IN PICTURES: Major international conference celebrating Strabane literary genius Flann O’Brien

A major international conference dedicated to the Strabane genius Flann O’Brien is underway in the Co. Tyrone town.

The 8th International Flann O’Brien Conference is celebrating the legendary writer Brian O'Nolan, who was born in Strabane in 1911, and who, writing under the noms de plume Flann O’Brien and Myles na gCopaleen, was regarded one of the greatest Irish writers of the 20th century.

O’Brien’s first novel ‘At Swim-Two-Birds’ (1939) – a riotous metafiction featuring stories within stories and characters rebelling against their authors – and his posthumously published The Third Policeman (1967) – a surreal journey through a fictionalised rural Ireland as a circular hell – are considered among the greatest works of the 20th century.

Jointly hosted by the International Flann O’Brien Society and Strabane History Society the conference marks a significant return to O ’Nolan’s birth town, Strabane.

Its theme this year is ‘An Fód Dúchais: Home, Heritage and Origins’.

The town, with its unique geographical and historical position perfectly embodies themes of fluidity and contested spaces — concepts central to O’Brien's satirical and often surreal literary output.