BOX OF BOOKS DAY!

My book arrived - whoop!!

3 BOOKS FOR XMAS 2009

I can’t keep up with all the fabulous journals, chapbooks and books I get sent/buy/swap. I want to blog about all of them but I’d be here night and day if I did. But I would like to give a swift mention to three that really impressed me lately:



Best Irish Poetry in English 2010, edited by Matthew Sweeney (Southword Editions)

This one is being launched this Wednesday night at 7.30pm in the Munster Literature Centre in Cork with mulled wine, candlelight and mince pies. Oh, how I wish I could be there. Matthew Sweeney is an excellent Irish poet with an eye for the quirky, the absurd and the moving. This is reflected in many of his choices in this handsome production which is an annual event from Southword Editions. He writes a cracking, honest editorial too.
Poets include Séamus Heaney, Leontia Flynn and Kerry Hardie. I even have a poem in there – so proud! Special price of €10 from the site with free P&P within Ireland.
Buy here.


Round the Clock – Christodoulos Makris (Wurm Press)

A poet from Cyprus based in Ireland, Christodoulos Makris writes witty, extraordinary work. This is a chapbook from Wurm Press, described in a review as ‘a controlled explosion of twelve poems that reveal inner prepossessions and fiery confrontations to self, and country. They are charged with desire and a powerful will...’
I was knocked out by the skill of this writer; he deserves to be taken up by one of our good/big poetry publishing houses. In the meantime you can buy this chapbook from his blog, yes but is it poetry?, or indeed exchange it for a book of your own if you are a writer.


Davy Byrnes Stories – as selected by Richard Ford (Stinging Fly Press)

This includes the five shortlisted and one winning story from the recent Davy Byrnes Short Story competition which was administered by The Stinging Fly. Claire Keegan was the eventual winner with her fine story ‘Foster’. It is vintage Claire: it's rural, and concerns a young girl and a background tragedy. It has beautiful detail and the sparse dialogue is pitch perfect.
All of the stories are good, of course - some I enjoyed more than others. Kathleen Murray’s ‘Storm Glass’ is beautifully layered and it plays with the notion of truth and memory and family secrets. It is gentle and gorgeously well written.
What is nice too is that each writer introduces their story with a short piece on its genesis. Fascinating.
Buy here for €10 which includes P&P.

SALT IN CHOPPY WATERS

Yesterday Chris Hamilton-Emery, director of Salt publishing, posted the message below on his Facebook profile. The recession has hit books sales badly despite many people's claims that we are all returning to life's simpler pleasures like reading, now that we are (allegedly) too broke to fly to Barbados every other week-end. (When did we ever, anyway?!)

Salt need cashflow NOW in order to continue their work. They make beautiful, literary books. They have eight short fiction collections on the Cork City - Frank O'Connor 2009 longlist, among many other achievements. If you love books (and I know you do!!) please support them.

My personal interest in Salt's fortunes is obvious: they are publishing my next book, Nude. That aside, they really, really do wonderful work on behalf of short story writers and poets and they deserve sales.

So, please, readers, if you can, go to their site and buy one Salt book today and help them stay afloat.
Salt's website is HERE.

Chris's statement:

As many of you will know, Jen and I have been struggling to keep Salt moving since June last year when the economic downturn began to affect our press. Our three year funding ends this year: we've £4,000 due from Arts Council England in a final payment, but cannot apply through Grants for the Arts for further funding for Salt's operations. Spring sales were down nearly 80% on the previous year, and despite April's much improved trading, the past twelve months has left us with a budget deficit of over £55,000. It's proving to be a very big hole and we're having to take some drastic measures to save our business.

Here's how you can help us to save Salt and all our work with hundreds of authors around the world.

JUST ONE BOOK

1. Please buy just one book, right now. We don't mind from where, you can buy it from us or from Amazon, your local shop or megastore, online or offline. If you buy just one book now, you'll help to save Salt. Timing is absolutely everything here. We need cash now to stay afloat. If you love literature, help keep it alive. All it takes is just one book sale. Go to our online store and help us keep going.

2. Share this note on your profile. Tell your friends. If we can spread the word about our cash crisis, we can hopefully find more sales and save our literary publishing. Remember it's just one book, that's all it takes to save us. Please do it now.

With my best wishes to everyone
Chris
Director
Salt Publishing

LANDLOCKED MERMAIDS UNITE!

I got many beautiful books for Christmas: Annie Proulx's Fine Just The Way It Is (sublime short fiction); The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook (will blog anon on The Hungry Vegan); Jean Rhys's Wide Sargasso Sea. And today, a package arrived from my poet-artist friend who lives on Martha's Vineyeard, Marcella. She sent me a book by Margot Datz, a friend of hers, called A Survival Guide for Landlocked Mermaids.

This is a stunningly beautiful book. The premise is that women sometimes feel like mermaids out of water, because that is exactly what we are. The book urges women to value and embrace both their power and their playfulness through wise words and gorgeous illustrations of merfolk going about normal lives. It is whimsical, feminist, positive, wise and uplifting. A lovely, cheering present for any woman to be given. Thank you, Marcella!