Eibhear Walshe (1962-2024)
The Bowen Society would like to express its sincere condolences to the partner, family, and friends of Eibhear Walshe, writer, academic, and Bowen specialist.
Eibhear delivered the Bowen Society’s Annual Birthday Lecture in June and it was a warm, wonderful tribute, centred around his novel The Last Day at Bowens Court (2020).
He edited 2009 collection of essays Elizabeth Bowen, as well as Elizabeth Bowen Remembered: The Farahy Addresses (1998), and Elizabeth Bowen’s Selected Irish Writings (2011).
Eibhear was Director of Creative Writing in the School of English at University College Cork. He was a prolific writer in memoir, fiction, literary criticism, and biography. His other books included Kate O’Brien: A Writing Life (2006), Oscar’s Shadow: Wilde and Ireland (2011), and A Different Story: the Writings of Colm Tóibín (2013), as well as historical novels on Bowen, Handel, and Mary Travers.
Eibhear will be very much missed in Bowen studies and beyond.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.
Season’s Greetings to everyone from the Elizabeth Bowen Society. Thanks for following our work – and take a look at our Tweets on the right if you haven’t already.
Despite the problems 2021 has brought, we’re delighted that some Bowen-related events have worked so well: our reading groups focusing on her short stories; ‘An Evening at Bowen’s Court’, an online event in September, and some of our members meeting at the annual commemorative service at Farahy, Co. Cork, in September.
There have also been many new publications related to Bowen this year – take a look at the ‘New Bowen Publications’ tab which will be updated soon, and reviews in the Elizabeth Bowen Review, volume 4 of which was released in October. We’re looking forward to working on volume 5, and hope to organise some small events in 2022. 2023 will bring us the fiftieth anniversary of Bowen’s death and the centenary of her first publication, so we will be marking this with a bigger event – hopefully the world will be more normal then!
Wishing everyone a safe and prosperous New Year – we hope to see you soon!
