BRIAN LYNCH

bio| poetry|theatre| art|film/tv|fiction|links| news|contact

Poet, playwright, screenwriter, art critic and novelist.

main news

The Winner of Sorrow, a novel about the poet William Cowper (1731-1800), published on October 11, 2005 by New Island Books, Dublin.
Nominated with five other books for the Hughes & Hughes Novel of the Year Award, which in the event was won by John Banville's 'The Sea'.

From the report of the award ceremony by Eileen Battersby in the Irish Times, March 2 2006:

'While the €10,000 Hughes and Hughes Irish Novel of the Year seemed destined for Banville's The Sea, this category's shortlist selection drew deserved attention to one of the finest Irish books of recent years, Brian Lynch's beautiful novel The Winner of Sorrow, which was published by Irish publisher New Island Books. Based on the life of the 18th-century English poet William Cowper, this graceful and witty narrative is a study of an eccentric genius which makes brilliant use of the respective nuances of Regency social history as well as the darker themes of guilt and psychological tragedy. If Banville always looked the winner, he had worthy competition in Lynch.'

See also quotes below, and/or click on the following link for:

REVIEWS OF THE WINNER OF SORROW

Visual Diaries - Fifty Years of Tony O’Malley’s Sketchbooks, a 166 page book with more than 200 illustrations, selected and introduced by Brian Lynch and published by the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, to coincide with an exhibition curated by Brian Lynch in the Butler Gallery commencing on October 15, 2005.
ISBN number: 0-9548635-1-8.

Pity for the Wicked, published in June 2005 by the Duras Press, a book-length poem about Northern Ireland, with a preface by Conor Cruise O’Brien. Gerald Dawe reviewing it in The Irish Times said: ‘‘Brian Lynch’s extraordinary testament is like a shattering alarm in the middle of the night.’’

Quotes about
The Winner of Sorrow

‘‘At once moving, instructive and slyly funny - that rare thing, a recuperation of a poet by a poet. ’’
- John Banville, The Irish Times Books of the Year 2005

‘‘One of the finest Irish books of recent years.’’
- Eileen Battersby, The Irish Times

‘‘The Winner of Sorrow is a novel based on the life of the gentle poet, William Cowper - an evocation of his bizarre households and the wider world of late-eighteenth-century England as loving as it is deeply imagined and wholly original. Brian Lynch’s book is a brilliant tragi-comedy, aswirl with contradictory emotions - piety and passion, pity and fear, despair and hope, madness and practicality. Seen from so insightful a perspective.Cowper's wildly troubled life is a thriller, and the reader is tempted to rush forward with the plot. Can the women who love William heal the wounds caused by loss? Can peace ever descend on his turbulent spirit? At the same time, one reads as slowly as possible, the better to prolong the encounter with a book that satisfies on many levels - that is profoundly serious, but also warm, witty, and very beautiful.’’
- Nuala O Faolain

‘‘If you want the low-down and high-down on the delicate, brutal reality of a poet’s life, you must read The Winner of Sorrow.’’
- Paul Durcan

‘‘Beautifully written, poignant, witty and profound.’’
- Clare Boylan

‘‘The Winner of Sorrow is not just a remarkably vivid excursion into the mind of a remarkable poet cut adrift by genius, but also a brilliant re-imagining of an extraordinary age.’’
- Dermot Bolger

‘‘A wonderful book.’’
- Arminta Wallace, Irish Times

‘‘A wonderful book.’’
- Rachel Andrews, Sunday Tribune

‘‘A triumph.’’
- Siobhan Hegarty, Sunday Independent

‘‘A Cowper for our times.’’
- Tony Seward, Cowper and Newton Bulletin

updated 31 March 2006
copyright & privacy   sitemap