By Dan Walsh at Red Books, Wexford
Courtown Harbour writer Anne Ireton has completed her second novel Bohemian Whirlpools which was launched by celebrated Wexford-born playwright Billy Roche in Red Books, Wexford, this afternoon.
Fans of Ireton’s debut novel Kaleidoscopic Times can now follow the further adventures of the unconventional cast of characters who enlivened that book, including Fiachra, Flaps, Sinead, Austin, Aisling and Voodoo, as they continue to live their lives out there on the edge.
Ireton’s prolific writing has established a large following over the last few years across the county, country, and she even boasts international fans.
Anne Ireton’s Bohemian Whirlpools is a wild and authentic trip through the abyss, squats and beaches where art, friendship and chaos all blur together. These are stories from the edge, told with a sharp eye and a full heart.
From London to Wexford, Ireton follows the drifters, lovers and dreamers who live by their own code. It’s messy, it’s funny, it’s dark, and it’s all true enough to sting.
Edited by Álanna Hammel with a foreword by Wally O’Neill, the book catches the beauty in the wreckage, the music in the noise. It’s a reminder of a time when art mattered more than rent, when friendship came before profit, and when dropping out was a kind of virtue.
Wally O’Neill’s foreword for Bohemian Whirlpools clearly establishes exactly who this writer is and what her writing is all about.
He said; “Anne Ireton is a writer of literary fiction. She draws from master chroniclers of the human condition as well as from her own rich experiences of fringe culture. Her aim must be to document the unruly heart of modern life.
“Ireton captures the brutal dark comedy of survival on the margins in the spirit of Irvine Welsh. She knows that art, music and friendship can hold back the ultimate slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,” added Wally.
Today’s launch consisted of readings, music, culture and friendship and attracted a full attendance. Anne-Marie O’Byrne Hammel acted as master of ceremonies.
The Gorey launch of Bohemian Whirlpools takes place on Thursday, October 16th at 7pm in Gorey Library.
Anne Ireton is from Courtown Harbour with two published anthologies of poetry and prose to her credit – Sunset and Indigo Corners (2020) and Zeitgeist – Spirit of Our Times (2022).
Her debut novel Kaleidoscopic Times was published by Red Books Press in 2023. Bohemian Whirlpools is the sequel. Both of her novels are in the genre of cult fiction.
Bohemian Whirlpools by Anne Ireton, edited by Alanna Hammel, 334 pages, paperback, €18, published by Red Books Press, available at Red Books, St. Peter’s Square, Wexford.
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