Dear Gay: Suzy Byrne in Conversation with Roddy Flynn

The Gay Byrne radio show ran for twenty-five years, from 1973 to 1998. Through that time, the extremely popular 'Gaybo' received thousands of handwritten letters, often on subjects of major social importance. Some were hilarious and heart-warming, others harrowing and heart-rending, as old silences were lifted on subjects like domestic and institutional abuse, mental health and sexuality. There was a common thread: the letters all began with the trusting words 'Dear Gay.'

In an accomplished memoir-meets-history approach, Suzy Byrne has brought together an engrossing selection from an archive that she was uniquely placed to access and interpret. Dear Gay: Letters to the Gay Byrne Show (Gill) is an illuminating ‘handwritten history of Ireland.’

This event will include a conversation with Roddy Flynn, readings from Dear Gay, and a Q&A with audience participation encouraged.

More About Suzy Byrne

Suzy Byrne has a professional background in finance and banking. She is the daughter of broadcasters Gay Byrne and Kathleen Watkins. She is married to Ronan O’Byrne and lives in Howth, in Dublin, with her three children, Cian, Sadhbh and Saoirse. Dear Gay: Letters to the Gay Byrne Show, a Handwritten History of Ireland is her first book.

More About Roddy Flynn

Roddy Flynn is an Associate Professor at the School of Communications, DCU and Chair of the Communications Studies Programme. He is co-author (with Professor John Horgan) of Irish Media History (Four Courts Press) and (with Dr Tony Tracy) of The Historical Dictionary of Irish Film (Rowman and Littlefield). He is also editor of the Annual Review of Film and Television in the Irish studies journal Estudios Irlandeses. Roddy himself has declared that as a 10-year-old in the early 1980s, listening to the Gay Byrne radio hour was the high point of his sick days off school.

Listowel Writer's Week: where readers celebrate, and writers find their flow

Listowel Writer's Week is Ireland's oldest literary festival, and one of its most prestigious. Famously hospitable, the beautiful North Kerry town of Listowel is internationally renowned as a wellspring of literary inspiration and heritage. The 2024 Listowel Writer's Week Festival programme, exploring the theme Mother Nature, has been curated by the poet Martin Dyar.

See writersweek.ie for more details and the full 2024 festival programme.

Disclaimer. Please be aware that many events at Listowel Writer's Week will be recorded and photographed for promotional and archival purposes. Your presence constitutes consent to be filmed and photographed. Thank you.