JOYRIDE TO JUPITER - GALWAY LAUNCH

Galway launch of Joyride to Jupiter in Rosie McGurran's Studio and Gallery

Bloomsday, 16th June 2017

Artist Gavin Lavelle, who launched the book with artist Úna Spain

Artist Deborah Watkins, me, writer Lisa Carey

Finbar with Michael

Clementine Lavelle, Liam Carey Spalding, Juno and pal

My sons Cúán and Finn, with their Dad, John Dillon

Me with some of the crowd

Some of the crowd in Rosie's gallery

Rosie McGurran welcomes us

Post launch mingling in the kitchen

CÚIRT 2016

Belinda McKeon signing books at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway

I haven't time to dwell on the usual post-Cúirt deflation as I am on a deadline (Friday!) with novel #4. This is my first round of re-writes for my editor in NY and, oh, it went so well today. I am exhausted after Cúirt but a good night's sleep had me right on track this morning. There is nothing quite like the high when the writing goes well, when the questions posed can be answered (and Tara, my ed, asks good questions). I even forgot about lunch which anyone who knows me will realise is UNBELIEVABLE.

Jennifer Johnston signing books at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway

Cúirt was fantastic, as ever. I had the privilege of interviewing writers Jennifer Johnston and Belinda McKeon together. I hope that at 86 I am still writing, still publishing, as Jennifer is. Her 18th novel, Naming the Stars, appears in June. She read from it, and Belinda read from Tender (that hilarious scene where the young Catherine interviews An Older Irish Male Writer), and both were brilliant.

We talked about yearning, discomfort and language in fiction, as well as autobiography, parents and POV characters (male vs female main protagonists). We spoke about growing up as regards character development and parental hobbling in Jennifer's novel. We talked about the Irish writer's obligation when it comes to The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Both writers had plenty of interesting things to say and, really, an hour was far too short a spell to spend with them. We could've yammered on and on. If I loved both women before, I love them even more now.

Long Gaze panel - pic by Majella O'Dea

I also took part in a panel discussion based around The Long Gaze Back anthology with its editor Sinéad Gleeson, Belinda McKeon and Cúirt director Dani Gill. We covered lots of topics: #ReadWomen, the importance of networking, mentors and champions, the need to keep the gender conversation in literature wide and ongoing, the importance of mutual support for women writers (giving back), the Baileys Prize and more.

Juno with Prospect Hill graffiti - Irish for 'Take courage'

A pretty poor pic of Sinéad Gleeson & Leslie Jamison

In terms of attending events for pleasure, I managed to hear several fantastic writers, including Leslie Jamison, Kirsty Logan, Miriam Toews and Joanna Walsh. There was a wonderful chiming of themes discussed, all things I am super-interested in: grief, memory, mental illness, and 'truth' in fiction. My mind was racing with thoughts and ideas (and admiration) after each reading/discussion. And I bought books, lots of lovely books, from Charlie Byrne's wide selection.

Me, signing and chatting - The Long Gaze Back

On the social side, I had lunch, tea, wine, din-dins and fun with plenty of wondrous people including Sinéad Gleeson, Belinda McKeon, Joanna Walsh, Lisa McInerney (she of the Baileys Prize shortlisting - woot!), super-successful YA writer Louise O'Neill, Tom Morris of the Stinging Fly, Declan Meade of the same parish, New York-based writer Joshua Ferris, my Smokelong pal Chris Allen and his partner. It was all very jolly and exhausting. We even managed a spin out to Salthill and Barna to eat ginormous fruit salads and bagels, and be mesmerised by the sea. As we drove back in by the Claddagh, I was reminded of why I moved to Galway twenty years go - it really is a magical place.

KINVARA, GALWAY GIG

Saturday the 16th of January finds me in Kinvara in the company of writers Paul McVeigh, Sarah Clancy and Lisa McInerney. We're doing a reading for local charity KAVA - Kinvara Are Visual Arts. Our event kicks off at  7.30pm on Saturday 16th January in the Courthouse. Admission €10 (Kava members €5) includes refreshments.

Earlier that day Paul Mc Veigh is giving a writing workshop. See below. There are still places available.

CÚIRT NEW WRITING PRIZE 2016

The Cúirt New Writing Prize, in memory of Lena Maguire, is now open for submissions. Entries should be sent via email to: info@cuirt.ie

There is a €500 cash prize for the winner in each category and an opportunity to read at the Cúirt/Over the Edge Showcase event at Cúirt 2016. This years judges are Elaine Feeney (poetry) and Declan Meade (Fiction).

Young Cúirt (Ages 12-17)

The winner will receive €100 cash prize and they will have the opportunity to read at the 2016 Cúirt Labs in April.

The guidelines for both adult and youth submissions are as follows: Poetry entries must consist of 3 poems under 50 lines each, and fiction pieces may be up to 2000 words. Entries in both English and Irish are welcome. Writers submitting work should not have had a collection published in the category in which they enter.

The entry fee for each submission is €10, this can be paid via the Paypal button at: www.cuirt.ie. When emailing submissions, please include the unique transaction ID and the account owners name. Entries should be sent via email to: info@cuirt.ie

The closing date for submissions is Thursday 28 January 2016 at 5pm. For further information see: www.cuirt.ie

EASONS CELEBRATES 25 YEARS WITH GALWAY WRITERS

Here's the full text of Kernan Andrews's article about the 25 year celebrations at Easons, Galway, from The Galway Advertiser:

ELEVEN GALWAY short story writers and poets will be reading from their work in Easons on Mondays and Tuesdays in September.

The readings, which begin at 4.30pm, have been programmed by Galway publishing company Arlen House, and are part of a series of events to mark the 25th anniversary of Easons’ opening in Shop Street in September 1989.

The first reading takes place on Monday September 22 at 4.30pm and will feature Geraldine Curtin giving a short talk entitled Life Stories of Women Prisoners in Galway Jail; Orfhlaith Foyle will read poems of war and conflict as well as reading poems by Ballinasloe writer Nuala Ní Chonchúir which were inspired by the book The Women of Galway Jail; and the Galway Advertiser arts editor Kernan Andrews will read from his short story, Im Niemansland, set in the trenches of WWI.

Tuesday 23 will feature two of Galway’s most respected short story writers, as Geraldine Mills will read from her new collection, Hellkite, and Mike McCormack will reading from Forensic Songs.

On Monday 29, there will be poetry from Alice Lyons, Peggie Gallagher, and Geraldine Mitchell, while Nuala Ní Chonchúir will read from The Closet of Savage Mementos. Tuesday 30 will see Alan McMonagle and Des Kenny read from the Arlen House short story anthology Noir by Noir West.

All are welcome to the readings. Easons will be hosting a number of other in-shop events, including literature and music and events for children.

BANTRY, VIENNA & GALWAY NOW

 
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.

Cúirt New Writing Prize 2014

The Cúirt New Writing Prize is now open for submissions of poetry (3 poems of under 50 lines each) and fiction (up to 2,000 words). There is a €500 cash prize for the winner in each category, an opportunity to read at Cúirt 2014, plus publication.  

The judges for this year are Martin Dyar for poetry and Mary Costello for fiction. The closing date for submissions is 30 January 2014; a €10 entry fee applies. Entries should be sent via email to tara@cuirt.ie For full rules and guidelines, go to www.cuirt.ie 

AILEEN ARMSTRONG - GUEST POST

Writer Aileen Armstrong

Here's something to brighten up your Monday: début writer Aileen Armstrong at the blog today, with a guest post entitled 'The Roots of Preoccupations'. Aileen's first book, a linked short story collection called End of Days, has just been published by the fabulous Doire Press who are based in Connemara, County Galway.

The book will be launched on Saturday the 14th September by Declan Meade of The Stinging Fly at Galway Arts Centre at 1pm. Aileen, who grew up in Sligo, now lives in Galway. Her writing has appeared in Galway Stories, the Stinging Fly, and Long Story, Short. She holds a MA in Writing from NUI Galway.

If you can't wait 'til Saturday to read it, buy the book here now.

The Roots of Preoccupations

Aileen Armstrong

When I was twenty, I spent an Erasmus year at university in the south of France. Back in those days, I didn’t know any writers, and I had already (and prematurely, as it turned out) abandoned any attempt at writing creatively myself.  Even so, it seemed to me that Erasmus years were the stuff of fiction-makers’ dreams. All of that youth and uncertainty, the language mash-up, the cultural pleasures and the cultural absurdities. Somebody should write a novel about Erasmus students, I thought. Somebody, somewhere, should mine this fount.

I took a class, in my French university, that would focus on the American short story. The class was taught in English, and only two authors were examined: Raymond Carver and Hermann Melville.  My feelings about Carver are for another day. But via Melville’s short story collection The Piazza Tales I was introduced to Bartleby the Scrivener, and anyone who has encountered Bartleby won’t forget him. Bartleby, a pallid notary taken on by a Wall Street lawyer, performs his documentation tasks admirably at first. It’s not long, however, before he is trying the patience of his colleagues and his employer. To repeated injunctions to perform office duties, or do anything at all, he has but one mysterious, minimalistic response:  ‘I would prefer not to.’ Eventually, the lawyer discovers that Bartleby has been sleeping in the office – that he does not, in fact, ever leave the office, but continues to occupy its space with his ‘passive resistance.’

In later years, after graduation, I worked for a long time in an office not unlike Bartleby’s, doing work that was not unlike Bartelby’s. And often, when I was working alone well into the evening, chasing a deadline, I would be struck by the same kind of melancholy a first reading of Bartleby invites. It seems to me that the stories we read earliest – or perhaps the ones we read best – do this to us. We hardly notice it, but their patterns or images become settled in us. They become part of our sensory make-up.

I didn’t write that novel. And maybe I didn’t exactly write short stories either, since the pieces in my collection – End of Days, Doire Press – are lightly linked, meant for reading in sequence. Still, in one of them, the title story, an Erasmus student spends Christmas alone in her flat aware of, but removed from – possibly even passively resisting – the festivities that are taking place in the busy bar on the ground floor of her building. And it’s only now that I’m writing this that I can see where the roots of my preoccupation – with solitary souls in communal buildings? – potentially lies, and I’m amazed, as I often am, at how much time I seem to need to process things.

That class on American short fiction was a bit of a disaster, truth be told. But if I got nothing else from it, I still got Bartleby. He was more than enough.

GALWAY READING TONIGHT, BELFAST PICS, MOTHER AMERICA MOBI

Namoredeira from Brazil

I am reading tonight with Seamus Scanlon at the Dominican Hall, The Claddagh, Galway as part of the Artistic Atlas celebrations. I don't read often in Galway so that's kind of fun. 6pm, admission free. Please come!

Marisol Morales Ladrón

Belfast was fab, I must say. Again, I took very few pics (too busy walking, eating and enjoying the sights and shops.) I loved Marisol Morales Ladrón's eco-critical look at my novel YOU, at the IASIL Conference at Queen's University. She was spot-on in her assessment of the importance of the river in the book. It is fascinating to hear your work talked about by academics - they go to the heart of it so much more than critics. Gracias, Marisol :)

Queen's Uni, Belfast

This particular conference is like the queen of Irish Studies conferences so there were lots of the lovely people there whom I met in Brazil last August, including Laura Izarra who brought me the namoredeira above, the statue you see in so many windows in the north of Brazil. Sweet :)

In other news my short story collection Mother America is now available as a mobi file at New Island's page on Small Epic for £4.99 (about €5.80) for all you e-reader readers.

ARTISTIC ATLAS OF GALWAY

The Artistic Atlas of Galway, the brainchild of Liam Duffy, will be launched tomorrow, Monday the 22nd July at 6pm in the Dominican Hall in the Claddagh. The Atlas features poetry, prose, photography and art from Galway-based and Galway-connected creatives.

It is a gorgeous piece of work and it features, among many others, Mary Mullen, Maureen Gallagher, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Fred Johnston, Sandra Bunting, Pat Jourdan (as writer and artist) and John Lawless.

Launch: 6pm, Monday 22nd, Dominican Hall, The Claddagh

Exhibition: 2pm to 8pm daily, same venue

Readings: 6pm daily until Saturday 27th, same venue. My reading is on Friday the 26th and I am performing with NY-based Irish writer Seamus Scanlon.

*GALWAY STORIES* - DUBLIN LAUNCH

Tomorrow, Wednesday 26th June at 7pm, in the IWC, Dublin, sees the Dublin launch of Doire Press's latest anthology Galway Stories. There will be Galwegians who are now Dubs. Dubs who are now Galwegians. Longfordians who are from everywhere but live in Galway. There will even be Galwegian Californians. There will also be books, readings, wine and chat.

ARLEN HOUSE READING - PHOTOS

As usually happens to me, I was sick over Christmas so hereabouts (and everything else) was neglected. I'm still a bit wonky but, very belatedly, here are some photos of the Arlen House pre-Xmas showcase reading in Galway City Library.

Nuala and Órfhlaith Foyle

Alan Hayes, Publisher, Arlen House

Alan & the writers with fellow writer Patricia Burke-Brogan (standing)

Pat McMahon, County Librarian, launching the evening

Órfhlaith Foyle

Nell Regan

Neil Donnelly

Nuala Ní Chonchúir

Deirdre Brennan

The Skeff afterwards: Alan McMonagle & Juno size each other up over pints and chips

READING IN GALWAY - TOMORROW!

ARLEN HOUSE

warmly invites you to celebrate beautiful books and enjoy a showcase reading by

Nuala Ní Chonchúir
TO THE WORLD OF MEN, WELCOME

Órfhlaith Foyle
SOMEWHERE IN MINNESOTA

Deirdre Brennan
HIDDEN PLACES : SCÁTHÁN EILE

Neil Donnelly
TULLAMORE TRAIN

Nell Regan
BOUND FOR HOME

Wednesday 21 December @ 6.00pm
Galway City Library
Augustine Street
Galway

RSVP: Alan Hayes, Publisher, ARLEN HOUSE at phone 086 8207617; Email: arlenhouse@gmail.com

CALM IN CONNEMARA

Roundstone Pier

I went out to Connemara this week-end to do final research for a story I'm writing. What a place. Even though I live in the same county, it took two hours to get to the part I wanted to see. The weather was beautiful - a day-long Indian summer - and I felt blessed to have chosen this Saturday above all days to go.

I don't always find it necessary to be in the places that feature in my writing - some I research from memory or other resources - but I have found that it brings me closer to the story to be in its landscape.

And I reckoned it would be nice to go out to Connemara once again to breathe its magic. Because, as a place, it is magical - it's a hinterland of stunning mountainous beauty that has its own peculiar atmosphere. Though it is rugged, remote, wild and wet, on a day like Saturday it can feel like the gentlest most peaceful place on earth. I loved being there - I soaked in its calm.

We had tea and homemade biscuits in the haven that is Cashel House Hotel where we met a playful dog and walked through the hotel's woodlands. (Charles de Gaulle and his wife stayed in the hotel in 1969 after he resigned as President of France.) It's a gorgeously old-fashioned place of paintings and antique furniture.

Tea in Cashel House

We intruded on a private residence where the characters in my story once stayed, and the owner was nothing but friendly. In Roundstone we met the insanely talented artist Rosie McGurran who paints women and landscapes like a dream.

We walked on the pier and took photos, watching the fishermen and smelling the fishy, crabby air. We had lunch (proper veggie food!) in O'Dowd's Pub.

It was like being on holiday in our own county and I loved every minute of it.

On the pier - Roundstone

Did all this help my story? Yes, I think so. I took notes while my husband drove and some of them may end up in the piece. In fact, I think some of them will. The imagined setting my characters inhabited differs from the reality - the real place is richer and remoter, actually. And I think it gives me a new understanding of the characters now that I know how far, literally, they were willing to go to find tranquillity and seclusion. I certainly found peace there yesterday.

Roundstone

CRANNÓG 25 - SUBS CALL

Crannóg Magazine of Galway is celebrating its 25^th issue in October and preparations are already underway to make it a landmark issue. It is now open internationally to submissions of fiction (max 2000 words) and poetry (max 50 lines) until the closing date of September 1st. Definitely the magazine to be in this autumn.

Submissions may be sent by email to editor@crannogmagazine.com or posted to:

Crannóg Magazine, Galway Language Centre, Bridge Mills, Galway, Ireland.

Before submitting please read complete submission details on their website.

WORKSHOP BURSARIES FOR GALWAY WRITERS

Here's something lovely for Galway writers - bursaries to the fabulous Dingle Writing Courses this autumn. Don't say the County Arts Office doesn't look after you!

There are two Dingle Writing Courses Bursaries available. All info below:

Deadline: September 25th

Dingle Writing Courses, in association with Galway County Arts Office, is offering two Galway writers a bursary each to attend one of this year’s Autumn residential weekend courses.

The bursaries cover the cost of accommodation, food and workshops. Writers should contact Maria Cunningham in Galway Arts Office for an application form.

The two bursaries available are on the following courses:

Starting to Write with Moya Cannon, 9—11 October

Poetry with Leontia Flynn, 16—18 October

Starting to Write with Moya Cannon, 9—11 October

Moya Cannon is from Donegal and now lives in Galway. She has published three collections of poems, Oar (Salmon, 1990), The Parchment Boat (Gallery Press, 1997) and Carrying the Songs, (Carcanet, 2007). She has been writer in residence in County Kerry, Derry city and Waterford city and on Inis Oírr. She is a former editor of Poetry Ireland Review. Moya has received both the Brendan Behan Award and the Lawrence O Shaughnessy Award and is a member of Aosdána.
If you are a beginner or have only recently started writing this course will give you the confidence to get on with your own work. It will refer to contemporary poets and writers from different traditions to see how the principles of their craft can be applied to writing generated over the weekend.

Poetry with Leontia Flynn, 16—18 October

Leontia Flynn is a research fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry in Queen’s University Belfast. She won an Eric Gregory Award in 2001 and her first collection, These Days (Cape, 2004) won the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Prize. Her second collection Drives (Cape, 2008) was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award and in 2008 she received the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.
Sometimes the best poems are not the ones you want to write, but the ones you have to write. Examining a number of traditional poetic forms, using examples from a wide range of poets, the course will look at how form can be a source of inspiration rather than a constraint in your writing.

Contact Maria Cunningham mcunningham@galwaycoco.ie, phone 091 476504.

For further information on courses in Dingle visit www.dinglewritingcourses.ie

POETRY COMP - GALWAY WRITERS

Pic from Galway.net

Galway resident writers are being invited to enter a poetry competition with the theme Eyre Square.

Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill will judge and the prizes include €1000 first prize and residencies at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and Áras Éanna on Inis Oírr.

Closing date: 20th September 2009

Entries to: Eyre Square Poetry Competition, Arts Office, City Hall, College Road, Galway.

Winners will be announced on All Ireland Poetry Day, 1st October.

WEST 47 - CALL FOR SUBS

My 100th post! Yay!

The 22nd edition of West 47 will be published online by Galway Arts Centre in September. They are inviting work by Friday 29th August 2008. Prose: 2000 words, or 75 lines in total for poetry.

For postal submissions, include a cover letter giving your name, address, phone number and email address; a 75-100 word biographical note and an SAE (please note IRC’s are NOT accepted in Ireland). You must also include a word version of your submission on floppy disk. No identifying information on the submission itself. Postal submissions can be sent to west47, Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, Galway, Ireland.

For email submissions: a cover message with all the info as for postal entries; submission should be included in the body of the email AND as an attachment. Email submissions can be sent to miles@galwayartscentre.ie.

KENNY'S BOOK SHOP RE-OPENS

OK, before we get too excited, yes, Galway's other* favourite bookshop has re-opened but, no, they are not back on High Street. Rather, they have converted the ground floor of their Liosbán Retail Park premises on the Tuam Road.

Des Kenny says: ‘While online bookselling worldwide continues to grow apace, there is no substitute for taking a book in your hand and flicking through the pages. We were overwhelmed by the reaction when we closed the Bookshop in High St in 2006. Since then people have continually asked us if we might reconsider opening a bookshop in Galway. We moved into our existing premises in Liosbán over a year ago. Although we haven’t been open to the public until now, former customers and browsers call to the premises daily asking to look through the shelves.’

More here.

*The other other favourite being Charlie Byrne's of course!