Loose Leaves/Sadbh: The theme of We Need to Talk About Kevin, by US author Lionel Shriver - what happens when a mother has a psychopathic teenage killer for a son - which won the £30,000 Orange Prize for fiction in London last Tuesday, seems to have been influential when the judges were making their final decision.
"We Need to Talk About Kevin is a book that acknowledges what many women worry about but never express - the fear of becoming a mother and the terror of what kind of child one might bring into the world. It's a courageous book which will resonate with everyone who has had a child or thought about having one," said broadcaster Jenni Murray, who chaired the judging panel. And indeed Shriver (inset below), who is now 48, has suggested that writing the book may even have put her off having a child of her own.
Kate Mosse, the co-founder and honorary director of the prize, which is for women authors only, also weighed in on the importance of the theme, saying this was such an enormous and important subject that it was surprising more books hadn't been written on it. "We were able to find very few," she said - which begs the question: were they actively out looking?
But the book by no means found favour with everyone. For instance, reviewing it for The Irish Times, Literary Correspondent Eileen Battersby said it was the most repellent and easily one of the least convincing books she had read. "Its sensationalism, as well as its theme, that of the high-school massacre phenomenon across the US, may grip some readers, but far more seriously, it will also exploit them." It was sickening stuff "not due to Shriver's rather crude narrative skills but solely to the voyeuristic, conversational nastiness of her novel, which is far more offensive than Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho, an infinitely better book", she wrote.
The book by Shriver - who changed her name to Lionel as a teenager because she wanted to be a boy - initially had many rejections from mainstream publishers, possibly because of what's seen as its taboo subject, before being published by Serpent's Tail in Britain.
Bloomsday's back
The occasional curmudgeon may feel that Dublin overdosed on Bloomsday last year but for many literati it marks the true start of summer, and while not the massive event it was last year, there is still plenty on the horizon. At the National Library, short talks on aspects of Joyce will kick off at 2pm on Thursday with Dr Luca Crispi and Terence Killeen. At 6pm, actor Jim Norton and Joycean Roger Marsh will talk about and read from Ulysses, while throughout the day guided tours will take place of the ongoing exhibition, James Joyce and Ulysses at the National Library of Ireland (for Bloomsday it will be open from 10am to 8pm). Admission to all these events is free. See www.nli.ie/joyce
Looking to 1916
The Good Friday Agreement, the peace process and all that's happened in the North over the past decade have dominated the national debate forum of late but there are still people interested in delving further back - to 1916. The Byrne Perry Summer School takes 1916: Origins and Legacies as its subject later this month, the first in a series that will examine three crucially important decades in the history of modern Ireland - the first three of the 20th century.
This year's Gordon Wilson Lecture will be given by Paul Bew, of Queen's University, Belfast, on the life and significance of John Redmond. There will also be a discission, Was 1916 A Crime?, chaired by Vincent Browne, with panellists Deaglán de Bréadún of The Irish Times and Cormac O Malley, son of Ernie O Malley and a lawyer in the field of international law.
Provocative questions that will also be addressed include Would Independence Have Been Achieved Without 1916?, Did 1916 Advance the Position of Women in Ireland?, and Was 1916 Necessary?.
Other participants include Green Party leader Trevor Sargent, Brendan Howlin TD, historian Sinéad McCoole, Michael Laffan of University College Dublin, and Tommy Graham, editor of History Ireland. There will also be a wreath-laying ceremony at the grave of John Redmond.
The 11th Byrne Perry Summer School takes place on Jun 24-26 and is run in association with Wexford County Council, History Ireland and the Keough Notre Dame Centre, Dublin. The venue is the Christian Brothers School, Wexford Street, Gorey. Bookings from Gorey Tourist Office: 055-21248. See also www.byrneperry.ie