THE LONG GAZE BACK EVENT

Next Wednesday, 11th April at 7pm, Lia Mills and I will be at Tallaght Library to read and talk about #TheLongGazeBack as part of the #OneCityOneBookcelebrations. Book here.

CÁCERES, SPAIN - A FEW PICS

I'm just back from Cáceres in Spain, and am busily catching up on a hundred emails, a bit of writing, housework, cat-cuddling etc. I was over there to teach a couple of CW classes at the University of Extramadura - my friend Carolina Amador teaches there in the Departamento de Filologia Inglesa - she's a Hiberno-English expert. She had me over to talk to her classes about my story 'Storks', which is set in Cáceres (inspired by my previous trip to that beautiful city) and also to talk about my novel Miss Emily. Her students were great - really engaged and bright; I had a great time speaking with them.

I was put up in a stunning little boutique hotel on the main square, Hotel la Boheme which is decorated in a Moorish style, it's all salvaged tiles, gold sinks, wooden shutters and Moroccan lampshades. Glorious.

We managed to squash in two great museum visits around a hectic schedule of teaching and socialising with Carolina and her family (our daughters are friends too). We saw an exhib of Picasso's sketches at the beautiful Fundacion Mercedes Calles in the old town. I'm Picasso mad so it was a joy to see recognisable sketches that later became paintings.

Museo Vostell

Carolina also brought us out to Malpartida, to the Museo Vostell, one of the most eccentric and wonderful museums I've been to. A German man bought an abandoned sheep farm and woollen mill and turned it into a gallery for his own modern art and that of his friends, including Yoko Ono. It's a treasure trove of bizarre installations - think cars that rake the ground and rockets fashioned from vehicles and chunks of welded metal.

Cáceres is a bit of a hidden gem - it's 3 hours from Madrid, near the border with Portugal, and it's a gorgeous mix of old and new. It thrilled me - again - to see the huge nesting storks all over the place; to walk the cobbled alleys of the old town; to enjoy delicious cava and Rioja at insanely low prices, as well as local cheese and tapas; to go into the ancient churches and watch them prepare their Easter procession floats. Having friends who live in Cáceres is such a bonus. No doubt we'll be back.

GIVEAWAY WINNER - YOU

Lá fhéile Pádraig faoi mhaise. Happy St Patrick's Day! Here's the draw for the copy of YOU. Apols for the delay!

All the names in the St Paddy's day crock:

And the winner is...Grace Song AKA Annette Seifert. Get in touch with your address, Annette, to nuala AT nualaoconnor.com. Congrats!!

NOVEL GIVEAWAY *YOU*

In honour of Cathy Brown of 746 Books including my first novel YOU (2010, New Island) in her list of 100 Irish novels for Ireland Month, I'm giving away a copy of that book.

Just leave a comment to say you want to be in the draw. Simples!

I will post to anywhere but please do NOT comment as ANON. And check back in a week or so to see if you've won. (If the winner can't be contacted by St Patrick's Day, I'll draw another name.)

☘ Good luck! ☘

DESNUDO GIVEAWAY

Book giveaway on my Facebook page! One copy of Desnudo (Spanish edition of my short fiction collection Nude) up for grabs. It's a compact hardback with a bronze ribbon bookmark. Very lovely. It is translated by Maximo Alaez, who also did the drawing of the nude for the cover. Multi-talented Max, we call him.

Go here to enter!

VIRGINIA WOOLF, HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Today's Google doodle is in honour of VW's birthday

People always moan about January but, being my birth-month, it's a month I like (despite dire post-Christmas broke-ness). I turned 48 this month, so was happy to find, on the Monk's House Insta today, an extract from Virginia Woolf's diary from 25th January 1930, the day she turned 48.

‘I am 48: we have been at Rodmell—a wet, windy day again; but on my birthday we walked among the downs, like the folded wings of grey birds and saw first one fox, very long with his brush stretched; then a second; which had been barking, for the sun was hot over us; it leapt lightly over a fence and entered the furze—a very rare sight. How many foxes are there in England? At night I read Lord Chaplin’s life. I cannot yet write naturally in my new room, because the table is not the right height, and I must stoop to warm my hands. Everything must be absolutely what I am used to.’

It has been wet and windy in Galway today, with little spots of sun, and apparently it's been the same at Monk's House too. I spent one of the happiest days of 2016 there. Blogpost about that here. (And for those who have asked, no I am not writing a novel about VW, I just love her!)

A VW silhouette I bought at Monk's House

BECOMING BELLE - COVER REVEAL GIVEAWAY

UPDATE - The winner of the proof copy of Becoming Belle is Mary T. Bradford. Congrats, Mary!

*

Writing  - and life - busy-ness has kept me from here but I'm back with a cover reveal and a giveaway. These beauties arrived today  - proof copies of Becoming Belle, out August with GP Putnam in NY and Penguin Canada. Aren't they gorgeous?!?

Becoming Belle is described as 'a witty and inherently feminist novel about passion and marriage, based on a true story of an unstoppable woman ahead of her time in Victorian London.'

So, dear readers, if you like the sound of that, I want you to read it asap. Leave a comment to be in the draw - saying that you want to be in the hat - and I will pick one name this day next week, Friday the 12th. Please DO NOT leave comment as 'unknown' - I can't contact an unknown!

Worldwide giveaway. Good luck!

*PLEASE CHECK BACK NEXT FRIDAY FOR WINNER! I WILL DRAW A NEW WINNER IF PRIZE IS NOT CLAIMED BY FRIDAY 19th JAN.*