The brand new Stinging Fly arrived today in my letterbox. I have a piece in it about First Drafts, as have Colette Bryce, Mia Gallagher, Dermot Healy, Philip Ó Ceallaigh and Peter Sirr.
Monica Corish is the featured poet and there is plenty of new fiction and poetry from the likes of Alan McMonagle, Máiríde Woods, Gerry Murphy, Michael O'Loughlin, Matthew Sweeney and Paula Meehan.
Dubliner Orlaith O'Sullivan is named as the recipient of this year's Stinging Fly Prize and, in her report, judge Sinéad Morrissey had plenty of good general and specific things to say about writing, including the following:
"In the end, I had to place the question of genre to one side, as much as it was possible to do so, and establish, or re-establish, basic, fundamental characteristics of excellent writing. Surprise became the defining factor. I wanted to find work which took me by surprise, which deepened upon subsequent readings, and which was deft enough in the deployment of its own rules that they had been internalised, rendered invisible by the creative momentum they allowed."
Read her full report on Orlaith's achievement HERE.
8 comments:
Got mine too -yabba dabba doo!. Just read your interesting piece, brevity is the key alright I'm with you there. Nice to see how you go about editing and chipping away rather than adding. I does (try to do) the same in my poems It's a bit like sculpture- getting the image out of a big block of stone.Lookin forward to reading the rest o da book-quite big isn't it?
Hi TFE, it's big and beautiful.
I had a quick sqwance at the other 1st Draft pieces (checking out the competition, like); I also read Matthew Sweeney's poems (deadly!) and I'm looking forward to reading it all properly later.
p.s. you going to anything at the Dublin Book Fest next week? We are thinking of heading East to see what's what.
It's great, isn't it? And a review for Joseph Horgan's 'Slipping Letters Beneath the Sea' too... lots & lots of gorgeous poetry and short stories too. Oh, we are spoiled :)
Cheered to see you use 'sconce' as they do in Dundalk: 'Sure a sconce costs nothing.' And I have used that line in poems... :)))
There's a lot on over the 3 days- a lot of good things and i hope to make it to some of them (can't decide which day prob Fri.) if I can get the bus fare that is -lookin down the sides of the sofa right now. If ye see a total figrhin eejit there- it'll be me and if I'm feelin brave or I've had a few scoops I'll say 'hello' or something that sounds awfully like it .
B, Not sure where I picked up 'sqwonce/sconce'.
TFE, Not sure which events to go to either, but it probs won't be Fri as I'll just arrive that night. I'll have to study the programme.
Had a quickish peruse yesterday - looks like a particularly good issue! Enjoyed all the 'draft' talk - nice one, Nuala. I enjoyed O Ceallaigh's piece too. Read the story he referred to in the Dublin Review (I think?) so interesting to hear the 'backstory'.
I was so enthused I gave my copy to a friend. (Another ordered!) The more people that read the Fly the better, IMHO.
Spreading the love, PJ. Nice one!
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