Major international Flann O’Brien conference to be held in hometown of Strabane for first time in 2025
A major international conference dedicated to the legendary Strabane writer Flann O’Brien will be held in the Co. Tyrone town for the first time next year.
The International Flann O’Brien Society (IFOBS) is calling for papers for ‘An Fód Dúchais: Home, Heritage and Origins’ the 8th International Flann O’Brien Conference that will take place in the Alley Theatre next summer.
The society organises conferences, books, readings, screenings and events dedicated to the modernist genius who was born Brian O'Nolan in Strabane in 1911 and wrote under various noms de plume including Flann O’Brien and Myles na gCopaleen.
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.
Following conferences in Cluj (2023); Boston (2022); Dublin (2019); Salzburg (2017); Prague (2015); Rome (2013); Vienna (2011), the event will be hosted by the IFOBS, the Strabane Historical Society and the University of Notre Dame from June 24 to June 27, 2025.
Delegates will debate the latest research, trends and topics in the growing discipline of Flann O’Brien studies while also celebrating the life and work of one of Ireland greatest 20th-century prose writers.
"On the border between the Republic of Ireland and the North of Ireland, between the Lagan and Donegal, and at the confluence of the Rivers Mourne and Finn as they merge to form the River Foyle, Strabane served as a ‘second home’ for The O’Nolans/Na Nuallánaigh.
"An Srath Bán (the white river-holm) conveys notions of flooded plains, submerged levels, hidden spaces and liminal zones as well as contested and divided places and hybridity.
"‘Home’ is a key concept, a place of emotional and physical refuge to which the fortunate among us frequently long to return. Ideas of home are often expressions of a ‘nostalgia for the past’, alerting us to the present’s faults and fault lines,” the IFOBS stated.
O’Brien’s older brother Ciarán Ó Nualláin was also a writer who co-founded the Irish language newspaper Inniu and published a memoir ‘Oige an Dearthair’, a collection of essays ‘Amaidí’ and a novel ‘Oíche i nGleann na nGealt’.
“In addition to Flann O’Brien and Ciarán Ó Nualláin, Strabane is home to the hymn writer Cecil Frances Alexander of All Things Bright and Beautiful fame; and John Dunlap, printer of the American Declaration of Independence,” the organisers stated.
Participants are invited to address a variety of topics, including but not limited to: Flann and concepts of home/return; Flann and liminality; Flann and the uncanny; Flann and language; Flann and war/violence; Flann agus an Ghaeilge; Flann and topography; Strabane's influence on Flann; Flann and ideas of absence; Flann and hybridity; Flann and politics; Flann and gender; Flann and science; figures of duality & division in Flann; the Irish language in Tyrone; and Flann’s fiction and non-fiction
The registration fee is £50 for graduate students, and £80 for those in full time employment.
The fee covers admission, coffee breaks, and lunch. A subsidised banquet is available for an additional £20.
Paper proposals (20-minute papers, max 200 words abstracts and 5-line biographical note) should be submitted by December 1, 2024.