The Shape of Survival: Eimear McBride on Love, Art, and the City

In this textured conversation, author Eimear McBride joins Adam Biles at Shakespeare and Company to discuss her latest novel The City Changes Its Face. Set in Camden Town in the 1990s, the book revisits characters from The Lesser Bohemians as they navigate the complexities of love, art, aging, trauma, and parenthood. McBride explores the enduring impact of childhood abuse, the fraught territory of families, and the search for creative meaning as her protagonists transition from actors to writers and filmmakers. She also reflects on the changing face of London, her writing process, and how voice, rhythm, and instinct drive her work. With warmth, candour, and a touch of wry humour, McBride shares insights into the emotional and formal risks of fiction, the influence of modernism, and why survival—not just suffering—deserves narrative space.

Buy The City Changes Its Face: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/the-city-changes-its-face

Eimear McBride is the author of four novels: A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, The Lesser Bohemians, Strange Hotel and The City Changes Its Face. She held the inaugural Creative Fellowship at the Beckett Research Centre, University of Reading and is the recipient of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, Goldsmiths Prize, Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.

Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company.

Listen to Alex Freiman’s latest EP, In The Beginning: https://open.spotify.com/album/5iZYPMCUnG7xiCtsFCBlVa?si=h5x3FK1URq6SwH9Kb_SO3w

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