Meet Irish Author Niall Williams - This is Happiness & Time of the Child

Join us for a very special evening...

San Francisco's United Irish Cultural Center and Bookshop West Portal are delighted to jointly welcome Irish author Niall Williams live and in person. Niall Williams is the author of This is Happiness, History of the Rain, and several other literary treasures.

Mr. Williams is traveling all the way from County Clare, Ireland for this special evening of conversation with Ethel Rohan, San Francisco-based award-winning Irish author. There will be a cash bar. Tickets are required for admission. Books will be available for purchase at the event.

This event will take place at the United Irish Cultural Center at 2700 45th Ave.

SCHEDULE

• 6:00pm: Bar and Doors open

There is no assigned seating, so arrive promptly to purchase any books and get your seats.

• 7:00pm: Programming Begins
• 8:00pm: Signing Line - author will personalize your books

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Dublin in 1958, studied English and French Literature at University College, Dublin. Niall Williams moved to New York in 1980 where he married Christine Breen, whom he had met while she was also a student at UCD. His first job in New York was opening boxes of books in Fox & Sutherland's Bookshop in Mount Kisco. In 1985, he and Chris left America to attempt to make lives as writers in Ireland. On April 1st they moved to the cottage in west Clare that Chris's grandfather had left eighty years before. They have two adult children, a dog named Finn and a cat called Thanks.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Doctor Jack Troy was born and raised in Faha, but his responsibilities for the sick and his care for the dying mean he has always been set apart from the town. His eldest daughter, Ronnie, has grown up in her father's shadow, and remains there, having missed one chance at love - and passed up another offer of marriage from an unsuitable man.

But in the Advent season of 1962, as the town readies itself for Christmas, Ronnie and Doctor Troy's lives are turned upside down when a baby is left in their care. As the winter passes, father and daughter's lives, the understanding of their family, and their role in their community are changed forever.

Set over the course of one December in the same village as Williams' beloved This Is Happiness, Time of the Child is a tender return to Faha for readers who know its charms, and a heartwarming welcome to new readers entering for the very first time.

ABOUT ETHEL ROHAN

San Francisco-based Irish author Ethel Rohan is an award-winning essayist, novelist, and short story writer. Most recently, In the Event of Contact won the Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize, the Eric Hoffer Short Story Collection Prize, and the Gold Independent Publisher Book Award for Best European Fiction (IPPY). She has published widely beyond her books, including work in The New York Times, World Literature Today, The Washington Post, The Irish Times, PEN America, Tin House, and The Stinging Fly. For her recent foray into playwriting, she received a residency at Pavilion Theatre Studio, Dublin. Sing, I is her second novel (TriQuarterly Book, April 2024).

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