"Wayne Johnston is a brilliant and accomplished writer."
Annie Proulx

"A funny, moving and politically astute novel... timely and humane."
A.L. Kennedy, Observer, on Glenn Patterson’s The International

A powerful sense of community and identity links two highly distinct literary visions.

Wayne Johnston’s narratives are shaped by the rugged landscape of his native Newfoundland. His breakthrough novel – 1998’s The Colony of Unrequited Dreams – sealed his reputation as a bravura literary force. This breathtaking portrait of a man who craves worldly significance ‘commensurate with the greatness of the landscape itself’ – was emblematic of the Newfoundland experience. Its sequel, 2007’s The Custodian of Paradise – recaptures the luminous grace of this sprawling epic.

Just as Johnston explores the relationship between private lives and history, Glenn Patterson's Belfast novels pit the individual against the public life of the nation. From his multi-award-winning debut Burning Your Own(1988) and The International (1999) – both set on the cusp of Northern Ireland's Troubles – to Lapsed Protestant, a collection of his non-fiction, Patterson traces the links between identity, memory and history, testing and subverting the ‘given narratives’ of his native city.

A sublime meeting of literary minds from opposite sides of the Atlantic.