BBC Short Story Award shortlist revealed; festivals in Dalkey, Dublin, Bere Island and Clifden

In The Irish Times this Saturday, Sara Keating selects some of the finest Irish children’s books as an alternative or complement to international bestsellers. In an extract from her book The Celestial Realm, Molly Hennigan explores intergenerational trauma and the devastating effects of mental ill health. And there is a Q&A with award-winning poet Leontia Flynn, whose latest collection, Taking Liberties, has just been published.

Reviews are Harry McGee on The Long Game: Inside Sinn Féin by Aoife Moore; Eoin Ó Broin on Eurowhiteness: Culture, Empire and Race in the European Project by Hans Kundnani; Sarah Gilmartin on The Fraud by Zadie Smith; Edel Coffey on I Meant it Once by Kate Doyle; Declan O’Driscoll on the best new translations; Niamh Jiménez on The New Leviathans by John Gray; Elizabeth Wassell on Song of the Goldfinch: a Memoir by John F Deane; Rónán Hession on Paul Griffiths’ Let Me Go On; Aimée Walsh on The Art of Explanation by Ros Atkins; Michael Cronin on Benjamín Labatut’s The Maniac; Pat Carty on The Seventh Son by Sebastian Faulks; Paschal Donohoe on In the Long Run We’re All Dead: The Lives and Deaths of Great Economists; Lucy Sweeney Byrne on A Green Equinox by Elizabeth Mavor.

This Saturday’s Irish Times Eason offer is The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett, which you can buy with your paper for €5.99, a €5 saving, at any outlet.

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The 2023 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University shortlist features writers from across the globe making a home and name for themselves in the UK, with three living in Scotland.

The five-strong shortlist includes two of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists – from 2013, Women’s Prize for Fiction winner, Pakistini-British novelist Kamila Shamsie and from 2023′s list, writer K Patrick. Australian novelist and short story writer Cherise Saywell and South African poetry press publisher Nick Mulgrew are honoured, alongside bestselling author Naomi Wood for a story from her debut story collection. Their shortlisted stories explore current anxieties, from the immigrant experience and the politics of where we call home, to the pressing impact of climate change, to the way we teach boys to be in the world, to how our intimate relationships are shaped by society, and the perils of social media and privacy invasion.

BBC presenter Reeta Chakrabarti, chair of the judging panel, says: “My huge congratulations to the five authors who have made the shortlist on this highly competitive award in an outstandingly strong year. The short story leaves the author absolutely nowhere to hide, it demands discipline and precision. We on the judging panel read many top-class entries, and these five were the most glittering – topical, challenging, and beautifully-calibrated.”

Chakrabarti’s fellow judges are authors Jessie Burton; Roddy Doyle; and Okechukwu Nzelu; and Di Speirs, Books Editor at BBC Audio.

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Wilde Irish Women, a performance group from Western Massachusetts will give four performances of their show Margaret Maher and The Celtification of Emily Dickinson.

The music and book set to nine of Dickinson’s poem is written by Ardee native Rosemary Caine. She founded Wilde Irish Woman in 2003 and so far has written six Irish women-themed musicals including two performed at the Dundalk Theatre Festival.

Her inspiration and research for this work came from Aoife Murray’s book Maid as Muse which focuses on the servants in the elite Dickinson household especially Margaret Maher from Killusty, Co Tipperary. She came to work in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1869. The arc of the intriguing story is the relationship between mistress Emily and servant “Maggie” incubated in the kitchen where they baked together, better known as a baker than a poet in her lifetime. The reclusive Emily only published a few poems out of 1800. Margaret defied a deathbed oath to burn Dickinson’s poems, faithful to her own belief that in her Irish cultural heritage poems were for inspiration not for burning.

Dickinson’s poetry is on the Leaving Certificate in 2024. Students at Dundalk Grammar School, Ardee Community School and Blackrock College will have an opportunity to learn more about America’s most famous poet. The Abymil Theatre in Fethard will stage the group at 8pm on September 23rd. Tickets at the door. They will also appear on RTÉ's Nationwide with a focus on raising funds to start the restoration process on Margaret’s derelict house in Fethard. It is within view of the Abymil Theatre.

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Lorraine Levis will join Bloomsbury as head of sales in Ireland in November, working in close collaboration with the Bloomsbury head office teams “to represent the voice of the Irish market in Bloomsbury”, the publisher said.

Levis moves back into publishing sales from her most recent role at W H Smith Travel as book category buyer for Ireland. Previously she spent over three years as a member of the Penguin Random House Irish sales team where she built relationships with all major Irish retailers and wholesalers. Levis started her publishing career as a bookseller in Dubray’s Dublin store and was named as a Rising Star by The Bookseller last year.

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The first event in the Friends of the Trinity College Library Autumn Programme 2023 is on Thursday, September 21st when Dr Mary Pyle will speak on Harry Potter and the Unconscious Dimension at 5pm in the Mháirtín Uí Chadhain Lecture Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin. Dr Pyle completed her doctorate on the JK Rowling ‘Harry Potter’ books in 2022, using psychoanalytic psychotherapy to unravel the enduring popularity of the series with children and adults. Admission free, all welcome, no booking required.

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Through virtual reality (VR) installations, 3D animations, video projections, sculptures and more, a new exhibition brings vampires, monsters and the undead to Merrion Square. DEÁD (Irish for ‘set of teeth’) draws on immersive technologies to celebrate the legacy of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau’s classic silent film Nosferatu. The exhibition will run at the Goethe-Institut in Dublin from Friday, September 22nd until Friday, October 27th. Admission is free. For more information, visit: goethe.de/ireland

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Echoes, a literary festival with Maeve Binchy at its heart, runs from October 6th-8th at Dalkey Castle. Binchy’s first stage play, End of Term, will have a Rehearsed Reading directed by Conall Morrisson featuring a stellar cast. Talkback after the performance featuring Claudia Carroll and cast members will be moderated by Gillian Binchy. Saturday features Francis Brennan, Oliver Callan, Edel Coffey, Emer McLysaght, Catherine Ryan Howard, Madeleine Keane, Donal Fallon, Clodagh Finn, Nicola Tallant, Neil Hegarty, Dominic Dromgoole, Sarah Binchy, Jim Culleton, Caroline Erskine, Karina Molloy, Prof. Ian Roberston, Dr Maeve O’Rourke, Katie Hannon, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Andrew Hughes, Lia Mills and Niall Mac Monagle. Lise -Ann McLaughlin and Deirdre O’Kane will read from Maeve’s work during the day. Full day tickets (€70) and half day, morning, or afternoon (€40) can be purchased at echoes.ie Sunday’s Marvellously Maeve Guided Walk 11.00am -12.30 is now fully booked.

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The inaugural Bere Island Arts Festival will take place from Thursday to Sunday, September 21st to 24th, an island festival offering a wide range of events in a beautiful scenic location on the Wild Atlantic Way. This festival celebrates the local as well as the national and brings you a talented field of creative people with a chance to have your own voice heard at our open mic. Spend Culture Night on the island where Cónal Creedon  will open the festival or make a weekend of it. There is an event for all including writing workshops (Adam Whyte, Annemarie Ni Churreáin, Molly Twomey) readings (Donal Ryan) , music (ZoDoMo, The Starlings) drama (the Peninsula Players),  photography (Harry Moore)  and visual art. Dance at the crossroads and book your place at the long table lunch. For a full list of events see bereislandartsfestival.ie.

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On September 7th, the Italian Cultural Institute launched an exhibition curated by Antonio Bibbò, University of Trento, entitled Irish Literature and Politics in the First Half of the 20th Century. The exhibition highlights the strong links between Italian and Irish culture and will run until the end of September. It will serve as the backdrop to the first edition of FIILI: a Festival of Italian and Irish Literature in Ireland.

Co-curated by Catherine Dunne of Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann and Enrica Maria Ferrara of TCD, the festival will welcome Italian writers Carlo Lucarelli, Viola Ardone, Shirin Ramzanali Fazel, Gabriella Kuruvilla, Stiliana Milkova and Maria Grazia Calandrone.

Renowned translators Clarissa Botsford, Giuliana Zeuli and Celia de Fréine will take part in a panel  discussing the art of literary translation.

Irish writers in conversation include Carlo Gébler, Olivia Fitzsimons, Mark O’Connell, Elaine Feeney, Sally Hayden and William Wall.

FIILI – a nod to ‘poet’ in Irish and the ‘thread of the story’ in Italian, brings together a host of fascinating contemporary writers.

The festival is an initiative of the Italian Cultural Institute Dublin, Irish PEN and Trinity College Dublin, in partnership with Literature Ireland and The Society for Italian Studies.

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As the 46th Clifden Arts Festival approaches, it continues to uphold its tradition of nurturing artistic passion and fostering creative expression. This year’s engaging talks and literary events are poised to captivate, educate, and inspire attendees, promising an unforgettable celebration of the written word that will reverberate long after the final curtain falls.

Kicking off the journey on Wednesday, September 13th, Breandan O Scanaill presents a captivating talk tracing his pilgrimage from Clifden to Santiago de Compostela during 2022.

Rachael Hegarty, Anne Donnellan, and Pete Mullineaux, whose work has been aptly described as “emotional and tender,” “witty and philosophical,”. John F. Deane, a luminary in the poetry realm and founder of Poetry Ireland, will share the stage with poet James Harpur, co-author of “Darkness Between Stars” with Deane.

Kevin Cronin’s voyage “The Search for Franklin: An Irish Connection” offers a firsthand account of the Irish-Canadian Franklin Expedition. Professor Rose Anne Kenny unveils her latest work, Age Proof: The New Science of Enriching Longevity. clifdenartsfestival.ie