A conversation with John McGahern 

In this edition of HoCoPoLitSo’s The Writing Life, author and musician Terence Winch speaks with John McGahern in 1993, at the peak of his career. Called by The Observer “the greatest living Irish novelist” before his death in 2006, McGahern talks about optimism, pessimism and the centrality of image to his work. Author of Amongst Women, The Dark, and The Barracks, this County Leitrim writer asserts the essential morality of writing, his distaste for the notion of artist as hero, and the influence of American fiction on his work. McGahern reads a passage from Amongst Women. For more information about programs HoCoPoLitSo offers, or to donate to the nonprofit, visit www.hocopolitso.org.