A literary roundup
McCann’s cuts
Novelist Colum McCann (below) makes an interesting admission in his introduction to The Fish Anthology; Ten Pint Ted and Other Stories and Poems(€14.95), the work of winners of the Fish literary awards, selected by McCann, poet Peter Fallon and playwright and scriptwriter Arthur Mathews. McCann says that in a way he hates competitions. "It pretends that one story is better than the other. It claims that one territory has been more deeply inhabited than the other.'' Every time he judges a competition he swears he will never do it again, convinced that he missed a story somewhere, "one that was about to break my heart". So, while saluting the winners anthologised in the anthology who have done a fine job, he also salutes those who didn't get published. "I know and recognise the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into the work of every single story. It is difficult to create from dust, which is what writers do. I hail everyone who entered."
Peter Fallon read, he says, several of the poems on his longlist a dozen or 20 times and chose ones with a healthy variety. “They are credible versions of lives, lives lived and lives longed for. It’s as if each of them found and channelled a force of trust that, in turn, made it trustworthy.”
As well as work by the winning authors, the book contains new work by Fallon and McCann. McCann's new novel, Let The Great World Spin, is published by Bloomsbury in September. See fishpublishing.com
Dún Laoghaire debut
Michelle Read is the 2009 recipient of the Hugh Leonard Award for her script Snakelight. The award consists of a bursary of €5,000 and the production of a rehearsed reading of Snakelightat Mountains to Sea, the inaugural Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Literary Festival in September.
Read, a Dublin-based writer, has written for stage, TV and radio. She began her career as a stand-up comic and actor in London, moving to Ireland in 1991. In 2000 she set up Living Space Theatre, which she co-runs, and for which she writes, produces and performs.
Snakelightis set 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, It's described as being about the "what ifs" in everyone's personal history. "Martha is a German artist who escaped from East Berlin, Lennie is an Irish documentary-maker. They are mother and daughter but they have never met . . . until now. Both women are forced to confront the historical events that have made them strangers."
The rehearsed reading will take place in the County Hall, Dún Laoghaire, on Sunday September 13th, at 6pm. Tickets: €5/€3. To book, tel. 01-2312929.
I
nspirational location
When Dingle Writing Courses say they offer a rare experience – the chance to write under the guidance of a professional writer in one of the most beautiful locations in Ireland – they have a point. The residential weekend workshops take place in west Kerry and are for both emerging or established writers.
Numbers are limited to 14 on the courses, which are now in their 14th year.The fee of €420 includes tuition, meals and accommodation – and grants are available for those who cannot afford the full fee. Accommodation is in Ostán Ceann Sibéal in Ballyferriter.
This years courses are: Molly McCloskey – Fiction, from September 18th to 20th; Oisín McGann – Children’s Fiction, from September 25th to 27th; Moya Cannon – Starting to Write, from October 9th to 11th; and Leontia Flynn – Poetry, from October 16th to 18th. Further details from info@dinglewritingcourses.ie.