sadbh@irish-times.ie
Childhood memoirs remain in vogue but not all are as bleak-sounding as Carlo Gebler's My Father, due shortly from Little Brown. The novelist, son of Edna O'Brien and Ernest Gebler, had a disastrous relationship with his father - who once worked as a rat-catcher in a cinema - as a child. "As his father saw it, Carlo and his brother Sasha were over-fed members of the bourgeoisie, and toys and sweets were banned from their lonely childhood filled with memories of abuse and neglect," say the publishers, adding that when Carlo Gebler trawled through diaries in later life he got confirmation of nothing less than "Ernest's hatred for his sons". In the last years of his father's life, Carlo's anger had receded and we are promised a moving record of "a journey from hatred to a kind of understanding". Publication is set for August.
Galway's literature festival, Cuirt, has always rewarded the visitor with its unbeatable mixture of writers famous and notso-famous, venues a mere trot apart, and a beguilingly convivial atmosphere. This year's festival runs from April 24th to 30th, but those taking careful note of the programme will see that the best-known writer flagged in the brochure, Mexican Carlos Fuentes, will be in Galway some two weeks before the festival opens. Cheeky or what?
Cuirt's director, Helen Carey, explains that "it's all to do with logistics. He couldn't come during Cuirt itself. In a way, it's a precursor for what we hope to develop by having more literature events during the year. They'll be events as well as Cuirt, not instead of it," she stresses. Yes, but including Fuentes in the official Cuirt brochure seems somewhat disingenuous, especially when this year's programme doesn't have the same strong international element as previous years. While there are many fine Irish writers participating, such as Marina Carr, Brian Keenan, Claire Keegan, Conor O'Callaghan, and Anne Enright, we do have other opportunities to hear them during the year.
Cuirt is special, and part of its attraction has always been the big-shot non-national writers on its programme, which this year disappointingly includes just a handful: Germaine Greer, Scottish writer A.L.Kennedy, and the Israeli and Palestinian writers, Izzat al-Ghazzawi, Alona Kimchi, Eyal Megged, and Rajaa Bakriyeh - these last four all scheduled together in one event. More details from www.galwayartscentre.ie or 091-565886.
Sadbh notes that the latest issue of Electric Acorn, Ireland's only literary online magazine, carries tributes to poet Christopher Daybell, who died recently and who was the subject of a moving Irishman's Diary by David Shanks during the week. There is also a commemorative poem, The Last Troubadour, by Nessa O'Mahony, from which these lines are taken: "Pamphlets under arm,/beret perched, half rake,/half international brigade,/the side-burns vestiging/your 60s glory-days/when Bohemia stretched/down Wicklow Street/and up to the Green." Read the whole poem at acorn.dublinwriters.org
An eminent line-up of Irish poets will take to the stage in TCD on Tuesday to raise funds for the poet James Simmons and his family. The Derry-born poet, who with his wife Janice Fitzpatrick founded the Poet's House, located first at Portmuck in Co Antrim and later in Falcarragh, Co Donegal, has been seriously ill since the beginning of the year. Paul Durcan, Seamus Heaney, John Montague and Medbh McGuckian will read at the event which starts at 8.15 p.m. in the Walton Theatre, Arts Building, TCD - entry from College Green. Admission £5.
It's no Orange, but the winning story in the Bookwise short story competition (2,000 words, by June 12th, entry forms from Bookwise, Kennedy Road, Navan, Co Meath) will bag £100 and the runner-up will get £50. Stories must be by previously unpublished writers - and here's the catch - who are either from, or now resident in, Co Meath. The winning story will be published in the Meath Chronicle.
News from Galway of a new literary page, Markings, for that redoubtable publication, the Galway Advertiser. Poet and writer Fred Johnston, who is editing the page, is looking for submissions of poems and very short stories, of no more than 1,000 words. He tells Sadbh the Advertiser will soon be announcing a literary award.
Submissions to Johnston at the Galway Advertiser, 2/3 Church Lane, Galway.
If you live in Dublin, hop up out of the scratcher where you may still be reclining and scamper up to Dublin Castle's Coach House. Today is the second and final day of Etonnant Voyageurs, the Franco-Irish Book Festival, and among the events this morning, at 11.30 a.m., is a panel discussion on "Writing Away From Home". Irish panellists are Mary Morrissy, Hugo Hamilton, Joseph O'Connor and Sean Lysaght, while the French writers are Jean-Christophe Rufin, and Isabelle Jarry. The afternoon's discussions are on the topics: "Poets of Ireland/Poets of France" and "Personal Memory and Writing". Panellists for these include Michel Deon, Niall Williams, Michel Le Bris, Yvon Le Men, Medbh McGuckian, Claude Couffon, and Liam O Muirthile. Admission is free.
Greendale Community School in Kilbarrack will be 25 this year and there will be a number of literary events to mark the occasion because of Greendale's association with scribes such as Roddy Doyle, Paul Mercier, Enda Walsh, and Catherine Dunne. They'll be reading at a literary forum in the school on Tuesday. Next week, too, RTE's Book on One will feature Greendale writers. Explanation: presenter Seamus Hosey also taught there.