Hats off to P≤l ╙ Muir∅ (below), Irish language editor of The Irish Times, who made the news himself earlier this week. ╙ Muir∅ picked up three prizes at the Oireachtas na Gaeilge literary awards. Astonishingly, the awards have been running since 1897, although they have not been presented every year. Still, that's a statistic to give the Booker a run for its well-publicised money. Some £40,000 in all was handed out at the prize-giving at the Guinness hopstore on Tuesday. ╙ Muir∅ won first prize in the category of reading material for adults with his novella, Dl∅the an Nβd·ir, ┌rscΘal don Fhoghlaimeoir Fβsta. It's about a bangharda stationed in rural Ireland who finds herself having a run-in with what's termed a "local gombeen man". Sadbh is delighted to think that gombeen men are still alive and well in modern Ireland, but would point out to readers that they are by no means confined to domiciliation in rural Ireland. ╙ Muir∅ also picked up a joint first prize for a collection of short stories, and a second prize for an individual short story. Since he is also an award-winning poet, this makes journalist ╙ Muir∅ exceptionally accomplished as an Irish-language writer across genres of short-story writing, poetry, and longer fiction. No mean feat.
The Frankfurt Book Fair, the industry's biggest get-together where all the international selling and pitching goes on, went ahead this week and continues until Monday, but in somewhat muted circumstances. Political boundaries exist even in trade fairs, and Arab publishers, who used have stands close to the US, British and Israeli publishers, are now some distance away. The US delegation was scaled down considerably. While not many publishers pulled out totally, most of them have sent smaller teams. The huge chain bookshop, Barnes & Noble, stayed away, while Borders, which lost its Manhattan store at what is now Ground Zero on September 11th, sent only a small group. Publishers Little, Brown cancelled their traditional opening party as a mark of respect, while Simon & Schuster's post-Frankfurt party was also cancelled.
Meanwhile, Sadbh has noticed that certain publishers have not been slow to promote or reprint titles which would previously have had limited interest: those which focus on Afghanistan, the Taliban, terrorism, et al. It's true that we need to be informed about the context within which recent terrible events occurred, but is there just a whiff of opportunism about some of it?
Meanwhile still on recent events, Poets for Afghanistan takes place tomorrow from 3-6 p.m. at the Winding Stair Book Cafe, 40 Lower Ormond Quay in Dublin. Supported by Concern, Poetry Ireland and The Irish Writers' Centre, poets everywhere are being invited to read at the event, but also to bring along copies of their books, which can then be sold for The Afghanistan Emergency Appeal.
News from Irish non-fiction publishers Gill & Macmillan of a new development within the company. They will be introducing aimprint called Tivoli, which will focus on popular fiction, a genre which Poolbeg have had such success with in recent years. Tivoli will co-publish with British publishers Pan Macmillan. They are planning to have the first titles of the new imprint on the shelves by spring 2003.
The commissioning editor is Alison Walsh, who has previously worked in London for HarperCollins and Orion. Sadbh is a tad taken aback at the press release, however, in which Walsh is quoted as stating that "the emphasis at Tivoli will be on publishing authors, not books . . ." Does that mean that instead of picking up a neat paperback, we can expect to be purchasing shrink-wrapped bits of processed writers instead? We've heard of suffering for one's art, but this seems a little extreme.
Sadbh's family are still celebrating the recent Galway All-Ireland win, which four of them actually witnessed at Croke Park on the Day Itself. (Sorry Meath!) A timely arrival on the scene for GAA fans everywhere, no matter which team you support, is 15 GAA Short Stories: Mirroring the Soul of Irish Parish Life. This collection is by A.N. Other, aka P.J. Cunningham, sports editor of the Irish Independent, who also writes a weekly column for the paper. All the stories have the theme of GAA running through them like, oh, like a Galwegian running through the streets of the City of Tribes a few Sundays past. Cunningham has a unique insight into the world of the GAA - having reported so widely on it over the years - extending to hands-on experience, since he trains an under-10s team called the Bray Emmets.
This is just the thing to shove into your pocket to read at pitches while waiting for matches to start. And at a hefty 304 pages, it could come in useful to admonish your neighbour with, should he happen to be the one supporting the opposing team.
The winners of the Forward prizes for poetry were announced this week, the big one - the Forward Prize for Best Collection, worth £10,000 - going to Sean O'Brien for Downriver, making him the first poet to win the prize twice in its 10-year history.