PAUL DURCAN

PAUL DURCAN – READING FROM THE DAYS OF SURPRISE

A Paul Durcan public reading is like no other. Audiences come away drained and cleansed as if from a secular mass. He can be funnier than any stand-up, dramatic as many an actor, but once heard, the sotto voce incantatory style is never forgotten.

In the year following his Irish Book Awards' Lifetime Achievement Award, Durcan returns, in his 70th year, with a wonderful new collection, The Days of Surprise, in which he muses upon the ‘precrucifixionscenario’ of being prepared for surgery, the joy of retail therapy,the horror that is wheel-clamping, the ‘starrymystique’ of the weather forecaster Jean Byrne,suicide, bird-watching, stammering, art, Mayo,New York City, New Zealand, murder in Syria andthe commemoration of 1916.

Perhaps the greatestsurprise is the voice of the late Seamus Heaneycoming down his chimney: ‘Are you all right downthere, Poet Durcan?’ The Days of Surpriseis proofthat the great poet of contemporary Ireland is infine fettle.

Tickets £8.00