Details
FREE 70 minutesDate(s)
Thu, Nov 9, 2023
7:00pm
Contact
Box Office
888-616-0274
boxoffice@irishartscenter.org
Phone hours:
10am-6pm, Monday-Friday
In person:
Opens 60 minutes before the performance on show days
Location
Library at Irish Arts Center (3rd floor)
Seating is limited.
Overview
A conversation with Mark O'Connell, author of A Thread of Violence, moderated by Sam Anderson of the New York Times Magazine.
This event will be held in the Irish Arts Center Library.
About A Thread of Violence
From the award-winning author comes the gripping tale of one of the most scandalous murderers in modern Irish history, at once a propulsive work of true crime and an act of literary subversion.
“A masterpiece”—The Observer
“Disturbing [and] compelling”—Colm Toíbín
“Superb and unforgettable”—Sally Rooney
“Brilliant”—New York Times Book Review
“Fascinating”—Emmanuel Carrère
“Morally complex and mesmerizing”—Fintan O’Toole
Malcolm Macarthur was a well-known Dublin socialite. Suave and urbane, he passed his days mingling with artists and aristocrats, reading philosophy, living a life of the mind. But by 1982, his inheritance had dwindled to almost nothing, a desperate threat to his lifestyle. Macarthur hastily conceived a plan: He would commit bank robbery, of the kind that had become frightfully common in Dublin at the time. But his plan spun swiftly out of control, and he needlessly killed two innocent civilians. The ensuing manhunt, arrest, and conviction amounted to one of the most infamous political scandals in modern Irish history, contributing to the eventual collapse of a government.
Winner of the Wellcome and Rooney Prizes, Mark O’Connell spent countless hours in conversation with Macarthur—interviews that veered from confession to evasion. Through their tense exchanges and O’Connell’s independent reporting, a pair of narratives unspools: a riveting account of Macarthur’s crimes and a study of the hazy line between truth and invention. We come to see not only the enormity of the murders but the damage that’s inflicted when a life is rendered into story.
At once propulsive and searching, A Thread of Violence is a hard look at a brutal act, its subterranean origins, and the long shadow it casts. It offers a haunting and insightful examination of the lies we tell ourselves—and the lengths we’ll go to preserve them.
Featuring
Our Supporters
Irish Arts Center programs are supported, in part, by government, foundation, and corporate partners including Culture Ireland, the agency for the promotion of Irish arts worldwide; public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office and the New York City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; Howard Gilman Foundation; Tourism Ireland; the Jerome L. Greene Foundation; the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation; the Charina Endowment Fund; the Ireland Funds; the Shubert Foundation, Inc.; the Arnhold Foundation; the Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; the Irish Institute of New York; the Society of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, New York; Northern Ireland Bureau; Invest NI; CIE Tours; M&T Bank; the Dead Rabbit; the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Consulate of Ireland in New York; and thousands of generous donors like you.
