The National University of Ireland Galway and the American Irish Historical Society in Manhattan hosted a special evening for fans of the late, great Irish writer John McGahern.

The Society held a viewing of the most important archival holding at NUI Galway; the papers of John McGahern, one of Ireland’s greatest and most graceful novelists.

The writer who died in 2006 had a long association with the university and this was the first time that elements of the collection in Galway has been made available to the public outside of Ireland.

"McGahern in the New Yorker" highlighted items by the writer associated with the work he published in the New Yorker magazine between 1963 and 1984.

The exhibition in New York was attended by Consul General Niall Burgess, Dr James J. Browne, President of NUI Galway and members of the US Board of the Galway University Foundation including Michael Higgins of CIBC, Adrian Jones of Goldman Sachs, Sean Lane of Bank Hipoalim and attorney Frank Mooney.

Dr. John Kenny, the McGahern Lecturer at NUI Galway, spoke about the importance of McGahern’s work and the provided compelling insights into McGahern's painstaking creative process.

The entire McGahern archive at the university spans 40 years of writings, personal papers and correspondence and is a complete collection of his writings, providing an unparalleled view into a unique literary life