The young poet, Davoren Hanna, died in 1994, aged 19, after a brief but shining life. He may have had cerebral palsy, but he also had the gift of poetry. He published a collection of poems, Not Common Speech, and won several awards for his work, including the Observer National Children's Poetry Competition. With the assistance of his late mother, Brighid, and a succession of helpers, whom he called "siblings", he typed his poems. This one, `The Friendship Tree', was a tribute to his helpers.
There springs water, sweet water in my parched little plot; greenly my soul shoots till it brushes heaven's underbelly.
Seven years after his death, the Davoren Hanna Poetry Prize has been established. Sponsored by the Muse Cafes, located in Easons bookshops, this will be the first year of the prize, which offers £5,000 for the best single poem submitted. There will be second and third prizes of £2,000 and £1,000 respectively: a purse which will have poets the length and breadth of the country hoping for inspiration.
"Competitions were important to Davoren. He won prizes in them and it made him feel good," explains Cian Cafferky, a friend of the family whose company is publicising the event. "So we thought a competition in his name would be a good way of remembering him." It's great to see a substantial sum of money allocated to a poetry competition - and a fine way to remember a fine poet. The judges are Sean O'Brien, who edited Firebox: British and Irish Poetry after 1945, and poet Medbh McGuckian. The intention is to make the competition an annual event. Closing date for entries is May 31st.
Entry forms are available from Muse Cafes at Easons, or by sending an S.A.E. to Poetry Competition, Muse Cafe, Easons, O'Connell Street, Dublin 1. Forms can also be printed from the Eason website at www.eason.ie
Fans of Jean-Paul Kauffman, author of the classic recreation of Napoleon's dark days in exile on St Helena, The Dark Room at Longwood, will get a chance to see him in the flesh when he comes to Dublin next month . Kauffman, a former Middle East hostage like Brian Keenan, will take part with Keenan in the Etonnants Voyageurs festival, organised by Alliance Francaise, in Dublin Castle on April 6th. A session of the Etonnants Voyageurs festival, a major event on the French literary calendar based in St Malo, came to Ireland for the first time last year and was a big success. Other Irish writers taking part this year include Roddy Doyle, Jennifer Johnston, Biddy Jenkinson, Julie Parsons, Anne Enright, James Ryan, Philip Casey, Anthony Cronin, Thomas McCarthy and Colm Breathnach.
Readings, panel discussions and gatherings, called cafe litteraires, will continue on April 7th, with the Irish contingent talking shop with such French writers as Amin Maalouf, Annick Cojean, Malika Mokkedem (left), Azouz Begag , Roland Brival, Michel Le Bris, and Alain Borer, among others. It's a great chance to see what's happening in the world of French letters. Details from the Alliance at 01-6761732.
`Celebrated British pair shortlisted for richest novel prize" proclaimed the headline in the London Independent on Tuesday, making Sadbh blink. The pair, of course, were Ireland's Colm Toibin and Scotland's Andrew O'Hagan, both on the shortlist of six for this year's International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and as the report under the headline made clear, the Independent was feting the fact they were two of the British publishing industry's most celebrated novelists. Toibin and O'Hagan were together on the 1999 Booker shortlist. Now they ride again in the IMPAC race. The pair are also co-editing New Writing 11, which will appear in March of next year, part of the series sponsored by the English Arts Council, the British Council and Picador. They are currently assessing submissions for it, which should be sent to New Writing, Literature Department, The British Council, 11 Portland Place, London W1B IEJ, before April 30th. The 10th volume in the series, edited by Penelope Lively and George Szirtes, has just been published.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Toibin is also involved in another collaboration, this one with historian Diarmaid Ferriter. The Irish Famine: A Documentary, a many sided view of the catastrophe, is due later this spring from Profile.