To celebrate the recent publication of Eimear McBride’s Mouthpieces by Faber & Faber, we are taking a look back on McBride’s journey as the Samuel Beckett Research Centre’s Inaugural Creative Fellow.
On a special episode of RTÉ Radio 1’s ‘The Book Show’, McBride visited The Samuel Beckett Collection in University of Reading. There she gained a rare glimpse at the original manuscripts of Beckett’s first publish novel Murphy and his last published prose work Stirrings Still. This episode features contributions from the Head of Archive Services Guy Baxter, Director of the Beckett International Foundation Dr Mark Nixon, Chair of the Samuel Beckett Research Centre Steven Matthews, Beckett’s biographer and friend James Knowlson, actors Lisa Dwan and Olwen Fouéré. Listen to it here: https://soundcloud.com/thebookshow/tbs-s5-2-eimear-mcbride-on-samuel-beckett
Mouthpieces, which divides into three short texts, was composed during McBride’s time as Inaugural Creative Fellow at the Samuel Beckett Research Centre in 2017-2018 with unique access to the Beckett Archives at the University of Reading. In March 2019, Mouthpieces was performed by Eimear McBride and Aoife Duffin on RTÉ Radio 1’s ‘Drama on One’. This recording is an exciting opportunity to experience the musicality and orality of the author’s vivid, original and sharp-witted style. The performance can be listened to here: https://www.rte.ie/drama/radio/plays/2019/0324/1038351-mouthpieces-by-eimear-mcbride/
Mouthpieces by Eimear McBride is published by Faber & Faber and is available now (ISBN 9780571365814). More information on McBride’s time as Inaugural Creative Fellow can be found here.