In Conversation with Paul Murray on The Bee Sting

Join us for an evening with Paul Murray, author of the internationally acclaimed novel The Bee Sting. With his compelling family saga The Bee Sting (nominated for the Booker Prize), Irish author Paul Murray broke through to a wider audience. Through the portraits of four family members, Murray explores the rise and fall of social status and the stifling atmosphere of a small rural village, all set against the backdrop of a crumbling Ireland. With Murray, we discuss blending tragedy with humor, capturing the absurdity of modern life, and analyzing society through the lens of the family novel. About the speakers: Paul Murray (1975) is the author of An Evening of Long Goodbyes (shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award), Skippy Dies (longlisted for the Booker Prize), and The Mark and the Void (winner of the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize). His latest novel, The Bee Sting, was shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize and widely praised for its ambition, humor, and emotional depth. Born and based in Dublin, Murray is celebrated for his ability to blend comedy and tragedy into unforgettable storytelling. Maaike Meijer (1949) is emeritus professor of Gender Studies, biographer and publicist. She has written about literature, popular culture, feminism and gender theory. In 2011, her biography of M. Vasalis (nominated for the Golden Owl and Biography Prize) was published, and in 2018, that of F. Harmsen van Beek (nominated for the Biography Prize and shortlisted for the Bookspot Literature Prize). In 2023, her book Radeloze helden was published, the imagination of masculinity in literature and film. Charlotte Remarque (1998) is an editor at De Groene Amsterdammer where she writes reviews and essays. Her work has also appeared in the Volkskrant and De Nederlandse Boekengids. She’s host of the podcast Boeken FM with Ellen Deckwitz and Joost de Vries.