TLRH | On Writers’ Letters: A Culture Night Conversation

Friday, 17 September 2021, 12 – 1pm What can we learn about a
writer from reading their letters? This online roundtable,
organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub as part of Culture Night
2021, invites a panel of experts to reflect on the letters of three
major writers, American author Shirley Jackson, American poet John
Berryman, and Irish novelist John McGahern. The roundtable will
feature Bernice Murphy (TCD), Philip Coleman (TCD), and Frank
Shovlin (University of Liverpool), and will be chaired by Eve
Patten, Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub. About the speakers
Philip Coleman is Professor in the School of English, Trinity
College Dublin. His is an expert on American poetry and short
fiction, and is the author/editor of several books, including John
Berryman’s Public Vision (2014), David Foster Wallace: Critical
Insights (2015), and George Saunders: Critical Essays (2017). His
most recent book is the Selected Letters of John Berryman (Harvard
University Press, 2020), which he co-edited with Calista McRae (New
Jersey Institute of Technology). Bernice M. Murphy is an Associate
Professor and Lecturer in Popular Literature in the School of
English, Trinity College, Dublin. Her books include the edited
collection Shirley Jackson: Essays on the Literary Legacy (2005),
The Suburban Gothic in American Popular Culture (2009), The Rural
Gothic: Backwoods Horror and Terror in the Wilderness (2013), and
The California Gothic in Fiction and Film (forthcoming). Bernice
was an expert consultant on The Letters of Shirley Jackson, edited
by Laurence Jackson Hyman (Random House, 2021). Frank Shovlin is
Professor of Irish Literature in English at the Institute of Irish
Studies, University of Liverpool. His several publications include
Journey Westward: Joyce, Dubliners and the Literary Revival (2012),
and Touchstones: John McGahern’s Classical Style (2016). Frank is
editor of the newly-published Letters of John McGahern (Faber,
2021). Learn more at: https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/