Loose Leaves/Sadbh: With the American election just over two weeks away, one wonders whether its outcome will either accelerate or halt the avalanche of books about George W. Bush, his coterie and his impact on the world's equilibrium.
They've been a major publishing phenomenon of the year but already new themes and topics are looming on the horizon. One is the so-called new anti-Semitism which is set to be the subject of a number of books in 2005. It's been dubbed " a new fascism, a new Nazi-ism" by Profile Books which will publish The New European Extremism: Hating America, Israel and the Jews, edited by Paul Iganski and Barry Kosmin, in April. The book's thesis is that, since 9/11, elements of the new left, the far right, radical Islamists, anti-globalists and human rights campaigners have become conjoined in a shared hatred of Israel and the US. "Such obsession with Israel extends to hostility towards, and fear of, Jews collectively, an alarming trend in the major European nations."
Equally, Testaments of Hate: Violence and the New Anti-Semitism by Malise Ruthven, to be published by Granta Books in June, which says anti- Semitism is definitely on the increase internationally, argues that its roots go much deeper than politics or terrorism and lie in the animosities which religious communities create over centuries with two texts, the Bible and the Quran, turned into "testaments of hate" and used to fuel conflict between the various sides. Plenty of food here for debate when these and other titles hit the scene next year.
Booker goes international
The Man Booker Prize folk don't let the grass grow under their feet. With all literary eyes on the final of their main fiction prize in London next Tuesday, this week they announced the judging panel for their inaugural international prize worth £60,000 and open to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in English. The panel consists of the literary critic John Carey; writer, academic and author of Reading Lolita in Teheran: a Memoir in Books, Azar Nafisi; and writer Alberto Manguel, whose most recent book is Stevenson Under the Palm Trees. The preliminary longlist includes 95 authors from 35 countries. The prize will be awarded every two years. The first winner will be announced mid-2005. The Man Booker International Prize differs significantly from the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in that instead of being for just one book it is for a writer's overall contribution to world literature. www.manbookerinternational.com
Bruen wins Shamus Award
Irish author Ken Bruen has won the 2004 Shamus Award for his novel The Guards. Bruen, who after a lifetime teaching English around the world now lives in his home town of Galway, joins past Shamus winners such as Dennis Lehane, Lawrence Block, Walter Mosley and Sue Grafton. The prize is given annually by the Private Eye Writers of America for work in that genre.
Exhibition honours Hearn
Following controversy earlier this autumn about how little was being done in honour of the 100th anniversary of the death of writer Lafcadio Hearn who grew up in Dublin, it's good to hear that an exhibition in his honour opened at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin this week. Organised in conjunction with the Ireland Japan Association, the exhibition includes first editions of his books, decorative objects from the National Museum contemporary with his time in Japan, photographs and a new sculpture of Hearn by John Coll.
New children's bestseller
Irish TV documentary maker Patricia Murphy, who works as a producer/director for BBC and Channel 4 has won the Write A Children's Bestseller competition run earlier this year by publishers Poolbeg in association with RTÉ's Open House.
The winning book is The Chingles from the East, a fantasy tale based in Irish mythology and folklore aimed at eight to 12-year-olds. The book, published by Poolbeg, is published this weekend and Poolbeg have signed up the author for two more books to complete a trilogy. Now we have to wait and see if it really becomes a bestseller!