On the Town: Tension mounted as shortlisted writers in the Davy Byrnes Irish Writing Award gathered for the announcement of the winner.
"What we were seeking were the stories that would hold us spellbound," said one of the three judges, Caroline Walsh, the literary editor of this newspaper. Almost 1,100 stories were received by the organisers of the competition, which was held to mark the centenary of Bloomsday.
Like the sound when you tap cut glass, stories also should send back the resounding ring of perfection, said Walsh. All the shortlisted stories "offered illuminations in their own unique way but one shone through from the start as the sure-footed work of a master of the short story, transfixing us with nothing less than a shift in the human heart".
Among those shortlisted were Kevin Barry, who was born in Limerick and works as a writer and journalist; Linda Dennard, a lecturer at UCC who lives in Rochestown, Co Cork; Dublin-born writer Anne Enright, whose book of essays on motherhood is due out in August; and Breda W. Ryan from Carrick-on-Suir, who is a teacher of English as a foreign language. Michael West, who is better known as playwright, was also short-listed but was unable to attend. Also absent was Philip O Ceallaigh, who moved to Romania four years ago to concentrate on writing.
As the speeches continued, eyes roamed the faces gathered in Davy Byrnes pub on Dublin's Duke Street, seeking out the winner of the €20,000 prize. Finally, Enright's name was revealed as the winner of the competition for her story, Honey.
"It conjures up the progress of a distinctive human soul through grief and desire and moral confusion to a self-awakening that fairly takes the breath away with its felt, material truth," said judge Tobias Wolff. The Scottish writer, A.L. Kennedy, was the third judge.
Honey by Anne Enright will be published in books section of The Irish Times next week, Saturday, June 19th