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.

TALKING LIBRARIES ON RTÉ RADIO 1

I'll be on Today with Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio 1, this morning at 11.30am, with Anna Carey and Mairead Owens, talking about libraries.

BUSY-NESS: EDITS, VISITS, TRIPS, DOGS

We stopped for noodles in Navan

I really should NOT be here blogging (waaaaaaaaaaaay too busy). I am disgracefully busy, in fact. I'm doing my proofs for Penguin (boy, they go deep with edits! It's marvelous.) I head to Cork tomorrow to teach a 2 day class on social media for writers. Head to Dublin Saturday to be near the airport for flying to Vienna on Sunday for the International Conference on the Short Story. Pure madness.

Dexter - one of the Bleach House dogs. The others moved too fast to photograph.

I had a great time on Saturday at the Bleach House Library Book Club. They invited me to talk about The Closet of Savage Mementos and I got to stay in this 1800s house owned by the beautiful, energetic, force-of-nature that is Margaret Bonass Madden. I have never slept in a library, surrounded by books, before. Margaret and her ladies (and family) welcomed me with laughs and chats and general loveliness. They liked the book (mostly) and we had a good natter about the nature of motherhood, adoption and PND. We ate, we drank, we giggled. A wonderful experience from start to finish. I now want to own an enormous house and fill it full of dogs, people and books. Well, I always wanted that, minus the dogs, but Dexter reminded me so much of my childhood pet, Dinny - an Irish Setter - that I am converted back to dogs. Miracles do happen :)

ALL IRELAND POETRY DAY 2009

I'm reading tomorrow in Athlone Library for All Ireland Poetry Day.

Venue: Aidan Heavey Public Library, Athlone Town Centre, Co Westmeath

Time: 7pm, 1st October

There are hundreds events on all around the country so do try to get to something.

I'll read from Molly's Daughter, Tattoo:Tatú and my forthcoming pamphlet Portrait of the Artist with a Red Car.

LIBRARY CUTS AFFECTING AUTHORS

Publishers and authors are suffering because of cuts to purchases of their books by Irish public libraries, according to a recent Irish Times report.

The budget for new books in Galway city and county’s 30 libraries was cut from €550,000 to €100,000 at the start of the year, according to the Library Council. That's a staggering cut and a real blow to the libraries who do such a fantastic job.

From the article by Genevieve Carberry:

Galway Library has had to limit daily newspapers mainly to city branches and cut the number of new books to one between all branches, Maureen Moran, senior executive librarian at Galway Library, said yesterday. She said Galway libraries were busier than ever as “it is one of the few places you can go now without spending any money”.

ONE copy of each new book between ALL branches!!!! Oh, my God...

BALLAGHADEREEN / BEALACH AN DOIRÍN READING

I was invited to Ballagahdereen library last night, to do a bilingual reading, for Seachtain na Gaeilge. I love libraries and we got a warm welcome from Deirdre, the librarian, and Dónall Mac Aodha, who is Oifigeach Forbartha Gaeilge (Irish Language Development Officer) with Roscommon County Council.

My Irish can be a tad meirgeach (rusty) at times, as I only use it these days for either translating poetry, or at the school gates, but it seemed to flow well enough in the event. There was a nice crowd there, between Rosmuc men and natives of Bealach an Doirín, Irish language learners and poetry enthusiasts.

The best bit (as per) was the questions afterwards. Really, it was more of a discussion on placenames, place-related imagery and a bit of local history. I could've chatted and listened all night. People have wonderful stories and insights, and the audience weren't shy, which was great.

The Co Co put us up in the swanky Abbeyfield Hotel and, all in all, it was a lovely trip to a friendly and welcoming town.

Oh, and my pal, Gwen MacNamara-Bond - who runs the extraordinary Siar Scéal Festival so well - was there and she tells me they have extended the deadline for this year's Poetry Competition to Wednesday the 18th of March, so there is still time to get your work in, if you send it today or Monday. See here for details.