"Conflict is an Anglophone construct to tell a story." That's the view of Irish author Ronan Hession, whose first novel "Leonard and Hungry Paul" was low on car chases or other high-level drama, instead focusing on the quite lives of two ordinary men and their friendship. His second book "Panenka" also depicts quiet people trying to find their way in the world. Hession reads mostly non-Anglophone literature, pointing out that it represents the vast majority of publications. It's a move that has opened him up to a wide variety of forms of storytelling. He joined us for Perspective.
"In order to write deeply about characters and to write about them from multiple perspectives, you need to approach them with empathy. By that I don't mean that you forgive them everything they do or that they're perfect people. You just avoid the temptation to simply judge a character or present them in a one-dimensional way," the author told us. He explained that this approach "requires a certain type of writing that doesn't necessarily revolve around conflict or resolution".
Hession's characters are complex and his books offer an insight into the way most men converse and share with one another.
The book launch of "Panenka" will be online. You can tune in through the publishers Bluemoose Books at 18:30 GMT on Thursday, May 20.
