Dublin event to celebrate work of Athlone’s John Broderick

The Irish Writers Centre is to host a special event this week to celebrate John Broderick.

The event celebrates Broderick’s contributions to queer writing in Ireland, and will showcase readings from some of the foremost LGBT+ writers working in Ireland today. Hosted by 2025/2026 John Broderick Writer-in-Residence

Catherine Prasifka, the event will include contributions from guests Seán Hewitt, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Kit Fryatt and Dr. Michael Cronin.

John Broderick was born in Connaught Street, Athlone in 1924. He published a total of 12 novels, his best-known work The Pilgrimage was published in 1961. His bestseller An Apology for Roses (1973), sold 30,000 copies in the first week of its publication in 1973.

Broderick was an avid supporter of the visual arts and music. Following his death, be bequeathed his estate to the Arts Council for “the benefit and advancement of the Arts in Athlone”. In partnership with Westmeath Arts Office, a residency series located in Athlone has been developed for 2024-2027. John Broderick wrote openly about homosexuality, incarceration and the Catholic Church throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Two of his novels were subsequently banned in Ireland on their release. In the decades that followed, Broderick’s works fell into relative obscurity. Over the past number of years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the quiet radicalism of Broderick’s writing. Now, Lilliput Press, with the support of the Arts Council and Westmeath County Council, has published new editions of three of John Broderick’s masterpieces; The Waking of Willie Ryan, The Pilgrimage, and An Apology for Roses.

These new editions feature introductions from Colm Tóibín, Nicole Flattery and Seán Hewitt. They offer readers the perfect place to start in rediscovering one of Ireland’s most underrated writers.

To celebrate the launch of the new editions, Lilliput Press and Westmeath County Council Arts Office will be hosting the event in Irish Writers Centre on Thursday, June 25, from 6.30pm-8.30pm.

Register for free on Eventbrite.