Chris Keil

I'm a writer, and a part-time university lecturer. My first novel, "The French Thing" (Carreg Gwalch, 2002), set in rural Wales against a background of animal rights protests, was a story about love defeated by competing visions of ethical and social reality. "Liminal" (Alcemi, 2008) goes into issues of memory, truth and fiction, the interleaved worlds of objectivity and the imagination. My latest novel "Flirting at the Funeral" (Cillian Press, 2012) is the best yet...

At the pool-side, the evening breeze is fragrant with the scent of grilled lobster and designer sun-block. Two German girls in starched white uniforms, buttoned up as tight as barbie dolls, are serving champagne to the guests. Dave Leaper sips his drink and dreams of death and vengeance.

At a clinic in Southern Europe a group of young film-makers are recreating the songs, the slogans and the idealism of the years of revolution, while an old man, mummified by wealth and power, watches them and pays the bills. He pays and pays, missing nothing. Flirting at the Funeral is a story about love, money, and lost opportunities, ranging across Europe against a background of financial crisis, terrorism and the power of the super-rich.

In 2013/2014, "Flirting at the Funeral" featured at:

Tavira Literature Festival, Algarve

Gort Festival, Co. Galway

Hay Literature Festival, Hay on Wye

Wordstock Festival, Portland, Oregon, USA

Writers in the Brewery, Cirencester