Book-launch & Exhibition

galway | arts and media | event notice Tuesday November 03, 2009 08:42 by john arden

A new collection of stories by John Arden

Saturday, November 7th, at 3pm, in the Galway City Museum. Renowned playwright and novelist John Arden, now entering his 80th year, presents a new collection of short stories, Gallows and Other Tales of Suspicion and Obsession, together with an exhibition of his paintings based upon the stories.

The book will be launched by writer and Irish Times columnist, Fintan O'Toole. The event includes a 20-minute documentary film on aspects of Arden's work and thought, directed by Finn Arden. The exhibition of paintings continues until Wednesday November 25th. Arden will read from his stories at the Museum upon successive Saturdays at 3pm (Nov 14th & 21st).

Gallows investigates the underbelly of Irish and British history, using dark comedy and melodrama, from the 17th to the 20th century. The title-story is a ghost story set in Galway, where Arden lives. He turned to novel-writing in the early 1980s with Silence Among the Weapons, short-listed for the Booker Prize. Cogs Tyrannic, his first collection of stories, received the PEN Short Story Prize. His story, 'Breach of Trust,' from his 2003 collection, The Stealing Steps, took the V.S.Pritchett Memorial Prize.