UCD celebrates Emma Donoghue’s success
Emma Donoghue’s Man Booker shortlisting for Room was celebrated in many quarters on Tuesday, including at her old alma mater, University College Dublin, from which she graduated with first-class honours in English and French. In an extraordinary coincidence, the fathers of both Donoghue and Paul Murray, whose Skippy Dies didn’t make it from the longlist to the shortlist, both taught at UCD’s school of English. Denis Donoghue was professor of modern English there before taking the Henry James chair at New York University; Chris Murray was associate professor of English and drama until he retired, in 2007.
Remembering Donoghue’s first foray into the college’s English Literary Society, many years ago, Anthony Roche, UCD’s head of drama, said: “After a series of earnest and rather lengthy readings by other students, this very elegant, tall woman quietly got to her feet and read a number of very short poems which absolutely floored everyone else. We knew then she was a writer in the making.”
The winner, who will be announced on October 12th, will receive not just the £50,000 prize but the instant around-the-world recognition that goes with it.
‘Skippy Dies’ gets on to a different kind of list
Paul Murray’s Skippy Dies may not have made the Man Booker shortlist on Tuesday, but that hasn’t dinted its popularity. It’s one of the titles under discussion this month in an online book club launched this week by Bord Gáis Energy, an extension of an involvement it already has with the book world through projects including the Irish Book Awards and the book club on TV3’s Ireland AM . David O’Brien of Bishopstown Library, in Cork, will be reviewing Skippy Dies. Other books being reviewed by its team include Patricia Scanlan’s Forgive and Forget and Kathryn Stockett’s The Help. bordgaisenergybookclub.ie.
Irish women novelists gear up to tour Canada
A roadshow of Irish women writers? That’s what’s happening in Canada next month when members of a group called the Novelshop go on a reading tour of Canada, supported by Culture Ireland. The writers – Catherine Dunne, Celia de Fréine, Ivy Bannister, Mary Rose Callaghan and Lia Mills – will be reading at the Irish Embassy in Ottawa, the University of Toronto, Concordia University in Montreal, St Brigid’s Centre in Ottawa and other venues. Their tour takes off on October 8th and runs until October 22nd.
Lady Gregory’s autumn gathering at Coole Park
The annual Lady Gregory Autumn Gathering – its 16th outing, from September 24th to 26th– will be opened by the writer’s great-great-grand-daughter, Julia Kennedy, with the novelist Jennifer Johnston giving the opening address. The event takes place at Coole Park, in Gort, Co Galway; though her home there is long gone, its historic walled garden still has the “autograph tree” where Yeats, Shaw, O’Casey, Synge and George Moore carved their initials, marking Coole Park out as the centre of the Irish Literary Revival in the early 20th century. A guided walk through Coole Park woods with visits to Doorus House and nearby Tulira Castle, home of the playwright Edward Martyn, are among the events planned. Details from 086-8053917 or monaleen@msn.com.
