Reading by Michael Harding at Maynooth University Library

It was wonderful to have Michael Harding come to read in Maynooth University Library last night (18th November). Michael was ordained in Maynooth in 1980, the same year I graduated from the College.  He was really interested to see the modern-day campus and the University Library.  Originally from Cavan, Micheal and his wife sculptor Cathy Carmen now live in Leitrim.

A number of  Michael's plays have been produced by the Abbey Theatre and other Irish theatre companies. He is the author of five novels: Priest, The Trouble with Sarah Gullion, Bird in the Snow, Staring at Lakes and Hanging with the Elephant. He was Writer in Association with the National Theatre in 1993, and Writer Fellow at Trinity College in 2001. His numerous literary awards include the Stewart Parker Theatre Bursary in 1990 and the Bank of Ireland/ RTE award for excellence in the Arts in the same year. He won the Hennessy Literary Award for short stories in 1980 and became a member of Aosdána in 2000.

 Michael's first parish was in Derrylin, Fermanagh. Sister Majella McCarron, who donated the Ken Saro-Wiwa collection to Maynooth University Library, grew up on Derrylin and was one of over one hundred people who enjoyed the reading.