Sunday, February 19, 2012

In conversation with Colin Neill // Turas - a story of strangers in a strange land // 21 February at 7.30pm

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It’s 2020 and the Irish unification that unionists and loyalists confidently predicted would never happen has become a reality. President Adams is ensconced in Phoenix Park. A group of men from a Lurgan church meet regularly for Bible study. The societal events around them are shaking their faith and challenging their identity as they adapt to these new norms.

Irish for ‘journey’, Turas is a novel written by new author Colin Neill. I reviewed it last year in a blog post and included a brief Q&A with Colin.

Colin and his novel are the focus of Contemporary Christianity’s next In Conversation event at 7.30pm on Tuesday 21 February in a session entitled Imagining a united Ireland: the novelist's opportunity.

Excerpts from turas – a story of strangers in a strange land will be read as well as lots of discussion. You don't need to have read the book in order to attend!

It’s a free event and everyone is welcome. Tea/coffee and biscuits beforehand and afterwards. Up on the third floor at 21 Ormeau Avenue, Belfast.

Update - the audio from Colin's talk is now embedded below. He spoke about his Christian journey, the particular influence of the shared chaplaincy at UUJ, as well as the structure of the book's plot.

4 comments:

Aly McLoughlin-Harte said...

How did it go? Sounds like an interesting enough read!

Alan in Belfast (Alan Meban) said...

Aly - Just checked and the audio is now available from CC. I've embedded it in the main post above. It was an interesting session - fascinating to hear about the eventual structure of the book - I hadn't noticed all the layers and devices when I read it. May have been in the Q&A afterwards which isn't in the clip above, but it was interesting to hear how reluctant mainstream religious reviewers - never mind churches - have been to mention the book's existence.

Somewhere round about said...

My local library has this in.....fascinating read.

David said...

With the latest election results, this book is starting to look more plausible....