Loose Leaves Sadbh: News of Salmon Publishing's demise are much exaggerated. In this year of slash and burn, of cutbacks and closures, word had reached Sadbh the Co Clare poetry publishing house was, like its close neighbour, the Cliffs of Moher, perilously poised on the edge of the abyss.
However, though managing director Jessie Lendennie is still reeling from a cut in this year's Arts Council grant from €38,000 to €24,000 and did initially think Salmon would have to go, it is still standing and intends to remain so. Founded in 1982 and based initially in Galway, it's now located at the home near Doolin of Lendennie, who is originally from Arkansas. Collections of poems by more than 100 Irish poets have been published by Salmon over the last two decades, including Rita Ann Higgins, Theo Dorgan, Mary O'Malley, Eamon Wall, Mary O'Donnell, Gerard Donovan and Moya Cannon.
But there is also an international list that has published books by Adrienne Rich, Carol Ann Duffy, Ray Bradbury and others and financially this is now crucial. "The irony is that I took a lot of stick over the years for publishing non-Irish poets but now it's the funding that comes through those international connections that's keeping us afloat," says Lendennie. Danish funding is helping towards Fire and Ice, a collection of Scandinavian poets translated into English due in November. There will be similar backing from the Australian Arts Council when Salmon publishes collections by some Australian poets and money too from universities in the US. The Friends of Salmon are another source of revenue.
Lendennie is keen to stress Salmon still needs Arts Council support and will not abandon Irish poets. As if to prove the point, a number of their forthcoming titles are of strong Irish interest especially an autobiography by James Liddy, written from his eerie in Milwaukee where he teaches at the University of Wisconsin, which will include memories of his childhood holidays in Kilkee. That's due in the spring, as is an update of the anthology The White Page: 20th Century Irish Women Poets edited by Joan McBreen. See also www.salmonpoetry.com
Frank about O'Connor
Reassessing Frank O'Connor's place in 20th century Irish literature is the challenge set for a three-day conference next weekend at Trinity College, Dublin, to commemorate the centenary of the writer's birth. As well as examining the development of the Irish short story in the last century, speakers will look at O'Connor's achievements as a translator and interpreter of Irish language poetry, his role in the Abbey Theatre, his autobiographical writings and his relationships with other writers and intellectuals. Among those recalling their relationships with him will be his widow, Harriet O'Donovan Sheehy and Brendan Kennelly. Fittingly contemporary short story writers Éilis Ní Dhuibhne, Gerard Donovan and Alan Titley will also read from their own work. Participants at the event, which starts next Friday night, include Terence Brown, Ruth Sherry, Hilary Lennon, Louis de Paor, John Kenny, and Gerardine Meaney.
In association with the Irish Film Archive, there will be a screening of O'Connor reading from his own work and rare film material from the 1930-1960s. One of the most interesting offerings will be a screening of Guests of The Nation (1935), directed by Denis Johnston, which will be accompanied by music from pianist Josh Johnston, grandson of the director. Larry (1959), the adaptation of O'Connor's My Oedipus Complex, directed by Shelah Richards, is also on the programme. The O'Connor on Film session is on Sunday afternoon and will be introduced by Kasandra O'Connell of the Irish Film Archive. Information from Hilary Lennon at 01-6081111 or e-mail lennonh@tcd.ie.
See also www.tcd.ie/English/Frank.O.Connor
Ó Fiaich agenda
The theme for the third annual Ó Fiaich Library Seminar, which takes place in Armagh on the 26th and 27th of this month, is A Canon of Irish Literature. Participants will include Gerald Dawe, Patrick Crotty, Paul Muldoon, Joseph O'Connor, Clair Wills and Pádraigin Ní Uallacháin. Details from eolas@ofiaich.ie