Today June 6th it was announced the IMPAC Literary Award Winner for 2013 is Kevin Barry for his wonderful novel City of Bohane. We caught up with the author to find out how he felt about winning the prize which guaranteed him €100,000 as prize money, where the idea came from and what he has planned for his next future.
When we first met Kevin on a beautiful sunny afternoon in Dublin, he was delighted that he had been chosen for the IMPAC Literary Award: “The book has actually been out now for a couple of years, so the process is all a bit lengthy. It really helps to keep the life of the book going and keeps it motoring along. Anything that allows you to put a sticker on your book is a great thing! Of course, it’s a huge amount of money and as a writer you don’t have wages as such. You will have lean years and you will have good years, so the money helps.”
Barry was also astonished about being the only Irish person on the list: “It was a really brilliant short list, people I have read for years. It was a real thrill to be judged on a list like that.”
The book itself is set in the future in the fictional town of Bohane, focusing on an old gang rivalry and love triangle. Barry said he came up with the idea when he decided the town would be set in the future: “I knew I wanted to invent a little Irish city of my own, deranged little city in the West of Ireland. I didn’t know for a long time what it was called. I woke up in the middle of night, with a start and shouted “Bohane.” I had this vision. As soon as I knew what it was, I could start and I quickly realised it was set in the future. That was really liberating because I could just invent it all.”
“There are very strong similarities to real Irish cities like Limerick and Cork. I grew up in those cities, but I hope it is its own place. It was great fun to write.”
Due to the strong Irish tradition, Barry was eager to invent a new town that hadn’t existed before: “When you are younger, you could look around and think, this has all been done. I got a marker and I drew an extra peninsula on the western seaboard and I said this one is mine. I’m God out there, I’m the puppet master. It’s a small island with a lot of writers. And a lot of really good ones.”
Barry was influenced by a range of sources, many of them you would not imagine could be applied to the Ireland: “There were lots of influences from what I would have been watching, box sets of DVDs, like The Wire, The Sopranos and Deadwood. Movies also had an influence, 70’s gangster films in particular.
Barry is currently working on a new novel, but wants to say very little about it: “I’m a bit superstitious about talking about it before it happens.”
In terms of making City of Bohane into a film, the book has already been optioned: “I have written two drafts of the script and it is currently in development. It is a book that lends itself to a film treatment.”
City of Bohane is currently on release in all good bookshops.
