Roddy Doyle in conversation with Paula Johnson at the award of the 2013 V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize.

‘We have sold the myth of Dublin as a sexy place incredibly well,’ Roddy Doyle has written of his home town, ‘because it is a dreary little dump most of the time.’ For nearly a quarter of a century now, Doyle has dug beneath the varnish into the realities of Irish domestic life both in novels – including The Commitments and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, winner of the 1993 Booker Prize – and in short stories. Bullfighting (2011), was described as ‘one of the finest collections of short stories since James Joyce’s Dubliners‘. Doyle discusses the craft of writing with Paula Johnson, who runs the Royal Society of Literature’s prizes, and reads from his work.

The V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize is awarded for the best unpublished short story of the year. The V.S. Pritchett Prize for 2013 was awarded to Peter Adamson for his story Sahel which he reads.

The event is introduced by Blake Morrison and Daniel Mulhall, the Irish Ambassador.

Please note that this recording contains strong language.

Photo credit Mark Nixon.