sadbh@irish-times.ie
It was good to be in the throng at UCD on Tuesday night to see the ever-glamorous Edna O'Brien receive the Ireland Fund's Literary Award for 2000. The O'Reilly Hall by the Belfield lake sparkled in the evening sun and Sadbh was delighted to observe some of the foreign literati who had flown in for the occasion discovering that university life in Dublin doesn't revolve solely around Trinity. O'Brien was telling the truth when she said coyly that, not used to getting prizes, she was rather excited. She hasn't been garlanded in this country as much as she should have been.
She thanked people, including the gods, for being able to write in the first place and strong enough to take the slings and arrows that sometimes went with the territory. And she spoke of being glad about where she was born, in spite of the penalties that were sometimes attached to that too. James Joyce even got a mention, with O'Brien describing him as the greatest Irishman "or woman for that matter" of all.
Remembering her days in a chemist shop on the Cabra Road, sending off her early scribblings to Peader O'Donnell, editor of The Bell, she recalled his advice that writers were like the headlamps of a car on a dangerous, dark and often secret road. Happily she told us that she hoped to do a few more journeys on that road yet.
Details of the Kilkenny Arts Festival, which will run from August 11th to 20th, were announced this week. This year, Listowel Writers' Week had Pulitzer prizewinner Michael Cunningham, now Kilkenny will have Pulitzer winner Richard Ford. Ford, author of Independence Day and Women With Men, will be reading a new story at the festival, which will be published next year. Louis de Bernieres, author of the extraordinarily popular Captain Corelli's Mandolin will also be at Kilkenny. Booking inquiries to 056-52175, or look at the full programme at www.kilkennyartsfestival.ie
Marie-Christine Vandoorne, the Deleguee Gen erale at the Alliance Francaise, will be leaving Ireland at the end of August. Vandoorne was responsible for bringing the prestigious Etonnants Voyageurs festival of literature to Dublin earlier this year, at which French writers shared forums and readings with their Irish counterparts. Vandoorne will be taking up a senior post in Paris, managing part of the international Alliance network. "But if they want me to organise the festival in Dublin again next year," she told Sadbh, "I'd love to do it."
New Series: Departures Volume 4 (£5.95) was launched last week at the unusual venue of the Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna, where Sadbh hears that much smoked salmon was consumed. This edition of the annual publication is dedicated to the late Cyril O Ceirin. There are many of his poems in Irish here, with translations both by himself and other Irish writers. There are also a number of poems written to his memory. Among the writers are Moya Cannon, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, Cathal O Searcaigh, and Gabriel Rosenstock.
Sadbh gets a fair number of invitations to readings and press releases about forthcoming books, and most of them do not entice at first glance since, frankly, they all tend to look the same. But there was one exception recently when news of a new book arrived on Sadbh's desk via a ceramic tile. Yes, that's right, a white bathroom tile, printed with the details of a novel by Robert Hume, Burning Ambition: The Story of Perkin Warbeck, just published by Gee & Son. There was also a line drawing on the tile of a pensive Mr Warbeck, who was an infamous Pretender to the English throne in the 15th century. Sadly, the tile arrived cracked in two, but it still provided a happy few minutes for Sadbh, who would love to see publishers being more inventive with their publicity . . . not necessarily with tiles, mind you. Why is it that the book trade seems to be the last to market itself imaginatively, yet is promoting works of creativity and imagination all the time?
Sadbh has been listening to the latenight repeats of RTE Radio One's new arts show, Rattlebag, delighted that she now has an opportunity to hear the show on a regular basis. Readers will be interested to hear of Rattlebag's monthly informal bookclub, in which a book will be nominated each month and then be discussed by a panel in studio the following month. Listeners are invited to nominate books they would like to hear being discussed, and to email their own comments on the book to the show. First to be discussed on July 14th, will be IMPAC winner, Nicola Barker's Wide Open. On the same day, a book will be chosen for discussion the next month. The email address is rattle@rte.ie
This year saw the appointment of Leitrim's first writer-in-residence, Brian Leyden, who has been working with various groups in the county over the last few months. These included the Shannon Erne, and the Upstairs writing groups, and the Leitrim Association of People with Disabilities. Brian Leyden, a former guest editor of Force 10, has now edited First Cut, which includes several stories and poems; the results of his work with the writing groups of Co Leitrim.
Sadbh