An Fód Dúchais: Home, Heritage and Origins

The 8th International Flann O’Brien Conference

Alley Arts & Conference Centre, Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland

24-27th June 2025

Keynote speakers: Dr Tobias W. Harris (Birkbeck College, University of London), Dr Michael Pierse (Queens University Belfast), Dr Emily Ridge (University of Galway).

Following successful conferences in Cluj (2023); Boston (2022); Dublin (2019); Salzburg (2017); Prague (2015); Rome (2013); Vienna (2011), The 8th International Flann O’Brien Conference will convene in Strabane, Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Hosted by the International Flann O’Brien Society, the Strabane Historical Society and the University of Notre Dame delegates will meet to discuss and debate the latest research, trends and topics in the growing discipline of Flann O’Brien studies while also celebrating the life and work of one of Ireland greatest 20th-century prose writers

On the border between the Republic of Ireland and the North of Ireland, between the Lagan and Donegal, and at the confluence of the Rivers Mourne and Finn as they merge to form the River Foyle, Strabane served as a “second home” for The O’Nolans/Na Nuallánaigh. An Srath Bán (The white river-holm) conveys notions of flooded plains, submerged levels, hidden spaces and liminal zones as well as contested and divided places and hybridity. “Home” is a key concept, a place of emotional and physical refuge to which the fortunate among us frequently long to return. Ideas of home are often expressions of a “nostalgia for the past”, alerting us to the present’s faults and fault lines.

In addition to Flann O’Brien and Ciarán Ó Nualláin, Strabane is home to the hymn writer Cecil Frances Alexander of All Things Bright and Beautiful fame; and John Dunlap, printer of the American Declaration of Independence. An Fód Dúchais: Home, Heritage and Origins invites participants to address a variety of topics, including but not limited to the following:

Flann and concepts of home/return
Flann and liminality
Flann and the uncanny
Flann and language
Flann and war/violence
Flann agus an Ghaeilge
Flann and topography
Strabane's influence on Flann
Flann and ideas of absence
Flann and hybridity
Flann and politics
Flann and gender
Flann and science
Figures of duality & division in Flann
The Irish language in Tyrone
Flann’s fiction and non-fiction
The conference will be an in-person event (i.e., there are no plans for online or hybrid components).

The conference registration fee is £50 for graduate students, and £80 for those in full time employment. The registration fee covers admission, regular coffee breaks, and lunch. A subsidised conference banquet is available for an additional £20.  Please submit paper proposals (20-minute papers, max 200 words abstracts and 5-line biographical note) by 14 February 2025. Proposals and any queries can be sent to brianoconchubhair@yahoo.com.

Brian O’Conchubhair, Cliona Ni Riordain, Ruben Borg, Maebh Long

Conference Strabane An Fód Dúchais Home Heritage Origins