Paul Lynch and Christodoulos Makris named Maynooth University Writers-in-Residence

Maynooth University and Kildare County Council Arts and Library Services have announced Paul Lynch and Christodoulos Makris as Writers-in-Residence for the coming academic year 2018/19.  The appointments will see Lynch and Makris teaching on campus at Maynooth University and in Kildare Libraries, as well as hosting public readings and other events during their tenure.

The appointments of the Writers-in-Residence is part of an ongoing partnership between Maynooth University and Kildare County Council Arts and Library Services that supports artists in the local community and endeavours to foster engagement with writers and creative writing amongst the general public.

Last year, the partnership’s programme saw a host of writers visit Maynooth’s campus and take part in public readings at the Maynooth Community Library and at events such as the Kildare Readers Festival.  This year promises even more public events, all designed to give everyone a chance to learn about and appreciate literature.

Professor Victor Lazzarini, Dean of Faculty of Arts, Celtic Studies and Philosophy at Maynooth University commented on the appointments: “We are delighted to welcome Paul and Christodoulos to Maynooth University as our Writers-in-Residence for the upcoming academic year.  Both represent some of the most exciting movements in contemporary literature and bring with them a huge amount of experience and passion for the arts to their new roles.  We look forward to seeing how they work with and inspire both our students and the local community to discover and develop their own creative voices.”

Maynooth University English lecturer, Dr Oona Frawley added: “Maynooth University is thrilled to continue our partnership with Kildare County Council Arts and Library Services. Since 2015, we have welcomed a number of writers and screenwriters in residence to Maynooth University, benefitting our students and the local community.”

Paul Lynch is the prize-winning author of Red Sky in the Morning, The Black Snow and Grace, his most recent novel, which was the recipient of the Kerrygold Novel of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize and the William Saroyan International Prize.

The Washington Post called Grace “a moving work of lyrical and at times hallucinatory beauty”. It was a book of the year in the Guardian, the Irish Independent, Kirkus and Esquire, a Staff Pick at The Paris Review and an Editors’ Choice
Book in the New York Times Book Review.
 

Christodoulos Makris is a poet, editor and independent curator. His work has appeared widely in Irish and international journals and anthologies, and he has performed in many venues and festivals including the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. His most recent book, The Architecture of Chance, was chosen as a poetry book of the year by RTÉ Arena and 3:AM Magazine.

Currently the poetry editor of gorse, the Dublin-based avant-garde literary magazine, Christodoulos has been described by RTÉ’s Rick O’Shea as “one of Ireland’s leading contemporary explorers of experimental poetics.”
Lynch and Makris will be involved with the Kildare Readers’ Festival and a programme of events open to the public to be announced in autumn 2018. They take over as Writers-in-Residence at Maynooth University from novelists Rob Doyle and Sarah Maria Griffin, who successfully held the titles for the academic year 2017/18.