THE FABER ANTHOLOGY LANDS

Town & Country, the new Faber anthology of Irish Short Stories, edited by Kevin Barry

Look what arrived this morning - oh, the excitement!! I think I will abandon the NIP today in favour of reading this. The titles of the stories alone have me zinging: 'Godīgums' by Keith Ridgway (it means 'straightforwardness/integrity' in Latvian); 'The Second-Best Bar in Cadiz' (Andrew Meehan); 'Brimstone Butterfly' (Des Hogan); 'Saturday, Boring' (Lisa McInerney).

Kevin Barry's introduction to the anthology is suitably brilliant and interesting. A flavour:

'...at any given moment, it seems, there are ten thousand maniacs battering their laptops with caffeinated fingers, and stories are scrawled onto the backs of beer mats, or pricked out in blood on the pale skin of the page.'

'A great story can take all the air out of a room.'

'A great story can make you loosen your collar.'

'It was with a sense of cackling glee that I sent this book to its publisher...The Irish story is changing and is pulsing with great, mad and rude new energies.'

Town and Country will be out 6th June. You can pre-order it here.

The Dublin launch takes place at the Faber Social at the Dublin Writers' Festival in Smock Alley Theatre (change of venue to Smock Alley because of demand!), Saturday 25th May, 6pm. Admission: €10/€8. I'll be reading at it along with fellow writers Patrick McCabe, Paul Murray, Eimear Ryan and Michael Harding. Buy your ticket here.