Prostate Cancer Useful Reading

At Five in the Afternoon My Battle with Male Cancer
By Michael Murphy
Published by Brandon on 16th September 2009
Hardback £22.99/€24.99 and Paperback £15.99/€16.99

A unique literary memoir by a broadcaster, writer and psychoanalyst, featuring a foreword by Mary Robinson.

‘The welcome home in his book is for all whose lives have been touched by the many forms of cancer. It is a true house of gathering, where the strands and themes of his narrative congregate to offer hope and a way forward out of the darkness that surrounds’ - Mary Robinson.

Following his hard-hitting and candid radio interview with Derek Mooney last year, RTE newscaster Michael Murphy brings us his superbly crafted memoir that speaks out unflinchingly about his fight against prostate cancer and what it means to survive.

Michael Murphy eloquently illustrates all aspects of his battle with his illness through the lives and experiences of the people around him. Touching on traumatic assault, mortality, endurance, redemption, this book will strike a chord with those whose lives have been affected by cancer.

In order to write this beautiful, multi-layered book, Michael drew on his background in psychoanalysis, in the art of constructing television programmes, and on his broadcasting experience as a newscaster, where the human voice is privileged.

Hundreds of thousands of men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and the physical and emotional effects of treating male cancer are often shrouded in shame and embarrassment. Michael Murphy’s searingly honest account of his ordeal should break with some of that taboo and stimulate a much-needed dialogue.

Michael Murphy is a psychoanalyst with a busy practice in Dublin. Famously he is also an award-winning senior television producer/director and newscaster, and a lecturer in Vincent’s University Hospital and University College, Dublin. In 1990 he wrote “Reading the Poems” for Desmond Egan – the Poet and his Work, edited by Professor Hugh Kenner. In 1998 he wrote a book-length study, The Road to the World, a Lacanian analysis of Desmond Egan’s collection, A Song for My Father.

Mary Robinson served as the first female President of Ireland, from 1990 to 1997; she was the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. Robinson is Honorary President of Oxfam International, and founded Realizing Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative; she is Chair of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and is also Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders; she is head of the International Commission of Jurists. Mary Robinson recently received the Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama, the highest civilian honour in America.

See www.michaelmurphyauthor.com for Michael’s latest news.