CÚIRT ROUND-UP

Me and Tommy Tiernan and Unidentified Lady at the Ropes Unravelled launch, Cúirt

When you've attended the opening; heard approximately 32 writers read from their work; facilitated 3 separate workshops (2 in a prison); introduced two readers; read at the launch of a lit mag; judged a poetry slam; and chatted until well past your bedtime with various wonderful writers (all while 8 months+ pregnant), it's kind of hard to pick your highlights...

I had a brilliant time as Writer in Residence at Cúirt. Despite crushing tiredness, I managed to enjoy every single thing I did and my only regret was that I couldn't physically manage to do more.

The opening night was jam-packed with local and international artists, and Mary Cloake, Director of the Arts Council, gave a rousing speech in which she urged us, during these recessionary times to be positive: 'In the arts, we are absolutley fantastic!' she said.
At that same event, Ciarán O'Rourke claimed his Lena Maguire/Cúirt New Writing Prize of €1000 for his poem 'Swim'. I had chosen this poem, as judge, from hundreds of pieces of work submitted and it stood out because of its poignancy, surefooted-ness and craft. It turns out Ciarán O'Rourke is a 17-year-old Leaving Cert student from Dublin. Wow!

Later that same evening we were treated to Joseph O'Neill and Timothy O'Grady, who wrote I Could Read the Sky some years back - a firm favourite of mine. Timothy read some moving and scary bits from his American travel book Divine Magnetic Lands. Joseph read from Netherland, about which he said: 'Novel writing is about deception - you lie as little as you can.' He said it took him years to write the book and it afforded him a chance to use the details of his 'utterly useless childhood' in Holland. I noted he was wearing scruffy Converse with no laces (his wife works for Vogue in New York!) but, according to Sunday's Style mag, no one should wear anything else!

Wednesday morning I taught a short fiction workshop to 11 enthused writers at Galway Arts Centre. The time was too short, as per, but we enjoyed ourselves and ran over a bit.

I went home afterwards to rest before my foray to Castlerea Prison on Thursday where I met with two different sets of men, who either write or have an interest in things cultural.
We read our work to each other, talked about writing, inspiration, bi-polar disease, politics, Ireland, prison, eel-fishing (!) and poetry.
One of the men had written a brilliant poem backwards and, their English teacher, B, got a mirror so that we could read it.
Another man played On Raglan Road on the mouth organ for us and it was very moving and beautiful. Kavanagh's words always remind me of my sister, Nessa, so I was fighting back tears.
Yet another man read from his travel memoir which was very well written and interesting, set as it was in South America.
All in all, it was a very relaxed and stimulating few hours and if B can arrange it, I'll be going back again for a longer session.

After Castlerea, we made a mad dash back to Galway for the launch of Ropes Unravelled, at the Town Hall Theatre. It was launched, typically irreverently, by comedian Tommy Tiernan. To launch the journal, he decided to critique one of the contributor's poems with the help of the audience. And whose poem did he choose? Séamus Heaney's. It was hilarious and bold in a way only Tommy can get away with. I read from my story 'Cowboy and Nelly' and it was all very jolly.

I'll have more from Cúirt anon!

BOOKER QUOTES

Another great article in Saturday’s Guardian, this time about the judging of the (Man) Booker prize, which will be awarded this year, I hope, to Joseph O’Neill for Netherland. Come on the Irish!

A lot of what the judges say is relevant to other literary competitions and it just goes to prove that the whole thing is down to personal taste and subjectivity. There's been a bit of grumbling on another blog about the judging of lit comps, some of it quite ill-informed. Writers should try not to take it personally if their story or book is not shortlisted. It does not mean it is faulty. It does not mean the judge ‘has it in’ for you (especially in anonymous short fiction competitions!). It just means that on that day the winning piece was judged to be the favourite. Shena McKay said in her piece 'as a judge you are responsible for disappointing a lot of people'. This is so true but it can't be helped.

One thing the judges of the Man Booker did not mention is the fact that one is not comparing like with like. No two books, and no two stories, are the same. It is HARD to pick the so-called ‘best’ of a group of great stories or books. You just have to plump for the one that speaks loudest to you in the end.

Here are some of my favourite quotes from the article:

‘…our job was to pick the year's best book, regardless of its author.’ Hilary Spurling, 1979

‘The prize was founded, in part, to encourage competitiveness. Which of the six novelists will make it to the finishing post? This grisly notion constitutes a perfect recipe for envy, back-biting and self-glorification.’ Paul Bailey, 1982

‘I think that the best argument for the whole cruel and unfair business of prizes is that they can lead readers to writers who wouldn't otherwise be read much or perhaps at all.’ Marina Warner, 1985

‘The Booker may at times have tended to increase the unhelpful dichotomy between popular storytelling and books which are classified as literary novels, but most of the winners have combined high literary achievement with compelling storytelling.’ PD James 1987

‘The success of the prize has had an enormous impact on the reception of literary fiction and other kinds of writing, not only directly, but also indirectly through the proliferation of new prizes that have imitated it. But the overtly competitive nature of these prizes, heightened by the publication of longlists and shortlists, takes its psychological toll on writers; and, given the large element of chance in the composition and operation of judging panels, the importance now attached to prizes in our literary culture seems excessive. A committee is a blunt instrument of literary criticism.’ David Lodge, 1989

‘I'm glad I was a Booker judge relatively early in my career. It stopped me thinking that literary prizes are about literary value. Even the most correct jury goes in for horsetrading and gamesmanship, and what emerges is a compromise.’ Hilary Mantel, 1990

‘…the absurdity of the process was soon apparent: it is almost impossible to persuade someone else of the quality or poverty of a selected novel (a useful lesson in the limits of literary criticism). In practice, judge A blathers on about his favourite novel for five minutes, and then judge B blathers on about her favourite novel for five minutes, and nothing changes: no one switches sides. That is when the horse-trading begins.’ James Wood, 1994

‘Some wonderful books win the Booker, of course, just as the flypaper occasionally catches some really large flies. But it means - or should mean - nothing in literary terms.’ James Wood

‘And as far as I remember, not a single judge (including me) ever changed his or her mind, or shifted his or her position, in response to an argument put forward by a colleague.’ Jonathan Coe, 1996

‘Being a judge gave me much more anxiety than being on the shortlist myself, even with the horrible bookies' odds and the risk of being depicted as a cartoon racehorse, because as a judge you are responsible for disappointing a lot of people.’ Shena McKay, 1999

‘What did I learn? Discussion is futile. No one changes their mind about a book. You might as well have a show of hands straight away. There aren't many bad books (only one novel ended up in the bin after two pages), but there are a lot of so-so, nondescript novels that leave no trace. Publishers are idiots.’ Tibor Fischer, 2004

‘As usual, no minds were much changed by the panel discussions - candidate B merely came forward when one judge's candidate A was voted down. John Banville came out top with The Sea. King of the As and Bs. Teeth were gnashed in the press the next day; but they would be if Jesus Christ had written the winning novel.’ John Sutherland, 2005

‘Once an author is on the shortlist anything can happen.’ Giles Foden, 2007

The rest of the article is here.