May date for Amis memoirs

Thanks to media scrutiny, the name Martin Amis now conjures up a lot more than just the books

Thanks to media scrutiny, the name Martin Amis now conjures up a lot more than just the books. There's Daddy, Kingsley Amis; the money Martin spent on his teeth; the leaving of his long-term agent Pat Kavanagh and alienation from his old pal, her novelist-husband Julian Barnes, in the process; and the end of the Amis marriage and Martin's subsequent union with fellow writer Isabella Fonseca. And then there are the books - Money, Lon- don Fields, Time's Arrow, Dead Babies. Teeth and literary gossip aside, the darkest part of Amis's life is the fact that his cousin, Lucy Partington, who went missing in 1973, emerged as a victim of Fred West in 1994. This week news began to filter through of the May 25th publication of Amis's memoirs, Experience, described breathlessly by publishers Jonathan Cape as "the first literary masterpiece of the 21st century". Just how revealing these memoirs are we'll have to wait and see; there's no shortage of material, that's for sure.

In a departure from custom and practice, the shortlist for the international IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the richest literary prize in the world, will be announced simultaneously in Dublin, New York, and London on March 6th, not in Dublin alone. It's not a plot, however, to cut down on the capital's involvement. The explanation is simple. Dublin's Lord Mayor Mary Freehill will be in the Big Apple on that day, so the three-way link makes sense. The awards dinner will still be held in Dublin in June, as before. Sadbh hears the surprising news that it's almost certain troubled writer-cum-politician Jeffrey Archer will be in attendance as usual where, touche, he's bound to make an impact.

It's great to see a poetry competition with a big fat bag of money at the end of the creative rainbow. Not quite IMPAC, but still big money for a small town. Such a one is the Strokestown Poetry Prize. Its main sponsor this year is An Post, with several local businesses rowing in behind the lads who deliver our letters. There is a purse of £3,000 for the prizewinning poem, and £1,000 and £500 for the runners-up. Judges are Kevin Barry of UCG; poet Mary O'Malley; and Robert McCrum, novelist and literary editor of the Observer. This is the second year of the competition, and this year sees a new prize of £500 for the best poem in Irish, which will be judged by poet and translator Greagoir O Duill. There is also a category for the best political satires, with cash prizes of £300, £100, and £50 changing hands in brown paper bags, with the judge being Pat Rabbitte TD. "We expect a lot of Ansbacher-related satires this year," confides Pat Compton of the organising committee. There were some 400 entries in this category last year, with almost 4,000 in the main category. Sharpen your pens and your wits: closing date for entries is April Fool's Day. Further information from 078-33759. Details of entry fees from SCDA Poetry Competition, Strokestown, Co Roscommmon.

The RTE Poet of the Future competition, run in conjunction with the Millennium Musician of the Future, has been shared between the two short-listed poets, John McAuliffe and Kenneth Clarke. They will now write lyrics for the Composer of the Future, Eilis Ni Riain, and the runner-up for that accolade, Jennifer Walshe, and share the prize money of £1,000.

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The cynical might think that the following is what members of the Force were doing during their "Blue Flu" periods, but not Sadbh, oh no. News comes from Town House Publishers of a comic crime thriller called Bog Warriors, by a serving garda, one John Galvin, stationed at Dingle, Co Kerry. A previous Hennessy/Sunday Tribune New Irish Writer, his first book is described as "a novel of murder and deceit in rural Ireland", where "a Garda investigation into the death of a well-known local businessman comes up against a web of dark secrets and deep-rooted alliances". Doubtless the good citizens of Dingle will be leafing through the pages, wondering if the characters have any resemblance to themselves. The son of a garda, Galvin has been a Boy in Blue for some 16 years, so the fresh-faced Templemore students will probably be reading this under the covers by torchlight to get some hints of what kind of career lies before them. Bog Warriors will be out early next month.

The judges for The Orange Prize for Fiction were recently announced. The Orange Prize is for the best work of English-language fiction by a woman writer, with a hefty £30,000 as the, ahem, orange-coloured carrot. In the chair is Polly Toynbee of the Guardian, while other judges are historian Amanda Foreman; novelist Bonnie Greer; and Claire Beaumont of Manchester's Waterstone's. Also on the panel is Ffion Hague, wife of William. Well, the Whitbread had Jerry Hall as what was perceived to be the rookie judge, so the Orange has Ffion to garner it extra coverage. The shortlist will be announced on May 8th and the awards will be on June 6th.