conversation with journalist Dorothy Allen at the official London launch of his latest novel, Monaghan, in the Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith, on Thursday, June 12th, at 7.30pm. Entry is £8. A dual launch of Monaghan and Goldengrove by Patrick McCabe takes place at Whelan's, Wexford Street, Dublin, on June 25th at 7pm with readings by the authors and actor Stephen Rea plus songs from Cathy Jordan. Admission is free. * On July 9th, the West Cork History Festival will host a discussion on the history and current context of Irish neutrality at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. For many, neutrality is a fundamental pillar of Irish foreign policy and central to an idea of how Ireland presents itself in the world; yet, in the context of new threats and the retreat by the US, a fundamental reordering is under way in Europe. What does this mean for Ireland's defence, security and co-operation with our neighbours? Prof Eunan O'Halpin will provide an overview of the history of Irish neutrality. Journalist Misha Glenny will offer a contemporary perspective from central and eastern Europe. This will be followed by a panel discussion in which Eunan and Misha will be joined by Catherine Connolly TD, Vice Admiral Mark Mellett, and Prof Patrick Keatinge. Tickets and more information are available here 2025 Festival – West Cork History Festival * In Leadership: Nobody Ever Made a Difference by Being Like Everyone Else , Deloitte tax partner and author Tom Maguire engages with prominent Irish leaders, including former President Mary McAleese, to explore the essence of effective leadership. Through candid conversations, the book delves into themes such as integrity, resilience and the balance between professional and personal life. Highlighting the shared value of integrity among diverse leaders, it offers insights applicable from the boardroom to the community. All royalties from the book are being donated to Our Lady's Hospice in Harold's Cross, continuing Maguire's tradition of supporting meaningful causes through his publications. * The Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University Belfast is marking the 50th anniversary of Seamus Heaney's landmark collection North – which saw the Nobel Prize-winning poet directly address the Troubles for the first time. A three-day conference from June 5th-7th, in partnership with Trinity College Dublin, will bring together Heaney experts from across the world to the beautiful new Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's – celebrating its first anniversary also in June. Paul Muldoon and Prof Edna Longley will gather to hear distinguished authors, academics and poets discuss the significance of North 50 years on. There will also be a family-friendly traditional music session and a screening of the documentary Heaney in Limboland , made for TV in 1970 and featuring Heaney's views on the rapidly deteriorating political situation in Northern Ireland. North is still considered a controversial volume. Upon publication in 1975, the American poet Robert Lowell said it represented 'a new kind of political poetry by the best Irish poet since WB Yeats' and the anthology went on to win awards including the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize and the WH Smith Memorial Prize. Heaney himself admitted the collection took a 'hammering' from other quarters, closer to home, for its representation of violence and gender politics. Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre, Prof Glenn Patterson said: 'Whichever way you come at it, in admiration, in awe or in search of an argument, there is no understanding poetry from these islands in the past half century, without North . 'There are not many books, of any kind, that merit an 'at 50' conference, but North seems only to grow in significance with every year that passes, and with every year that passes to attract new readers, and new critical thinking.' The poet's daughter Catherine Heaney, who is hoping to attend the conference, said on behalf of the Estate of Seamus Heaney: 'We are proud and honoured that the 50th anniversary of North is being marked with this conference, alongside Faber's reissue of the volume in its original jacket. 'The publication of North was such a seminal moment in my father's life and career and it is testament to its staying power that, five decades on, it continues to resonate with readers and inspire scholarly debate.' Lead organiser of the conference and Queen's graduate, Dr Stephen O'Neill from Trinity College Dublin said: 'Written under the strain of what Seamus Heaney called 'a very high pressure', North was a landmark in his writing career. It was and is also a landmark in criticism, as a subject for many of the leading critics of Irish literature then and now. 'Organised to coincide with Faber's anniversary republication of the volume, the conference is a chance to reflect upon the impact of Heaney's fourth collection and reassess its reception.' All events will take place at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's, 38-40 University Road, Belfast (unless otherwise stated). The full conference programme is available here . Attendance is free, but registration is essential.
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Ferdia Lennon's Glorious Exploits wins Authors' Club Best First Novel Award
In The Irish Times this Saturday, Jeanine Cummins tells Niamh Donnelly about her new novel and surviving the controversy that surrounded her previous bestseller, American Dirt. Michael Crummey, the Canadian winner of the €100,000 Dublin Literary Award, talks to Niamh Donnelly. And there is a Q&A with Gethan Dick about her debut novel Water in the Desert, Fire in the Night. Reviews are Seamus Martin on Unfinished Empire: Russian Imperialism in Ukraine and the Near Abroad by Donnacha Ó Beacháin and Putin's Sledgehammer by Candace Rondeaux; Kevin Power on Don't Forget We're Here Forever by Lamorna Ash; Rónán Hession on the best new translated fiction; Pat Leahy on The Secret Life of Leinster House by Gavan Reilly; Richard Pine on The Greek Revolution and the Violent Birth of Nationalism by Yanni Kotsonis; Oliver Farry on Vikings in the East: From Vladimir the Great to Vladimir Putin, the Origins of a Contested Legacy in Russia and Ukraine by Martyn Whittock; Michael Cronin on Ripeness by Sarah Moss; Tara Bergin on Infinity Pool by Vona Groarke; Adrienne Murphy on Girl with a Fork in a World of Soup by Rosita Sweetman; Brian Hanley on Swift Blaze of Fire, Olympian, Cleric, Brigadista: the Enigma of Robert Hilliard by Lin Rose Clark; and Kevin Gildea on The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies. This weekend's Irish Times Eason offer is Precipice by Robert Harris, just €5.99, a €6 saving. Eason offer Ferdia Lennon's Glorious Exploits has won The Authors' Club 2025 Best First Novel Award. READ MORE This year's guest adjudicator, novelist Tracy Chevalier, presented the £2,500 award to the Dublin author at a reception at the National Liberal Club in London. 'Glorious Exploits is a remarkable leap of the imagination into 4th-century BC Sicily, where two young potters have the madcap idea of directing Athenian prisoners in a Euripides play,' she said. 'Ferdia Lennon somehow manages to convince us he was there, with a distinctly Irish voice and style of storytelling. It is a funny, heartbreaking, confident debut, and a glorious triumph.' Chevalier selected the winner from a shortlist that also included: All My Precious Madness by Mark Bowles; The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley; The Borrowed Hills by Scott Preston; Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili; and Tiananmen Square by Lai Wen. The prize is for the debut novel of a British, Irish or UK-based author, first published in the UK. There is no age limit. The winning novel is selected by a guest adjudicator from a shortlist drawn up by a panel of Authors' Club members, chaired by Lucy Popescu, who said, 'An inventive, bittersweet novel about the power of the imagination. Lennon skilfully weaves the Irish vernacular into his tale; his imaginative characterisation and evocative descriptions are a joy.' Lennon has previously won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction and the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize for his debut novel. 05/11/2024 - NEWS - Writer Eilish Fisher. Photograph Nick Bradshaw / The Irish Times Début author Eilish Fisher and illustrator Dermot Flynn have picked up the KPMG Book of the Year today for their novel, Fia and the Last Snow Deer at the 35th KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards. The verse novel, which is set in pre-historic Ireland, tells the story of 13-year-old Fia and her beloved snow deer Solas, was also awarded the Éilís Dillon Prize celebrating Fisher's outstanding début children's book. Announced by host Rick O'Shea at a ceremony held in Merrion Square, in partnership with International Literature Festival Dublin, a total of six awards were presented to Irish authors and illustrators, who will also receive a total prize-fund of €16,000. Winners of this year's awards are: The Honour Award for Illustration: Beanie the Bansheenie, written by former Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer and illustrated by Steve McCarthy; The Honour Award for Fiction – Little Bang by Kelly McCaughrain; The Junior Juries' Award - Little Bang by Kelly McCaughrain; The Judges' Special Award – The Dictionary Story by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. The Eilís Dillon Award was awarded to Eilish Fisher recognising an outstanding first children's book for 'Fia and the Last Snow Deer. Paul Baggaley, Sheila Armstrong and Sinéad Mac Aodha The European Union Prize for Literature jury has awarded Sheila Armstrong a Special Mention for her debut novel Falling Animals. This recognition includes €5,000, extensive opportunities to travel to promote the book at European book fairs and literary festivals and significant support for future translations. The European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL), supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, is an annual initiative to recognise the best emerging fiction writers in Europe. Armstrong's publisher, Paul Baggaley, Editor-in-Chief at Bloomsbury Books, and Sinéad Mac Aodha, Director of Literature Ireland (the literature organisation which nominated the book for the award), pitched Falling Animals in Prague to a seven-member literary expert jury. The award ceremony took place at the Prague book fair (Book World Prague) last Friday. Mac Aodha said: 'Sheila's sensitive and lyrical, polyphonic novel is both an exploration of loss and loneliness and a celebration of the very necessary ties of community. The book is rooted in the wild northwestern Atlantic seaboard and its evocation of Sheila's homeplace is beautifully achieved. 'We are so grateful that this jury could appreciate both the cultural specificities of the work and its wider European literary resonances. We look forward to seeing Sheila Armstrong's work grow even further in confidence and ambition as a result of this recognition and the many translation opportunities it will afford her'. Baggaley said: 'Publishing Falling Animals has been a real highlight of my publishing career, but this is still just the beginning in the recognition of Sheila's unique talent for addressing universal themes with her exquisite literary sensibility. I am convinced this prize will bring many international publishing partners and will help Sheila's writing reach readers worldwide, and it couldn't be more deserved.' Thirteen countries were in contention this year with the outright winner, Italian writer Nicoletta Verna, receiving €10,000 as well as promotional and translation support for her book, I giorni di Vetro (Days of Glass), published by Einaudi. Belgian writer, Philippe Marczewski, also received a Special Mention for his novel, Quand Cécile (When Cécile), published by Éditions du Seuil. Fintan Drury will be launching his new book, Catastrophe: Nakba II in Hodges Figgis, Dublin, next Thursday, May 29th, at 6pm, introduced by Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, the Palestinian ambassador to Ireland; on June 4th, at 6.30pm, in Easons, Dún Laoghaire, in conversation with Dion Fanning; on June 5th, at 6.30pm, in Chapters Bookshop, Parnell St, Dublin; on June 12th, at 6.30pm, in O'Mahony's Bookshop, Limerick; and on June 13th, at 6pm, in Charlie Byrne's, Galway city. Natascha McElhone and Lena Headey in a scene from the movie Mrs Dalloway circa 1997. Photograph: MichaelTo mark the centenary of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, the Irish Writers Centre will host a day of panel discussions and conversation on Saturday, June 7th. Curated by writer Belinda McKeon, the conference runs from 11am to 3pm at the Centre's home in 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. First published in 1925, Mrs Dalloway remains a landmark of modernist literature. The novel's depiction of a single day in the life of its characters continues to resonate a century later, and the Irish Writers Centre's event will explore Woolf's enduring influence on novelists, poets, essayists and readers today. Participants will hear from a stellar line-up of speakers, including Mary Cregan, Naoise Dolan, Emilie Pine, Belinda McKeon, Nuala O'Connor and Claire-Louise Bennett. Discussions will explore themes of memory, urban life, writing the self, and the shifting boundaries of literary expression. Price: €50 / €45 (members or concession). Tickets available at Bloomsday in Tehran Skein Press is publishing a book this autumn by Iranian-Irish visual artist Roxana Manouchehri, This is not a cookbook is a memoir of growing up in Tehran following the Iranian revolution and the significance of the food and recipes shared by the women who raised her. Manouchehri is organising a week-long series of events to take place in Tehran over Bloomsday this year, with help from the Irish embassy in Tehran and Dayhim Art Society. On June 16th and 17th, there will be a private view in the Irish embassy in Tehran and from June 20th to 27th in Rishcee Gallery. There will be an art exhibition around Ulysses, a documentary film, conversation with Joyce translators in Tehran and more. * Local booksellers are sharing some of their top book recommendations for Summer 2025. Maria Dickenson, Chair of Bookselling Ireland, recommends The Names by Florence Knapp and A Family Matter by Claire Lynch. Helene Heaney, Elk Books (opening in August 2025), Warrenpoint, Co Down recommends Charlotte: A Novel by Martina Devlin. Cian Byrne, The Maynooth Bookshop, Co. Kildare, recommends Let me go mad my own way by Elaine Feeney. Tomás Kenny, Kennys Bookshop, Galway, recommends Ingrained by Callum Robinson. John Breen, of Waterstones, Cork, recommends Fair Play by Louise Hegarty. Dawn Behan, Woodbine Books, Kildare, recommends Fun & Games by John Patrick McHugh and La Vie by John Lewis-Stempel. Lynda Laffan, Head of Books, Eason, recommends Air by John Boyne and It Should have been You by Andrea Mara. Trish Hennessy, Halfway Up the Stairs, Greystones, Co Wicklow, recommends Letters to a Monster by Patricia Forde, illustrated by Sarah Warburton; Arabella Pepper: The Wild Detective by ER Murray, illustrated by Monika Pollak; and After by Pádraig Kenny, illustrated by Steve McCarthy. Maria Dickenson, chair of Bookselling Ireland, said, 'There are so many exciting new Irish books arriving in bookshops throughout the country over the coming weeks that will make an ideal summer read. Whether you are reading in an exotic location or enjoying some 'me time' in your back garden, there is something to suit everyone and your local bookseller is on hand to help find your perfect summer 2025 read.' * The Society of Authors (SoA) has announced shortlists for the ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award, the Betty Trask Prize, the Queen's Knickers Award, the McKitterick Prize, the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize, and the books celebrated by the ADCI Literary Prize. The winners will be announced on June 18th at Southwark Cathedral and will share a prize fund of over £170,000. Shortlisted for the ADCI Literary Prize are Victoria Hawthorne for The Darkest Night; Helen Heckety for Alter Ego; Tom Newlands for Only Here, Only Now. Shorltisted for the ALCS Tom Gallon Trust Award for a short story by a writer who has had at least one short story accepted for publication are: Molly Aitken; Naomi Alderman; Daisy Fletcher; Hamish Gray; Katie Hale; and Somto Ihezue. The Betty Trask Prize is presented for a first novel by a writer under 35. Shortlisted are: Bonnie Burke-Patel for I Died at Fallow Hall; Madeline Docherty for Gender Theory; Genevieve Jagger for Fragile Animals; Ashani Lewis for Winter Animals; Elizabeth O'Connor for Whale Fall; Nicolas Padamsee for England is Mine. The Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize is awarded to a UK or Irish writer, or a writer currently resident in those countries, for a novel focusing on the experience of travel away from home. Shorltisted are: Matt Haig for The Life Impossible; Jo Hamya for The Hypocrite; Hisham Matar for My Friends; David Nicholls for You Are Here; Elif Shafak for There are Rivers in the Sky; and Ali Smith for Gliff. The McKitterick Prize is awarded for a first novel by a writer over 40. Shortlisted are Susie Dent for Guilty by Definition; Lauren Elkin for Scaffolding; Ewan Gass for Clinical Intimacy; Lara Haworth for Monumenta; Alan Murrin for The Coast Road; and Tom Newlands for Only Here, Only Now. The Queen's Knickers Award is an annual prize for an outstanding children's original illustrated book for ages 0-7. It recognises books that strike a quirky, new note and grab the attention of a child, whether in the form of curiosity, amusement, horror or excitement. Shortlisted are: Anne Booth and illustrator David Litchfield for The Boy, the Troll and the Chalk; Rachel Bright and illustrator Jim Field for The Pandas Who Promised; Catherine Cawthorne and illustrator Sara Ogilvie for Big Bad Wolf Investigates Fairy Tales; Tiny Fisscher, translator Laura Watkinson and illustrator Herma Starreveld for Bird is Dead; Swapna Haddow and illustrator Yiting Lee for Little Dinosaurs, Big Feelings; Mikolaj Pa, translator Scotia Gilroy and illustrator Gosia Herba for No. 5 Bubblegum Street.
Times
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
The glorious tension of Sarah Moss's novels
Sarah Moss is a master of the ticking clock. Her novels thrum with tension, building towards a dramatic climax. In Ghost Wall (2018) a teenage girl is dragged along by her father to a historical re-enactment camp to live like Iron Age Britons. But that doesn't include the sacrificial rituals, right? Then came Summerwater in 2020, set in a perpetually rainy Scottish cabin park where families and lovers attempt to make it through their respective holidays. The ending, when it comes, is explosive. The Fell (2021) had a woman escape the Covid lockdown for a hike gone terribly wrong. The premise of Moss's latest novel, Ripeness, is equally promising. In the 1960s 18-year-old Edith is sent away from the family home in England to
Times
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Gill Hornby on Jane Austen and why we need more funny family novels
'The only thing to do with novels is to set them in the past. The present is ungraspable,' Gill Hornby says with the axiomatic certainty of Jane Austen. When we meet at Kintbury station in Berkshire, the bestselling author, 66, has just returned from Los Angeles, where she's been promoting the BBC adaptation of her novel Miss Austen, the first in her series about the beloved 19th-century author and her large and lively family. On our walk to her home we cover much of the 'ungraspable' present — Trump, wars, unhinged tech billionaires, dating trends and the rise of the Reform Party — before concluding we have more appetite for Regency England. Even if it wasn't much fun for women. 'It's an appealing world
The Guardian
11-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Given up on reading? Elif Shafak on why we still need novels
A recent YouGov poll found that 40% of Britons have not read a book in the last year. 'The literary era has come to an end,' Philip Roth prophesied in 2000. 'The evidence is the culture, the evidence is the society, the evidence is the screen.' Roth believed that the habit of mind that literature required was bound to disappear. People would no longer have the concentration or the isolation needed to read novels. Several studies seem to support Roth's conclusion. The average time that a person can focus on one thing has dropped in recent decades from approximately 2.5 minutes to about 45 seconds. I witnessed this when I gave two Ted talks almost 10 years apart. In 2010, we were asked to keep our talks to 20 minutes; in 2017, that was reduced to around 13 minutes. When I asked why, the organisers informed me that the average attention span had shrunk. Still, I kept my talk to 20 minutes. And I would similarly like to push back on the idea that people no longer need novels. The same YouGov polling shows that among those who read, more than 55% prefer fiction. Talk to any publisher or bookseller and they will confirm it: the appetite for reading novels is still widespread. That the long form endures is no small miracle in a world shaped by hyper information, fast consumption and the cult of instant gratification. We live in an era in which there is too much information but not enough knowledge, and even less wisdom. This excess of information makes us arrogant and then it makes us numb. We must change this ratio and focus more on knowledge and wisdom. For knowledge we need books, slow journalism, podcasts, in-depth analyses and cultural events. And for wisdom, among other things, we need the art of storytelling. We need the long form. I am not claiming that novelists are wise. If anything, quite the opposite: we are a walking mess. But the long form contains insight, empathy, emotional intelligence and compassion. This is what Milan Kundera meant when he said, 'the novel's wisdom is very different from that of philosophy'. Ultimately, though, it is the art of storytelling that's older and wiser than we are. Writers know this in their guts – and so do readers. In recent years, I have noticed a change in the demographics of book events and literary festivals across the UK: I am seeing more and more young people. Some are coming with their parents, but many more come alone or with friends. There are noticeably more young men attending fiction events. It seems to me that the more chaotic our times, the deeper is our need to slow down and read fiction. In an age of anger and anxiety, clashing certainties, rising jingoism and populism, the division between 'us' and 'them' also deepens. The novel, however, dismantles dualities. The long narrative, ever since the Epic of Gilgamesh, has quietly cast its spell. One of the oldest surviving works of literature, at least 4,000 years old, Gilgamesh predates Ovid's Metamorphoses, Homer's Odyssey and the Iliad. It is also an unusual story with an unlikely hero at its centre. In the poem, King Gilgamesh emerges as a restless spirit, burdened by the storm of his heart. He is a brute, a selfish creature motivated by greed, power and possession. Until, that is, the Gods send him a companion: Enkidu. Together they embark on journeys far and wide, discovering other lands, but also rediscovering themselves. It is a story about friendship, but also about many things besides, such as the power of water and floods to destroy or renew our environment, our desire to prolong youth, and our fear of death. In many classical myths, the hero returns home triumphant – but not in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Here we have a protagonist who has lost his dear friend, failed in almost everything, and has achieved no clear victory. But having experienced failure, defeat, grief and fear, Gilgamesh evolves into a kinder, wiser being. The ancient poem is about the potential for change and our need to attain wisdom. Since the Epic of Gilgamesh was narrated and written down, so many empires have come and gone, so many mighty kings – 'strong men' – have perished, and some of the tallest monuments have crumbled to dust. Yet this poem has survived the tides of history – and here we are, thousands of years later, still learning from it. King Gilgamesh, after journeys and failures, reconnects with his own vulnerability and resilience. He learns to become human. Just as we do when we read novels about other people. There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak is published by Penguin. To support the Guardian buy a copy at Delivery charges may apply.
