HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!

Creepy doll at Southwall Lighthouse - pic by my cuz, Clodagh O'Connor

I am still struggling with jetlag, sleep all over the place, and not doing very well catching up on everyone and everything. So if I owe you an email, bear with me.

For the day that's in it I have a very short ghostly story up at Wales Arts Review for their Hallowe'en special. A dead girl speaks. It's here. There are stories by John Lavin and Jon Gower, among others. They also feature their first ever podcast, where two of their top writers (and horror fans) select a list of 13 alternative horror films to keep you up on Hallowe'en night.

PENNY DREADFUL CALL FOR SUBS

The lovely Penny Dreadful lads want your work - preferably 'ball-grabbing, punch-in-the-face writing from nice, courteous ladies and gents.' And 'no funny fonts'. Yes! Send your stories and poems here.

NEW YORK & NEW MEXICO AFTERS

I got home from my NY/NM odyssey this morning. I guess I should be unpacking, but here I am instead. 2014 has been a great year for me but this trip was one of the absolute highlights. The contrast between Manhattan and New Mexico was huge - each enriching and enchanting in its own inimitable way.

It was fantastic to meet with Tara Singh Carlson, my editor at Penguin. She brought me and my agent, Gráinne, for lunch in Giorgione and we had a lovely companionable natter over delicious pizzas. Back to the Penguin Office on Hudson Street then for a meet-n-greet with lots of the people who will work on my book: sales and marketing people, mostly. All lovely and brimming with positivity about Miss Emily.

Penguin gifts

They gifted me two Penguin classics with my initials on the cover, which was very sweet. I also got a bound proof of my novel to take with me to New Mexico, for my first ever public reading from the book at the Uni of New Mexico in Albuquerque. All thanks to my friend Caleb Richardson, a professor in the history department there, who arranged my visit.

Bowery mural

That event went well - the audience were lively and smart and we had a good Q&A about historical fiction. I was also brought to lunch in Slate Street Café - a favourite of the Breaking Bad team when they were in Albuquerque - with, among others, the stunning Gail Houston, head of English at UNM, and poet-professor Diane Thiel. I could've talked to those women all day - brilliant people.

It was on to Santa Fe then for the ACIS West Conference for Irish Studies, to meet old pals and get myself an education on Ireland. It is amazing to listen to experts talk about your country - I always learn a ton at these conferences.

The road between Albuquerque and Santa Fe is remarkable - vast blue skies one day, mountains marbled with clouds the next, red earth, reservations dotted with piñons and casinos. These places are at high altitude and the air is thin and fresh and the sun extremely bright. It is a beautiful drive.

Rail yard, Santa Fe

Our conference hotel, the only native-owned one in Santa Fe, was beside the rail yard, an area of cute cafés, a farmers' market, book shops and great bars. Talk about spoilt rotten.

Myles Dungan & Glen Gendzel do Mr Dooley

I attended too many events/papers to go into them all here but highlights included Myles Dungan and Glen Gendzel's hilarious enactment of Finley Peter Dunne's Mr Dooley: a series of crankily spot-on monologues on the state of the States. Though Dunne was writing in the late 19th C., the topics were very contemporary, including emigration and the provision of libraries. Andrew Carnegie got the lash of Mr Dooley's tongue: 'They're tearing down poorhouses to put up libraries.'

UNM students perform The Weir

Another highlight was the production of Conor McPherson's The Weir by students from UNM, under the direction of Maria Szasz. Though not trained actors, they really embraced the play and it made for a funny and moving performance.

Margot Gayle Backus, who can only be described as a genius, gave an erudite and lively keynote on Irish children in Imperial scandal. Lucky are the Belfast students who will benefit from her being at Queen's on a Fulbright from January 2015.

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha statue at St Francis Cathedral, Santa Fe

Other guests included the fab Nicholas Allen and Ernie O'Malley's son, Cormac, who presented on Ernie's time in Santa Fe after the Irish Civil War. Fascinating stuff and he took great photographs which we got to see. Charlotte Headrick and Eileen Kearney launched their anthology of Irish women's plays, though the book won't be available for a few weeks. More on that here.

Gerry Carthy & friend play at the Swiss Bakery

And what else? Well, we socialised heartily around the town, eating well and drinking modestly (mostly!). I got to meet and listen to Mayo-man Gerry Carthy, a multi-talented musician, at two separate venues in Santa Fe.

I went to the launch of a photography book about Ireland by Elizabeth Billups and Gerry Adams (yes, that Gerry) in Collected Works Bookstore. The owner Dorothy fed us tea and cakes while we listened to Elizabeth's enthusiastic take on Ireland and its landscape and people.

Elizabeth Billups at her Collected Works launch

On my last day, I was brought up the Turquoise Trail, through gorgeous mountain scenery, to Tinkertown Museum, an enchanting and utterly charming collection of miniature villages, funfair kitsch and Western memorabilia. I giggled my way around the place and it is, hands down, the best museum I have ever been to.

It reminded me of my late sister Nessa, a theatre designer, who also specialised in miniature foods and dioramas, among other things. As a collector, and the daughter of committed collectors, I felt right at home among the glorious, eccentric clutter of it all.

A Tinkertown clown sums up how I felt leaving Santa Fe

So, I'm now home, gathering my thoughts about the trip, thinking about all the lovely people I met and spent time with over meals and drinks, and at events. I look forward to doing it all again with them next year, at a yet-to-be-decided venue. For now, sleep!

Laureate for Irish Fiction nomination

I am delighted to have been nominated for The Laureate for Irish Fiction. Big thanks to whoever nominated me! The website for the Laureate, which will be awarded in January 2015, reads:

"The Laureate for Irish Fiction will be awarded by the Arts Council to an Irish writer of national and international distinction. The honour will be used to promote Irish literature nationally and internationally and to encourage the public to engage with high quality Irish fiction. The Laureate will have a three-year term. Over the period, he or she will teach creative writing to students at University College Dublin and New York University, will spend time developing his or her own work, and will participate in a number of major, public events and promotions. The Laureate will receive a total of €150,000 over the three years."

Bring it on, says I. I am in New York as I write and the idea of having a long spell here, to teach writing, is swoon-worthy.

Here is the list of 34 nominees:

Anne Enright	Anne Haverty	Belinda McKeon
Bernard MacLaverty	Catherine Dunne	Christine Dwyer Hickey
Claire Keegan	Colum McCann	Dermot Bolger
Donal Ryan	Edna O'Brien	Eimear McBride
Emma Donoghue	Eoin McNamee	Evelyn Conlon
Hugo Hamilton	Jaki McCarrick	Jennifer Johnston
John Banville	John Boyne	John MacKenna
Joseph O'Connor	Liam Mac Cóil	Michael Coady
Niall Williams	Nuala Ní Chonchuir	Patrick McCabe
Paul Murray	Peter Cunningham	Ré O Laighleis
Roddy Doyle	Sebastian Barry	Tom Kilroy
William Trevor

More here.

JOELY R. AS EMILY D.

I'm looking forward to seeing Joely Richardson as Emily Dickinson in an off-Broadway production of The Belle of Amherst next week. Lovely Joely, lovely Emily.

This picture is by Carol Rosegg for the Wall Street Journal.

TALLAGHT, NEW YORK & BEYOND

I'm reading from my latest novel The Closet of Savage Mementos this Saturday at 2.30pm, at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght, as part of the Red Line Book Festival. I'm reading with Dónal Ryan, Dermot Bolger and John Sheahan. Blessed amongst men.

The festival is on all this week and my friend Shauna Gilligan is giving a free writing workshop on Saturday in Lucan Library, 10am to 1pm, Bookings: 01 621 6422.

After Red Line I am off to New York to meet my agent and my new editor at Penguin USA for lunch, then a meet-n-greet at the Penguin office. And after that I head to New Mexico where I am giving a talk on historical fiction, and my first reading from Miss Emily, at the Uni. of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Excited doesn't even come close!!

WALES ARTS REVIEW & WEXFORD GIG

John Lavin of the Wales Arts Review was in Cork in September at the Cork International Short Story Festival. As an afterword to the festival he interviewed some of the writers who took part for the current issue: Colin Barrett, Paul McVeigh, Valerie Sirr, Matt Rader, Órfhlaith Foyle and myself. More here. John also wrote about his own impressions of the festival, including the Richard Ford brouhaha, and you can read them here.

And, Wexfordians! I'll be reading in the library this Saturday, 3pm, from my latest novel. Free, but book: 053 919 6759. They made a sticky-together image:

ALEX FAGE - WRITER SKETCHES

Here are sketches from Alex Fage, of some of the writers who took part in the Cork International Short Story Festival this year. Check out his blog here. Alison MacLeod is top left. That's Sara Baume with the blunt fringe, middle far-right. (Sara is interviewed on the Dublin Book Festival site ahead of her appearance in November.) I'm top right, looking (welcomingly) slim.

LINES OF VISION - LAUNCH AFTERS & PICS

The launch and opening of Lines of Vision at the National Gallery of Ireland went great last night - there were lots and lots of people there, and the prosecco and wine were flowing. It was all very civilised and glamorous. I love posh events, I must say. There was a private reception for the writers, before the opening, in 5 Leinster Street, a beautiful section of the gallery that overlooks the inner atrium. It was great to meet and chat with writers I know like Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Dónal Ryan and Eoin MacNamee. Also there were literary stars (and brilliant people) Jennifer Johnston, Evelyn Conlon, Enda Wyley, Peter Sirr, Paula Meehan and Theo Dorgan, among many others.

I was delighted to meet up again with some of my fellow Italo-Irish Literature Exchange crew, namely Seán Hardie, Bill Wall and his wife Liz. Seán's wife is the poet Kerry Hardie and she has a beautiful war poem in the book inspired by Pierre Bonnard's Le Déjeuner, in which Marthe de Méligny speaks. (Marthe was Bonnard's wife.) Many of the images are in copyright so I can't reproduce them here but you can look at the Bonnard here and, my choice, Jack B. Yeats's Men of Destiny here.

John Lavery - Return from Market 

It was also lovely to reconnect with writer Noëlle Harrison who now lives in Norway. Noëlle took John Lavery's Return from Market as her inspiration, to write a sensual story about regret and self realisation.

William (Bill) Wall used Seán Keating's famous An Allegory as a stepping off point for an intriguing political prose poem.

Curator/editor Janet McLean, President Higgins, Sabina Higgins and gallery Director, Seán Rainbird

President Michael D. Higgins opened the exhibition (with a suitably mellifluous speech about the importance of cruthaíocht/creativity in our lives). We were allowed into the exhibition before the President joined us with his wife Sabina. It was fantastic to see the paintings from the book all exhibited together - very moving somehow.

My painting (my painting!) is the first one you see as you come in the door, which is sort of nice. We weren't allowed photograph it, but here's the nameplate:

The exhibition of Lines of Vision runs until April 2015. There are dozens of events on around the exhibition and book: readings, talks, plays. I am taking part in a study morning on Jack B. Yeats on the 15th November and I will also be leading a writing workshop next March for over 55s. 

And, of course, the gorgeous book, produced by Thames and Hudson, is available nationwide and online. It costs €25 and would make a fab gift. If you can't afford the book, do go to the exhibition - it's beautiful and it's free!

LINES OF VISION - LAUNCH & OPENING

Lines of Vision: Irish Writers on Art will be launched by President Higgins tonight at 6pm at the National Art Gallery. The book contains stories, poems and articles inspired by artworks from the gallery and it celebrates the National Gallery of Ireland's 150th anniversary. I have a wee story in it based on a Jack B. Yeats painting. I'm looking forward to the private reception for the writers before the main event at 6pm. The book is accompanied by an exhibition which opens to the public on Wednesday.

There are lots of literary events taking place around the book/exhib, including a study morning on Jack B. Yeats that I am doing on the 15th November with Roddy Doyle, Moya Cannon and Dermot Bolger. The morning can be booked here.

The Sunday Times had a review of the book this past weekend by Cristín Leach Hughes. She said of my story: 'Nuala Ní Chonchúir spins a quick, gripping yarn about gunrunning from Jack B. Yeats's 'Men of Destiny'.' Here's a photo of the review, which will be readable if you click on it and zoom in:

DROMINEER LIT FEST - PICS AND MINI-REPORT

Cottage at Dromineer, beside Lough Derg

I had a lovely time in Dromineer, Co. Tipperary - what a pretty place. The festival was well attended and very friendly. All thanks to Eleanor Hooker, Bernie McGrath and team for the invite and the warm welcome.

Boats at Dromineer, Lough Derg

Mary Jane Holmes - a friend - who is a writer and editor, and heavily involved with Cork's FISH, won the Flash Fiction prize, and poet Michael Farry came out on top in poetry comp. Big congrats to both of them.

Flash fiction group - pic by Geraldine Wisdom

My flash fiction class were an enthused bunch and we passed a happy couple of hours talking short-short stories.

Michael Murphy, me, Thomas McCarthy, Liz Nugent, Kobus Moolman & Maureen Kennelly

I really enjoyed the Meet the Authors event at Nenagh Arts Centre, where we talked about a book that had influenced us (I chose Edna O'Brien's 1970 novel A Pagan Place) and we read a little from our own work. I was in stellar company: the sublime Thomas McCarthy, the wonderful Liz Nugent, the sweet-and-lovely Michael Murphy and the impressive Kobus Moolman. Great people all. And Poetry Ireland's wonder-director Maureen Kennelly steered us along. It was a great event.

Signing after the Meet the Authors event - pic by Geraldine Wisdom

And our B&B was the swoon-worthy Ashley Park House near Nenagh: a 17th century house with a colonial style exterior, resident peacocks and enormous rooms. We had a suite, with a white muslin-draped four poster bed, working window shutters and a lake view. So beautiful.

Our suite - Ashley Park B&B

View over Lough Ourna from Ashley Park B&B

Welcome pack from the festival - choc, notebook, book, soap, notelets & card. Sweet or what?

DROMINEER LITERARY FESTIVAL

Dromineer - doesn't it look pretty?

I'm off to Co. Tipperary, today for the Dromineer Literary Festival, which started last night. Looking forward to meeting my flash students in the morning, and talking short-shorts for a couple of hours.

In the evening I am taking part in a panel, chaired by Maureen Kennelly, about inspirational/influential books. Also taking part: Thomas McCarthy, Liz Nugent, Michael Murphy and Kobus Moolman.

Gallery Press are having a poetry reading in the afternoon at Lough Derg Yacht Club, featuring Gerald Dawe, Medbh McGuckian and Conor O’Callaghan.

And the festival launch is on tonight at the same venue. Such a pity the weather has turned and it is now bucketing rain. Ah well, you can't have it all.