John Kelly is joined by novelist Joe O’Connor, writer and broadcaster Fiona Looney and journalist Peter Murphy.
Up for discussion: acclaimed Irish film Garage, starring Pat Shortt, Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje, Kebab, an Irish-Romanian play at the Dublin Theatre Festival and Bruce Springsteen’s new album Magic.
Film: Garage by Lenny Abrahamson
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Adam and Paul, Prosperity), Pat Shortt and Anne-Marie Duff star in Garage, a tale of slow-witted Josie who looks after the local garage in the small town when the owner is away, and whose befriending of 15-year-old David (Conor Ryan) goes tragically wrong due to a misunderstanding.
Theatre: Kebab by Gianina Carbunariu
London’s Royal Court and Pentabus Theatre Company bring this new play to the 50th Dublin Theatre Festival. Modern Dublin provides the setting, as shown through the eyes of young Romanian writer Gianina Carbunariu, for the tale of a young Romanian couple who move here to make a better life for themselves.
Book: Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje
Divisadero is the San Francisco street which is home to one of Ondaatje’s characters, a name according to the author which means dividing line, and indeed this latest novel is a book of two halves, the first played out in 1970s California and the second in the south of France before World War 1. Ondaatje reprises his habitual theme of doomed romance, and the narrative is centred around Anna, the character who connects the two scenarios, moving from the US to France to research the life of an author Lucien Segura whose house she is living in.
Music: Magic by Bruce Springsteen
Magic, featuring 11 new Springsteen songs, is Bruce Springsteen’s new studio recording and his first with the E Street Band in five years, set for release by Columbia Records on October 2, 2007.