MISS EMILY - BOOK ON ONE

Emily's Homestead - pic from Emily Dickinson Museum

Miss Emily is the Book on One, on RTÉ Radio 1, from 12th Dec, timely for Emily's 186th birthday which is on the 10th of December.

*MISS EMILY* L/LISTED INTL DUBLIN LIT AWARD

Martello Tower at Donabate

I had a lovely, hectic weekend in Dublin, my hometown. Saturday was the Historical Novel Society Christmas lunch. We pulled crackers, we ate risotto, we discussed The Crown (marvelous!), also WIPS, NIPS, editors, Hilary Mantel's genius and all sorts. A lovely afternoon and big thanks to Catherine Kullmann for organising it.

Raffle prize :)

Sunday I went to Crafternoon Tea, re-learned how to crochet a granny square, and ate my own weight in cake. It's a gorgeous annual event organised by my cousin Clodagh and her friends, in aid of Mary Aikenhead Day Care in Donnybrook. We stayed by the sea in Donabate that night - a glorious setting (though the hotel was grubby.) All was well, though, my husband brought me to The Clarence the next night. Super posh and lovely.

Monday saw the announcement of the longlist for the 2017 International DUBLIN  Literary Award at Pearse Street library. Thrilled that Miss Emily is on it. All thanks to my agent Gráinne, my editors in Penguin USA and Canada, and all at lovely Sandstone Press in Scotland. But mostly to the libraries (Galway!) and readers who nominated the book. Thank you all! My fellow listees Sara Baume and Louise O'Neill were also in attendance. Seven Irish writers in total are longlisted, the others are: Kevin Barry, Anne Enright, Edna O'Brien and John Banville. Others on the list include Margaret Atwood, Anne Tyler, Franzen, Houellebecq etc etc, so, you know...Anyway, we had a lovely time and I met my old boss from 1989 (!!) from Clondalkin Library's Heritage Project, Brendan Teeling, who is now second in command at Dublin City Libraries. A great fella then and now.

The Irish longlistees

There are 147 novels on the longlist. Shortlist of 10 announced in April. Winner of the €100,000 in June 2017. Irish Times piece here.

MISS EMILY - THE BOOK ON ONE

Just a wee reminder that Miss Emily is the Book on One this week. It will broadcast each night at 11.20pm until Friday the 17th June on RTÉ Radio 1. The first podcast is already live here.

MISS EMILY - THE BOOK ON ONE

 

Miss Emily is the Book on One next week. It will broadcast each night at 11.20pm from Monday the 13th to Friday the 17th June on RTÉ Radio 1. I did the reading, which was a first for me (my novels YOU and The Closet of Savage Mementos were voiced by actors). Tune in on radio at FM 88.9 or online here. Huge thanks to producer Siobhán Mannion, who is also a writer of some very fine fiction.

MISS EMILY LONGLISTED IN MM BENNETTS HIST FIC AWARD

Miss Emily is on the longlist of nine books in the MM Bennetts Award for Historical Fiction. Here's the list:

Helena P. Schrader – Defender of Jerusalem
Carol Anne Dobson – Hecate’s Moon
Lucienne Boyce: Bloodie Bones 
Stuart Blackburn: Into the Hidden Valley 
Karen Charlton: The San Pareil Mystery
Prue Batten: Tobias 
Gemma Lawrence: The Heretic Heir 
Dean Hamilton: The Jesuit Letter 
Kermit Roosevelt: Allegiance 
Nuala O’Connor: Miss Emily

The finalists will be announced in May. Big congrats to my fellow nominees!

A hen reviews *Miss Emily*

A hen has written a review of Miss Emily. A hen called Ms. Hen. It's an odd review, to say the least.

A sample: 'Ms. Hen thinks there’s a possibility Miss Emily would die many times over if she read Nuala O’Connor’s novel. But Ms. Hen doesn’t know. Nobody knows what Emily Dickinson would think because not much is known about her.'

See? Odd. Plenty is known about Emily Dickinson. Perhaps Ms. Hen should do her homework. And how exactly does one 'die many times over'?

The rest of it is here if you could be bothered.

EDINBURGH GIG

On Thursday 21st January I am in Edinburgh Central Library at 7pm reading from Miss Emily. And being interviewed by Sasha deBuyl-Pisco. Admission is free but you must get a ticket - there are currently 10 remaining. See here.

MISS EMILY XMAS GIVEAWAY

It being almost Christmas, and nearly D-Day for postage abroad, I am giving away a copy of Miss Emily to one reader of this blog. I will post to anywhere in the world. All you have to do is leave a comment on this blogpost to say you would like to be in the draw. Simples. (And then come back on Sunday to see if you have won!)

Historical Novel Society *Miss Emily* feature

I'm very pleased that Arleigh Johnson has a feature in the Historical Novels Review, and online at the Historical Novel Society site, about Miss Emily and the use of real vs fictional characters. It's here but for members only, so here's the content below. I hope it's OK for me to re-blog it. I'll find out soon enough if not, no doubt.

Nuala O’Connor’s Miss Emily: Real Versus Fictional Characters

ARLEIGH JOHNSON

Narrating a novel in the voice of a well-known historical figure can be a daunting task. One must be both true to historical fact while giving the fictionalized version a believable and engaging persona. Another pitfall, especially when reimaging a writer’s life, may be the use of too many phrases from the author’s works, thus taking away the opportunity to give a fresh perspective on a well-studied subject.Miss Emily (Penguin US, Sandstone UK, 2015) avoids monopolizing poetic verses, using instead clever reasoning behind the characters’ actions and ponderings that relate to recorded words and peculiarities of the historical people.

Based on a period during the life of American poet and writer Emily Dickinson, the story follows two protagonists: Emily herself, and a fictional character from O’Connor’s own hometown in Ireland. Ada Concannon, a newly arrived Irish immigrant, is looking for work while staying with her Amherst, Massachusetts relatives. The Dickinsons are without a maid, and Emily and her sister have been dividing the chores, which leaves little time for other pursuits. It is with much relief that Ada is hired, ultimately moving in with the family to take care of kitchen and laundry duties, as well as other chores.

Emily, surprisingly to those not acquainted with the poet’s personal life, loved to bake, and she spends time in the kitchen with Ada, forming a bond between the women that is frowned upon by the elder Dickinsons. Emily’s brother, Austin, is portrayed as especially vehement about separating the social classes and behaving accordingly, although this was one of O’Connor’s fictions. She explains: “In reality, I think he was a much more fair-minded, generous, and genteel man than I have made him in my book, but I needed to serve the plot.” In fact, much of the conflict in the story deals with Emily’s shying away from Amherst society and withdrawing into her small circle, of which Ada becomes an increasingly important part. The kitchen comes to be a sanctuary for both women; for one as the means of living an independent life, and quite the opposite for the other. For Emily, it is sharing a part of herself that no one — not even her mother, sister or beloved sister-in-law, Susan — has witnessed.

Ada, as a fictitious addition to Emily’s world, provides much needed malleability as a character, which helps meet O’Connor’s creative demands. “It turned out [Emily] did have Irish maids, but I invented a new one so that I would not be working two real lives into fiction. I needed some room to imagine.” The author achieves a link between Emily and Ada by giving them similar traits, such as an interest in nature and a way with words. Ada is no poet, but her plain, blunt dialog sprinkled with her mother’s Irish sayings and superstitions gives inspiration to Emily, igniting the poet’s curiosity and muse. In the author’s words, “They are noticers — nothing escapes them.”

This novel, written in dual voices, works exceedingly well in blending fact and fiction. For those with a cursory knowledge of Dickinson’s life and poetry, the imagined content fits pleasingly with the mid-19^th century setting. The poet’s verses, though cleverly interlaced within the narrative in various forms, are not noticeable replicas, as has been apparent in similar fictional biographies. A refreshing take on one of the noted periods of her life — Emily’s famous transition to wearing only white — is deftly woven into the story with thought and humor, as is her habit of distributing gingerbread cookies to the children in the neighborhood. Readers are given an admirable and respectable impression of a character who could as easily be seen as an odd recluse. Without both perspectives, there wouldn’t be an endearing depth of feeling between the characters. Ada’s inclusion, as a blank page to Emily’s strictly documented existence, works as an effective tool in creating an enthralling biographical novel.

MISS EMILY ON IRISH NOVEL OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST

I am thrilled beyond the beyonds that Miss Emily is on the shortlist for the Easons Book Club Irish Novel of the Year along with books by Edna O'Brien, Anne Enright, Paul Murray, Belinda McKeon and Kevin Barry, in the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards. And you can vote for your favourites!

The Long Gaze Back womens' story anthology is also shortlisted, in the Best Published Book of the Year category, which is an extra thrill.

Ger Holland took this pic of Declan Meade and me. Love it.

There was a lovely ceremony in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin yesterday to announce all the shortlists. Ger Holland took lots of great pics which you can look at on the writing.ie Facebook page here. The Big Night is the 25th, when the winners will be announced. The public part of the Book Awards vote is now open here.

And in today's Irish Times, the sublime Sinéad Gleeson interviews me about Miss Emily. It's here.

THE GUARDIAN - MISS EMILY REVIEW

Thrilled with this Guardian review of Miss Emily from Jane Housham - short but positive. My first ever Guardian review - wheee! I'm putting the whole text here in case the link vamooses.

Miss Emily by Nuala O'Connor - Review:
The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson

T

he ‘“Miss Emily” of the title is the 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson. Into a meticulous re-creation of the Dickinson family home in Amherst, Massachusetts, Irish novelist Nuala O’Connor introduces a fictional maid-of-all-work, Ada Concannon, fresh off the boat from Dublin. In alternating first-person accounts by her two protagonists, O’Connor explores Dickinson’s strong capacity for friendship in spite of her impulse to withdraw from the company of others. Her defining openness to the world allows her (compels her, even) to ignore the conventions of class and to see in lowly Ada someone worth knowing. Living under the same roof, the two women find common ground in a love of baking – and Ada’s use of language, untutored but rich in Irish idiom, is a pleasure and stimulus to the poet’s ear. Lyndall Gordon’s 2010 book on Dickinsonsuggested that her reclusive lifestyle and even her insistence on wearing white dresses might be explained by a medical diagnosis, but here they are interpreted as an effort to free her imagination within self-imposed restrictions. Both women suffer a loss of freedom (Ada’s particularly harrowing) and, through their friendship, find a kind of escape as well.

To order Miss Emily for £6.99 (RRP £8.99) go to hop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.

Reading from 'Miss Emily' at Kennys Books

*MISS EMILY* INTERVIEW ON GALWAY BAY FM

I was interviewed by Keith Finnegan, in the company of Desi Kenny of Kennys Book Shop, on Galway Bay FM on Friday. Starts at about 59 minutes in here.

VIRTUAL TOUR - MISS EMILY - #3

My virtual tour takes me to Kildare today and the blog home of Niamh Boyce where we talk bravery and recreating worlds. Here.

MISS EMILY LAUNCH - PICS

Giving thanks

The launch for Miss Emily in The Gutter Bookshop in Dublin was a great success on Friday night. So many lovely friends, family, writers and well-wishers came out. I was really touched and honoured by the sheer volume of people. Even my goes-nowhere eldest son came - score! Thank you, all, lovely, lovely people.

Monica McInerney who gave such a wonderful launch speech for the book

Myself and writer Mary O'Donnell

Deirdre O Neill, my original editor at New Island, and me

Writers Sara Mullen, Patrick Chapman and me

Signing the book for writer Patricia O'Reilly,
with IWC Director, Valerie Bistany

Our gorgeous Cúán - I was thrilled he came along

We had Emily's Coconut Cake and Gingerbread, made by myself and my cousin, Clodagh O'Connor. Wine and Miss Emily bookmarks, thanks to my publisher Sandstone Press. 

Bob Johnston of the Gutter Bookshop - a brilliant spot - gave
us a huge, warm wecome as always

Some of the crowd

Karen O'Neill, who took most of the pics, et moi

Juno McLoughlin, with the books

Gráinne Fox, my agent, and me at after-drinks in The Stag's Head

I had meant to read out the following Emily Dickinson poem when I gave my shpake, but in my nervousness I forgot. It featured on my tights from Coline:

I gave myself to Him—

And took Himself, for Pay,

The solemn contract of a Life

Was ratified, this way—

                   

The Wealth might disappoint—

Myself a poorer prove

Than this great Purchaser suspect,

The Daily Own—of Love

Depreciate the Vision—

But till the Merchant buy—

Still Fable—in the Isles of Spice—

The subtle Cargoes—lie—

At least—'tis Mutual—Risk—

Some—found it—Mutual Gain—

Sweet Debt of Life—Each Night to owe—

Insolvent—every Noon—

The Emily Dickinson tights

IRISH INDO REVIEWS *MISS EMILY*

The Irish Independent has reviewed Miss Emily - thanks to Des Traynor for the review. The piece is illustrated with a pic of Cynthia Nixon who is starring in an Emily biopic. This has nothing to do with my book or the film option taken on it. Review here.

UK PUBLICATION DAY - MISS EMILY

Miss Emily comes out today from dynamic Scottish publisher Sandstone Press. I have personal links with Scotland, as evidenced in The Closet of Savage Mementos, so I'm delighted to be with Highlands-based Sandstone.

I have an essay in The Irish Times today about the writing of the novel and I'll be talking to Seán Moncrieff at 2.30pm on Newstalk. Happy day :)

Miss Emily Book Trailer

I haven't shared this here yet so here we go: the book trailer for Miss Emily.

PUBLICATION DAY GIVEAWAY

It's publication day today for Miss Emily. It's mad to think I signed the contract eighteen months ago with Penguin (having finished writing the book two years ago) and here it is today, finally released into the world (or part of it, at least!). The audio book also appears today, for those who prefer to listen rather than read.

Audio book of Miss Emily

The pre-publicity in North America has been enormous and heartening. And my webmaster has fashioned a Miss Emily page on my website to report on some of it. (Watch out also for the novel's UK/Irl release from Sandstone on 20th August.)

In the meantime my lovely team at Penguin sent me flowers and my webmaster/husband gave me my fave champagne (and brekkie in bed). Spoilt, happy excited woman here!

To celebrate I am doing a Miss Emily giveaway with various prizes: a copy of the US edition of the book, a St Brigid's cross (features in the book), an Emily Dickinson fridge magnet, Emily cards etc. I will have three separate draws and you'll win what you win. Just leave a comment to enter. Simple as :)

MISS EMILY - THE COVERS

For the first time in my writing history, I have a variety of covers for one book, which is pretty exciting. So I thought I'd do a round-up of the Miss Emily covers.

Penguin USA and Penguin Canada opted for the same cover for the North American paperback, designed by Olga Grlic. I have always dreamed of that little orange penguin on a cover of mine, so this is good stuff. This one is out July 14th:

The audio book, which also appears July 14th, from Blackstone Audio, is voiced by Irish actress Alana Kerr as Ada, and American actress Tavia Gilbert as Emily. They do a great job. (Alana recently also voiced Anne Enright's marvelous novel The Green Road.) Cover:

The large print hardcover, out 12th August in the UK, will apparently have this cover (is Emily by the sea?!):

And last, but by no means least, here is the edition that will appear in the UK, Ireland, NZ and Australia, as designed by the lovely Sandstone Press, my UK publishers, who are based in the Scottish Highlands. This one comes out August 20th:

Writer Dermot Bolger, who gave me a fantastic blurb, gave Miss Emily a nice mention in yesterday's Irish Mail on Sunday: