A swift reminder that the
Seán Ó Faoláin Prize closes for entries on the 31st July so you still have time to polish that story and send it in. Apart from the fact there are 6 prizes, you get to read at the Cork Short Story Festival which is the best festival EVER. It was announced by Munster Lit and the festival yesterday, btw, that young skin Colin Barrett has won the 2014 Frank O'Connor Award, which is very impressive for a début book. Kudos, Colin.
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I had a lovely time in Bantry, teaching at the West Cork Lit Fest - I met with a fine bunch of aspiring bloggers/Facebookers/Tweeters. The time flew, we had fun. What more could you want? I enjoyed readings too by the wondrous John MacKenna, the sublime
Mary Morrissy and the winners of the FISH awards, including Dublin man, David Butler, a fellow New Islander, who took the top prize.
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I'm off to Vienna tomorrow for the
International Conference on the Short Story, which I have been attending, in its various locations, since 2006. I'm taking part in a panel on linked short story collections on Weds 16th; reading from
Of Dublin and Other Fictions at the Irish Embassy on Thurs 17th; and reading from
Mother
America, with I-Wei Wu from Taiwan, on Fri 18th. It is a great conference and I am so looking forward to catching up with old friends including Tania Hershman, Billie Travalini and Bob and Kelly Butler. So ta-rah for now. If I get a moment, I will blog from Vienna.
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If you live in the Wesht, I am interviewed in the current issue (Jul./Aug.) of
Galway Now magazine about
The Closet of Savage Mementos and about what Galway means to me.
