Join guest interviewer Diarmaid Ferriter for this very special event to launch Neil Jordan's The Ballad of Lord Edward and Citizen Small.

About this Event
‘A masterwork from one of the most inventive artists of our day.‘ – JOHN BANVILLE

Join this very special event to celebrate the launch of Neil Jordan's newest novel, The Ballad of Lord Edward and Citizen Small. Diarmaid Ferriter will lead the conversation with Neil Jordan as they discuss the history behind The Ballad, the blend of fact and fiction in this ‘masterwork', and the themes of empire, captivity and freedom.

From multi-award-winning author and film director Neil Jordan comes The Ballad of Lord Edward and Citizen Small. This powerful new work of fiction brings Jordan’s inimitable storytelling ability to the drama of real events and a long-forgotten chapter in Ireland’s history.

The tale is related by Tony Small, a runaway slave who becomes Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s manservant and friend. While details of Lord Edward’s life are well documented, little is known of Tony Small who rescued Fitzgerald after the Battle of Eutaw Springs during America’s War of Independence and returned with him to Europe. In this gripping narrative his character considers the ironies of empire, captivity and freedom, mapping Lord Edward’s journey from being a loyal subject of the British Empire to becoming a 1798 rebellion leader.

The story embraces a rich cast of characters as action weaves from the Carolinas to London and Dublin, from the ferment of Paine and Robespierre’s revolutionary Paris to Tournai and Hamburg, returning to Ireland for its tragic, inevitable denouement.
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Neil Jordan is an Irish film director, screenwriter and author. His first book, Night In Tunisia, won the Guardian Fiction Prize (1979). Since then he has published seven novels, for which he was awarded the Irish PEN Lifetime Achievement Award (2004). In 1996 the French Ministry of Culture awarded him the title of Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His films have won world-wide recognition, including an Academy Award (The Crying Game), two Golden Lions at Venice (Michael Collins), a Silver Bear in Berlin (The Butcher Boy) and several BAFTAs (Mona Lisa, The End of The Affair). He lives in Dublin.

Diarmaid Ferriter is professor of Modern Irish History at University College Dublin and is one of Ireland's most renowned historians. His research focuses on the social, political and cultural history of twentieth-century Ireland. The author of numerous books, he is the most consistently innovative interpreter of the modern Irish historical experience. In addition to writing a weekly newspaper column, he is a familiar presence in the broadcast media on historical and other subjects.