A conversation with two brave female authors who write about contemporary life in today’s world, illustrating with no compunction that language matters when it comes to creating fictional characters, landscapes and situations to help us understand what it means to live in our world today.
Mónica Müller’s book Mi papá alemán is a search for answers to unresolved questions about the past, and explores the limits of true knowledge. A daughter’s relationship with the father she looks up to, her memories of Argentina in the 60s, and being confronted with a truth she didn’t know or didn’t want to see. Meanwhile, Clare Kilroy tell us the rough experience of the first chaotic years of motherhood, narrated through an internal monologue, that of the mother in her last novel Soldier Sailor. The epistolary Aguas de estuario by Velia Vidal is the story of the author's return to Chocó, which represents a return to the Afro-Colombian community, her family and the sea, accompanied by the construction of a cultural and literary environment and a commitment to happiness.
We have the privilege of listening in to these writers who point out and name the issues of our day, because what is not named does not exist: the complexities of motherhood, immigration, inequality, the search for dignity, and imprudent decision making, all as experienced by characters who face the best and worst of themselves and of contemporary society.
Moderator: Catherine Barbour
Biographies
Claire Kilroy is the author of five novels, All Summer (Faber, 2003), Tenderwire (Faber, 2006), All Names Have Been Changed (Faber, 2009), and The Devil I Know (Faber, 2012). Her fifth novel, Soldier Sailor was published after an eleven year silence to universal acclaim. Kilroy won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2004. She studied at Trinity College and lives in Dublin.
Mónica Müller is an Argentinian doctor and writer. She has published novels and short stories, as well as popular science books on medical topics. Her most recent books include Mi papá alemán (Seix Barral, 2018), an autofiction on her father’s life in Argentina, and Sobre lo natural (Vinilo, 2023), a short critical essay on fashions in health and nutrition.
Velia Vidal is a Colombian writer who loves the sea and shared readings. She was BBC 100 Women 2022: list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world. She published Chocó: selva, Lluvia, río y mar (Lazo libros, 2023), Para vernos mejor (Laguna libros, 2022) and Aguas de estuario. She is the founder and director of the Motete Educational and Cultural Corporation and the Chocó Reading and Writing Festival (FLECHO).
Dr. Catherine Barbour is Head of the Department of Hispanic Studies at Trinity College Dublin, specialised in contemporary Hispanic cultural studies. Her work has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals and she is author of the book Contemporary Galician Women Writers.
