Marley & Me: An Evening with John Grogan

Posted on: 02 October 2018

US bestselling author to share his thoughts on memoir and memory at Trinity public event

American journalist and author of the bestseller ‘Marley & Me’ John Grogan will give a public talk and interview in Trinity College Dublin on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2018.

Hosted by the School of English and the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing, Trinity, the event, ‘Marley & Me: An Evening with John Grogan’, is free and open to the public.

At the event John Grogan will talk about his work which also includes the American bestseller The Longest Trip Home: A Memoir and numerous children’s books. The event will also feature an ‘in conversation’ style interview with novelist and lecturer in creative writing Deirdre Madden, followed by a Q&A with the audience.

This public event forms part of a two-week visiting fellowship at Trinity where the author will meet with and give classes to students, including a masterclass in life writing to the students on the M.Phil in Creative Writing.  He will also talk about his work for younger readers with students on the Master’s programme in Children’s Literature.

“Like fiction, a successful narrative nonfiction piece should offer complex, well-drawn characters, an evocative sense of place, and escalating action that rises along a narrative arc, pulling the reader forward. It should have conflict and resolution, and it should leave the reader with a deeper understanding of the human condition. Unlike fiction, it must all be true, and that requires reporting and a deep level of observation and documentation, even when writing about one’s own life.”

“Memory alone is not enough, and it is the memoirist’s duty to corroborate and challenge those recollections to assure they are as accurate as humanly possible. I am a firm believer in  journaling as a means of capturing a first draft of one’s personal history while it is fresh in the mind. I am also a bit of a hoarder when it comes to saving the breadcrumbs of day-to-day living — the receipts, credit card statements, calendar entries, correspondences, news clippings, photographs — that all combine to weave a detailed tapestry of a life.”

Details: ‘Marley & Me: An Evening with John Grogan’, Wed, October 3rd, 2018, 18:30 – 20:00, Thomas Davis Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin

Further information and registration details are available here: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/marley-me-an-evening-with-john-grogan-tickets-49607223541

Pjoptp

Note to Editors:

John Grogan is the author of the international number one bestseller ‘Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog’, which has sold six million copies in more than 30 languages and was turned into a major motion picture starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. He also is the author of the national bestseller The Longest Trip Home: A Memoir and of numerous children’s books. A native of Detroit, John spent twenty years as a journalist, investigative reporter, and newspaper columnist in Michigan, Florida, and most recently, at The Philadelphia Inquirer. His popular, award-winning column was known for its blend of humour, warmth, and pathos. He is the former editor of Rodale’s Organic Gardening magazine and an adjunct professor of creative narrative nonfiction writing at Lehigh University. In his free time, he enjoys gardening, backpacking, and sailing. He and his wife, Jenny, live with their two surprisingly calm Labrador retrievers in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley.

Photo credit: Fergal Phillips/The Sunday Business Post