SAN FRANCISCO AFTERS

Trolley car

Life goes on, despite jetlag, it appears: there are kids to be run to school, shopping to be bought, clutter to be annihilated, books to be edited, books to be promoted, readings to do, further trips to plan...So, it's just a few captioned pics of San Fran and the launch, rather than a proper report.

A San Fran diner

I didn't get to wander the city as much as I would have liked - conferences have a tendency to be full-on and one doesn't want to miss much. So much to learn from academics. There was great shopping by our hotel, though: Macy's, Anthropologie, Nordstrom etc. Plus there is the heavy schedule of socialising, which involves lots of yummy Anchor Steam beer in San Fran and trying to negotiate very steep streets in silly shoes. I met great people both at the ACIS West conference and at the Irish Literary and Historical Society, where I read/gave a talk on the short story Sunday evening.

Beckett's 'Come and Go'

The launch of Of Dublin and Other Fictions was a blast. Lots of warm, fuzzy feelings in the room. Some grad students from San José State Uni treated us to the Beckett play 'Come and Go'. Oh, there is no silence like Beckettian silence. The students did a great job, as did director Matthew Spangler. I signed books, we drank wine, my reading seemed to go over well.

Launch night reading

As re. the chapbook, for the moment, if you want a copy of it, you can order from publisher at Tower Press, Jodi Chilson at: jodichilson AT boisestate.edu

Big night out after the launch with Cian McMahon, Jodi Chilson, Matthew Spangler & Caleb Richardson & more

And I got to see Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz (from the shore) and various parts of the city with the lovely Tony Bucher and Matthew Spangler of the Irish Lit & Hist. Go raibh maith agaibh, Tony agus Matt.

A streetcar named...

The Bay Bridge

The wonderful keynote speaker on Yeats, Rajeev Patke

Caleb Richardson and Matt Spangler read Shaw

Fisherman's Wharf

Ale at Scoma's lovely restaurant (a haunt of Marilyn Monroe)

Swimmer at the Wharf

Me, windswept at the Wharf!

Alcatraz

Tony Bucher, President of the Irish Literary and Historical Society,

The famous fog