Irish author on Carnegie Medal shortlist; Irish Bookshop and Small Press of the Year

If you buy The Irish Times in any Eason’s branch tomorrow, you can also purchase a copy of Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library for only €4.99, a saving of €5.

In Magazine, Sue Rainsford talks to Gemma Tipton about writing an accidental pandemic novel. In Weekend Review, there is an extract from Derek Scally’s The Best Catholics in the World. In Ticket, in a feature headlined Buried Treasures, leading writers champion often overlooked Irish books that deserve to be much better known. Reviews include Brendan O’Leary on The Gun, the Ship, and the Pen: Warfare, Constitutions and the Making of the Modern World by Linda Colley; Lucie Shelly on Hot Stew by Fiona Mozley; Claire Hennessy on the best new YA fiction; Des Traynor on Come Join Our Disease by Sam Byers; Lucy Sweeney Byrne on Sea State by Tabitha Lasley; Deirdre McQuillan on Glossy: The Inside Story of Vogue by Nina-Sophia Miralles; Lynn Enright on Vivian Gornick: Taking a Long Look; Seán Hewitt on Bessie Smith by Jackie Kay; and Sarah Gilmartin on His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie.

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Marie Louise-Fitzpatrick has been shortlisted for the first time for the prestigious CILIP Carnegie Medal alongside two former winners, Elizabeth Acevedo and Ruta Sepetys. The Dublin-born author and illustrator has been recognised for her book, On Midnight Beach (Faber), about a character and communities on the cusp of change, In this coming-of-age novel, an ancient Irish legend is rewoven as a YA story.

The writing’s on the wall for the North again

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Chains or Change: the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement 50 years on

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I need to go on a ventilator. Will I wake up after? ‘There’s a 50:50 chance.’ If I say no? ‘Zero.’ I sign

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2021 CILIP Carnegie Medal shortlist

1. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (Hot Key Books)

2. The Girl Who Speaks Bear by Sophie Anderson, illustrated by Kathrin Honesta (Usborne)

3. The Girl Who Became A Tree by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Kate Milner (Otter-Barry Books)

4. On Midnight Beach by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick (Faber)

5. Run, Rebel by Manjeet Mann (Penguin Random House Children’s)

6. Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds (Knights Of)

7. The Fountains Of Silence by Ruta Sepetys (Penguin Random House Children’s)

8. Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk (Penguin Random House Children’s)

2021 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal shortlist

1. Starbird illustrated and written by Sharon King-Chai (Two Hoots)

2. The Bird Within Me illustrated by Sara Lundberg and translated by B. J. Epstein (Book Island)

3. It’s A No-Money Day illustrated and written by Kate Milner (Barrington Stoke)

4. How The Stars Came To Be illustrated and written by Poonam Mistry (Tate Publishing)

5. Hike illustrated and written by Pete Oswald (Walker Books)

6. I Go Quiet illustrated and written by David Ouimet (Canongate)

7. Arlo The Lion Who Couldn’t Sleep illustrated and written by Catherine Rayner (Macmillan Children’s Books)

8. Small In The City illustrated and written by Sydney Smith (Walker Books)

The winners will be announced on June 16th. The winners will each receive £500 worth of books to donate to their local library, a specially commissioned golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize.

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Fiona Ennis of Waterford and Giles Newington, a former Irish Times assistant literary editor, are asmong the 10 winners in the Fish Short Story Prize 2020/21 chosen by Emily Ruskovich, winner of the International Dublin Literary Award for Idaho. The winners will be published in the Fish Anthology 2021. Niamh McCabe was shortlisted.

Merrion Press was the island of Ireland winner in the British Book Awards Small Press of the Year Award. Its Old Ireland in Colour was the only Irish published title to make more than €1 million in sales last year.

Other winners included Little Toller Books, which had a huge hit with Dara McAnulty’s Diary of a Young Naturalist; And Other Stories; Boldwood Books; Magic Cat Publishing; Charco Press; Firefly Press; September Publishing; and Sweet Cherry. The winners, chosen from 44 shortlisted presses, will now be in contention for the overall Small Press of the Year, to be announced at the British Book Awards, also known as the Nibbies, on May 13th.

Island of Ireland Independent Bookshop of the Year winner Tertulia from Westport, Co Mayo had only been trading for eight months when Covid-19 struck. But husbandand wife owners Brid Conroy and Neil Paul quickly responded with a measures that tapped into the local community links it had built since opening its doors, such as launching its popular Tertulia TV YouTube channel, creating a membership scheme and founding a literary prize for local writers.

Along with eight other shops in Britain – all praised by judges for their innovative responses to the pandemic – it now goes forward to the Nibbies ceremony in the quest to be crowned the top indie in these islands.

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Poetry Ireland and the Poetry Foundation in the US have announced a new multiyear partnership, Hope Rhymes, aimed at connecting communities of poets and audiences in the United States and Ireland, with a focus on engagement with and services for young people.

The organisations will coordinate to develop and implement a range of programming, continuing into 2023. Alongside alignment across the organisations’ existing programmes, this venture includes a range of new initiatives, including a celebratory event in Washington, DC in 2022.

US President Joe Biden and Taoiseach Micheál Martin expressed their welcome for the partnership at their St Patrick’s Day meeting, noting that it, “affirms the inspirational power of poetry.” The leaders expressed a hope that it would “deepen appreciation of each other’s poetic cultures and...facilitate a sharing of experience between poetry teachers and students across the United States and Ireland.’’

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Adults and children alike can get creative and enter a poem or poems into this year’s Trócaire Poetry Ireland Poetry Competition, which is open to entries until May 7th.

This year marks the eleventh year of the annual competition, which uses the arts to raise awareness about the leading global justice issues of our time. Adults and children, through their schools, can enter the competition and poems in English or Irish are welcome in all six categories, with spoken word pieces actively encouraged as well as poems.

The theme for this year is Pathways to Peace. It explores the effects that conflict has on people’s lives and how, with pathways to peace and the support of others, they can try to put the pain of conflict behind them and begin again in their lives.

Niamh O’Donnell, Director of Poetry Ireland, said it had been encouraging to see so many entries submitted for the 2020 competition, especially during a difficult lockdown year.

“We’re delighted to be launching this year’s competition and to seeing the entries coming in over the next couple of months,” she said. “The judges are always bowled over with the creativity and sentiment that writers weave into their poems, and the really high quality of poems submitted each year.”

This year’s judging panel includes Poetry Ireland’s Poet in Residence, Catherine Ann Cullen, Aidan Clifford, retired former director of the Curriculum Development Unit, and Trócaire’s Joanne McGarry.

The competition is always free to enter and past participants include Eileen Casey, David Mohan Angela T. Carr, Afric McGlinchey, Dairena Ní Chinnéide, Jane Clarke, Eleanor Hooker and Joseph Horgan amongst many others.

The attractive prizes on offer include for the adult categories: a choice of a two-week stay at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Annaghmakerrig, or a tablet or time in a recording studio to the value of €300 (for spoken word poets) plus a year’s subscription to Poetry Ireland Review.

Winners of the post-primary and primary categories win a Kindle Fire plus a visit by an author to the winner’s school (to be scheduled post-Covid-19 restrictions).

For more information and to enter, visit poetryireland.ie

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Bernadette Lynch and Morgan O Connor are the winners of the 2021 Cúírt New Writing Prize in the poetry and short story categories respectively.

Sponsored by Tigh Neachtain and in memory of Lena McGuire, the New Writing Prize encourages entries from writers all over the world. The judges for 2021 were Colin Barrett, who judged the short stories category, and Stephen Sexton, who judged the poetry category.

“I am moved beyond measure that my poems have won the 2021 Cúirt New Writing Prize competition,” Lynch said. “Galway has always been good to me; beginning with trips to Salthill as a child on holiday from England, onto days at the races, friendships and romance, and now such a thrilling affirmation of my poetry. Thank you. I only wish I could be with you in person to celebrate. It took a pandemic to hold me back. All the very best of luck with this wonderful festival and see you next year.”

O Connor said: “I’m overjoyed, overwhelmed, and overcome at being pulled out of the slush by Colin Barrett and the team at Cúirt. A little recognition puts a lot of much-needed turf on the creative fires, I’ll use this warmth to face those empty snow-white morning pages. This story goes out to all those under-celebrated overworked teachers, who move to new communities and do their best every day. I imagine Mr Solomon, my first French teacher, retired by a lit fire, glass of burgundy in hand, looking up from his dog-eared Edwidge Danticat or Alexandre Dumas, and having a good chuckle at all the white squirrels gathering nuts.”

The winners each receive a €500 cash prize and the opportunity to read at the Cúirt/Over the Edge New Writing Showcase as part of Cúirt on April 22nd.

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International Literature Festival Dublin has unveiled three events ahead of their full programme reveal: Take a long look: Vivian Gornick in conversation with Sinéad Gleeson (May 28th, 6pm, €5) Science comes to life: Carlo Rovelli & John Banville in conversation (May 26th, 6pm, €8); and Everyone is talking about… Patricia Lockwood and Roisin Kiberd (May 22nd, 6pm, €5. ilfd.com

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Bloomsbury is to publish Tomorrow Is Beautiful, a poetry anthology compiled and edited by Sarah Crossan, in September, marketed as “perfect for anyone who may be struggling to find the right words of comfort, joy and optimism – in this year and beyond”.

Crossan said: “I have always believed poetry should serve everyone, and as the Irish Children’s Literature Laureate from 2018 to 2020 I spearheaded a project called We Are The Poets, which sought to deliver poems to those who thought it couldn’t be theirs. I hope this anthology will be an extension of this work with the added goal of inviting readers to feel hopeful about tomorrow.

“Reading, and specifically poetry, has guided me through the dark days of this pandemic and I cannot wait to share these word-cures with as many people as possible. Choosing poems from greats such as Langston Hughes and Emily Dickinson wasn’t easy, but it was wildly exciting. Even more exciting was choosing incredible work from contemporary poets and having the opportunity to create new work myself.”

Crossan has been awarded the CILIP Carnegie Medal as well as the YA Book Prize, the CBI Book of the Year Award, the Books Are My Bag Readers Award and the CLiPPA Poetry Award. Her work has sold over 350,000 copies and been published in 25 languages. Her debut novel for adults, Here Is the Beehive, publishes in paperback in July, followed by a reissue of One, her bestselling verse novel for young adults, in August.