Solas Nua and the Northern Ireland Bureau present:
A Reading & Conversation with Garrett Carr
supported by Madhatter DC
Belfast writer Garrett Carr visits DC to discuss his newly released debut novel, The Boy from the Sea, in conversation with Andrew Dolan.
WHEN: Friday May 16, 2025 at 7pm - 8pm. Doors and Cash Bar open at 6:30pm.
WHERE: Madhatter DC (1319 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC, 20036). This event takes place in the upstairs room and bar.
PRICE: Free to attend, but reservations are required. Donations welcome.
One of The Observer’s “Best Debuts of 2025”
“This is a surprising, tender and warm-hearted novel about a real place and real people: a gentle gift for spring.” -The Guardian
Join us for a drink and conversation with Belfast writer, Garrett Carr! Madhatter is quickly becoming one of our favorite places to meet Irish authors, and Garrett Carr will be with us to discuss his new debut novel, The Boy from the Sea. Garrett’s name might sound familiar – he penned the amazing travel book, The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland's Border.
The Madhatter cash bar opens at 6:30pm and Kramers Bookstore will be on-site to sell copies of the book (which comes out next week!). Come join us!
This event is made possible through the support of the Northern Ireland Bureau and Madhatter DC.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Ireland 1973, a baby boy is found on the beach of a close-knit fishing village. Fisherman Ambrose Bonnar offers to bring the child into his own family: his son, Declan, wife, Christine, and up the lane, Christine's sister and aging father. The townspeople remain fascinated by the baby, now named Brendan, as he grows into a strange yet charismatic young man.
The Boy from the Sea tells the story of a family and community, all thrown into turmoil by Brendan’s arrival. The family's fortunes rise and fall over the years—as do the town's, because nothing happens to one family here that doesn't happen to them all—as the forces of a voracious global economy and modernized commercial fishing wreak havoc on their way of life. In the village, Brendan and Declan are wildly different and often wildly at odds; out on the sea, Ambrose worries about his children, but cannot afford to tear his attention from the brutal work that keeps his family afloat. As the world around them keeps changing, the mystery of one boy’s origins pulls them all toward a surprising, stormy fate.
Both outrageously funny and incredibly moving, The Boy from the Sea is a dazzling novel from a major new voice in Irish literature.
“In the difficulty of these characters’ lives is a sense of real connection that gives the book a kind of lightness … This is a surprising, tender and warm-hearted novel about a real place and real people” – The Guardian
“Wry, observant, various and thoughtful, a book that gathers momentum like a westerly, the crash of consequences giving way to a late calm, the reader left with a stunned impression of the storm that just blew over” – The Irish Times
"Carr’s story is both expansive and intimate, funny and warm, while also psychologically acute. And it carries a cargo hold full of feeling beneath the decks. The result is immersive in the best way" – The Herald
“A novel that is warm, full of lightly worn wisdom and wit. It is a joy" – Sunday Times
Garrett Carr teaches creative writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen's University Belfast. His non-fiction, The Rule of the Land: Walking Ireland's Border, was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. The Boy From The Sea is his debut novel. Instagram: @garrett___carr
