Novelist, poet and playwright Owen Sheers gives public lecture at Swansea University

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Acclaimed novelist, poet and playwright Owen Sheers will present a public lecture at Swansea University on Monday 12 October to mark his new role within the Research Institute for Arts and Humanities (RIAH) as Professor in Creativity.

Owen SheersIn his lecture entitled: 'SLOW BURN, HOT HOUSE: Losing, obscuring and forgetting in the growth of a novel', Professor Sheers will discuss the genesis, failures and aspirations that fuelled the writing of his latest novel, I Saw A Man.

Illustrated with readings and followed by a Q & A with the audience, Professor Sheers will explore the intimate and often contradictory process of creating a new work of fiction, asking along the way how and why we come to tell the stories we do, and for whom, in the end, are they told?

The lecture will take place in the Faraday Lecture Theatre, Swansea University Singleton Campus at 6.30pm.  There will be an open reception prior to the lecture from 6.00 pm in the Faraday Foyer.  All welcome.  Admission is free.

For tickets, please visit: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/public-lecture-by-professor-owen-sheers-tickets-18791909106.  Enquiries:  riah@swansea.ac.uk. Telephone: 01792 295190.

 

Professor Owen Sheers - Biography

Owen Sheers is a novelist, poet, and playwright and Professor in Creativity at Swansea University. He is the author of two collections of poetry, The Blue Book and Skirrid Hill and the award-winning verse drama Pink Mist, while his non-fiction includes The Dust Diaries and Calon:  A Journey to the Heart of Welsh Rugby. Twice winner of Welsh book of the Year Owen has written several plays including The Passion, Mametz and The Two Worlds of Charlie F., winner of the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award. He has been a NYPL Cullman Fellow, Artist in Residence for the Welsh Rugby Union, and is an honorary life fellow of the IWA. His latest novel, I Saw A Man (Faber, 2015) has been published across Europe and North America and is longlisted for the Prix Femina.

 

I Saw a ManI Saw A Man

After the sudden loss of his wife, Michael Turner moves to London and quickly develops a close friendship with the Nelson family next door. Josh, Samantha and their two young daughters seem to represent everything Michael fears he may now never have: intimacy, children, stability and a family home. Despite this, the new friendship at first seems to offer the prospect of healing, but then a catastrophic event changes everything. Michael is left bearing a burden of grief and a secret he must keep, but the truth can only be kept at bay for so long.

Moving from London and New York to the deserts of Nevada, I Saw A Man is a brilliant exploration of violence, guilt and attempted redemption, written with the pace and grip of a thriller. Owen Sheers takes the reader from close observation of the domestic sphere to some of the most important questions and dilemmas of the contemporary world.


'A prodigiously talented writer… sharp, taut and often lyrically beautiful language'
- The New York Times

'A profound meditation on memory and mourning' - The Observer

'A rare and luscious treat for the reader' - The Times