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heritage · Friday 9 October 2026 · 8:00pm 
John McGahern: A Writing Life
At The Dock · St George's Terrace, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim
At The Dock · St George's Terrace, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim
Frank Shovlin launches his new biography of John McGahern at The Dock on Friday, 9 October 2026, in conversation with writer and broadcaster Sinead Gleeson. McGahern lived and farmed for over three decades in south Leitrim, and the county’s lakes, drumlins and small towns run through his major novels, including Amongst Women and That They May Face the Rising Sun. The evening marks the national launch of Shovlin’s biography, John McGahern: A Writing Life, billed by its publisher as the definitive account of one of Ireland’s greatest post-war writers.
Shovlin, who has spent years researching McGahern’s letters, interviews and archival material, will talk through the writer’s life and the relationships and places that shaped his fiction. Sinead Gleeson, who has discussed McGahern’s work at length on RTE Radio 1’s The Book Show, joins him for the conversation, which runs for around 80 minutes. Expect discussion of McGahern’s precise, unsentimental prose style, his fraught relationship with his father, the 1965 banning of his novel The Dark, and his long, quiet second act as a farmer and writer in south Leitrim after leaving Dublin and teaching. Copies of the biography will be available to buy on the night, with a signing to follow the conversation. The event is presented by The Dock in Carrick-on-Shannon, the county’s main arts venue, and is likely to draw readers from across the north west given McGahern’s standing in Irish literature.
The Dock is on St George’s Terrace in Carrick-on-Shannon town centre, a short walk from the bus stop and from Carrick-on-Shannon railway station, which sits on the Dublin to Sligo line. The venue is just off the N4, with several public car parks nearby in the town.
Carrick-on-Shannon is the county town, built along the River Shannon, with a working marina, independent shops and pubs on the same streets as The Dock. There is more to see in Carrick-on-Shannon and across Co. Leitrim.
Heading to The Dock in Carrick-on-Shannon? Leitrim has plenty more to see. Read the Carrick-on-Shannon area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.