Kevin Barry on Goldsmiths shortlist; Colin Barrett a National Book Award 5 under 35 honoree

Barry shortlisted for Goldsmiths

Kevin Barry is on the all-male shortlist for the 2015 Goldsmiths Prize for his upcoming novel Beatlebone. Telling the story of John Lennon’s visit to Ireland in 1978 to Dorinish, the island he owned in Clew Bay, the book will be published later this month by Canongate. Tom McCarthy’s Booker-nominated Satin Island is joined by debut author Max Porter’s Grief is a Thing with Feathers, a moving account of loss that uses the poetry of Ted Hughes as a backdrop. The Field of the Cloth of Gold by Magnus Mills, Lurid and Cute by Adam Thirlwell and Richard Beard’s Acts of the Assassins complete this year’s list. The judges included 2013 winner Eimear McBride, Jon McGregor, Josh Cohen and Leo Robson. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in London on November 11th.

Colin Barrett on 5 under 35 list

Colin Barrett has made this year’s National Book Award 5 under 35 honouree list for his first collection Young Skins. Established to draw attention to emerging talent, the list was chosen this year by a panel of former winners to mark the award’s tenth anniversary. Joining Barrett on the list are American writers Tracy O’Neill (The Hopeful), Megan Kruse (Call Me Home), Angela Flournoy (The Turner House) and the Iranian-American author Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi (Fra Keeler). The award celebrates fiction writers under the age of 35 who have published their first book. A ceremony hosted by the actor LeVar Burton will take place in November at Brooklyn’s PowerHouse Arena to honour the nominated authors and launch the 2015 National Book Awards week.

Yeats centre stage at Dublin Book Fair

As the 150th celebrations continue, WB Yeats is to the fore at this year's Dublin Book Fair. Organisers are "in the process of selling one of the greatest collections ever put together of the poet's material, compiled over an 80-year period by three generations of collectors". Much of this material will be on sale at the fair, which takes place this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, October 3rd and 4th, at the Freemasons' Hall, Molesworth Street, Dublin 2. From antiquarian tomes to modern first editions, from Beckett to Wilde to Heaney, 18 booksellers from across the UK and Ireland will bring their wares to Dublin. In addition to books there will be posters, prints, manuscripts and ephemera for sale. Prices range from inexpensive second-hand items to rare first editions. Among the dealers are the Maggs Brothers, whose shop at 50 Berkeley Square is regarded as the most haunted house in London, John Dunne from Hampshire, P & B Rowan from Belfast, Jerry Kelleher from Kildare, John Morten from Manchester, Stephen Foster from London, James Howell and Stoney Road Press from Dublin and Veronica Watts. From noon - 6pm on Saturday and 11.30am - 5pm Sunday, admission is €3. www.pbfa.org

Lakeside literary festival

Opening this year's Dromineer Literary Festival this evening Thursday, October 1st is Peter Sheridan's one-man play, 44 Seville Place, at the Nenagh Arts Centre at 8pm. The play, performed by the Dublin playwright, is an account of the wonder and heartbreaks of childhood. A range of events from poetry to meditation, publishing to song-writing, take place over the course of this weekend. Now in its 11th year, festival highlights include a poetry evening with George Szirtes, Pascale Petit and Billy Ramsell; Labyrinth – an exhibition by award-winning Tipperary photographer Lisa Griffin; a songwriting event with Molly Sterling aboard The Spirit of Killaloe on Lough Derg; and workshops from editors Claire Hennessy, Lisa Coen and Sarah Davis-Goff. The daytime events and workshops will be held in Lough Derg Yacht Club, with the evening programme at Nenagh Arts Centre. For more information on events and booking, visit dromineerliteraryfestival.ie.

Patrick Kavanagh winners

John Mee is the winner of this year's Patrick Kavanagh Award for a poet that has not yet published a book. Born in Canada, Mee has lived in Cork since childhood. He works as a professor in the law school at University College Cork. He published his first poem in 1991 and in 2008 he was selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series. Brian Lynch, judge of the competition and president of the Patrick Kavanagh Society, had commended Lee's work the previous year. "In the space of a year, John has sharpened and focused his considerable natural gifts as a poet. This commitment and improvement is one of the aims of the award," said Lynch.

Lynch called University College Cork a “seed-bed for poets”, noting that last year’s winner, John Fitzgerald, is chief librarian at the college. The runners-up this year includes another entrant from Cork, Simon Lewis, along with Jane Robinson, Rosamund Taylor, and Liza Costelloe, all from Dublin. In the schools competition, first place in the senior award went to Caoimhe Devaney from Holy Child School, Killiney, Dublin for her poem Andromeda’s Garden. Seán de Grá from Coláiste Eoin in Stillorgan, Dublin was first in the junior section for his poem Adrigole.

Franzen at the RDS

The American novelist Jonathan Franzen is appearing at the RDS next Monday, October 5th as part of International Literature Festival Dublin's Off the Page series. Author of four novels and five works of non-fiction and translation, Franzen is best known for his 2001 novel The Corrections, which won the National Book Award. The author will be speaking about his recently released fifth novel Purity. The book tells the story of Pip Tyler, a college graduate who embarks on a quest to find the identity of her father. Travelling to Bolivia for an internship, Pip, whose real name is Purity, is drawn into a world of activism and idealism. The event takes place at the RDS Concert Hall, Dublin 4 from 8pm. Tickets are €20 and can be booked through www.ilfdublin.com

Call for submissions

UL's literary and arts journal The Ogham Stone is looking for submissions for its spring 2016 issue. Edited by students of the college's creative writing programme, last year's inaugural edition featured almost 70 pieces, including short stories, flash fiction, memoir, poetry and artwork, in addition to an introduction by Joseph O'Connor and a short story by Donal Ryan. This year the editorial team is also seeking short graphic novels and creative non-fiction. Further submission guidelines here.

Autumn readings at UCC

The Northern Irish novelist Eoin McNamee gets UCC’s autumn reading series underway on Thursday, October 8th. McNamee’s novel Blue is the Night won the 2015 Irish Novel of the Year Award at the Listowel Writers’ Festival. The novel is the culmination of the author’s crime trilogy, the first of which, The Blue Tango, was nominated for the Booker Prize. McNamee’s other work includes Resurrection Man, centred on the criminal activities of the Shankill Butchers, The Ultras, an account of the killing of Robert Nairac and 12.23, a novel based on the final days of Princess Diana. Hosted by the school of English, the reading will take place at 6pm in the Learning Zone of the Boole Library on campus. Admission is free and all are welcome. Other readers coming to UCC this autumn include poet and Poetry Review editor Maurice Riordan and Irish Fiction Laureate Anne Enright.

McCann at Trinity

Colum McCann will discuss his latest novel at an event in Trinity College on Thursday, October 8th. In association with Trinity's school of English and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, McCann will read from his new book, Thirteen Ways of Looking, and discuss his work in an interview with Professor Eve Patten, director of the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing. Taking place at the Edmund Burke Theatre on campus, the event is free and open to the public but booking is essential. McCann is the bestselling author of the novels TransAtlantic, Let the Great World Spin, Zoli, Dancer, This Side of Brightness, and Songdogs, as well as two critically acclaimed story collections. For information on booking, click here.

Lingo festival

The spoken word festival Lingo is back this month after its inaugural success last year. From Friday, October 16th - Sunday, October 18th, its lengthy billing includes Stephen Murphy, Temper-Mental Misselayneous, the young adult writer Deirdre O'Sullivan, Hollie McNish, Elaine Feeney and poet Dave Rudden. One to watch out for is the US activist Saul Williams, performing in an event with Mark Grist and John Cummins. A weekend pass costs €64.50, or tickets for individual events can be purchased through www.smockalley.ie and www.eventbrite.ie. Events will take place at various venues across Dublin city. Ireland's only spoken word festival, the full schedule is available here.

Exploring the Irish in Britain

The seventh Annual Irish in Britain Seminar Series takes place from October 22nd to November 19th on Thursday evenings at the Tower Building in the London Metropolitan University. This year's series focuses on five prominent public figures in Britain and explores how migration became an enduring influence on the shape of their careers and their sense of Irish identity. Oliver Goldsmith, Nancy Harris, Charlotte Despard, Francis Bacon and the playwright Jerry O'Neill are the chosen five for this year's programme of events. The series runs Thursday evenings from 6.30 - 8pm. No booking necessary, but early arrival is encouraged. Further information at www.londonmet.ac.uk/irishstudiescentre.

War’s alarms in Dún Laoghaire

The poet Gerald Dawe will discuss his latest publication, Of War and War’s Alarms: Reflections on Modern Irish Writing, with novelist and former TD Liz McManus in Dún Laoghaire next month. Taking place at 6.30pm on Tuesday, November 10th in The Studio in the dlr LexIcon, no booking is required for the free event. Professor of English literature at Trinity, Dawe looks at the writing lives of Irish poets and novelists from WW1, the Easter Rising through the War of Independence to the Spanish Civil War, WWII and the Troubles in his new book. Figures such as WB Yeats, Seamus Heaney, Padraic Fiacc, William Trevor, John Hewitt and Christabel Bielenberg feature in the poet’s reflections.

Dublin Book Festival

Smock Alley Theatre and its environs will once again play host to the annual Dublin Book Festival, which returns from Thursday, November 12th - Sunday, November 15th. Over 50 events will feature a range of Irish writers and publishers, including Éilis Ní Dhuibhne, Donal Ryan, Anne Enright and Kevin Barry. Fiction, crime, poetry, music, politics, editing, 1916 Walking tours and a discussion on the people of the 1916 Rising are all on the agenda. Children's and schools' programmes are free of charge, but booking is required. A magical Winter Garden with a bookshop, cafe, children's area and reading area will be set up in the main Smock Alley building. Other participants include Danielle McLaughlin, Sinéad Gleeson, Paula McGrath, Henrietta McKervey, James Ryan, Michael Longley, Paula Meehan, Eoin Colfer, and many more. Full details and bookings can be found on the website www.dublinbookfestival.com

Contact sarah.gilmartin@gmail.com with your literary listings