Masculinity in Fiction with Michael Winkler and Ryan O'Connor

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All Book Fringe events are FREE in person + online | no tickets required (but you can reserve them here to get a book/reminder of the event)

We're kicking off Book Fringe 2023 with an exciting conversation between Michael Winkler and Ryan O’Connor.

Michael’s Grimmish is a novel about real-life boxer Joe Grim, who distinguished himself in the early 20th century boxing world for his resilience and ability to withstand physical punishment. Ryan O’Connor’s The Voids is a story about modern-day Britain, set in around a high-rise in Glasgow, we follow an unnamed narrator through multiple situations of chaos.

These works tell unique stories of masculinities, asking questions and provoking conversations. This conversation opens this year’s Book Fringe here at Lighthouse as Micheal and Ryan join us to discuss masculinity in their respective fictions.

Playing with fictional and autobiographical narratives to draw unexpected parallels such as the pain of boxing and writing, J.M. Coetzee heralded Grimmish as ‘the strangest book you are likely to read this year’..

Benjamin Myers writes of O’Connor’s The Voids ‘By finding nobility in the Bosch-like mayhem, he proves himself a writer capable of revealing the humanity in everyone’

Michael and Ryan are joining Lighthouse as part of this year’s Book Fringe: ALT Edition in partnership with two other Edinburgh indie bookshops – Argonaut and Typewronger.

Read more about Book Fringe here

Our Speakers:

Michael Winkler is one of Australia’s most versatile writers. His novel Grimmish was shortlisted for the 2022 Miles Franklin Literary Award, the first and only time that a self-published novel has been shortlisted or longlisted. Grimmish was subsequently published by Puncher & Wattmann in Australia, Peninsula Press in the United Kingdom and Coach House Books in North America. Winkler won the Calibre Prize in 2016 for ‘The Great Red Whale’ an essay about Uluru, relationships between First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians, mental illness and Moby Dick. His non-fiction books have been on topics as disparate as sport, outback history and film. He regularly reviews books for Australian publications, writes for leading literary magazines and judges writing awards. Website: michaelwinkler.com.au

Ryan O’Connor received the Scottish Book Trust Next Chapter Award in 2018; later the same year he was Highly Commended in the Bridport Prize short story category. His debut novel, The Voids, was published by Scribe in 2022. Shortlisted for Scotland's National Book Awards, it has received widespread critical acclaim. In the Guardian, Benjamin Myers called it 'Luminous,' in the Scotsman Sturt Kelly declared it 'Remarkable … the most intriguing Scottish debut for a decade. While Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile said, 'I want to say this is a book God would like.' Ryan currently lives in Glasgow with his partner and two young sons.