At one point I would read nothing that was not by the great American Jews - Saul Bellow, Philip Roth - which had a disastrous effect of making me think I needed to write the next great Jewish American novel.… — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
Irish writing is so strong that it can feel like the country has all been covered, but in fact, there are so many gaps. The small west of Ireland cities and the working classes there have almost never appeared in… — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
Frazzled and delirious, as I've just finished a new book of stories. I feel like Moses staggering down the mountainside with the tablets of… — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
Libraries are where we learn that we can live our lives through books. — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
I think the language as spoken in Limerick and Cork has not really been written; 'City of Bohane' is a combination of the two.… — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
It is nothing, to give one’s life for Ireland. I’m not the first and maybe I won’t be the last. What’s my life compared… — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
I go into my workroom seven mornings a week. There will only be one or two mornings a week where it seems to be… — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
I was a cub reporter on a local newspaper in Limerick city, and I used to cover the district court meetings. All of life… — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
The fundamental human truth underpinning 'Ox Mountain Death Song' is that men so very often turn into their fathers. The way that everything gets… — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
I think journalism is useful training for a writer in the way it takes the preciousness out of the pragmatic side of the craft. — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
“And the view was suddenly clear to me. The world opened out to its grim beyonds and I realized that, at forty, one must… — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
The short story is a very natural mode of storytelling; most stories can be told quickly. I always think of them as like a… — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
I don't quite operate within the realist mode. I kind of push the stories out towards the cusp of believability - that's the area… — Kevin Barry Copy Share Image
