Ireland is equally famous for its literature and long tradition of fantastic storytelling as it is for its Guinness. Kevin Barry from Limerick City follows the same tradition of storytelling which reads like a modern-day Dubliners. Born in 1969, Kevin has to wait for his first ever story collection gets published. “There are little kingdoms” was published in 2007 and it received a huge critical acclaim and won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.

While describing his feeling about getting published after such a long wait, Kevin confessed to “haunting bookshops and hiding to spy on the short fiction section and see if anyone’s tempted by my sweet bait” in his interview to The Short Review. This collection contained 13 stories which have been written over a span of 7 years. These stories and the characters developed by Kevin are full of laughter as well as darkness with the intensity of contemporary Irish life. I am excited about these stories because they comment on the life’s absurdity and uncertainty. Laura Farmer while reviewing his second story collection ‘Dark lies the island’ in The Gazette has described Kevin as “If Roddy Doyle and Nick Cave could procreate, the result would be something like Kevin Barry.”

This is yet another very short book just about 160 pages. My love for short writings is increasing day by day as I am coming across these amazing storytellers whose stories are almost written for me. Short, packed with human life and absurdity of life. Come join me in enjoying some Irish lifestyle.

Amazon

Paperback: 160 pages

Publisher: Canongate Canons (6 April 2017)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1786890178

ISBN-13: 978-1786890177

Adding this to the amazing bucket of blogs at #BlogchatterA2Z.