Loose Leaves:In these days, when small publishing houses being gobbled up by big conglomerates is the norm, it's refreshing to hear instead of one small independent publisher amalgamating with another.
This week saw Profile Books in London acquire Serpent's Tail, a publisher of international and contemporary fiction as well as non-fiction and debut novels. Irish writer Colm Tóibín's first novel, The South(1990), was published by Serpent's Tail. Founded 20 years ago, the house is also strong on fiction in translation. One of their authors, Elfriede Jelinek, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2004. Another, Lionel Shriver, won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005 with We Need to Talk about Kevin. Serpent's Tail publisher Pete Ayrton, who is staying on under the new management, said that concentration in the retail sector was making the survival of small publishers more and more difficult. It was a dream come true that he could now devote himself to publishing and editing and that Serpent's Tail could stay within the independent sector, he said.
Profile is a founding member of the Alliance of Independent Publishers. It had huge commercial success in 2003 when Eats, Shoots & Leavesby Lynne Truss became its first million-copy seller. Profile is the only publisher to have won the Small Publisher of the Year award more than once, taking the prize three times, including last year. See www.serpentstail.com and www.profilebooks.com
Trinity set for war and poetry
It's a sign of the times, perhaps, that war poetry is among the topics on the agenda for discussion at Poetry and Politics, a series of evening lectures and readings beginning on Tuesday at 7.30pm in Trinity College Dublin. Translation will also be discussed during the series, which will include assessments of WH Auden, Louis MacNeice and George Reavey among other poets. Guest lecturers - Patrick Crotty, Sandra O'Connell, Carol Rumens, Sean O'Brien and George Szirtes - will be joined by Trinity faculty members Stephen Matterson, Terence Brown, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Gerald Dawe for the series, which runs until March 6th and is open to all: €5.50 per lecture or €40 for the full series.
An audience with the masters
It's not often that aspiring and emerging poets get a chance to study the art of poetry with a master, but that's what's on offer at the Irish Writers' Centre in Dublin on the weekend of January 27th and 28th, with Derek Mahon. Details are available on 01-8721302 or by e-mailing info@writerscentre.ie. This is part of a series of masterclasses by doyens of various genres that the centre is to run.
Roddy Doyle is scheduled to give some in March. Edna O'Brien and Will Self are also on the list and on some occasions the centre will be offering a bursary to assist emerging writers to take part. Meanwhile, the first reading of 2007 in the Out to Lunch poetry reading series at the centre takes place on January 19th, with Ann Joyce. The readings take place every other Friday at 1.15pm in the centre, which is at 19 Parnell Square, Dublin. Next up, on February 2nd, is Cathal Ó Searcaigh, followed on February 16th by Iggy McGovern. Among the poets lined up to read over the next 12 months are Pat Boran, James J McAuley, Seán Lysaght, Aidan Rooney, Sheila O'Hagan, Ivy Bannister, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Catriona O'Reilly. For more details, see www.writerscentre.ie.
Prize for People's choice
Writer Peter Sheridan will judge the inaugural short story competition organised by the People's College on Dublin's Parnell Square. The college, which was founded in 1948 to give people who missed out on education the first time around a second chance through adult classes, now offers courses in things as diverse as bird watching and theatrical wig-making. But this is its first foray into fiction prize territory. Entries, which should not exceed 2,500 words, are being accepted between now and February 28th, and the winners will be announced in April and published in the 2007 People's College Creative Writing Group Anthology. The first prize is €350. See www.peoplescollege.ie.