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Articles by Jan Carson
Meath County Council's 'Writer's Way' to air in the United States
All News Extra Authors Lizzie Damilola Blackburn (L) and Alice Ryan (R) will feature in episode 1 Writer's Way, the television series produced by Meath County Council last year to showcase the heritage and culture of Meath and the Boyne Valley, is now available to watch on RTÉ Player. Presented by local broadcaster and farmer Darragh McCullough, the series centred on writers, with each episode following a different author on a personally curated journey through the county.
One Man’s Crazy Scheme to Create a New County in Northern Ireland
Rarely am I able to pinpoint precisely where a novel comes from. Patricia Highsmith once wrote, “ideas come to me like birds in the corner of my eye.” Until very recently this felt like an apt synopsis of my own creative process. An idea would appear, unbidden, on the edge of my awareness and loiter there, for months or years, ensuring I couldn’t focus on anything else. Worn down and exacerbated, I’d eventually get out my laptop and begin to write a book.
FEW AND FAR BETWEEN
An absorbing read for fans of family dramas, magical realism, and eco-fiction. Carson imagines what might have happened if Terence O’Neill, prime minister of Northern Ireland in the 1960s, had been allowed to move forward with his scheme to create a new county by emptying the country’s largest lake.
The Winter Guest by Sarah Moss
Imprint: Picador A short novel to gulp down in one sitting, The Winter Guest, from Sunday Times bestselling author, Sarah Moss, is an enthralling story about how the past will always come to find you in the end. 'Deliciously twisty. Destined to be one of those Christmas Eve classics' - Rachel Joyce 'Pure pleasure from start to finish' - Katherine Rundell Tell me the worst thing you’ve ever done. On Christmas Eve, in a hotel on Ireland’s west coast, a man and a woman meet for the first time.
Few and Far Between
Jan Carson. Scribner, $28 (336p) ISBN 978-1-6680-5663-9 On the eve of the Troubles, Northern Ireland’s largest lake is drained to form a new county, in this stunning alternative history from Carson (The Raptures). Years later, in 1972, anthropologist RJ Connolly moves there to study the inhabitants of the archipelago, nicknamed the Ark in part for its function as a refuge from sectarian violence.
Runaway Road by Sue Divin
Runaway Road is a moving story of family and belonging set in contemporary Northern Ireland. By Sue Divin, author of Truth Be Told. Perfect for fans of Margaret McDonald's Glasgow Boys. 'An absolutely gripping read, the sort of book it's impossible to put down.' - Jan Carson 'Moving, funny, cinematic, compelling' - Bernie McGill 'This powerful, immersive story explores difference and belonging with real compassion and thoroughly engaging wit' - Byddi Lee, author of Ezra is 16.
Queen’s Announces Seamus Heaney Fellows for 2024-25 - and two are from Ballymena!
Pictured L-R: Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn. The Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast has announced the appointments of Fiona Benson, Jan Carson, andDeclan Lawn and Adam Patterson as the new Seamus Heaney Centre Fellows for 2024-25.
Jan Carson on Capturing the Failures of Northern Ireland in Fiction
I was eighteen in 1998 when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. The peace deal would end the thirty-year conflict in Northern Ireland. At least that’s what I was banking on, as I packed my cases and moved thirty miles south to study literature at Queen’s University, Belfast. Article continues below Nearly thirty years earlier my father had made the same short journey. His university experience was radically different from mine: army patrols, nightly curfews, violence erupting sporadically.
Quickly, While They Still Have Horses: An Interview with Jan Carson
Send us a Text Message. Hi, This week, I'm in conversation with one of my favorite authors, Jan Carson. We talk about her latest release, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses, how growing up during the Troubles in Ireland fueled her passion for reaching across divided communities through writing and the arts, and how the Irish writing community supports fledgling writers. Enjoy, Mandy xo Jan Carson is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast.
Seaborne by Nuala O'Connor
The unknowables of the pandemic arrested my writing for a bit. I was sitting at my desk in 2020, worried about my sick father, unable to cross the country to visit home, and I didn’t have the headspace to write. But, to stay sane and balanced (sane-ish, at least), I have to write. So, I began to dredge up some of the stories swashing in my sea of ideas – possible future projects – and there was Anne Bonny: a young Irish woman, tried for piracy in Jamaica in the 1720s.
In Her Place by Edel Coffey
When my debut novel Breaking Point came out, I quickly wrote a second novel. But after sending the draft to my editor, I realised a different story had been percolating all the while. This story quickly took over as the one I really wanted to tell, and became my second novel, In Her Place. The story came from two separate ideas that I had been simmering on the backburner for what I thought would be two separate novels.
Council sells Slemish mountain to Japanese theme park - new story launches on BBC Radio 4
Local author Jan Carson's new story series 'Moving Mountains' is set to begin this weekend on BBC Radio 4. Ballymena-born Jan's newest five-part story is set in rural Northern Ireland, where the locals are horrified to learn that Slemish mountain - traditionally believed to be where Saint Patrick was brought to tend sheep before finding God - has been sold to a Japanese theme park.
On community - The Stinging Fly
I first attended the Edinburgh Festival in 1997. I stood outside the National Gallery with other youths in matching polos. We belted out choruses and distributed Bible tracts. When enough passersby stopped to glare, a youth leader with a megaphone would share the good news: anyone attending the Fringe was eternally damned. I was conflicted. If not for our efforts, the degenerate artists of Edinburgh were indeed going to Hell. And I knew I shouldn’t be ashamed of the Gospel.
About Us - The Emma Press
A taxi ride, a train trip, a family photo: in About Us, seemingly unremarkable journeys and mundane objects ripple with the repercussions of past decisions. All is not what it seems at a family wedding, a regretful father risks estranging his daughter, and a young woman is tormented by the cries of a baby that her partner cannot hear. Reda Gaudiamo’s characters charm, chafe and confound in a series of intimate snapshots of domestic relationships.
The Essay - Charles Aznavour in Five Songs - 1: Emmenez-moi, by Muriel Zagha - BBC Sounds
The Essay - Charles Aznavour in Five Songs - 1: Emmenez-moi, by Muriel Zagha - BBC Sounds Charles Aznavour in Five SongsCharles Aznavour in Five Songs 1: Emmenez-moi, by Muriel Zagha
Parables, Fables, Nightmares
Parables, Fables, Nightmares £8.99 A man jumps, the platform empties, then the stories begin. Filled with tales of tragedy, love, hope and frustration, Malachi McIntosh’s debut collection of short stories offers surreal and satirical accounts of the many perils of contemporary life. ‘But she didn’t see. She stands out in the street as it was, in the city as it was. She was right next to him, standing there right next to him, but she didn’t see.
How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart
Description 20-something and uncertain about her future, Florentyna Leow is exhilarated when an old acquaintance offers her an opportunity for work and cohabitation in a little house in the hills of Kyoto. Florentyna begins a new job as a tour guide, taking tourists on elaborate and expensive trips around Kyoto’s cultural hotspots.
Night-time Stories
Description Description A child waits for the tooth fairy; a mother spends a night watching a recording of the previous night; two women face the ghosts that haunted their grandmothers. The nights in these ten stories are thick and substantial, ambiguous and alluring. Eerie, magical, hushed and surprisingly alive, this anthology shows the night as a place where connections are made and daylit lives can be changed.
A Certain Degree of Ownership
Helter Skelter is a proud partner of the Desperate Literature Prize for Short Fiction. This story by Jan Carson was one of the final shortlisted entries for the prize in 2021. Sean says it isn’t safe, swimming alone. “No one will notice if you’re drowning,” he says. “If I’m going to die an undignified death,” I say, “I’d prefer not to have an audience.” Sean does not think death is something to joke about.
The Raptures - Signed Copies Available.
When several children from the same village start succumbing to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences. It is late June in Ballylack. Hannah Adger anticipates eight long weeks’ reprieve from school, but when her classmate Ross succumbs to a violent and mysterious illness, it marks the beginning of a summer like no other.
Pre-Order Now At Eason
by Jan Carson | 06 January 2022 PAPERBACK When several children from the same village start succumbing to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences. 'Original and compelling' MARIAN KEYES 'Utterly absorbing' LISA MCINERNEY Heart-rending, hilarious . . .
The Essay - Another Northern Ireland - Traybakes - BBC Sounds
Author Jan Carson on the women who kept her church supplied with tea and traybakes Read more
Online Creative Writing Workshop
Autumn 2022 will see the publication of an exciting new anthology of short stories which explore the theme of dementia in a variety of different ways. Edited by Belfast based novelist, Jan Carson and Dr Jane Lugea (Senior Lecturer in English Language at QUB), the anthology will feature new work by 12 of the most exciting prose fiction writers in the UK and Ireland alongside newly commissioned work from two emerging writers.
Dementia Fiction Festival - Programme
The festival takes place from 15th -16th September 2021. All events are free and accessible online. Book your place by clicking here. Dementia Fiction Festival 2021 Dementia is one of the most significant illnesses of our time, with 50 million people living with the condition and many more whose lives are affected. In the absence of a cure, the onus is on us as a society to better understand and respond to the challenge.
“Back to Blackbrick” by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald
Cosmo’s grandad is beginning to exhibit the early signs of Alzheimer’s. A team of social workers appear at the house he shares with his grandparents, hoping to test Grandad Kevin’s memory. If he doesn’t pass this memory test, Grandad will be dispatched to a nursing home. Cosmo is particularly close to his grandparents after his brother’s death and his mother’s subsequent move to Australia, leaves him living in their house.
Tory Island vanishing house: Neville Presho's mystery
By Nuala McCann BBC News NI image copyrightNeville Presho image captionNeville Presho's Tory Island retreat is the white building on the right - seen here before it "vanished" Picture a beautiful summer's day in July 1994. A man on a boat looks out across the Atlantic to the remote Irish island of Tory. He searches the distant shoreline for his home... the island retreat he hasn't seen in eight years.
Tory Island vanishing house: Neville Presho's mystery
By Nuala McCann BBC News NI image copyrightNeville Presho image captionNeville Presho's Tory Island retreat is the white building on the right - seen here before it "vanished" Picture a beautiful summer's day in July 1994. A man on a boat looks out across the Atlantic to the remote Irish island of Tory. He searches the distant shoreline for his home... the island retreat he hasn't seen in eight years.
Save the Date - Dementia Fiction Festival
We want to flag diary dates for our upcoming two-day festival/conference exploring dementia and fiction. It will take place at Accidental Theatre, Shaftesbury Square, Belfast on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th September 2021. The festival will be hosted by the project team and will include keynotes, panels, workshops and readings.
The Raptures
When several children from the same village start succumbing to a mysterious illness, the quest to discover the cause has devastating and extraordinary consequences. 'Original and compelling…chef’s kiss!' MARIAN KEYES 'Utterly absorbing' LISA MCINERNEY Heart-rending, hilarious . . . it's a belter' LOUISE KENNEDY 'One of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES It is late June in Ballylack.
The Last Resort
'Profoundly imagined characters, spiced with the off-kilter and deliciously mad . . . a work of great empathy and imagination' THE IRISH TIMES The season's just begun at Seacliff Caravan Park, but none of the residents are having a good time. Frankie is haunted by his daughter's death. Vidas, homeless and far from Lithuania, seeks sanctuary in an abandoned caravan. Anna struggles to shake off the ghost of her overbearing mother. Kathleen struggles to accept her daughter for who she is.
The voice is a leaky vessel
During the spring of 2020 I spent four months writing and mailing Postcard Stories to individuals isolating as a result of Covid-19. I received a range of unique responses from my recipients: an envelope stuffed full of postage stamps, a home-made recipe book, several paintings and a - much-appreciated - crate of wine. However, I was a little taken aback when an older lady contacted me, offering to buy my brother some summer clothes.
BBC NATIONAL SHORT STORY AWARD 2020 SHORT LIST ANNOUNCED Original
The shortlist for the 2020 BBC NSSAs. Clockwise from top left: Caleb Azumah Nelson, Jan Carson, Sarah Hall, Eley Williams, Jack Houston 2013 BBC NSSA winner and four-time nominated Sarah Hall joined by 26-year-old British-Ghanaian photographer Caleb Azumah Nelson, Creative Writing lecturer and James Tait Black Prize winner Eley Williams, poet and newcomer Jack Houston, and Belfast-based writer and 2019 EU Prize for Literature for Ireland winner Jan Carson to complete shortlist of writers...
The BBC National Short Story Award 2020
Featuring Jan Carson, Sarah Hall, Jack Houston, Caleb Azumah Nelson & Eley Williams A young woman’s birthday party is disturbed by the vision of a homeless man sleeping under an arrangement of mocking fruit... A late-night text conversation goes awry when a forwarded link to a live feed of gathering walruses doesn’t have its intended effect... A woman hopes a pending announcement to her in-laws will finally give her husband the attention he craves...
The Fire Starters
Synopsis **WINNER of the EU Prize for Literature** 'One of the most exciting and original Northern Irish writers of her generation' SUNDAY TIMES 'Gripping, affecting, surprising. I inhaled it' LISA MCINERNEY 'Captivating, intelligent and courageous' IRISH TIMES 'Spectacular. At once grittily real, wildly magical and insanely alluring - a siren-song of a novel. DONAL RYAN 'Jan Carson seems to have invented a new Belfast in this gripping, surprising, exhilarating novel.
Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai
Description Tiny Moons is a collection of essays about food and belonging. Nina Mingya Powles journeys between Wellington, Kota Kinabalu and Shanghai, tracing the constants in her life: eating and cooking, and the dishes that have come to define her. Through childhood snacks, family feasts, Shanghai street food and student dinners, she attempts to find a way back towards her Chinese-Malaysian heritage.
Kin - Writing Home
Photographs by Nate Grubbs Jan Carson is a writer from Ballymena. She currently resides in east Belfast, and with this in mind, has written an essay exclusively for Kin. The idea stemmed from a notion about how a sense of place and having Northern Irish roots has influenced her writing.
Jan Carson
Jan Carson 'Spectacular. At once grittily real, wildly magical and insanely alluring - a siren-song of a novel.' DONAL RYAN Dr Jonathan Murray fears his new-born daughter might not be as harmless as she seems. Sammy Agnew is wrestling with his dark past, and fears the violence in his blood lurks in his son, too. The city is in flames and the authorities are losing control.
Fire-Safety Failures Again Highlight Lack of Independent Oversight
Oppermann Associates, which was also the architect on the troubled Priory Hall development, was architect on at least one of the schools recently found to have fire-safety defects. In a written statement entitled “Belmayne Temporary Schools”, Oppermann said that all of the schools were designed to be in compliance with the fire-safety certificate, building regulations, and Department of Education and Skills guidance documents.
Read the winners to our Short Story competition 2016 here
The annual short-story competition celebrates the magazine's long tradition of publishing great writers. This year, Justine Picardie, Sarah Chalfant of the Wylie Agency, Bazaar's Erica Wagner, the author Jill Dawson and Alexandra Pringle of Bloomsbury met over lunch at 8 Mount Street in Mayfair to judge the entries. The prize was jointly won by the Oxford-based writer Daisy Johnson and the Northern Irish author, Jan Carson, whose latest book Children's Children (Liberties Press) is out now.
An Evening of [Short] stories | Events at Waterstones Bookshops | Waterstones
Join us for ‘An Evening of Stories’, with three new, bold and different collections by acclaimed writers; Eley Williams, Jan Carson and Gregory Norminton. The evening will feature readings from all the collections, followed by a short writers discussion and Q&A. Afterwards you will have the opportunity to have your booked signed. Eley Williams’s Attrib. and other stories celebrates the tricksiness of language just as it confronts its limits.
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