By Renée Hartleib |
On March 13, Canadian writer Emma Donoghue delivered this year’s Cyril Byrne Memorial Lecture. The annual lecture celebrates the life and spirit of Cyril Byrne, who during his 35-year career as an English professor at SMU, helped establish the school’s Atlantic Canada studies program and the D’Arcy McGee Chair of Irish Studies. Donoghue is an Irish-born writer whose work has been translated into more than 40 languages, whose from her eighth and latest novel, the New York Times bestseller Frog Music, is a murder mystery set in San Francisco in 1876. The crowd had an opportunity to ask questions of Donoghue and also listen to music by the dynamic local songwriter Erin Costelo. Donoghue’s 2010 novel Room, shortlisted for the Man Booker and Orange Prize, has been made into a film that will be released later this year.
