Paul Murray: The Bee Sting

"People have crazy lives," says Paul Murray. "The stuff that happens to – quote-unquote – ordinary folks is very operatic."

Case in point: his Booker Prize shortlisted The Bee Sting which follows an unravelling household in the Irish Midlands who embody Tolstoy's proverb about unhappy families. Paul's third novel has been acclaimed by critics as “generous, expansive and glorious as a cathedral” (The Guardian).

One of three superb Irish writers at this year's Sydney Writers' Festival, this is your chance to catch Paul solo, in conversation with Kate Evans (ABC RN's The Bookshelf).

Paul Murray is the Dublin-born author of four acclaimed novels – An Evening of Long Goodbyes, Skippy Dies, The Mark and the Void and The Bee Sting, which won the An Post Book of the Year and the Nero Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

Kate Evans presents The Bookshelf on ABC Radio National (with co-host Cassie McCullagh). She has a PhD in history, too many books, and a tendency to over use post-it notes for fear of forgetting a beautifully-turned phrase.


This event is presented in partnership with Sydney Writers’ Festival.