Reading Rites: Books, writing and other things that matter

by Evelyn Conlon

"Writers live as the work dictates, a solitary, sometimes deeply frustrating life, with moments of secret joy when the sentence hits the note, gets the meaning exactly as required."

For over five decades, Evelyn Conlon has reveled in the secret joy of writing and in the power of a well-crafted story. Hers has been a life of literature, travel and of challenging authority, including campaigning for women’s reproductive rights in Ireland and for an end to the death penalty in the US.

Reading Rites offers the reader an unflinching and unapologetic account of a woman happily perched on the outside of society. Witty, humorous and always honest, it is an insight into one of Ireland’s finest and most compelling storytellers, and the personal, cultural and political forces that have made her the writer she is.

208 pages, Paperback

Published December 18, 2023

Reviews

[Nicola Pierce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conlon is brilliant company via this collection of essays about her life and work. I loved reading about her travels and her reading preferences and her experiences in this island's literary world. This is also an account of the life of an activist and a teacher. She tackles life fearlessly as a thoroughly independent spirit and is never boring. I truly hope that there are many more sequels to this book.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are two good chapters in this book, one on Conlon's world travels when younger, and the other on her work with anti-death sentence advocates that includes the intriguing sentence about the boy involved in the murder in The Fugitive: 'He talked about the money and careers that people had made out of lies about his life. I have never been able to look at Harrison Ford since.'