Interviewed with Mark Richards, her editor at John Murray, during her stint as Irish Times Book Club author for March, Lisa McInerney promised him "a crate of Tanora" if she were to win the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction for her debut, The Glorious Heresies. Now that she has (well done, Lisa, by the way), Cork's favourite tangerine-flavoured fizzy drink looks set to take Bloomsbury by storm, but why stop there? Joanna Walsh, our current Book Club author, has suggested a Baileys and Tanora cocktail. Genius. All that remains is to decide whether to christen it the Lisa McInerney in her honour, or the Shane MacGowan in anticipation of what it will do to your teeth.
McInerney wrote an essay for RTÉ’s Arena, republished on irishtimes.com, about what the Baileys shortlisting meant. The author railed against those who found her work very “male”. “In celebrating women’s writing, the Baileys prize does something great. It gives us a roadmap for a space where books by women writers exist as part of a sweeping, chaotic and beautiful literary landscape, where they are allowed to just be, and so its parameters are conversely but conclusively liberating.”
Reflecting on her win, the author said: “It feels shocking, validating and very humbling and I’m not sure yet what it means, except that it’s a boost, for me and I think – I hope! – for working-class stories, for stories that aren’t always centre-stage in literary fiction.”
A year ago, McInerney wrote for us about her Leaving Cert English exam, revealing that she only got a C. Look at her now. I told my eldest that story between her two English papers to take the pressure off. I think it helped. Not so sure it helped author Dave Rudden, who wrote this week about his Leaving Cert English exam and now has 12 months to match McInerney’s success. No pressure, Dave.
Akhil Sharma’s Irish favourite
Akhil Sharma's winning of the 2016 International Dublin Literary Award for his novel, Family Life, gave pleasure not just to his publisher, Faber, but also to Sarah Davis-Goff of Irish publisher, Tramp Press. Why? Because in his Q&A with The Irish Times, asked who the most under-rated Irish author was, he picked her aunt: "Annabel Davis-Goff. This extraordinary novelist and memoirist has not written much and so it is perhaps the lack of quantity that has allowed her to fall through the cracks." Writing for our Irish Women Writers series, Sarah wrote of Annabel's novels, The Dower House, This Cold Country and The Fox's Walk: "They feel fresh and ballsy, like the work of Edna O'Brien or William Trevor, but the style and voice are entirely her own".
Canada's Irish crime writer
The rather unorthodox efforts of Canada’s ambassador to Ireland, Kevin Vickers, to maintain law and order in Dublin have proved a mite controversial lately. Montreal-based Irish author Peter Kirby and his crime-fighting Inspector Luc Vanier, however, have won universal approval, collaring the 2016 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel in Canada, following in the bloodstained footprints of Kathy Reichs among others.
"Of the 82 novels we read," the judges said, "Open Season by Peter Kirby stood out as especially strong – a smart page-turner with a complex, skilfully drawn plot and an engaging puzzle. Vanier must untangle the tentacles of human trafficking, government and corporate corruption, from the highest halls to the underpasses of Montreal, to the mining villages of Guatemala.
“This is a police procedural, gritty and noirish, with an extra spark that compelled each of us to read it almost all in one go, from the stunning opening scenes to a thrilling and satisfying conclusion. Vanier himself has great depth – he is sharp, believable and human, with a willingness to bend the law to exact vengeance, but he remains a moral centre in a troubled world.”
Kirby was born in Cork and moved with his family to Brixton, south London, when he was 10. (His brother Jim had a high-flying career with Aer Lingus.) He emigrated to Canada where he worked as a cook, studied law at university at night, and in 2012 was recognised by the American Lawyer as one of Canada's leading 500 lawyers. His previous Luc Vanier books are The Dead of Winter (2012) and Vigilante Season (2013, all Linda Leith Publishing).
Bloomsday bibles
For the Bloomsday-focused week that’s in it, several useful vade mecums for those undertaking a Dublin Joyce odyssey are available from Irish publishers: Written in my Heart: Walks Through James Joyce’s Dublin, by Mark Traynor and Emily Carson (O’Brien); The Ulysses Guide, by Robert Nicholson (New Island); and Romping through Ulysses (At It Again!) The latter is part of a series designed to offer a fun way to explore Dublin – readers can also unearth Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and take a walk on the Wilde side with Dorian Gray. atitagain.ie
Reissues and a new press
Dublin is fast becoming a city of boutique publishers. Books Upstairs is the latest to join the fray and is republishing two works by Evelyn Conlon first issued by Blackstaff Press, A Glassful of Letters (1998), and Telling (2000). Telling is also about to be translated into Chinese.
The Famine trilogy by acclaimed songwriter and novelist Brendan Graham is now available in e-book for the first time. The Whitest Flower, The Element of Fire and The Brightest Day, The Darkest Night were all bestsellers in Ireland on publication.
Joyce in Trieste
The 20th Annual Trieste Joyce School will be held from June 26th to July 2nd in James Joyce’s second city, which he called “la mia seconda patria”. It has attracted participants from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Georgia, Ireland, India, Italy, Kosovo, Poland, Puerto Rico, Russia, Scotland and Serbia.
Speakers include Matthew Campbell (University of York), Edoardo Camurri (journalist, Rome), Franca Cavagnoli (translator and novelist), John Coyle (University of Glasgow), Paul Devine (Independent scholar, The Hague), Caroline Elbay (All Hallows College, Dublin), Ron Ewart (Zürich James Joyce Foundation), Jonathan Goldman (New York Institute of Technology), Terence Killeen (Scholar in Residence, Joyce Centre, Dublin), Alison Lacivita (Colorado School of Mines), John McCourt (Università Roma Tre), Ronan McDonald (University of Sydney), Katherine O’Callaghan (Mount Holyoke College), Fabio Pedone (Translator, Rome), Laura Pelaschiar (Università di Trieste), Chiara Sciarrino (Università di Palermo), Malcolm Sen (University of Massachusetts Amherst), Fritz Senn (Zürich James Joyce Foundation), Enrico Terrinoni (Università per Stranieri, Perugia) and Jolanta Wawrzycka (Radford University). For full information contact John McCourt john.mccourt@uniroma3.it
Hennessy in Borris
Committed to supporting and nurturing Irish literary talent for the past 50 years, Hennessy is partnering with the Borris House Festival of Writing and Ideas 2016, from Friday, June 10th, to Sunday, June 12th. The Hennessy stage will play host to a number of authors, poets, artists, photographers, designers and great minds including actor Simon Callow, photographer Giles Duley, novelist Harry Parker, Alexandra Pringle, group editor-in-chief of Bloomsbury, human rights lawyer Jason McCue and war correspondent Janine di Giovanni and American-British television presenter and gastronome Loyd Grossman, among many others. Some of Ireland's leading journalists will chair events on stage including Sophie Gorman and Olivia O'Leary. Previous Hennessy Literary Award winner, Simon Lewis, will present his new work, which was inspired by and enabled by his emerging poetry win at the Hennessy Literary Awards in 2015.
Kathleen Watkins and Pigin
Kathleen Watkins is set to become a first-time author as she turns 82 this October. Gill Books will publish Pigín of Howth on October 14th, a children's book based on the stories she told her grandchildren as they were growing up.
Watkins first mentioned the stories to publisher Nicki Howard of Gill Books in September 2013 at the launch of husband Gay Byrne’s book The Meaning of Life and from there work began on preparing the stories for print.
“We are delighted that Pigín will be the first children’s character for Gill Books,” said Howard. “London has Paddington; New York has Eloise; Paris, Madeline. We think it’s about time Dublin had its own favourite and Pigín has all the makings of a future classic.”
Watkins, who was a well-known harpist and folk singer when she became the first continuity announcer to appear on screen on Telefis Eireann‘s launch night in 1960, said: “I can’t believe the stories created in my imagination are about to come to life. I hope Pigín and his friends will be as loved by families all over Ireland as they were by me and my grandchildren. It’s a dream come true and a nice surprise to suddenly embark on a new career at my age!
NLI's literary programme
The National Library of Ireland plays host a series of literary events this month, headlined by the annual Joseph Hassett Yeats Lecture, delivered by Paula Meehan, Ireland Professor of Poetry 2013-2016.
Meehan’s lecture, Tradecraft, Wizardry, Revolution, and will use Yeats’s masterwork Easter 1916, 100 years after it was written, to examine the confluence of energies that made him Ireland’s national poet and that sustain his power in a post-nationalist era. The lecture will take place at 7pm on Monday, June 13th, the anniversary of Yeats’s birth in 1865.
Other highlights include:
Profs Danielle Clarke and Margaret Kelleher from the School of English, Drama and Film, UCD, will discuss the significance of Thomas MacDonagh’s writings on Shakespeare and the early modern period and on the traditions of Irish writing, on Thursday, 9th June, 7pm. Free admission but booking is required at: www.ucd.ie/alumni/events.
Readings from the Rising and beyond, a mid-summer evening of poetry and music based on Niall MacMonagle’s anthology Windharp: poems of Ireland since 1916, is held on Tuesday, June 21st, 7pm. Free admission but booking is required at: learning@nli.ie.
Prof Luke Gibbons will give a public lecture, Proclaiming Self and Nation: Joyce’s Portrait and the Easter Rising, 1916, to mark the anniversary of the publication of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in 1916, on Wednesday, June 29th, 7pm.
www.nli.ie
