Book news: Eimear McBride Faber deal; Seán Ó Faoláin winners; Poems Upstairs

Eimear McBride’s second novel acquired by Faber

Eimear McBride will publish her second novel The Lesser Bohemians with Faber next year. Telling the story of an 18-year-old Irish woman who moves to London to study drama, it is described by the publisher as a book about “love and innocence, joy and discovery – the grip of the past and the struggle to be new again”. It follows McBride’s acclaimed debut novel A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing, which was first published in 2013 by independent Galley Beggar Press before Faber partnered with the Norwich publisher for a wider release. The novel went on to win multiple awards including the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year. McBride’s editor at Faber is Hannah Griffiths, who represents Irish affiliated authors such as Deirdre Madden and Thomas Morris. The Lesser Bohemians will be published next autumn in Britain and Ireland, by Hogarth in the US, McClelland & Stewart in Canada and Text in Australia.

Seán Ó Faoláin winners

Evelyn Walsh has won first prize in the 2015 Sean Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition with her story White Rabbit. From Georgia in the US, Walsh will receive €2,000, publication in the literary journal Southword, and a week-long residency at Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat. Second prize went to Dolores Walshe of Leitrim for Small Yellow Sun. Shortlisted stories by Kevin Dorn (Pennsylvania, USA); Miranda Luby (Victoria, Australia); Wayne Price (Aberdeen, Scotland) and John Saul (Suffolk, UK) will be published in a forthcoming edition of Southword, the journal published by the Munster Literature Centre. The short story writer Danielle McLaughlin, whose debut collection Dinosaurs on Other Planets (Stinging Fly) publishes next month, judged this year's competition. The longlist of stories is here.

Poetry at Books Upstairs

The Double Shot autumn poetry series hosted by Jessica Traynor, Dave Lordan and Angela Carr returns to Books Upstairs from this evening Wednesday, September 16th. Taking place at the D'Olier Street venue in Dublin 2 from 6.30pm, the first event in the series is in association with Cork-based Ó Bhéal and features Cork poets Gerry Murphy and Afric McGlinchey, along with the Dublin-based emerging poet Erin Fornoff. Tickets from €6 can be purchased here.

Lakeside literary festival

Opening this year's Dromineer Literary Festival on Thursday, October 1st is Peter Sheridan's one-man play, 44 Seville Place, at the Nenagh Arts Centre at 8pm. The play, performed by the Dublin playwright, is an account of the wonder and heartbreaks of childhood. A range of events from poetry to meditation, publishing to song-writing, take place from October 1st-4th. Now in its 11th year, festival highlights include a poetry evening with George Szirtes, Pascale Petit and Billy Ramsell; Labyrinth – an exhibition by award-winning Tipperary photographer Lisa Griffin; a songwriting event with Molly Sterling aboard The Spirit of Killaloe on Lough Derg; and workshops from editors Claire Hennessy, Lisa Coen and Sarah Davis-Goff. The daytime events and workshops will be held in Lough Derg Yacht Club, with the evening programme at Nenagh Arts Centre. For more information on events and booking, visit dromineerliteraryfestival.ie.

Get creative in Dalkey

The picturesque seaside village of Dalkey is hoping to inspire new writing for its second Dalkey Creates Festival, taking place from Friday, October 16th to Sunday, October 18th. Professional writers including Martina Devlin, Declan Hughes, Sarah Webb, Mary O'Donnell, Claire Hennessy, Ferdia Mac Anna, Leo Cullen, Mary Kingston and Liz Nugent will be on hand to guide participants in workshops that range from blogging to children's literature to crime writing.

The festival will also have family events including Memory Lane, a memoir writing project between school children and senior Dalkey residents. Fighting Words, the creative writing centre established by Roddy Doyle and Sean Love, will give students in Scoil Mhuire the opportunity to write an original story. Finnegan’s will host an open mic session where aspiring authors can read their work.

Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre is hosting a number of literary events each evening of the festival at 7.30pm. On the Friday, Deirdre Purcell will be in conversation with Dermot Bolger. On Saturday Naomi Linehan and Kari Rosvall will discuss Nowhere's Child, the story of how Rosvall discovered at 64 that she was part of Hitler's programme encouraging Nazi soldiers to have children with Scandinavian women to create an Aryan race. Concluding the festival on the Sunday, the work of Maeve Binchy will be celebrated in an adaptation for stage by Shay Linehan of Binchy's Aches and Pains. For more information on workshop and event bookings visit the website.

War and peace in Belfast

A literary highlight of next month's Belfast International Arts Festival is an event with poet Gerald Dawe, professor of English at Trinity College. Dawe will speak about his latest publication, Of War and War's Alarms, a study on the impact of war and revolution on Irish writers. Hosted by the broadcaster Póilín Ní Chiaráin, the talk takes place on Friday, October 16th at the Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich from 7pm. Dawe's book looks at writing lives of Irish poets and novelists from WW1 and the Easter Rising through the War of Independence to the Spanish Civil War, WWII and the Troubles. Figures such as WB Yeats, Seamus Heaney, Padraic Fiacc, William Trevor, John Hewitt and Christabel Bielenberg feature in the poet's reflections. Tickets at £5 can be bought through the festival's website. A wider programme of events including new performances of Conor McPherson's The Night Alive, the Broadway hit The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and music from Sharon Shannon can also be found on the site.

Red Line Book Festival

The full programme for the Red Line Book Festival in south Dublin has been announced, with speakers including Jennifer Johnston, Joe Duffy, Jane Clarke, Mary Costello, Marita-Conlon McKenna, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Carlo Gébler and the Dutch historian Joost Augusteijn. Running from October 11th - 17th, the festival will feature over 30 events, including the return of the popular TEDxTallaght, whose theme this year is Considered Perspectives.

Positive parenting, pet dilemmas and getting fit will also be up for discussion. Endurance athlete Gerry Duffy and nutritionist Barry Murray will talk about healthy living on Sunday, October 11th at the Civic Theatre in Tallaght, while an event for children with author Ger Siggins and the Leinster Rugby Development Squad at Clondalkin Leisure Centre takes place on Monday, October 12th, nicely timed for World Cup fever.

Now in its fourth year, Red Line offers a mixture of talks, readings, workshops and discussions on writing and creative thinking. Events will take place in the Civic Theatre, Rua Red, and at various libraries and other venues throughout south Dublin. Organised by South Dublin Libraries and Arts, the full programme will be announced in September and available at www.redlinebookfestival.ie.

Children’s bestseller brought to life

The Irish premiere of Guess How Much I Love You has been announced for Galway's Baboró International Arts Festival for Children. A stage adaptation of the award-winning children's book by Irish author Sam McBratney will be brought to life in a puppet show by Nova Scotia's Mermaid Theatre. Written by McBratney and illustrated by Anita Jeram, Guess How Much I Love You celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Adapted by Jim Morrow, with music by Steven Naylor and narration by Beau Bridges, the show runs from October 15th - October 18th at Black Box Theatre in Galway, with two performances daily. Tickets are €9 or a family offering of four tickets for €30.

Featuring work from Ireland and further afield, including Belgium, Canada, Italy, Scotland, Spain and Ukraine, the festival runs from Monday, October 12th to Sunday, October 18th. Another festival highlight sees the world premiere of CoisCéim's The Wolf and Peter. A reimagining of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, it tells the timeless story of courage through the eyes of the Wolf, with classic characters Bird, Cat, Duck, Grandfather, Hunters and Peter all aboard for the adventure. For more information on this and other events go to http://baboro.ie.

Newsflash: reading is sexy

Book lovers of Ireland rejoice at the news that 60 per cent of people looking for love would prefer to date a reader. The recent survey from dating site Elite Singles asked 1,700 Irish people whether they believe reading to be an attractive quality in the opposite sex. Almost two thirds of the single candidates said they would prefer to date a book lover, with 87 per cent counting themselves as avid readers.

The survey also sought to find out what people look for on their date’s bookshelf. Book lovers of Ireland may rejoice somewhat less at the results: “Men like women who embrace their naughty side and read erotica, while women like mysterious men, with thrillers coming out on top.”

One in five men surveyed said they were most attracted to women who read erotica, prompting the dating site to give some advice to female readers: “In other words, if you’re a woman wanting to meet a man on your next commute or beach vacation, it might be time to put down the paper and pick up 50 Shades of Grey.” Meanwhile, with 19 per cent of women choosing thrillers as “the sexiest genre a man can read”, single males are being advised to get a copy of the latest crime novel by Benjamin Black, “real name John Banville, he uses Black as a pseudonym – it just adds to his mystery!”

[ sarah.gilmartin@gmail.com ]