SALT CAMPAIGN GATHERS PACE

It's great to hear that Chris Hamilton-Emery will be on Newsnight Review as part of the Salt (buy) Just One Book campaign.

See BBC2, Friday 29th May, 11pm. I just hope BBC2 decides to co-operate on our telly. It keeps disappearing, often mid-programme. Very annoying...

I can recommend some Salt books, btw. Ones I've read and really enjoyed include Vanessa Gebbie's Words from a Glass Bubble and Alex Keegan's Ballistics . Flash fiction fans need look no further than Tania Hershman's The White Road & other stories. Or you could always pre-order my forthcoming collection Nude here.

ALICE MUNRO WINS MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL

Canadian mistress of the short story (well, one of them!) Alice Munro is the winner of the third Man Booker International Prize.

The prize, worth £60,000 / c.€68,700 to the winner, is awarded once every two years "to a living author for a body of work that has contributed to an achievement in fiction on the world stage." Well, Alice has certainly achieved that. On receiving the news of her win, she said, ‘I am totally amazed and delighted.'

The judging panel was: Jane Smiley, writer; Amit Chaudhuri, writer, academic and musician; and writer, film script writer and essayist, Andrey Kurkov. It is the judges who choose the authors. There are no submissions by publishers, agents or authors. Over nearly two years, the judges read more than 70 authors and 300 books.

Regarding Alice Munro's win, the judges said:

"Alice Munro is mostly known as a short story writer and yet she brings as much depth, wisdom and precision to every story as most novelists bring to a lifetime of novels. To read Alice Munro is to learn something every time that you never thought of before."

And the prize's administrator Fiammetta Rocco said:

"...while her work is quiet, it always comes as a surprise. She never makes a wrong move, never writes a bad story, and every tale stays with the reader long after the final page. ‘There is nobody like her', one judge said. ‘Nobody so able simultaneously to be quiet - and ruthless. She is, quite simply, the best.'"


Her newest collection of short stories, Too Much Happiness, will be published in October 2009. Alice Munro will receive the prize of £60,000 and a trophy at the Award Ceremony on Thursday 25 June at Trinity College, Dublin. How I'd love to go to that.

LOVELY THINGS

BABY JUNO

I've been shortlisted in the Irish round-up for the European Prize for Literature along with fellow Irish authors Karen Gillece, Alison Jameson, Philip Ó Ceallaigh, Pádraig Ó Gallachóir and Stephen Price. See The Irish Times here.

Our baby girl Juno was born Thursday night at 11.20pm. A beautiful baby sister for the boys. All's well.

SALT IN CHOPPY WATERS

Yesterday Chris Hamilton-Emery, director of Salt publishing, posted the message below on his Facebook profile. The recession has hit books sales badly despite many people's claims that we are all returning to life's simpler pleasures like reading, now that we are (allegedly) too broke to fly to Barbados every other week-end. (When did we ever, anyway?!)

Salt need cashflow NOW in order to continue their work. They make beautiful, literary books. They have eight short fiction collections on the Cork City - Frank O'Connor 2009 longlist, among many other achievements. If you love books (and I know you do!!) please support them.

My personal interest in Salt's fortunes is obvious: they are publishing my next book, Nude. That aside, they really, really do wonderful work on behalf of short story writers and poets and they deserve sales.

So, please, readers, if you can, go to their site and buy one Salt book today and help them stay afloat.
Salt's website is HERE.

Chris's statement:

As many of you will know, Jen and I have been struggling to keep Salt moving since June last year when the economic downturn began to affect our press. Our three year funding ends this year: we've £4,000 due from Arts Council England in a final payment, but cannot apply through Grants for the Arts for further funding for Salt's operations. Spring sales were down nearly 80% on the previous year, and despite April's much improved trading, the past twelve months has left us with a budget deficit of over £55,000. It's proving to be a very big hole and we're having to take some drastic measures to save our business.

Here's how you can help us to save Salt and all our work with hundreds of authors around the world.

JUST ONE BOOK

1. Please buy just one book, right now. We don't mind from where, you can buy it from us or from Amazon, your local shop or megastore, online or offline. If you buy just one book now, you'll help to save Salt. Timing is absolutely everything here. We need cash now to stay afloat. If you love literature, help keep it alive. All it takes is just one book sale. Go to our online store and help us keep going.

2. Share this note on your profile. Tell your friends. If we can spread the word about our cash crisis, we can hopefully find more sales and save our literary publishing. Remember it's just one book, that's all it takes to save us. Please do it now.

With my best wishes to everyone
Chris
Director
Salt Publishing

Monsters & Aliens on Indieoma

We're talking monsters and aliens in our everyday lives over at Indieoma this week. I have 2 poems there. Those of you whom I know with kids, please don't take the sentiments in my poem 'Other People's Children' too literally...!

Barbara explores children too in a lovely piece on child-rearing and how it makes aliens of both kids and parents.

LIBRARY CUTS AFFECTING AUTHORS

Publishers and authors are suffering because of cuts to purchases of their books by Irish public libraries, according to a recent Irish Times report.

The budget for new books in Galway city and county’s 30 libraries was cut from €550,000 to €100,000 at the start of the year, according to the Library Council. That's a staggering cut and a real blow to the libraries who do such a fantastic job.

From the article by Genevieve Carberry:

Galway Library has had to limit daily newspapers mainly to city branches and cut the number of new books to one between all branches, Maureen Moran, senior executive librarian at Galway Library, said yesterday. She said Galway libraries were busier than ever as “it is one of the few places you can go now without spending any money”.

ONE copy of each new book between ALL branches!!!! Oh, my God...

WRITING WEEK AT IWC

Writing Week kicks off today, Monday 18th May, at the Irish Writers' Centre, Dublin, until Friday. For those not confined to barracks - like me, sniff, sob, sigh - go tonight to hear doctor/novelist Juliet Bressan read at 6.30 p.m.

Admission free!!

Juliet Bressan is a graduate of UCG and the bestselling author of Snow White Turtle Doves and Entanglement.
She studied for a degree in Creative Writing and Literature with the Open University before writing her first book in a workshop at the Irish Writers Centre – she then went on to sign a four book contract with Poolbeg.

CORK CITY - FRANK O'CONNOR 2009 LONGLIST

The longlist for the newly renamed Cork City - Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award - for all eligible collections in English - was released today. There are some top names in there along with a raft of newbies. Some names that stand out for me (because I have read/know/met/am interested in them, I guess) are James Lasdun, Seán O'Brien, Mary Gaitskill, Wells Tower, Kazuo Ishiguro, Alex Keegan, Tania Hershman, Petina Gappah and, a member of my own Writing Peer Group, Alan McMonagle. There's also a new-to-me Irish author, Robert Graham, who hails from Belfast and teaches creative writing at Manchester University (lots of Irish writers teaching there!). Robert is one of eight Salt authors on the longlist. Congrats all!

From next year it is planned to have a shorter longlist (how short or long one wonders?) because at 57 entries this year, it's all becoming a bit unwieldy.

At €35,000 the award is the largest in the world for the short story form and monetarily is greater than the Costa Book of the Year Award and the Orange Prize.

The shortlist of five will be decided in late June, with the winner announced on September 20th at the close of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Festival in Cork.

The judges are Lloren A. Foster, an Assistant Professor of English at Hampton University; Milka Jankowska who co-ordinates the International Short Story Festival in Wroclaw, Poland; and award-winning Irish author Vincent McDonnell.


Here's the breakdown of the longlist, by nationality:

4 Irish Authors:

Michael J. Farrell, Life in the Universe, The Stinging Fly Press

Robert Graham, The Only Living Boy, Salt Publishing

Alan McMonagle, Liar, Liar, Words on the Street

Philip Ó Ceallaigh, The Pleasant Light of Day, Penguin Ireland

15 American Authors:

Eleanor Bluestein, Tea and Other Ayama Na Tales, BkMk Press (University of
Missouri-Kansas City)

Bonnie Jo Cambell, American Salvage,Wayne State University Press

Dennis Cooper, Ugly Man: Storie, Harper Perennial

David Eagleman, Sum, Pantheon Books (Random House)

Mary Gaitskill, Don’t Cry, Pantheon Books (Random House)

Lauren Groff, Delicate Edible Bird, Hyperion

Daniel A. Hoyt, Then We Saw The Flames, University of Massachusetts Press

Ian MacMillan, Our People, BkMk Press (University of Missouri-Kansas City)

James Mathews, Last Known Position, University of North Texas Press

Christopher Meeks, Months and Season, White Whisker Books

Lydia Peelle, Reasons for and Advantage of Breathing, Harper Perennial

Andrew Porter, The Theory of Light and Matter, University of Georgia Press

Glen Pourciau, Invite, University of Iowa Press

Midge Raymond, Forgetting English, Eastern Washington University Press

Wells Tower, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

18 British Authors:

Anthony Cropper, Nature’s Magician, Route

Jane Feaver, Love Me Tender, Harvill Secker (The Random House Group)

Paul Flynn, Crossing the Border, CC Publishing

Tania Hershman, The White Road, Salt Publishing

Sue Hubbard, Rothko’s Red, Salt Publishing

Kazuo Ishiguro, Nocturnes, Faber and Faber Limited

Sushma Joshi, The End of the World, FinePrint Books

Alex Keegan, Ballistics, Salt Publishing

Charles Lambert, The Scent of Cinnamon, Salt Publishing

James Lasdun, It’s Beginning to Hurt, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Tom Lee, Greenfly, Harvill Secker (The Random House Group)

Frederick Lightfoot, Fetish and Other Stories, Superscript

André Mangeot, A Little Javanese, Salt Publishing

Sean O’Brien, The Silence Room, Comma Press

John Saul, As Rivers Flow, Salt Publishing

Ali Smith, The First Person, Penguin Group Canada

Tender, Mark Illis, Salt Publishing

Simon Van Booy, Love Begins in Winter, Harper Perennial

5 Canadian Authors:

Tricia Dower, Silent Girl, Innana Publications and Education Inc.

Hannah Holborn, Fierce, McClelland & Stewart

Pamela Stewart, Elysium, Anvil Press

Deborah Willis, Vanishing and Other Stories, Penguin Group Canada

Kuzhali Manickavel, Insects Are Just Like You and Me Except Some of Them Have Wing, Blaft Publications

1 Dutch Author:

Arnon Grunberg, Amuse-Bouche, Comma Press

1 Estonian Author:

Kristiina Ehin, A Priceless Nest, Oleander Press

1 German Author:

Maike Wetzel (Trans. Lyn Marven), Long Days, Comma Press

1 Icelandic Author:

Gyrơir Elíasson (Trans. Victoria Cribb), Stone Tree, Comma Press

2 Indian Authors:

Jahnavi Barua, Next Door, Penguin Books ( India )

Jasmine Anita Yvette D’Costa, Curry is Thicker Than Water, BookLand Press

1 Macedonian Author:

Kiril Bozhinov, Eclipses: Stories of Disappearances and Reappearance, Beyond Art Productions

1 Malaysian Author:

Shih-Li-Kow, Ripples and Other Short Stories, Silverfish Books

2 New Zealand Authors:

Jeanette Galpin, Aroha and the River, Maungatiro Press of Marton

Charlotte Grimshaw Singularity Vintage

2 Nigerian Authors:

Sefi Atta, Lawless, Farafina Books

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Thing Around Your Neck, Fourth Estate LTD

1 Spanish Author:

Empar Moliner (Trans. Peter Bush), I Love You When I’m Drunk, Comma Press

1 Ukrainian Author:

Sana Krasikov, One More Year, Portobello Books Ltd

1 Zimbabwean Author

Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly, Faber and Faber Limited

KREATIV BLOGGER AWARD

Writer/blogger/editor/dynamo/SuperMom Barbara awarded me this - thanks B! - and I'm going to pass it on.

Here's how you do it:

1. Post the award on your blog and link to the person who gave you the award.

2. List seven things you love.

Off the top of my head & in no particular order:

1. My kids
2. My fella (he never reads my blog, so he won't be embarrassed!)
3. Writing
4. Reading
5. Unusual tattoos
6. Ladybirds
7. Travel

3. Pass it on! List seven blogs you love and let those people know you’ve given them the award.

Here are my Kreativ Blogger Award recipients!:

12 Stories
Anna May Mangan's Writing News
Crawl Space
Total Feckin' Eejit
Tania Hershman
The Scaldervillage Voice
A Salted


So come on over and get your awards, guys, but don't feel obligated to pass it on, if it's too much hassle.

LIBERTY HALL TV DOCU - TONIGHT

There's an excellent documentary by Paddy Cahill about the iconic Liberty Hall in Dublin on RTÉ 1 TV at 8.30pm tonight. Liberty Hall may or may not be in danger of being demolished - the jury appears to be out still on this, thank God. I would hate to see it go.

I used Paddy's programme and his (and others') articles from The Dubliner magazine as inspiration and research for the collaborative poems I wrote with artist Cora Cummins for Marks.

Here's one of my poems from Marks, the Circa / Stinging Fly collaboration:


GULL

On the rooftop of this urban aurora,
a gull, strayed up from a squat Martello,
shapes her eyes to the view:

a ballet of cranes, vying for space,
swinging down on the bay’s skyline

green trains darting to Howth, Bray,
and less lofty points between

the bridges that bracelet the river,
each named for a different man

copper domes and yellow buses,
the slender finger of the Spire.

She beaks the air and lets fly.

Death of David Marcus - RIP

Cork-born David Marcus, the literary editor who is credited with discovering some of the Ireland's best known writers, died in Dublin yesterday at the age of age 85.

He was one of the people in this country who gave the short story its high profile so we have a lot to thank him for. He championed the likes of Claire Keegan and Anne Enright, early in their writing lives.

More on this sad news here.

PICS FROM NGG EXHIB & READING

Some pics from the NGG Gallery exhibition and open mic on Tuesday night in Temple Bar, Dublin. It was a fun night of art, poetry, music, wine and ... water (for me!)

I haven't the energy to write a report but it was great to meet Emerging Writer there, (at last!). Congrats on your piece - it went down very well with everyone.

I hope the NGG make this an annual event and that it grows and grows. All kudos to curator/artist/poet Carol Eakins who got it together and was so nice to deal with over the course of the last few months.

Click on pics to make them bigger if you want. I don't know everyone's name, so sorry there are no labels on the images.

I do know that the frogs one at the top is by Emmett Martin and Ashley Walsh of M2i.foto. I love it! And the second image/collage is my piece.

WORDS & ART - EXHIB AND READING

OK, I know I blogged this before. This is just a reminder that the launch event happens tomorrow night at 6pm in the No Grants Gallery in Temple Bar, Dublin. I'll be reading my Paul Durcan poem.

See y'all there, I hope!

From their website:

1st – 15th May

Creative Writing Exhibition

This celebration, including all forms of writing such as poetry and lyrics, will showcase a range of works from both established and up-coming writers. Each piece of work will be framed and on exhibition at our recession busting No Grants Gallery right here in Temple Bar, Dublin’s Cultural Quarter! Writers will illustrate their writing with imagery guides which will accompany their work.

Lunchtime readings will also take place throughout the 2 weeks so log on to www.templebar.ie for more details soon. The exhibition will officially launch on Tuesday May 5th will an open-mic evening from 6 – 8pm offering everyone an opportunity to discuss the written word.

Speaking about the new Creative Writing Exhibition, Gallery curator Carol Eakins said ‘“This exhibition is a celebration of verbal, visual and performance art and an opportunity to show the written word combined with an artistic eye and the spoken tongue to bring all creative writing to life. As a curator, artist and poet myself the creative writing exhibition is an opportunity for writers both professional and amateur to exhibit their work in an environment that shares their passion and enthusiasm for the arts.”

AFTER THE WATCHFUL HEART

Among the Berries - Liam Butler



Joan McBreen, Nuala, Jessie Lendennie, Paul Perry



Eileen Sheehan



Me reading at The Watchful Heart launch

A lovely time was had by all at the Kenny’s launch of The Watchful Heart last night; there were 4 of the 24 poets there, and we all read a poem each: myself, Eileen Sheehan, Paul Perry and Kevin Higgins. The actual launching took place in the gallery part of the shop, surrounded by Liam Butler’s stunning exhibition of welded copper sculptures, The Art of Welding.

Des Kenny welcomed us all and complimented the anthology’s ‘beautiful production’, which is such an important part of any book. Brendan Flynn of Clifden Arts Week did the official launch with enthusiastic references to Neruda and Rilke (Joe Woods’s essay in the anthology is about Neruda), and he called Joan McBreen, the editor, ‘a young Lady Gregory’ for her commitment to, and enthusiasm for, poetry in general, and this project in particular. He talked about the chances poets’ take in ‘going deep down’ and he complimented the title (taken from a Derek Mahon poem) saying, ‘The heart’s a wonder!’

Jessie Lendennie, director of Salmon Poetry, praised Joan’s ‘tremendous passion’, and Joan herself spoke of the undertaking of compiling an anthology like this one being ‘a launch into waters of many sharks’. Some of those sharks being the poets themselves, one presumes (!). She thanked poet Geraldine Mitchell, recent winner of the Patrick Kavanagh Award, who helped as a trusted reader of the essays and poetry, and in keeping her sane during the editorial process, it seems. (I’ve edited an anthology and I gained new and absolute respect for editors in the process.)

Others present included Pádraig Breathnach of Galway Arts Centre, and Wordsonthestreet publishers Tony O’Dwyer and Gerardine Burke. All in all, it was a great evening and Kenny’s gallery was the ideal light, bright, beautiful space to launch the book, all the royalties of which go to Cancer Care West.

More launches for the book are scheduled:

DUBLIN - MAY 21ST - UNITARIAN CHURCH - 6pm

LISTOWEL LAUNCH - MAY 30TH

YEATS SUMMER SCHOOL LAUNCH - JULY 30TH - GLASSHOUSE HOTEL - 6pm

The Watchful Heart Launch - tonight

Happy May Day, everyone! And, especially, a big happy birthday to my best pal, Ó.F., if she's reading!

The Watchful Heart is being launched tonight at Kenny's Liosbán shop in Galway. 6pm - all welcome!

Subtitled 'A New Generation of Irish Poets – Poems and Essays', the book is an anthology of the work of twenty-four Irish poets born in the last fifty years. It has bio and biblio details of each contributor, together with photographs. The anthology was ably edited and compiled by Joan McBreen.

My copy arrived this morning and it looks great. I had a very quick dip into the poems and essays - a lovely, varied lot - and how are these for a taster of the essay titles?:

'The brindled cat is chewing the nightingale's tongue' - Louis de Paor on translation

'Poetry doesn't exist' - Alan Gillis - ??!! intriguing...

'Closing the book on the open mic' - Eileen Sheehan - ooh, controversial-sounding!!

'Getting my snake, getting my corset and getting my tongue pierced' - Kate Newmann on writing with kids in schools.

My own essay is rather soberly titled 'The Art of the Body: poem as female self-portrait'.

It's a very comprehensive anthology and a nice match for Salmon's other recent anthology Poetry: Reading It, Writing It, Publishing It, which I am currently reading and thoroughly enjoying. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be published or who has any interest at all in contemporary poetry. There are some great essays in it, notably (from my reading so far) by Nessa O'Mahony and David Gardiner.

Hoping to see some of you at tonight's Watchful Heart launch!