Sadbh hears that there won't be the beloved annual ritual of a new Harry Potter book this summer. J.K. Rowling has been working hard, between the door-stopper of last year's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; the film of the first book, now in production; and the two little books she wrote for charity: Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Sigh. Sadbh was so looking forward to reading the new book over a pint of Guinness in the holidays, not to mention the small nieces and nephews who have now read the four previous books several times and who were planning to take turns with their shared copy on the beach this summer. The title for the latest book is, we think, going to be Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. There is as yet no publication date, but canny Bloomsbury could well be planning to release it before Christmas, thus virtually guaranteeing its presence under every tree and in every stocking. However, there is news in this week's Bookseller of an unauthorised biography of Rowling, which will be written by Sean Smith. The publisher is Michael O'Mara, who specialises in saucy biographies of the royals - while Smith's last opus was Sophie's Kiss, about the unfortunate Sophie Rhys-Jones and Prince Edward. And that was well before last week's rumpus. Presumably, RJ-H, the PR company from which Sophie Rhys-Jones stepped down as chairwoman this week, won't be doing the PR for the Rowling biog.
NUI Galway is looking for a writer in residence who will work in the Irish language. This appointment is sure to be welcomed from many quarters, since Sadbh receives a fair complement of correspondence from people who would like to see more support and publicity given to Irish language writers. The appointment is for established creative writers, and applications should be made before April 27th. The post will run from July to December and the writer will be expected to live in the Galway area for the duration. More information from 091750360.
The Tao of Cricket. That's a book title, folk. You've heard of The Tao of Pooh but this book is something quite different. It's by the Indian writer and social psychologist, Ashis Nandy, who will be in Ireland for the first time this month. The Tao of Cricket is the book in which Nandy suggests cricket is an Indian game accidentally discovered by the English. His most famous book is The Intimate Enemy; Loss and Recovery of Self Under Colonialism, which was published in the 1980s. Nandy's recent work has focused on the role of violence in the 20th century. He will be giving a lecture entitled `The culture and politics of violence in the post-colonial world; Freud, modernity, and the boundaries of the self', in Theatre P of the Arts Building in UCD on April 26th at 7.30 p.m. Admission is free.
Sadbh hears that Picador is planning to launch a new literary imprint for teenagers: Young Picador. The teen market has become such an odd beast in recent years that it has tended to get sidelined because publishers simply aren't sure how to tap into it. The new Picador imprint, aimed at 1215-year-olds, will launch in autumn 2002 with four titles, the authors of which are yet to be confirmed. "The values of Young Picador will be comparable to those of Picador - contemporary, cutting edge, and unafraid to deal with difficult issues. Novels will come from a variety of sources; UK authors, both new and already established, the US and Australia, and some novels in translation," declare the folk at Picador. It will also publish some non-fiction titles and poetry, and while some of the books will come from backlists, the emphasis will be on original texts.
The winner of the 2001 Fish Short Story Prize is Maureen O'Neill, who is based in New Jersey, US. O'Neill took the £1,000 prize with her story, Asylum 1928, and the second prize winner was Scottish writer Sylvia Pearson. The judges were writers Antonia Logue, Kate O'Riordan and Merric Davidson. The seventh Fish anthology of the winning stories and runners-up will be published in June.