Creative academyPlans are afoot for a creative writing course - run by Faber and Faber - in a city not short on literary talent, past, present and emerging: Dublin, writes Caroline Walsh.
It would be part of the British publisher's Academy of Creative Writing course, which kicks off in the legendary Left Bank bookshop, Shakespeare and Company, in Paris on October 9th and runs for four days. Faber say they are now exploring the possibility of running courses in a number of cities, including Edinburgh, Manchester, Rome, Berlin, Barcelona and New York, as well as Dublin.
How to Tell a Story Without Telling Your Readers What to Think is the title of the inaugural event in Paris. Tobias Hill will give a daily workshop from 10am to 5pm for those beginning or already writing a novel, while Jeanette Winterson will give a two-part seminar on the importance of authenticity and voice in fiction - all for €630. Plus the budding scribes will get extras including lunch, optional evening activities and even a Moleskine Paris notebook.
More events are planned for Paris and there'll be a course in London from October 30th to November 2nd in Fitzroy Square, yards from the former home of Virginia Woolf.
There are plenty of literary landmarks that would make appropriate venues in Dublin, and no shortage of writers if Faber, which has a galaxy of Irish authors, feel that local luminaries are best suited to preside at the Irish event.
Calling all twerds . . .
Bookseller Easons is hosting what it calls the deadliest breakfasts - vampire-themed - in some of its shops next Saturday for the launch of bestselling author Stephenie Meyer's novel, Breaking Dawn, the fourth and final book in the American writer's Twilight series. Teenage girl fans, or so-called Twerds - a combination of "Twilight" and "nerd" - will be in attendance.
David O'Callaghan, children's book buyer with the chain, makes no bones about declaring himself a fan, encouraging "everyone to get in touch with their inner teenage girl and give these books a try".
With the three books in the series - Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse - having sold more than 5.3 million copies in the US alone, the Mormon author Meyer (she has an English degree from Brigham Young University) is being called the next big thing in an industry always on the lookout for same.
When the movie of Twilight comes out later this year, sales will go up even further. The Washington state town of Forks, where the stories are set, has guided tours of featured locations.
The breakfast launches at branches in O'Connell Street, Blanchardstown and Swords in Dublin, plus Galway, Limerick, Dungarvan, Ashbourne, Portlaoise, Craigavon and Drogheda, start at 8am. Admission is by invitation only, so find out more at www.eason.ie.
Found in translation
Translating Irish authors is the focus of a series of events at the National Library next month in association with Ireland Literature Exchange. On August 6th, Declan Kiberd and Gerardo Gambolini will talk about translating John McGahern; August 13th features Claire Keegan and Maja Novak talking about the translation into Slovenian of Keegan's Walk the Blue Fields; while on August 27th Ciarán Carson will be in conversation with the Polish translator of his book Shamrock Tea, Maciej Swierkocki, and the publisher, Piotr Mielcarek, with music by Deirdre and Ciarán Carson. The free events are at 7 pm, call 01-6030277 or see www.nli.ie.