Question of Taste: Belfast-based author Jan Carson picks her favourite writers and books

Jan Carson is one of the participants in Cork World Book Festival from April 19 

Jan Carson, author. 

Jan Carson is a writer from Ballymena, currently living in East Belfast. On Tuesday, April 18, she will take part in Cork World Book Festival through a conversation with Dr Heather Laird at Cork City Library. Carson recently published her seventh book, The Raptures.

Best recent book you've read:

I recently finished Lucie McKnight Hardy's short story collection, Dead Relatives, and have been thinking about it ever since. I'm a huge fan of writers like Shirley Jackson and Flannery O'Connor who explore dark and sinister themes in their work with a real lightness of touch. Lucie's short stories very much fell into this genre. They're both stunning well written and a little disturbing; the kind of stories which stay with you.

Best recent film:

The last film which absolutely blew my socks of was last year's C'mon C'mon, directed by Mike Mills and starring Joaquin Phoenix. I'm a big fan of all Mike Mills' work.

Best recent show/gig you’ve seen:

Not technically a gig but I recently heard the writer and visual artist Sara Baume in conversation with the sculptor Dorothy Cross in conversation at Cuirt Festival in Galway and it was the most gorgeous and insightful chat about process and creativity it left me with a lot to think about.

Best piece of music you’ve been listening to lately (new or old):

I know this sounds awful but I stopped listening to music during lockdown and I haven't been able to start listening again.

First book that really moved you:

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.

Desert island book:

Probably Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children.

TV viewing:

I don't actually own a TV. I got rid of mine five years ago so I could concentrate on reading. I do have a pass for our local arthouse cinema (The QFT) though and I go there about three times a week

Radio listening and/or podcasts:

I'm a die-hard BBC Radio 4 listener. I always have it on in the car and find myself learning things by osmosis.

You're curating your dream literary festival – which three writers are on the bill, living or dead?

George Saunders, Shirley Jackson, Agatha Christie.

Your best celebrity encounter:

I once had a lovely hour-long chat with Jon Snow the Channel 4 newscaster without realising who he was. That was quite nice.

You can portal back to any cultural event or literary era – where, when, and why?

I love the period between the two world wars. It felt like the literature which came out of that period was really urgent and had a strong sense of awareness of what was about to happen. Lots of my favourite writers emerge from the 1920s and early '30s.