Efacis As students of Irish literature, we rarely got the chance to meet (not to mention talk to) authors whose works we were studying. It was an incredible opportunity to hear Caitriona Lally talk about herself, about her interests and quirky obsessions with maps and miniatures and with the strange connections and coincidences that permeate our lives but usually go unnoticed, as well as about the highs and lows of the writing and publishing process. Her honesty and openness to talk on these matters and answer all questions extensively showed me once again how stimulating it can be to read books together with teir authors and enriched my previous reading of her works. It was also great to hear a few fragments from the debut novel Eggshells in their author's reading and it was fascinating to be able to get first-hand access to the inner workings of the author's mind and gift for attention. Thanks to how the workshop was organized, Caitriona Lally shed new light on many little, almost magical, things around all of us at the workshop and in Cluj-Napoca.
Ada Beleută
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Attending Caitriona Lally's talk during the Irish Studies M.A. Workshop at UBB was an inspiring and thought-provoking experience. Lally shared her creative journey with an openness that left a lasting impression, detailing her process of writing her two published novels. Caitriona spoke with such honesty and humour about her journey as a writer, sharing how personal quirks - like her love of lists, maps, and sweets - shaped the unique worlds of Eggshells and Wunderland.
Lally's honesty aobut the hardships of getting published was both sobering and motivating. She did not shy away from sharing the challenges she faced, providing invaluable insight into the persistence and vulnerability required in the literary world. her candid reflections made the successes of her unique, offbeat characters all the more poignant, revealing how much of herself she poured into their creation. What struck me most was Lally's ability to bridge the personal and the universal. Her anecdotes about how her quirks and interests found their way into her characters' lives highlighted the authenticity that makes her work so engaging. This talk was not just for writers but for anyone curious about the relationship between personal identity and creative expression. Caitriona Lally's wit, humility, and passion for storytelling shone throughout the event, leaving me inspired to think more deeply about how our individual obsessions can fuel meaningful, relatable art.
Paul Mihai Parshiv
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Caitriona Lally's lecture and reading really inspired me. Her words were at once uplifting and vulnerable, funny and insightful, intellectually stimulating yet free of any pretentiousness. Above all, I was struck by her humanity and radical honesty.
It was deeply refreshing to hear one of today's foremost writers of experimental fiction speak so openly about feelings that are more universal than we'd first believe. In her uniqueness, she finds things that unite us: the thrill of doing fulfilling work, the joy of receivin validation and the financial difficulties that may come with sticking to one's vision. Yet, even the most elementary idiosyncracies get their due attention, like the fascination with minitatures or buying bruised fruit at the supermarket out of a feeling of empathy.
Still, the true joy comes from how Mrs. Lally articulates and structures all of these themes. Like most great artists, she helps us see the life-affirming beauty of the everyday, and she does this wile helping us broaden our capacity for empathy and compassion.
That's why this speech made me very enthusiastic to read Caitriona Lally's books. It was a true privilege to have attended this event and I am grateful to everyone who made it happen.
Andrei Popa
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I left the conference room with a sense of gratitude for the chain of events that brought Caitriona Lally to Cluj-Napoca. The close-knit community of the Irish Studies departement welcomed a writer of tiny worlds in many ways resembling the small town where she landed. Her reading of Eggshells conjured up the atmosphere of streets and buildings that, despite being located at the opposite corner of Europe, afforded Vivian, a curious protagonist, to map a place strikingly similar to our town. The sheer warmth and the vulnerability transpiring in every word of her speech spoke to my readiness to acknowledge the commonality of those experiences that we generally consider minor and not worthy of being committed to paper. It reminded me of our common necessity to retreat to "thin places" and find an order in the hoard of valuables polished by the passing of time, to draw lists and indulge in reading them out loud. Her sentences harkened back to the quiet intricacies of her novels, making me wonder if the merging of fiction and obiter dicta, of narrator and writer can ever be succesfully avoided. By sticking to the immediate realities informing her novels, Caitriona Lally conveyed a message of a sobering effect for the reviewers who try to superimpose labels on the pure materiality of her ficiton and stood out for her ability to tell things as they are, without multiplying the layers of meaning that could suffocate the bewitching simplicity of her writing.
Ștefania Burlică
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It was a privilege to welcome Caitriona Lally to Sibiu for a captivating discussion of her second novel, Wunderland. The room was full of studens, accompanied by a few professors from Lucian Blaga University and from Babes-Bolyai University. Lally read parts of two chapters from her latest book, one chapter narrated from Roy's perspective and one from Gert's. the reading was followed by a dialogue between Lally and the moderator, which referred to various aspects of the former's work and revealed the depth of her characters, the playfulness of her style and her fascination with language. She then answered questions from the floor. Lally shared the inspiration behind her work and her perspective on storytelling along with details pertaining to her personal and professional life. her presence in Sibiu will resonate with us for a long time and we're looking forward to future visits and more literary exchanges. We're also looking forward to the adaptation of her first novel, for which she has finished writing the film script and to the publication of her third book.
Irish Rusu
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Fascinating event! I've been living, mesmerized and addicted, in Caitriona Lally's novels for the past couple of weeks, and meeting the mastermind behind them was more than rewarding. And I discovered a brilliance wrapped in disarming honesty and inspiring humbleness.
Her gleaming smile sets the tone of the event. The short summary of her activity and achievements is received by her with modesty, by us with awe. She then reads two passages from Wunderland, one for each sibling, main characters. A mini-portal to the world of the novel is thus created. Caitriona Lally talks about being inspired rather by powerful characters than by cobweb-plots. While questions rise, layers are peeled off, from the motivation behind writing, to what accelerates or slows the process, from the presuure a first novel's success can instill in writing another, to the whirl of motherhood that sucks one's pen in and reshapes it to unknown outcomes. A coat of subtle humour brings us all ino a warm familiarity. The author reveals a screenplay to Eggshells in the making, and a newly finished third book, a memoir on writing Wunderland, which I am ancious to discover.
In the room crowded with people of various ages, students and educators, there was a shared curiosity quenched only to that ideal degree that makes one eagerly wait for the next episode.
Alina Artenie
