Introduction

Summary

This introduction surveys the state of contemporary Irish and Northern Irish literature and culture from the close of the twentieth century to the present day, exploring how Irish writing reflects and intervenes in rapidly changing contemporary cultural conditions, both local and global. It helps to explain the national and international significance of Irish contemporary writing in the twenty-first century and focuses on the increasing authority of formerly marginalized voices, particularly those of women, LGBTQ, and migrant artists. It homes in on how durable artistic and cultural legacies are reshaped by contemporary writers, how the altered cultural conditions of a socially progressive Republic and a post-Troubles Northern Ireland are represented by writers in a variety of genres, and how Irish writers and artists invoke new aesthetic forms and practices to depict the contemporary moment.