CORK RELEASES SHORT STORY LISTS - LONG AND 'SHORT'

 Juno in her short story T-shirt from Literary Threads

It's a day for short story longlists/shortlists. The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award longlist has been announced, with four Irish writers on it - Ethel Rohan (see previous post!), Colm Tóibín, Galway writer Moya Roddy and Seán Mackel (see my interview with Seán here). Congrats, my fellow Irish folk!

There are also five Salt authors on the list, including my pals Tom Vowler and Vanessa Gebbie. I wish you all shortlist luck.

The Americans dominate as always with twenty six books. Another favourite of mine, former winner Yiyun Li is there again. Shortlist announced in July.

Also released today is the rather long shortlist for the William Trevor-Elizabeth Bowen Short Story Competition 2011 - there are 31 stories on the list, including one from my Peer Group fellow, Alan McMonagle. Go Alan!

Ethel Rohan in Interview

Today I have the privilege of interviewing Ethel Rohan, a writer and editor from Ireland who makes her home in San Francisco, with her husband and two daughters. She says of her own work: "My stories and writing center on the body—its joys, secrets, memory, urges, drives, and horrors. In writing about the body, my hope is to reveal the human psyche and ultimately to give testimony to the human spirit."

Welcome, Ethel. Tell me about your début short story collection Cut Through the Bone.

Thank you, Nuala, for inviting me here today. It’s an honour and a pleasure. Cut Through the Bone is a collection of thirty very short stories set largely in modern-day America. The stories are grounded in loss and the body and centre on the missing. I am fascinated by empty spaces and the voids both visible and invisible.

And your latest book, the just released, Hard to Say. What was the genesis of that book and was it difficult to write?

The title, Hard to Say, is apt. Along with the imagined, I consciously drew on memory and experience for the fifteen linked stories in this tiny collection. The cover for this little book is also apt. While these stories are fiction, they give voice to past pain and say much of what I never thought I could say. I struggled with why and how to write these stories, knowing they might disturb readers and my loved ones. Change is impossible though without disturbance.

The cover image for Cut Through the Bone is very striking. Can you tell me about it?

Both my book covers are the work of the brilliant young artist, Siolo Thompson. Siolo read both my book manuscripts and thereafter created these original covers. I am thrilled and honoured to have my stories bound between these gorgeous works of art. Perhaps what I most love about the cover for Cut Through the Bone is that it’s as layered, complex and intense as I believe the stories in the book to be.

Why do you write?

I write for many selfish and shallow reasons: to be known; to feel good about myself; to be considered ‘good’ by others; to get the high that creating gives; to feed and stroke my ego. I also write because I believe I was put on this earth to make and share my stories. I’ve long stopped trying to figure out the ‘really?’ and the ‘why’ of the latter and instead try to write meaningful works that affect and matter.

What is your writing process – morning or night – longhand or laptop?

I can no longer write at night. If I work at night, I have an even harder time than usual falling and staying asleep. I write throughout the day whenever my daughters are at school and as much as I can during our crazy weekends. When writing, I’m mostly at my desk, on my desktop. I don’t write nearly as much longhand as I once did. However, every now and then, especially for new stories, I’ll take paper and pen and go at the blue-lined page. I also sometimes write longhand with my non-dominant hand, a supposed surer path to our sub-conscious.

Which short story would you like to see on the Leaving Cert exam?

That story would ideally be by a contemporary Irish woman writer.

Who is your favourite woman writer?

Right now, I’m besotted with Margaret Atwood and can’t get enough of Caitlin Horrocks.

What is your favourite bookshop? (In the USA and in Ireland.)

In San Francisco, it’s the wonderful Green Apple Books. I’ve spent years in this wonderful neighbourhood bookstore, yearning after writers and drooling over great books, and spending way too much money and never having enough time there. It was fantastic, then, to have my first reading from Cut Through the Bone at Green Apple Books.

In Ireland, my favorite bookstore is long gone. I grew up in Phibsboro and can still feel the long ago wonder and thrill of buying ten pence books from Bob’s Bargains on Doyle’s Corner. I bought every Agatha Christie, Harold Robbins and Penguin Classics title they ever sold, and countless other books.

What one piece of advice would you offer beginning writers?

Only two things make you a writer: reading and writing. Publishing brings its perks and its pitfalls, but does not make you a writer. Show up every day to read and write and banish all anxiety and self-doubts, you’ve answered the call to write and you are a writer. Now go to it.

A great answer and I totally agree! What are you working on now? Any plans to write a novel?

I recently ‘finished’ a third story collection manuscript and a novel manuscript. We’ll see what happens when I finally send out both works … somewhere.

Thanks so much, Ethel, for being with me today. Ethel's books can be bought here and here.

STRANDHILL WRITING SUMMERFEST

 Lone surfer at Strandhill

Strandhill Summerfest takes place on the weekend of the 1st to the 3rd July 2011 in coastal Sligo. I was hoping to take part in it again this year but alas and alack I am otherwise occupied. I had a brilliant time at this festival a few years ago: lovely company, excellent tutors, a gorgeous setting and lots and lots of writing.

It costs €125, not including accommodation, but including lunch, snacks and a big BBQ, as well as all tuition.

Well worth it if you fancy a writing mini holiday with lots of fantastic writer-teachers like Ted and Annie Deppe, and the wonderful Órfhlaith Ní Chonaill all under the impressive shadow of Knocknarea. If you are going, I envy you :(

More here.

DUBLIN WRITERS' FEST

The Dublin Writers' Fest is in full swing. This all day seminar on Independent Publishing on Saturday looks good. And at €10 for the day, a total bargain.

TCD ANTHOLOGY LAUNCH

The creative writing M.Phil class at Trinity College Dublin present the launch of this year's anthology, Alms on the Highway. Launch by Minister Jimmy Deenihan of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The anthology includes poetry and fiction from the likes of Eileen Casey and Edel Corrigan. Foreword by Kevin Barry.

Wednesday 25th May at 6.30pm at Gutter Bookshop, Cows Lane, Temple Bar, Dublin 1.

W gutterbookshop.com

PRUFROCKS - FLAT LAKE & PHIZZFEST 2011

The Prufrocks at Flat Lake 2009

"The Prufrocks are five astonishingly brilliant female poets."

So the Flat Lake Festival's website says - woop! We are reading our poetry there on Sunday the 5th June at 9pm in the Gonzo Theatre Marquee. We have an adjusted line-up of poets in the troupe for this year's Flat Lake as some of our members are otherwise engaged that weekend. Órfhlaith Foyle and Geraldine Mills will join us for this one.

We just heard today that The Prufrocks will be performing at Phizzfest in Dublin in September. Exact date and time TBC.

Phizzfest are also running a poetry comp which closes July 1st. Details here.

AVALON DRAW WINNER

And the winner - as chosen by Juno - is...Emily!

Congrats Emily and please email me your address.

AVALON MAGAZINE - GIVEAWAY

 
There is a feature on me and my writing in the current US magazine Avalon, a vibrant publication by and for women that comes out of the beautiful island of Martha's Vineyard.

There is a sneak preview of the cover art for my next poetry collection, The Juno Charm, in the mag - with the kind permission of the artist Anni Betts. There are also articles on artist Zaria Forman; an interview with the fertility expert Toni Weschler, and a Gatsby inspired fashion shoot plus much, much more.

I have a spare copy of the magazine to give away. Just leave a comment to say that you would like to be in the draw. I will do the draw when I return from gallivanting around the countryside with Messrs Bolger and Power. So it will be early next week. Good luck!

THE DERMOT, KEVIN AND NUALA SHOW!

No, not really, well, yes...but it's actually a Peregrine Reading. Myself, Dermot Bolger and Kevin Power are on the road next week to read our fiction for you.

Tuesday 17th May - Irish Writers' Centre, Dublin - 7.30pm

Wednesday 18th May - Yeats Memorial Building, Sligo - 8pm

Thursday 19th May - Longford Library - 7.30pm

The IWC would like you to reserve your seat for Dublin by emailing or ringing them. No admission charge. Book here!

AUSTRALIAN POET LAUNCHES IN SLIGO

Australian poet Libby Hart is having an Irish book launch for her second poetry collection, This Floating World. It will be launched by Dermot Healy at Ellen’s Pub in Maugherow, Co. Sligo, on Friday 20^th May from 7.00pm.

Dermot Healy says, "Libby Hart’s poetry hums with the music of nature – from 'the gossip of water', 'that whistle-soaked air', to 'the lipsound of stones'. She is on a rare march through Ireland and captures it with stunning verse. Love beats from page to page. A great collection of sights and sounds, right down to the 'smallest creak of wings'."

Here’s a sample poem from the collection:

Woman drawing the curtains of her bedroom

          – Carrick-on-Shannon

My thoughts are with you tonight,

they belong where your feet walk.

They go down to the river

its bend, the curve of serpent

slunk beneath.

Body of water,

a wetness, sucking. A splash, a drop.

Her belly swollen and swallowing,

sinking down with a swish of tail.

Blubbing and lugging

this weighted island-world,

a push of girth

netting our own wet bodies

of muscle and tide,

the heart-thump of land

unanchored below feet.

This island of the ocean,

how it sways us to sleep

with its breath of undertow,

its guardians of storm above our heads.

Their hint of speech falls on sodden ground,

near-words reach me.

I wish her all the best of luck while she is here and with the book. Libby's blog is here.

KILKENNY WRITERS' WEEKEND

Kilkenny Writers' Weekend is this weekend and on Sunday afternoon I am giving a fiction class (full) and also giving a talk about The Writer and Self Promotion. There is still room on that one which takes place this Sunday, the 15th May, from 11am to 1pm in Butler House. Admission €10.

Other events include a reading from Kerry Hardie, a poetry workshop with Pat Boran and the launch of the Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet. More at the link above.

YOU on THE RADIO - NOT!

So I'm tucked up and tuned in, waiting for my book to come on the radio and it didn't!! Sigh. Now I have to find out when it will be on. Stay tuned, so to speak...

YOU is THE BOOK ON ONE

My novel YOU is The Book on One starting tonight, for five nights. 11.13pm RTÉ Radio 1. Martina Carroll will do the reading honours. I can't wait to hear what it sounds like!

Tiny Poem for the-day-that's-innit

As per my previous post, today is Write-a-Tiny-Poem Day. Herewith one inspired by my recent trip to New York.

        Padlocklove

Along the Brooklyn Bridge

there are love locks

whose keys lie in the river silt.

Here all love is secure.

Write-a-Tiny-Poem Day - Sunday

Image by Paul Angel from The Mulberry Tree Gallery

Y'all know I love Tiny Poems. Here is something fun from Poets Cornered (who are on Facebook):

"Many of you will be unaware that Sunday the 8th May is International Write -A-Tiny-Poem Day.

This day was suggested in the footnote of one of Walt Whitman's many letters to Alfred Lord Tennyson - both considered the Perfect Tiny Poem the ultimate aim of English poetry; both of them succeeded in creating one Perfect Tiny Poem each*.

So - on the afternoon of the 8th May, why not breathe life into the form by writing one Tiny Poem. The only rule should be: keep it tiny-tiny-wee-and-small.

Happy tinyfying!

* Unfortunately for connoisseurs of the form they surrounded both sides of their Perfect Tiny Poems with c.150 lines of Less Than Tiny Poetry. The irony was lost on Whitman but encouraged by Tennyson. He managed to breed it into his later work."

LA TIMES AFTERS

The LA Times Festival of Books was fantastic. It was like the Electric Picnic for books, without the mud. There were book stalls by the hundred with everything from comics to vintage film posters to poetry. There were indoor and outdoor stages, music, discussion and readings. There was free Ben & Jerry’s and free books, bookmarks, stickers and badges. There were indies and biggies and even Christian Scientists – L. Ron Hubbard, apparently, writes novels - the most garishly awful looking yokes I’ve ever clapped eyes on. And authors, publicists and publishers were there to sell, sell, sell. Punters of every hue and age were there to buy and stroll and listen. The campus of the Uni of Southern California where it all took place was leafy and pretty and had beautiful old buildings. The whole thing, in searing Los Angeles heat, was mind boggling.

Brian Dillon



In the Green Room, us authors were treated to endless complimentary food and drink in a space with chandeliers and linen table cloths with dazzling flower arrangements. You could just sit there out of the heat and chill out, sometimes chatting to other writers, sometimes planning your reading (I am such a last minuter…) Of the famous people present, I spotted Maxine Hong Kingston in the Green Room and also Francine Prose. I met a group of young LA poets, the non-fic author Amy Alkon who was vivacious and funny, and Ned Vizzini whose novel has been turned into the film ‘It's Kind of a Funny Story’ which he is ‘pretty pleased’ with. One of the young LA poets was a huge Ned V fan and she was stoked to meet him and she became a little shy.

Joseph Woods

Imagine Ireland had a stand where all the Irish books were sold and freebies availed of. Most of our readings took place on the Discover the World stage which was, thankfully, indoors. The night I arrived I met some of the Irish crew and we went for Mexican food and margaritas: they were writers Brian Dillon, Kevin Power, Joe Woods, Peter Sirr, Eoin Purcell and Mary O’Donoghue. Our swanky hotel was on Olympic Boulevard; Nokia Plaza, which was like a mini Times Square with bars and restaurants, sat behind it. The chat that night was of the state of Ireland (naturally!) and the Royal Wedding. The bars closed early so it wasn’t a late one.

I went to Joseph Woods’ and Thomas Mac Carthy’s reading on Sunday morning. Both read wonderfully well. Joe read an amazing poem about a woman in Yugoslavia who died in her flat in 1966 and wasn’t discovered for over forty years. His poem was slightly tongue in cheek and both sad and funny. Joe also read one from a series about book shops, this poem set in Rangoon where the books are ‘hardbacked’ and ‘gently sandpapered’ to make them fresher. Tom’s love poems for his wife are always so tender and intelligent; he’s a great reader of his own work and has so many interesting things to say. He also loves politics and he said that ‘election posters are as beautiful as flowers’ to him. One of his political poems has the great line: ‘My parish sleeps on its pillow of votes’.

Kevin Power

My reading with Kevin Power was at 2pm and we were given strict instructions to finish at 2.30pm on the button. Such an un-Irish way of carrying on. It made me gallop through the reading with one eye on the sound guy, one on my watch. At the earlier reading, one of the festival crew had stood at the door making neck chopping motions because the reading had gone slightly over time. So rude. We had a respectable audience and both enjoyed our readings. Kevin read the passage from Bad Day at Blackrock about the retreat the boys went on – it brought back memories to me of the strange power of those school occasions. We wandered around the book fest some more then back to our hotel for some quiet time. I didn’t know if it was night or noon with jet lag, having just spent a week in New York before LA. Most of the group scattered that evening to meet friends, so Kevin and myself had dinner in Yard House and a drink in Rock 'n' Fish, where Obama came on the TV to announce the murder of Osama Bin Laden. It was surreal sitting there drinking the local drinks – Californian cab sauv and whiskey sours – and witnessing Obama’s dramatic speech.

Nuala, Discover the World Stage

Two things always happen when I come to America, it seems: something large and significant on the world stage (last year it was the Times Square bomb attempt) and something small but nice in a literary sense for me (last year it was hearing I was shortlisted for the Edge Hill). This year, while in the States, I heard I’ve been long-listed for the UK-based SHORT Fiction prize, which is judged by Gerard Donovan, a literary hero of mine (that’s the biggest thrill of that news – Gerard will read my story!). And I’ve also had a story accepted by the US mag Prairie Schooner which I’m delighted about, because it’s a good mag and because I am fond of the particular story, which will be in my next collection, Mother America, PG.

LA was a flying visit and I saw little beyond the hotel and uni but, as always, it was great to meet fellow writers and it was slightly dream-like to be there in the heat and manufactured atmosphere that typify the place. I’m on the last leg of my journey home as I write this, happy to be heading back to my desk and my family, and I’m enjoying the company of Anne Enright’s fabulous new novel The Forgotten Waltz. Reading it makes the endless hours in the air and at airports bearable.