The Novel in the Digital Age

The Garden: Florida, Orchids, and the Everglades.

Join author Paul Perry in conversation with Sunday Independent Literary Editor Madeleine Keane about his new novel The Garden (New Island, May 2021). Described by Booker prize-winner, Anne Enright as ‘A lush, tough evocation of obsession and betrayal, this is noir with a poet’s touch. The Garden is a book about beauty, blood, heat and ruin. A rich and satisfying read.’

Also up for discussion in this session is how the novel and narrative negotiate the digital age. Has the novel changed radically? What happens when writers resist the social impact of the internet? Featuring alligators, orchids, death by misdemeanour and the never-ending sunshine of the Florida everglades, there will be lots to discuss.

A conversation for both readers and writers alike.

Learn more and purchase The Garden here:
https://www.newisland.ie/fiction/the-...

Speaker Bios:
Paul Perry is an award-winning poet and novelist. He has published several collections of poetry, most recently Blindsight (above / ground press, 2020). He has also co-authored four international bestselling novels as Karen Perry, including The Innocent Sleep with Penguin Random House which is in development for television. Associate Professor of Creative Writing, Paul is Director of the Creative Writing Programme at University College Dublin. The Garden is his debut novel as Paul Perry.

Twitter: @PaulPerryWriter www.paulperrywriter.com

Madeleine Keane is an editor, lecturer and award-winning travel journalist. She was educated at UCD and Trinity and worked in the editorial departments of Irish Tatler, Image Magazine and the publishing house Chatto & Windus.

She joined the Sunday Independent in 1988 and has been its Literary Editor for the last 18 years. She co-founded the Irish Book Awards and curated two writers’ festivals. She also presented a books programme for RTÉ TV (‘First Edition’) and has written a non-fiction careers guide for teenagers (What Will I Be? Mercier Press 1995). She was a member of the steering committee for the successful Dublin City of Literature Unesco bid. She regularly writes about books, theatre and travel. She has broadcast on tv and radio about books and publishing and presents at literary festivals and events. She lectures on writing at UCD and the Irish Writers’ Centre.

Twitter: @MadeleineKeane1