This week saw the launch of a new publishing company, Sitric Books, of which the major shareholder is Lilliput Press. The editor and managing director is Antony Farrell. Sitric will publish four non-fiction titles this year; the first, The Beat; Life on the Streets, is a tough read by David Fine about Dublin prostitutes. Later in the month, a memoir about life in the 1960s by Mim Scala will appear. There are two titles due for October - one is John Gleeson's Promises to Keep, about his late wife's tragic experience of IVF, so it's clear Sitric is not afraid to tackle dark agendas.
The second autumn title is Anne Marie Hourihane's Scenes from the Boom, which is an idiosyncratic look at the effect that auld animal (you know the one I mean) has had on our lives. We've had the heavyweight verdict on the phenomenon from Ray MacSharry and Padraic White in The Making of the Celtic Tiger: The Inside Story of Ireland's Boom Economy, now we're getting what Brendan Barrington of Sitric describes as a "cinematic look at contemporary Ireland". Hourihane will cover topics as diverse as telecommunications and rural plumbing. "It's not a laugh a minute, but it is very funny," Barrington promises.
Sitric hopes to expand its list next year, and to eventually publish a wide range of books; biography, humour, crime, science-fiction, and issue-driven titles. And since we're never short of issues to discuss in Ireland, it's bound to do very well.
One of the world's most famous magazines, the New Yorker, is celebrating its 75th anniversary with a splendid starry literary and arts festival, running from May 5th to 7th. Where else is the festival except in the Ull Mor itself? As you would expect in a magazine which has always promoted excellence in its writers and artists, whether it be journalism, short stories, or cartoons, the line-up is so impressive Sadbh has already been investigating air fares.
Among the Irish contingent reading in various locations around the city are Edna O'Brien, who is down as reading in (my dears!) a pub - Joe's on Lafayette Street; William Trevor, who'll be in the Glucksman Ireland House; and Eavan Boland, who'll be one of 12 poets in a huge outdoor public reading at Bryant Park. Other illustrious poets reading with her include Derek Walcott, John Ashbery, Louise Gluck, and Robert Pinsky.
The rest of the line-up includes Richard Ford, Annie Proulx, Julian Barnes, the rarely-sighted Muriel Spark, Nick Hornby, Alice Munro, Stephen King, Chang-rae Lee, Jeanette Winterson, Zadie Smith, T. Coraghessan Boyle, and V.S. Naipaul. If you're going to be in New York that weekend, you'll be more than unusually ruined for choice for what to do and where to go.
Closer to home is the Hay-on-Wye festival, now in its 13th year, and running from May 26th to June 4th. Hay, at the foot of Wales's Black Mountains, is the town with about one million second-hand bookshops, so it's a singularly appropriate place to have a literary festival. As well as readings, there is a whole programme of lectures and interviews, held variously in intriguing-sounding venues such as the Esquire Tent, the Chapel, and Pavilion.
Among those who will be making hay while the sun shines are: Martin Amis, whose memoirs will be appearing shortly, Norman Mailer, Michael Frayn, Patrick Marber, Ian Rankin, Lawrence Block, Louis de Bernieres, John McCarthy, Meera Syal, Arabella Weir, Joanna Trollope, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Nigella Lawson. The Irish contingent includes Anthony Clare and Fergal Keane, while the Boys of the Lough will be making music rather than the other thing. See www.hayfestival.co.uk
Sadbh hears of good news for Dublin-born novelist Emer Martin, whose second novel, More Bread Or I'll Appear, is published this side of the Atlantic this month by Allison & Busby, and which appeared in the US last year to rave reviews. Martin, who now lives in New York - but who will be coming to Dublin and then to London to promote the book - was told last week that she has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Established in 1925, America's most prestigious fellowships are awarded annually to those who have already demonstrated outstanding promise in their field, to allow them time to work on their next project. Previous recipients include Vladimir Nabokov and Philip Roth. Chang-rae Lee also received a Fellowship this year. Emer Martin has been awarded $45,000.
Get your work in the post soon to be in the running for Ireland's biggest bag of booty for a French-English/Irish translation, the Prix de l'Ambassade, which is sponsored by the French Embassy Cultural Services. The prize is for translators working from French to English or Irish, and is offered to someone who has a specific project in mind. It is intended to be used by the translator for travel to France for research. Applications giving details of the project and a CV should be sent to Prix de l'Ambassade, Irish Translator's Association, Irish Writer's Centre, 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.
Sadbh