MY BOOK ARRIVED!

My book has arrived! My advance copy plopped through my letterbox just now. Oh, the excitement! The cover lettering is embossed; the chapter titles are twirly. It's just gorgeous. After the years of writing, and the months of pre-publication preparation, there is nothing quite like holding the finished product. Thank you, Eoin Purcell and the team at New Island, for doing such a great job. Now, for some celebratory tea and chocolate. Contented sigh.

NEW BOOK & 'PERSON TO WATCH' in IRISH TIMES

Photograph by Alan Betson, The Irish Times

I’m starting the New Year on a literary high note. Before Christmas I was delighted to sign a contract with the inimitable and innovative UK publishers, Salt.

Salt are well known for their poetry titles and in the last few years they have become champions of the single author short story collection. My collection Nude, which features stories centred on the nude in visual art, as much as in various love lives, will be published by Salt in September 2009. Nude will be launched in mid-September at Cork city’s Frank O’Connor International Short Story Festival.

And today I am featured in the Irish Times Week-end Review as one of their People to Watch in 2009, along with politicians, an actress, a model, an IT innovator, sports stars, a comedienne and a chef, among others. See here.