ADAM MAREK HOSTS ME AND YOU

The penultimate stop on my virtual tour for my novel You is at super-writer Adam Marek's blog today. We talk rituals, running away and ladybird poo. Yes. Really.

Read the interview here.

McGAHERN WEEK-END THOUGHTS

DAVID MEANS AT AUGHAWILLAN HALL, JOHN KENNY IN THE BACKGROUND

I'm attempting to gather my thoughts and write a post about the McGahern Week-end which I went to in Leitrim at the week-end. But the baby is not co-operating with me trying to type. I should turn on the Hoover and park it by my desk. So seldom is it used in this house that she is afraid of it, so it would keep her away.

Today I paid the deposit on her creche place. From September on I will have three whole mornings a week to write. I think I am going to explode with the excitement of it!! Who needs success, money or all the rest of it when one just has time to write?! (Though the rest of it would be fun!!)

DERMOT HEALY IN HENRY'S PUB, COOTEHALL

But John McGahern. I'm a huge fan and have been since I was in my teens. The organisers commissioned an essay from me about Amongst Women which appeared in the Leitrim Observer (I didn't see it) and on Friday night I discussed the novel with Dermot Healy and about a hundred other people in the gorgeously old-fashioned Henry's pub in Cootehall village. There were cameras trained on us which was un-nerving, but the discussion was lively and relevant and we all enjoyed teasing out the whys and what-fors of Moran and his family of 'dismayed pullets'. We talked about food, ritual and the wonderful Rose in the novel, and about Moran's controlling personality. Cootehall is where the barracks is of The Barracks fame.

THE BARRACKS, COOTEHALL

The next day we drove out to Aughawillan where John lived happily with his mother (the house is now gone) but we did see the schoolhouse where his mother taught and John went for a while. Professor Pat Dolan from NUI Galway gave a presentation on McGahern and the childhood development of resilience. It was personal, moving, informative. He read out the passage from Memoir in which John's mother tried to get him to promise not to cry if she was 'taken away'. I had to fight back the tears - so sad and upsetting. Pat concluded that John contributed hugely to our  understanding of childhood in this country and he highlighted abuse when it needed to be talked about (i.e. when church and state were colluding like mad men. As they still do...)
Back then to Ballinamore for lunch -another quiet, but surprisingly large, Leitrim town.

AUGHAWILLAN SCHOOL

That evening we went to Lough Rynn Castle near Mohill for the closing reception. Talk about posh - it's where Brian and Amy got married a few weeks ago. It's utterly fabulous.There we spoke to Danny Denton, a young writer late of Galway, recently moved to Dublin where he is completing a novel.
The mini-series of Amongst Women was screened but with baby in tow, we didn't go. The writer of the screenplay, Adrian Hodges, was there and we had a great chinwag about writing and particularly all the lovely BBC dramas we've enjoyed: Pride and Prejudice, Oliver Twist, Jane Eyre etc.

DANNY DENTON AT LOUGH RYNN CASTLE

And to I got to talk to David Means and his lovely wife Geneve. David and I are on the same wavelength about a lot of writerly concerns and I thoroughly enjoyed our chat about the Frank O'Connor Festival, Cúirt, short stories, his work at Vassar College etc. A lovely couple. We met them again later on in The Bush Hotel with John Kenny of NUI Galway's English Dept. and others. It was a late night of chat about books and film and all in all, a very enjoyable end to a great week-end.

DUBLIN IS A UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE

Dublin is now an official UNESCO City of Literature, which is pretty fantastic and well-deserved. A few months ago, I was asked to write a few words about what it means to me to be a writer from Dublin, by the people who campaigned for the city to get the status.

My quote is on their website along with quotes from lots of other Dublin writers here. The site is well worth a trip around.

Edinburgh, Melbourne and Iowa City are the only other cities with this distinction, which is permanent. I think it's an exciting day for Dublin and for writers who live or are from there. Yay!

SIGNINGS, REVIEW & A TRIP TO LEITRIM

On Wednesday I did a walkabout of Dublin bookshops with the PR lady from New Island and also the bookshops liaison woman. It was fun, meeting the staff and managers in the shops and signing the books. And we three ladies had a good chat and laugh about everything from Twitter to reviewers. Yes, reviewers, we laugh at you!

Speaking of reviews and reviewers, I have a review of Terese Svoboda's Trailer Girl in the summer issue of The Short Review here. (Nice person that she is, Terese didn't laugh - she sent me a friendly e-mail yesterday after reading the review...)

Right now I'm off to the John McGahern week-end in Leitrim. I'm taking part in a roundtable discussion of McGahern's fantastic novel Amongst Women in Henry's in Cootehall at 5pm. David Means is also taking part in the summer school today. I'll miss his talk on the short story but I hope to meet him over the course of the week-end. I love his writing.

So, until next week, cheerio, and don't forget there is still time to enter the Seán Ó Faoláín Short Story Competition. It could be you!

MARY MULLEN, POET, INTERVIEW

Today I interview the wonderful Mary Mullen, poet and memoirist. Mary was born in Anchorage, and raised on her parent’s homestead in Soldotna, Alaska.  She moved to Ballinderreen, Co. Galway, Ireland in 1996, where she still lives with her daughter Lily, a sparkly Galway girl who was born with Down syndrome. Her debut poetry collection, Zephyr, was published by Salmon in 2010. Mary’s poems and non-fiction work have been published in The Stinging Fly, Crannóg, Landing Places: An Anthology of Irish Immigrant Poets, and Anchorage Daily News among many places. She holds an MA in Writing from the National University of Ireland, Galway.  A savant of memoir, she taught memoir writing at Galway Arts Centre, and now tutors writers privately.

A big welcome to Women Rule Writer, Mary, to celebrate the publication of your début poetry collection Zephyr by Salmon. It’s always great to host women writers here and it’s lovely to have one of the members of my Peer Group today.

The title of the book, Zephyr, appears in the poem ‘August Lament’. Can you tell us why you chose this as the title of the book?

Like all writers, I  collect words. I first heard the word zephyr a few years ago when a friend told an animated story about her father driving their family around Cork in a 1950's Ford Zephyr, and I loved the word zephyr, which means a 'warm gentle breeze'.

 

I wanted the title to be a line from the poem called The Sarah M, Named after his Mother: 'Before Life Becomes Ordinary', but that was nixed by a friend who emphatically pointed out that there was nothing ordinary about my book. Selecting a title for my collection, which took four years to write, was a very last minute decision.

 

I am very curious about what readers think of the title. I think Zephyr suits my collection which, despite some darkness in it, also possesses humour about childhood and motherhood and Down syndrome. Zephyr, the God of Westerly winds, is the only God I've ever heard of who was known for his gentleness. The rest of them are always clattering and clashing around.

 

Collections of poetry change as they become what they are. In this collection, the title changed until it could be changed no more.

 

You are from Alaska but you have made your home in Ireland for the last 14 years. Do you consider yourself an Irish writer or an Alaskan writer? Or does that kind of labelling matter to you?

 

I'm Irish by genes and Alaskan by birth. I am a writer who has profoundly experienced two exotic places. Lucky me! But I do envy people who have the security of having stayed in one place their whole lives.

 

Fortunately, writers belong to the world, and the craft of writing is respected universally. I've read a few Irish writers who are a bit full of themselves and try to sail on and promote themselves based on their place of birth, but history will not be very kind to them. Place features greatly in Zephyr, and I trust that the poems go to a larger more universal place than either Ireland or Alaska.

 

I had the good fortune of meeting Kay Ryan, 16th Poet Laureate, in Homer, Alaska, last week. She was staying with friends at my sister's vacation rental. We shared a few meals together and she read a few poems at the end of my reading there. (I'm still a bit googly-eyed at my immense good fortune.) She thought my poems indicated that I had 'picked up a lot of the Irish.' When Michael D. Higgins read my poems he thought they were 'very American'. Both comments sit well with me. I'm an outsider, a place in which I am comfortable. Most days.

 

The book reflects your two homes beautifully – there are beluga whale pods and snow and salmon aplenty; there are Irish funerals and Burren blackberries. Among all that, though, is a sense of homesickness and longing for your original home. How has being an exile influenced your writing?

 

An exile!

 

Looking at Alaska from a great distance away has given me some clearer vision, especially about childhood memories. I'm in Alaska as you interview me and had forgotten some important things; smells for instance...the seeds from the cottonwood trees are blowing around like unenthused snow right now. They smell fresh and earthy in a shampoo kind of way. My mother and I spent the day pressure-cooking salmon in pint jars, so her house smells like dozens of dirty sea-soaked socks.

 

Alaska is a strange and wonderful place, it looms large in the hearts of locals and tourists alike. Remember your most pleasurable kiss? Alaska is a bit like that, massive and memorable. Hense the homesickness and longing in my writing.

 

Plus, poets must be honest. Living in Ireland without my family and dear old friends has been conducive to examining the concepts of family. There are many things about America that are very flawed. But Americans are very good at friendship. Alaskans up the ante by adding open-heartedness to the mix. Because everyone is originally from somewhere else, the concepts of family and friendship are very expansive. I long for that wherever I am. Additionally, my mother is ninety years old. I wonder and worry about her too much. Perhaps there is a bit of guilt about living in Ireland so far away from her. All of that probably seeps into my poems. Maybe I'm a sentimental fool. Hope none of that has seeped into my poems!

 

No, there's not sentimenatality whatsoever, rest assured!

 

Your daughter Lily is central to this book – there are beautiful and moving poems about her birth; the challenges of the mother-daughter relationship; Lily’s acquisition of language. Did becoming a mother change your approach to writing, as much as it changes one’s life in general (completely!)?

 

Yes, having a baby changed my life completely. Tra la! I had written for many years before my daughter Lily was born.

 

Lily has Down syndrome.

 

I grieved her extra chromosome and all the complications in life that her disability would mean for both of us for a few years while at the same time being extremely smitten by her. And I gave myself to her completely. When the nurse with the Brother's of Charity came to our home to give me suggestions about what to do to bring Lily on to her fullness, we did everything, and more. 

 

When the speech and language therapist gave us homework, we did it all, plus more and more. I was motivated by a powerful love. I was determined that she was going to be the most competent person with Down syndrome in the world, or at least in the West of Ireland. (I'm sure all parents of children who are not 'typical' developers feel and do the same.) Which of course, did not happen. She is just Lily. A twelve year old girls who is very busy being herself. Perfectly herself...moody, lovely, charming, sassy, stubborn, bright. She is a handful.

 

Giving so much of myself to Lily's early childhood helped me take my writing more seriously. In fact, writingthe poems for Zephyr not only gave me a big kick in the arse, they kicked me towards my own life and grounded me as a writer.

 

What do people who are not writers do to come to grips with something of such importance?

 

I have no idea, Mary. I always think writing keeps me sane throught the hard times. And I wonder how other people cope.

You write both memoir and poetry. Which form is your favourite to write in? And why?

  

I know a ton about memoir writing. I've read hundreds of memoirs and teach memoir courses. There is great truth in the saying that good teachers often learn more than they teach. I love lively stories about resilient people. Writing personal essays comes easy to me. There are definitely a few recently published memoirs that I wish I could have gotten my hands on before they went to print. A good memoir must be snappy not sappy, important but not self-important. That's tricky. And great fun.

 

Poetry is very hard for me to write. I sweat over each word, each line break, each foot. I am still full of hoy about having my first book of poetry published, many thanks to Jessie Lendennie of Salmon Poetry. I am also very humbled by the experience. I am a middle-aged woman who is a baby poet trudging to toddler status. Seamus Heaney is quoted as saying that he did not 'feel' like a poet until his third volume was published. Kay Ryan did not include any poems from her first two volumes in her 'New and Selected'. This does not take any joy away from me about my debut collection.

 

This is a meandering way to say I'm not sure which form I like best. Poetry. Definitely my fav today. And probably will be tomorrow as well, even though there is nothing quite as lovely as reading very good non-ficiton. Ah, hell. Poetry wins. It's a love that will stick with me forever, much like Alaska, just can't shake it loose, thank God and the Goddesses.

 

I ask this question of all women visitors to this blog: Who are your favourite women writers and why?

 

Women writers that I love: Elizabeth Bishop, Jane Jacobs, Zora Neal Hurston, Carson McCuller, Emily Dickinson. Kay Ryan, the women in my writer's group, the women who write by candle-light in a war zone, Mary McCarthy, Isabel Allende, Ella Fitzgerald, the immigrant in a night class, Maya Angelou. Why? Because they are brave.

 

Thanks for these great answers, Mary -  honest as always. Huge congrats on the publication of your first book of poetry. It’s a funny, warm, moving collection of poems and I highly recommend it to all my readers. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Alaska and I look forward to catching up in the autumn.

 

Buy Mary's book and read extracts here at the Salmon Poetry website.

VIRTUALLY IN BRISTOL WITH YOU

My virtual tour for my novel YOU takes me to Sarah Hilary's literary blog in Bristol. Go here to eavesdrop on our chat about the child's POV; my love of water and the genesis of the book.

CFCP READING & VIRTUAL TOUR

I'll be reading from my novel YOU at the Centre for Creative Practices in Dublin on the 5th of August at 7pm.
Admission: €7.50 non-members, €5 members.

Tomorrow I'm in two places at once: Bristol on my virtual tour for the novel, with the lovely Sarah Hilary at her Crawl Space blog. And Dublin, doing a walkabout with the PR lady, to book shops, to promote the novel. Busy, busy.

VIRTUAL TOUR FOR YOU LANDS IN ENGLAND

Today on my virtual tour for my novel You, I am with Elizabeth Baines in bonny England. And she is giving away a FREE copy of the novel. Woop!
All you have to do is read the interview and leave a comment. Go here.

FLANNERY O'CONNOR

While the baby sleeps (bliss!) I am posting about one of my literary heroines, Flannery O'Connor, on the Anti-Room. You can read it here.

FRANK O'CONNOR SHORTLIST 2010

Five American writers and the wonderful English writer David Constantine have made the shortlist for the 2010 Frank O'Connor Short Story Award. Huge congrats to all; three are début authors. The shortlisted books and authors are:

1. If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This (Picador UK, 2010) by Robin Black

2. Mattaponi Queen (Graywolf Press, 2010) by Belle Boggs

3.Wild Child (Bloomsbury, 2010) by TC Boyle

4.The Shieling (Comma Press, 2009) by David Constantine

5.Burning Bright (HarperCollins, 2010) by Ron Rash

6. What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us (Dzanc Books, 2009) by Laura van den Berg

More at Munster Lit here and The Guardian  here.

EDGE HILL PRIZE EVENT - pics

Chris Beckett (Judge) and Jeremy Dyson

Jeremy Dyson of League of Gentlemen fame won the Edge Hill Prize last night in London. And Robert Shearman won the Readers' Prize. Congrats to both.

We dashed to London from the West Cork Lit Fest and dashed back this morning for my class. The event took place in Blackwell's book shop on the incomparable Charing Cross Road, a stone's throw from where number 84 once plied its trade. Now a Pizza Hut, sadly.

Nuala, Elizabeth Baines & Jen Hamilton-Emery

There was wine, there was cake, there were writers. AL Kennedy didn't show but the rest of us 'listees were there (we got compensatory Parker pens and Edge Hill flash drives) and we chatted and drank and adjourned afterwards to The Phoenix artists' club across the lane. Briefly in our case as our darling Juno was hot and tired so we left. It was great to chat, however shortly, to Elizabeth Baines, Jen Hamilton-Emery, Adam Marek and Rob Shearman.

Robert Shearman accepting the Readers' Prize

Nuala and Jeremy, signing his book for my sister - his number one fan!

VIRTUAL TOUR FOR 'YOU'

Today my virtual tour for my novel You kicks off at Barbara Smith's blog in downtown Dundalk. We talk about the second person voice and the importance of naming, among other things. You can click here to read our chat.

BANTRY REPORT

A quick hello from a drizzly West Cork. My short fiction class is going well and the three hours per day goes by in a flash; the class is lively - we talk a  lot - but we're getting through the work too. Brian O'Connell, who sat in briefly yesterday, gives us a mention in today's Irish Times.

Brian read from his book Wasted yesterday and Sue Leonard read from her new book on depression, Keys to the Cage. They both read moving sometimes shocking pieces and there was lively and informative discussion afterwards on alcoholism and depression.

My reading with Alex Barclay today went off nicely. There were over 120 people there - this is one well attended festival. I was delighted to meet Clem Cairns - the man behind Fish publishing - and Cork author Ian Wild who writes fabulous short fiction.

Mister, Baby and I are all only starting to feel well after DAYS of suffering with a stomach bug. Today we actually ate - yay! So our energy levels are picking up and we hope to go to more events.

OFF TO CORK, LONDON AND, VIRTUALLY, DUNDALK!

I've a busy week coming up and my head is full. Not least with the fact that I have just got a new agent, in New York, which is rather fun and exciting! Project Agent is now officially ended, thank God.

Monday I am off to the West Cork Literary Festival to teach a week-long short story workshop. There are still places available on the course if you are in the area. I'm very much looking forward to meeting my students for the week and getting stuck into some good short stories, theory and writing with them.

Tuesday I am reading from my novel You at the festival at 1pm in Bantry Library with the stunning Alex Barclay. Admission free!

Wednesday sees the start of my virtual tour for the novel at writer Barbara Smith's blog. Do join us for a chat about voice and naming, and for virtual tea and scones.

Wednesday also sees me hopefully catching Hugo Hamilton's lunchtime reading and reading myself for the elderly at Bantry Hospital. I ♥ old people!

Thursday (bear with me!) I am teaching in the morning, then flying to London in the afternoon for the Edge Hill Prize awards ceremony. My short fiction collection Nude is shortlisted. I'm looking forward v much to meeting my fellow shortlistees there and also writers Patrick Cotter, Adam Marek and Elizabeth Baines.

Friday morning, very early, I fly back to Cork and speed back to Bantry to teach my class.

Saturday morning? I'm having a lie in before motoring back to Galway and my real life.

NEW REVIEW OF 'THE WATCHFUL HEART'

Ian Brinton reviews the Salmon poetry and essay anthology The Watchful Heart edited by Joan McBreen, at Eyewear today. He focuses in on two poets: Paul Perry and myself. Which was a nice surprise on a wet, Friday morning. Go here.

SEÁN Ó FAOLÁIN DEADLINE LOOMING

It's the last month to send in Seán Ó Faoláin competition submissions. So get those short stories polished up and shipped off. Judge for this year is Tania Hershman.

First prize is 1500 euros (or USD/GBP equivalent) and if the winner comes to Cork to collect their prize, they'll be "lavished with hotel accommodation, meals, drinks and VIP access to the literary stars" at the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival (15-19 September 2010). How could you pass by that opportunity!?!

FROM PAGE TO STAGE - FOR UNPUBLISHED PLAYWRIGHTS

Jointly organised by the local authority library services of Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin, From Page to Stage presents an opportunity for new playwrights to showcase their work as part of Innovation Dublin - a celebration of innovation and creativity across the Dublin Region.

Winning writers will be offered mentoring from draft manuscript stage to production by Laurence Foster (actor, author, former head of RTÉ radio drama) and Daniel Reardon (actor, playwright and poet).

The best plays submitted will be staged as rehearsed readings in libraries across the City and County during the Innovation Dublin Festival in November, giving new writers an opportunity to receive valuable feedback and audience reaction to their work. Winners will direct their own work using the services of professional actors provided by the organisers.

Judging will be carried out by Laurence Foster, Daniel Reardon, playwright Bernard Farrell and actor and director Cathryn Brennan. The overall winner will receive a prize of €500 and will have their work presented in Dublin City Council’s new Wood Quay Venue.

Entry forms (Word doc, 27kb) Click on link below

Sample script layout (PDF, 20kb) Click on link below

Entries to one address only:

• Dublin City Libraries,138-144 Pearse St., Dublin 2. Attn: Alastair Smeaton
• Dún Laoghaire Rathdown Library Service , 2 Harbour Square, Crofton Rd., Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin. Attn: Oonagh Brennan
• Fingal Libraries Division, Lower Ground Floor, County Hall, Swords, Co. Dublin. Attn: Yvonne O’Brien
• South Dublin Libraries, Unit 1, Square Industrial Complex, Tallaght, Co. Dublin. Attn: Caroline Higgins/Patricia Fitzgerald

Competition Rules

1. The competition is for stage plays by writers whose work has not been previously published and/or performed.
2. Entrants must be resident or working in Dublin City or County.
3. Plays must be written in English for a cast of a maximum of three characters and should not be of more than 40 minutes duration.
4. Entries should be typed and should include a title page and a short character / plot description. There should be a double space after each page. Scripts should be printed on one side of numbered pages only.
5. Only one entry per person allowed.
6. Scripts will not be returned.
7. Scripts must be accompanied by the official entry form. Where a pseudonym is used, the entrant’s real name must be stated on the official entry form and not on the script.
8. Entries must be received by post or by hand to one of the addresses below by 5.00pm on Wednesday, September 15th, 2010.
9. The Judges decision will be final. No correspondence will be entered into, other than notification of the winners.

http://www.dublincity.ie/RecreationandCulture/libraries/News%20Items/Pages/from_page_to_stage.aspx