Still writing at eighty plus, Broadstone author Brendan Lynch has completed what he says might be his last book. Dublin’s Graftonia A Very Literary Neighbourhood is his tenth book and the final of four on Dublin’s rare literary history – and the book, says Brendan took him two gruelling years to complete. “But someone had to do it!”
He explains: ‘Grafton Street with its five thousand Euro bags is probably the last place one would associate with struggling writers and poets. Yet it was on this street that Oscar Wilde and W B Yeats first saw themselves in print in the street’s many nineteenth century magazines.
‘And it was a chance meeting between Yeats and retired revolutionary John O’Leary at 116 Grafton Street which kickstarted the Irish Literary Revival. James Joyce was first published on nearby Stephen’s Green, while other writers associated with the area include Jonathan Swift, Bram Stoker, Samuel Beckett, poets Thomas Moore and Patrick Kavanagh and the irrepressible Brendan Behan.’
Distinguished visitors included Walter Scott, whose carriage was pulled through the streets of Dublin by admirers. Also revolutionary poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, novelist Anthony Trollope, who set all his early books in Ireland, and Charles Dickens, who visited Dublin three times in the mid 1800s.’
Dublin’s Graftonia is expected to be launched in Dublin in October next. Watch out for a webpage Graftonia but you can email the author Brendan at [email protected].
Lissa Oliver, who wrote the foreword stated: “In addition to Patrick Kavanagh and Brendan Behan, I will think of their illustrious neighbours like Bram Stoker, Sheridan Le Fanu, Lady Morgan and many more the next time I trip down Grafton Street. I will never view Graftonia in the same light again!“
See previous articles on Brendan: https://dublingazette.com/dublinlocalmatters/news/brendan-novel-43839/
and https://dublingazette.com/dublinlocalmatters/news/brendan-lynch-birthday-56423/
Also https://dublingazette.com/whats-on/entertainment/memoir-brendan-lynch-30988/
Feature photo shows Brendan doing a 15km cycle in Phoenix Park to celebrate his 85th birthday with his wife
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