AMONG THE host of outstanding writers converging on Galway for this year’s Cúirt festival is the English poet, novelist, and memoirist Blake Morrison.
Born in Yorkshire in 1950, Morrison’s early years as a writer were defined by his literary journalism for the TLS, Observer, and Independent on Sunday (serving as literary editor for each of the last two ) and his poetry. He has since gone on to write across a range of genres including novels, playscripts, and family memoir.
His most successful books to date have been his two memoirs about his parents, And When Did You Last See Your Father? (1993 ) and Things My Mother Never Told Me (2002 ).
Both Morrison’s parents were physicians and his mother came from a large family in County Kerry. However Agnes O’Shea reinvented herself as Kim Morrison, effacing much of her Irish identity in order to make her way professionally and personally in post-WWII England. Exactly who she was and why she tried all her life to hide her true identity is what Morrison sets out to discover in his compelling and beautifully written memoir.
So to what extent, if any, does Morrison feel a personal sense of Irish identity?
“It’s there a bit,” he declares, speaking from his London home last Thursday morning. “Funnily enough I took my son to see England play Ukraine in the football last night and we were just saying that the only other one of the home countries we’d feel any attachment to is Ireland.
“We didn’t have much contact with the Irish side of the family growing up - I was only over there once. Still, I like to think that the more attractive, artistic, side of my nature comes from my Irish background. My initial interest in books and writing was probably more from my mother anyhow. Even though there weren’t a lot of books in our house, she was definitely more of a reader than my father ever was and she was a gentler, more encouraging spirit.”
Morrison is currently putting the finishing touches to a new novel, The Last Weekend.
“It’s set in a small rural village over this particular weekend,” he reveals, “and it focuses on a group of old university friends who have a get together and during the course of the weekend we see these male rivalries and jealousies bubble up. It’ll probably be next year though when the book is actually published.”
Seeing as he commenced his interview with a mention of England’s match against Ukraine, I ask Morrison about his noted passion for Burnley Football Club.
“I’ve followed them since I was a boy,” he acknowledges. “The part of Yorkshire where I grew up was close to the Lancashire border so I was probably nearer Burnley than Leeds geographically. At the time Burnley were in the top division so it was a natural choice to start following them. They’re going quite well again now under Owen Coyle and I’m hopeful that maybe I’ll get to see them in the top division again after all these years!”
Morrison also declares that he’s keenly looking forward to coming to Galway for Cúirt and has arranged to spend a few days in the area, taking in the sights and making the most of what will be his first visit to the city. While he hasn’t finally decided what he will read at Cúirt he thinks it likely he will read something from his memoir of his mother. Certainly it would make an apt choice and represent something of a homecoming both for his mother’s story and her part-Irish son.
Tickets are available from the Town Hall Theatre on 091 - 569777. Information can also be obtained from the Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, on 091 - 565886.
