LooseLeaves/Sadbh: Not surprisingly, the film-maker and bête noire of the Bush administration, Michael Moore - witness the horrified reaction to his unexpected appearance at the Republican convention in New York earlier this week - gets a big mailbag of reaction to his books and films.
Some of the most interesting are from US army personnel. Now Penguin have snapped up the rights to a collection of these letters, introduced by Moore, called Will They Ever Trust Us Again?, to be published next month. The book contains letters from US troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan and on home bases (many of whom have been overseas or who are about to go), plus others from family and friends of troops and ex-service people, including Vietnam veterans. Simultaneously, Penguin will publish The Official Fahrenheit 9/11 Reader, a full transcript of Moore's movie, which is now the highest grossing documentary of all time in the US and the UK. And for the movie's detractors, its fact- checkers' notes will be included in the book as well as extra material which did not make the final cut. The book will be timed to coincide with the release of Fahrenheit 9/11 on DVD. Whether the Moore machine will have any impact on the election result in November remains to be seen, but the man is certainly dedicated to his mission.
Digging for treasure in Dingle
Please bring a nice notebook - that's the injunction to those signing up for the Starting to Write course with Clare Boylan on the first of this autumn's Dingle Writing Courses. Boylan's classes are based on the idea that the conditions of one's life are the substance of one's work, that there really is buried treasure there. The classes run from September 24th to 26th. The course programme continues throughout October with Brian Leyden on Memoir; Eva Salzman on Poetry and Andrew O'Hagan on Fiction. The Dingle courses have been running since 1996 and take place in Lios Dána, a residence above Inch Strand, about 15 miles from Dingle. Each course is limited to 14 students and the price is €325.
Details: tel: 066-9159815; e-mail: info@dinglewritingcourses.ie; website: www.dinglewritingcourses.ie
Feile deadline extended
Poets who have been procrastinating may be glad to know that the deadline for the 16th annual Féile Filíochta/ International Poetry Competition, organised by Dún Laoghaire- Rathdown Libraries, has been extended to Tuesday, November 30th. The prize fund is €15,400 and the judges this year include Daithí Ó hÓgáin, Declan Collinge, Áine Miller, Tanja Dembski, Jean Philippe Imbert, Marco Sonzogni, Dewi Wyn Evans, Antonia Flores, Rody Gorman and Annika Burholm. Previous winners include Mark Granier, Dorothy Molloy, David Butler, Milan Richter, Emer Delaney, Áine Ní Ghlinn and Gearóid MacLochlainn.
Go to www.dlrcoco.ie/library for entry forms and conditions in the nine languages of the competition
Booker contender in Dublin
Hot from the Edinburgh Book Festival and fresh from the excitement of making the longlist for this year's Man Booker Prize for Fiction, Ronan Bennett will be in Dublin next week for what is his first reading in the city for many years. With three weeks to go to see if his novel, Havoc, In Its Third Year, makes it onto the shortlist on September 21st, he will be reading at Waterstones in Dawson Street on Monday at 6 p.m.
Complimentary tickets from Waterstones (tel: 01-6791415)
Poetry at the bank
The Out to Lunch poetry readings at the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, Foster Place, Temple Bar, Dublin 2, continue on occasional Fridays at 1.15 p.m. Next Friday it's the turn of Noel O'Briain, followed on September 24th by Leanne O'Sullivan. Kieran Fury reads on October 15th, Gearailt MacEoin on October 29th, and Celia de Fréine on November 5th.
Details: tel: 01-6712261; e-mail: barry.o'kelly@boimail.com
Laois post for writer
The call is out for applications for a writer-in-residence in Co Laois. The timescale is six months from this October and the post is open to published writers working in English or Irish. Organised by Laois County Council in association with the Arts Council, the stipend is €12,000.
Applications and inquiries to the Arts Office, Laois County Council, Aras an Chontae, Portlaoise, Co Laois (tel: 0502-74342; e-mail: artsoff@laoiscoco.ie)