DRAÍOCHT READING - SAT 16th

I'm reading from my fiction at Draíocht in Blanchardstown, tomorrow night at 7.30pm, as part of Writing 3.0, Fingal's writers' festival. All welcome! It's a free event but you reserve tickets at the site.

'How Not to Run a Literary Festival' - Amanda Craig

Very interesting post on Amanda Craig's blog 'How Not to Run a Literary Festival'. Festival organisers take notes. Please.

STRONG AWARD WINNER

Dublin born, and West Kerry raised, Simon Ó Faoláin is the winner of this year's Strong Award for his first poetry collection Anam Mhadra, Coiscéim 2008. Comhghairdeas, Simon!

Commiserations to Patrick Cotter, Ciaran Berry and Áine Moynihan who were all very worthy co-listees.

All four read at yesterday's Poetry Now Festival in Dun Laoghaire and it was a joy to listen to the variety in their work: some ponderous, some moving, all very well crafted. Pat Cotter - in a gorgeous red tie - stole the show, IMO, with his witty poems, his assured, relaxed delivery and his references to 'decadent enjambments' and other writerly concerns. All in all, it was an entertaining couple of hours of hot-off-the-presses poetry.

CÚIRT - SHORT FICTION WORKSHOP

As Cúirt Writer in Residence, I will lead participants in an intensive workshop focusing on short fiction, on Wednesday the 22nd of April from 10.30am to 12.30pm, at Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street.

Those wanting to apply to take part should send a sample of work (maximum 750 words) together with contact details to:

siobhan@galwayartscentre.ie by Friday 27 March.

CAOMHNÚ COMPS

There's still time to enter the CAOMHNÚ National Short Story and Poetry Competitions. Closing date is this Friday the 16th of January.

The comps are open to anyone aged 18 years of over.

Short story: up to 2000 words
Judge: Shane Connaughton

Poetry: up to 40 lines
Judge: Noel Monahan

The prizes in both competitions are 1st Prize €200, 2nd Prize, €100, 3rd Prize €70.

And the Caomhnú Literary Festival takes place in County Cavan from Thursday 5th February to Sunday 8th February 2009.

See the Cavan Co Co Arts Office site here for entry forms, rules etc.

CUISLE POETRY FESTIVAL 2008

I was in Limerick at the week-end for the Cuisle Poetry Festival; I was one of the judges for their Young Poet of the Year children’s poetry competition and the awards ceremony took place on Saturday in Daghda’s lovely converted church in John’s Square. They read; I handed out silver cups; and Bertha O’Callaghan – who instigated the competition last year – was mistress of ceremonies.

The children of Ireland write about many and various things including crocodiles, chocolate, butterflies, deceased grandparents, unrequited love, war, drinking, rivers, trees, pregnancy, shampoo, poverty, Ryanair and mining. The standard was incredible and it was great to meet all the young poets and see how happy it made them for their writing to be acknowledged.

We made it to the Salmon launch of Caroline Lynch’s and Pete Mullineaux’s new collections. I am familiar with Pete’s work from years of hearing him read in Galway and he didn’t disappoint. Caroline is brand new to me and she read wonderfully from her slim book Lost in the Gaeltacht. Her poem 'Our Dead Grandmothers' was particularly striking in its gleeful and morbid honesty; she also read a new and very effective pantoum about death and marriage. She is a poet to watch, for sure.

The only other writer we heard read was Neil Rollinson from England. He delivered a rakish set of poems about his twin obsessions: sex and horses. No poem was about both, I hasten to point out. He’s a great reader and his poem about seeing all his potential wives on the Tube had poet Ciarán O’Driscoll, and many others, in convulsions.

In a happy addition to a great week-end, I picked up the newest Stony Thursday Book to buy and found I had three poems in it! I never had heard back about my submission so presumed it was a PFO, but there I am, nestled between Gerry Murphy (my ‘conduit’!) and Mary Noonan. Nice one!

FRANK O'CONNOR FESTIVAL

Frank O'Connor was born this day in 1903.

Tonight the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Festival kicks off in Cork with the launch of The Stinging Fly's latest anthology at Triskel Arts Centre at 7pm. Followed by a reading by 2005 Frank O'Connor Award winner, Yiyun Li.

I'll be at the festival for the next five days, so I will report on it when I'm back next week. Until then, slán go fóill!

INDO BOOK EVENT TCD

WRITER REBECCA MILLER AND HUBBIE, DDL

Lia Mills!

Hugo Hamilton!

Martina Devlin!

Martin Amis!

Rebecca Miller!

Isabel Fonseca!

Benjamin Black!

All appearing this very week-end in and around Trinity College, Dublin, in an event organised by the Irish Independent

Everything really does happen in Dublin. Remind me why I live in the sticks again?

See the BOOKS 2008 site for classes, readings, times etc.

FRANK O'CONNOR FESTIVAL 2008

Below is the vast line up for this year's Frank O'Connor Short Story Festival in the true home of the Irish short story, Cork. Many events are free, so there is no excuse for penniless writers. With workshops, readings and panel discussions there is soemthing to tickle everyone. Go, learn, have fun!

Wednesday 17th September

Opening Reception and launch of Stinging Fly Press anthology 'Let's Be Alone Together'

Refreshments and readings.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 7pm. Admission: Free.

Yiyun Li- Reading and Interview

Beijing-born Yiyun Li, 2005 winner of the inaugural Frank O’Connor International
Short Story Award, makes her first appearance in Cork.
Venue:Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 9pm. Admission: Suggested donation €5.

Thursday 18th September

What does an editor want? - Reading and Discussion

Jon Boilard, Vincent McDonnell & Nuala Ní Chonchúir, three fiction editors of Southword and former judges of the Sean O’Faolain Short Story Competition each will read a story of their own, then discuss the experience of assessing manuscript submissions, talk about what they were looking for and how the editorial experience has shaped how they now view their own work.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 2.30pm. Admission: Free

Ian Wild & Clare Wigfall - A Reading

A reading by two young exiled British short story writers, County Cork-based Ian Wild who has also written for radio and the stage and published a collection of poems and Berlin-based Clare Wigfall who has just won the BBC National Short Story Prize.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 7pm. Admission: Suggested donation €5.

William Wall & Adam Marek - A Reading

A reading by distinguished Cork-based novelist and man of letters William Wall, joined on this occasion by young British short story writer Adam Marek who has just published his first collection.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 9pm. Admission: Suggested donation €5.

Friday 19th September

Flash Fiction Workshop

Southword fiction editor Nuala Ní Chonchúir presents a how-to session on Flash Fiction -the micro short fiction form sometimes called short-shorts or sudden fiction.
Venue: Munster Literature Centre, Douglas Street. Time: 10am - 12pm.
Fee: €40. Participation limited to eight individuals. Phone 021-4312955 to book.

Southword Showcase - A Reading

Southword is establishing itself as a journal which publishes great short fiction by complete unknowns as well as international stars such as Colm Toibín, Haruki Murakami and James Lasdun. On this occasion we would like to feature three writers who have featured in Southword and have not yet published a book of short fiction in English. Julian Campredon, Tania Hershman and Denise O’Keefe.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 2.30pm. Admission: Free.

Rachel Trezise & Mary O’Donnell - A Reading

Young Welsh iconoclast Rachel Trezise reads with Co. Kildare-based poet, novelist and broadcaster Mary O’Donnell. Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 7pm. Admission: Free for Culture Night!

Mary Leland & Wena Poon - A Reading

Cork-based novelist Mary Leland shares the stage with San Francisco-based Wena Poon, originally from Singapore reading from her first collection of stories.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 9pm. Admission: Free for Culture Night!

Saturday 20th September

Starting Short Stories - A Workshop

An introduction to writing Short Stories given by Jon Boilard, former fiction editor of Southword and winner of the Sean O’Faolain Short Story Prize.
Venue: Munster Literature Centre, Douglas Street. Time: 10am -12pm. Fee: €40. Participation limited to eight individuals.
Phone 021-4312955 to book.

Don’t Drone On - a Workshop on Reading the Short Story Aloud

The days when you could get a on a stage and read aloud a poem or story in a soporific monotone are passed. Simon Robson gives you pointers on how to improve your performance and develop a reputation where festival and reading curators can’t resist including you on their programmes.
Venue: Munster Literature Centre, Douglas Street. Time: 10am -12pm. Fee: €40. Participation limited to eight individuals.
Phone 021-4312955 to book.

Who has won the Seán O’Faoláin Prize?

The announcement and reading of the winning short story of the €1500 2008 Sean O’Faolain Short Story Prize.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre ,Tobin Street. Time: 12.30pm. Admission: Free.

The State of the Art - a Discussion

Chaired by Rosalind Porter Senior Editor at Granta and including the participation of Stinging Fly editor Declan Meade, Jen Hamilton-Emery, commissioning editor at Salt, Seamus Hosey RTE Radio producer and organiser of the Francis McManus Awards and Lucy Luck, literary agent.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 2.30pm. Admission: Free.

Salt no Vinegar Please: Carys Davies & Vanessa Gebbie - A Reading

Readings by two of the eight Salt authors longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Award this year. Salt is now
the world’s most prolific publisher of short story collections and we are delighted to be able to showcase both the publisher and their authors Carys Davies and Vanessa Gebbie.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 4.30pm. Admission: Free.

Alison McLeod and Simon Robson - A Reading

British-based Canadian novelist Alison McLeod and actor, playwright and fiction writer Simon Robson
read from their very different flavoured works.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 7pm. Admission: Suggested donation €5.

Julie Orringer and Bernard MacLaverty - A Reading

Erstwhile San Francisco resident Julie Orringer reads from her massively admired debut collection, followed
by one of the Irish giants of the short story form Bernard MacLaverty.
Venue: Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin Street. Time: 9pm. Admission: Suggested donation €5.

Sunday 21st September

Presentation of the 2008 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award

Jhumpa Lahiri, this year’s O’Connor laureate will read from her winning book and conduct a public interview with Irish Times Literary Critic Eileen Battersby.
Venue: Millennium Hall, Cork City Hall. Time: 7.30pm. Admission: Free. Refreshments will be served.

AFTER FLAT LAKE ’08 – REVIEW # 2

Pat McCabe at the Butty Barn, Flat Lake 2008

As you do at any outdoor festival of its kind, at Flat Lake we spent a lot of time wandering from tent to tent, and exploring the beautiful grounds of Hilton Park. The site wasn’t huge so it was easy to find a quiet place to walk down by the lake or among the trees. The food and bar areas were along the side of the main house, and our only complaint was the scarcity of good vegetarian food. We had some Reggae Soup at one point, and chips late at night, but otherwise there were just noodles at €7 a pop. Luckily, as guests, we were being fed soup, sambos, tea and scones at intervals.

Anyway, back to the gigs. We happened upon a few performance poets; I’m not a huge fan of performance poetry, mainly because it is often so badly done, but these women were good. First up was Whatsername who wore a skirt with the words ‘Psychotic Tendencies’ stencilled on it. She had a combative but chatty between-poem style and her poems themselves were hilarious diatribes against society, men and herself. She lamented trying to bring her sons up as ‘right-minded, vegetarian eco-terrorists’ to find them as teenagers hooked on Playstation, Coke and Tesco sausages. She talked of single parenthood as ‘the Lidl of lifestyle choices’ and she maintained the death of feminism was caused by the Spice Girls. She knows, of course, feminism isn’t dead, but I knew what was she was getting at.

Next up on the same stage were the Poetry Chicks, a duo, who riffed through three pieces on the destruction of our landscape, a cursing Donegal Granny, and how one of them – the Scottish one – hates Rabbie Burns. All very energetic, well put-together and performed, and funny.

Off for another wander then to the Art Car Boot Sale and I bought a small, surreal watercolour called ‘Flying Fish’ by figurative artist Joan Mallon. A bargain at €15. Where would you get it?!

My reading was at 3pm in the Hilton Palladium, which was the theatre stage and it was tucked below the house, among the trees. Most events on Sunday were delayed because most people were too hungover to get up it seems, but mine didn’t start too late as no one turned up to take part in the Tell the Best Lie competition which was to be on before me. Clearly all Flat Lake punters are very honest…

Fellow Galway writers Mike McCormack and Hugo Kelly came along to support me, as well as Stinging Fly editor Declan Meade – thanks guys! – and a scattering of strangers. The stage was low and straw covered, and I couldn’t really see the audience with the bright lights, but I felt comfortable and the reading went off well. My ‘Writers’ Rooms’ poem (after The Guardian photos) went down well, garnering its own round of applause.

We had to forgo Edna O’Brien’s interview but, as I just heard her in June, I didn’t mind too much. So we packed up and hit the road, happy with all we’d seen and heard, and already planning next year’s visit to the weird and wonderful world of the Flat Lake.

FLAT LAKE LITERARY FESTIVAL

I'm reading on Sunday at the Flat Lake Festival, if any of ye plan to go. I'm in good company: Famous Séamus, Edna O' Brien (or should I say Edna O'Blog?!) Stephen Rea, Morag Prunty, Dermot Healy and Medbh McGuckian, to name a small few.

My poetry reading's at 3pm on the Theatre Stage, Flat Lake Fest, Hilton park, Co. Monaghan.

The line-up on the website hasn't been updated in ages but the site itself is worth a look here for the curious.

SHORT SHORT & POETRY COMP

The Dromineer Literary Festival, in Co Tipperary, have a deadline of August 15th for their poetry and short story competitions. There's no theme mentioned, which gives more freedom. I won the story section of this a number of years ago and the theme was 'Another September'. So much easier without that, eh? Though some people love a prompt, I think, and find it challenging. Anyhoo, the details:

Short stories: 600 words (unpublished). Judge: John Maher.

Poems: up to 40 lines (unpublished). Judge: Tony Curtis.

Entry fee: €10 per story, €5 for the first poem, €3 for every subsequent poem.

Prizes: €500, €350, or €150.

Mark your envelope ‘Dromineer Literary Festival’ and send to Deborah Powell Ballycommon, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary

See the festival site for more info.

STRANDHILL AFTERS

Well, my friend and I had a great time at the Summerfest in Strandhill, County Sligo over the week-end, particularly enjoying the wisdom and knowledge of the very fine teachers Ted Deppe and Annie Deppe. (If you get a chance to do a workshop with both or either of these two, grab it.) There was a lot of talk about writing, a lot of writing on-the-spot, and plenty of socialising at the BBQ and pub.

Much of the writing was done from prompts, an approach that yields mixed results, but Órfhlaith and I were both happy and surprised to find that we came home with pieces that will grow into ‘real’ writing. I was amazed at what some writers can produce on the spur of the moment; clever people!

The atmosphere was encouraging and positive and you can’t argue with that. Strandhill was awash with surfers enjoying the weather and the waves, and with writers, buzzing about their own and each other’s work. All in all, a very worthy and welcome week-end of writing and new friendships.

Edna O'Blog, Tokyo, Paris and Chapelizod

I had my first blogging dream last night. I dreamt that I was blogging under the name Edna O'Blog. (Now where did that come from, do you suppose?!) And I was going out with Nate Fisher (the older brother in the sublime TV series Six Feet Under). Not the actor, but Nate, the character. What was that dream all about?! (No spoilers please on Six Feet Under. I'm working my way through the box set and am only at the start of series two.)

I heard this week that Culture Ireland are giving me the money to go to Tokyo in November to read at the Tokyo Poetry Festival. Thank you very much, Culture Ireland.

Also in November I've been invited to do a workshop and reading at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. The Centre's Director, Sheila Pratschke, saw my Paris-set story in The Stinging Fly and invited me after reading it. My year of writing related travel just gets better and better!

I might as well stick all the news in here, so I am reading in Chapelizod, at their festival, with Kevin Barry, next Wednesday night, 2nd July at 7pm, inside the village gate into the Phoenix Park.

REPORT ON SHORT STORY CONFERENCE

I’ve had a few deadlines this week so this blog has been down the list of priorities. The conference in Cork was fantastic, as I knew it would be. There was an overwhelming amount of events but I will try to report on my highlights, at least.

One great thing about such a vast conference is discovering a new writer. And so it was that I ambled along to a set of papers on Canadian fiction to hear about Mavis Gallant (my new favourite Canadian writer) only to discover a further ‘new’ Canadian writer, Michael Trussler.
I enjoyed Michael’s paper so much I made sure to get to his reading and it was brilliant. His story ‘Angels’, from the collection Encounters, was funny, vibrant, off-the-wall and had that undercurrent of darkness that’s so important. (Lucian Freud’s ‘little piece of poison’.) His collection was for sale there, so I bought it, but it can also be purchased from NeWest Press.

A panel on 'The Irish Short Story Today' had William Wall, Mary Morrissy, Claire Keegan and Colm Tóibín in conversation. Each had something good and interesting to say.
Claire: ‘Fine stories are told with reluctance; they waste little.’
Bill Wall wondered why Ireland never had an avant garde literature at home, with writers who stayed in Ireland. Mary Morrissy reckoned it was because a lack of luxury (material wealth) does not promote an avant garde. Claire thought that there was, and is, no reward for experimentation in fiction but maybe that would change with poverty. ‘Having little is the territory of the short story,’ she said. (Roll on the recession! Oh wait, it’s already here apparently. Yippee! I, for one, am glad of it.)
Bill Wall said ‘Maybe we need a poetics of anger.’
Colm Tóibín was witty and engaging, as always; he recommended we all read a story by Daniel Corkery called 'Nightfall'. Which I shall read as soon as I can get hold of it.

Robert Olen Butler and Bharati Mukherjee did a reading at Triskel Arts Centre on the Friday night. Both were excellent. She read a story about an affair between a young Indian woman and an older man that had delicious surprises in it. I think it was from The Middle Man and other stories but I can’t remember the title of the story.
Robert read from Intercourse, his wonderfully inventive short shorts book, and we heard from everyone from Mary Magdalen to Hillary Clinton. He is a confident and inventive reader and the audience enjoyed his reading hugely. Well, I did for sure!

Another highlight was Edna O’Brien’s reading on Saturday evening. She looked elegant and serene and she spoke with calm force, quoting from Yeats and Byron to illustrate her thoughts. She talked abut the difficulty of being a woman artist and the importance of women supporting women (hear! hear!). She said she writes by hand and re-writes by hand and she also said: ‘When I put pen to paper, sorrow invades the pen.’ Having said that, her story about a naïve young girl at a party in County Clare, was blackly funny. I thought she was wonderful. Claire Keegan said to me afterwards, ‘I was proud of her.’ I was too.

There was an art exhibition run at Triskel Arts Centre, in conjunction with the conference, whereby graphic art students at the University of Central Arkansas chose one story by a participating writer, and made an image based on that story. One of my stories The Sea Saw was the only Irish one chosen (so proud!) and a student named Shelby Watkins did a gorgeously poignant and energetic picture based on it. Thanks Shelby!

You don’t need to hear about my reading or editors’ panel – let it suffice to say that both went off hitchless and I enjoyed doing them. The launch of Southword at the City Library was also fun. See Tania's blog for a report.

The conference, and all about it, was great. It renews my confidence in this life I’ve chosen and it makes me hopeful for my work and my life as writer. It makes me feel like there is somewhere that I fit in, that I belong, and that’s a great feeling. So thanks to Dr Maurice Lee, Dr Susan Lohafer and Ann Luttrell and their teams, for their indecent amount of hard work that pulled off such a wonderful event. Long live the short story.

SHORT STORY CONFERENCE

An International Conference on the Short Story In English, subtitled 'The Lonely Voice' takes place at University College Cork, June 19th to the 22nd.

The programme is now available at:
10th International Conference on the Short Story In English

There will be lots of academic papers as well as readings from practitioners. Readers taking part include: Mary Morrissey, Colm Tóibín, Claire Keegan, Edna O'Brien, Manuel Munoz, Tobias Woolf, Kirpal Singh, Robert Olen Butler, Cristina Rivera-Garza and myself.

Southword 14 launch

News of the launch of Southword 14 from Munster Literature Centre's newsletter:

Thursday June 19th 6.30pm

City Library, Grand Parade, Cork

Everybody Welcome. Please come and bring your friends!

To mark the coming to Cork of the International Conference on the Short Story Southword is celebrating with a bumper fiction issue. Authors with contributing fiction include Desmond Hogan, Vanessa Gebbie(longlisted for the Frank O’Connor Award) Catalan author Francesc Seres (co-translated by William Wall) and Jyrki Vainonen (co-translated by Kevin Barry) who is the Finnish translator of Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon. It is a truly international issue with not only local boy Kenneth Hickey but writers from other parts of Ireland, the UK, the US, France and Israel.

Fiction editor Nuala Ní Chonchúir will be finishing up a reading in UCC as part of the conference before joining us for the launch. The city library is very kindly providing wine and soft drinks on the night.

Poets published in this issue include Martina Evans, Mary O’Malley, Bernard O’Donoghue, Peter Sirr, Gerard Smyth, Enda Wyley, Rosemary Canavan, Matthew Sweeney, Graham Allen, Mary O’Donnell and many others.

There is a report of a talk John Montague gave earlier this year at NUI Galway and reviews of new work by James Harpur, John Liddy, Trevor Joyce, Eamon Mathews and Billy Ramsell. The cover features a detail from new work by Patrick Graham.

Iniscealtra Afterword

There are not many festivals where the artists’ accommodation is a boat, but so it was at the Iniscealtra Festival in Mountshannon. Our boat was compact – like a caravan without the space. (Complete with caravan smell…) But it was lovely to be on the water, watching the greedy swans begging from cruiser to cruiser. It all would’ve been fab except for the rowdy neighbours (several boat-loads of them) who sang and caroused until 5am each night.

But, my workshop went off well, in the school on the first day and in one of the festival organiser’s beautiful homes on the Sunday. This house is amazing, perched on a hill, with a huge abundant garden – from which we ate salads for lunch – and a view over Lough Derg.

There was music, a fair and art exhibitions, and I did a poetry reading in the gallery space in The Snug on Saturday afternoon. See mini review from Colm Liddy here on The Stinging Fly’s Café forum.

All in all, a wonderful and vast festival, in a very welcoming town in County Clare. I recommend it for next year, people.

CLARE READING & WORKSHOP

I'm teaching a fiction and poetry workshop, at the Iniscealtra Festival, Mountshannon, County Clare, this week-end.

It's a two day creative writing workshop and bookings are limited to 10.
Contact Jim on 087 6968577; E: jgrady@iol.ie

I will also read at The Snug Winebar, Mountshannon, at 4.30pm Saturday 31st May.
Reading sponsored by POETRY IRELAND

See their site here

Workshops!

Well, my two-day short story workshop in Mitchelstown went well; there was great enthusiasm among the group and we had some good discussions on writing in general and topics including language use and style, in particular.

Alyn Fenn from Schull, County Cork – the winner of this year’s William Trevor Short Story Award – joined us on the Sunday and it was great to hear about her writing experiences. It took her four years to complete her winning story, The Wire Road, a story based on inter-racial marriage, set in America. Four years! Patience is one of the great virtues a writer must learn to succeed.

I also read one of my own stories Juno Out of Yellow on the Saturday night, standing in for one festival participant who failed to show up. So that was a bonus. For me at least!
We attended the unveiling of a plaque on the house where William Trevor was born on Upper Cork Street also and helped to drink the bar in the hotel dry. I’m officially in recovery since. God, these lit fests take it out of you.

Onward to Mountshannon on Friday where I’m teaching another two day workshop. And, I’m told, there are discounts available on the advertised price.

See previous post below & their site: Iniscealtra Festival