Autumn is here, and writers' residencies are falling from the sky quicker than leaves off trees. Just this week, Sadbh got wind of several brand new appointments. The first ever writer-in-residence appointed to the Irish Writers' Centre in association with Dublin Corporation is, most unusually, but most laudably, going to children's writer, Siobhan Parkinson.
Another historic first came with the news that Tadgh O Dushlaine will be taking up a writer-in-residence post with the Munster Literature Centre in association with Cork County Council - again the first appointment since this post was created.
Other more established residencies have also been awarded, and include poet Medbh McGuckian, who will be moving into Trinity's Front Square; Liam Mac Coill, who will become the first Irish language writer-in-residence in the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, and playwright Marina Carr, who will be working out at DCU. The writers-in-residence in other counties and in UCD and UCG are yet to be confirmed - interestingly, there will be two writers-in-residence in UCG this year, one working in English and the other in Irish. Previously, the post was alternated between the two.
The truly pleasing date of 9/9/1999 came and went on Thursday, but not without a few equally pleasing literary resonances. The first was brought to Sadbh's attention by playwright and publisher Dermot Bolger, who pointed out that Thursday was the anniversary of the birth of critic and philosopher Arland Ussher.
The Waterford-born writer was the author of several publications, including The Face and Mind of Ireland (1929) and Three Great Irish Writers (1952). He was immensely proud of his birthdate - 9/9/99 - and Bolger, who published parts of his diaries in 1980, informs Sadbh that it has been on his conscience to highlight the occasion for 11 years since the 90th anniversary in 1989.
Incidentally, there is another literary anniversary coming up later in the autumn - the 25th anniversary of the death of poet Austin Clarke. On November 7th, speakers, including the poet's son, Dardis Clarke, academic Mary Shine Thompson and poet Gerald Dawe will come together in the Dublin Writers' Museum to celebrate the life and work of the poet.
The other literary figure born 100 years ago last Thursday was the novelist Neville Shute, and Sadbh was riveted by an interesting story examined in a book coincidentally published on Thursday by the Irish Academic Press. The late Shute, a prolific writer of popular fiction, including A Town Called Alice, is not the first figure to spring to mind when one thinks of the 1916 Rising.
Yet a volume called The Sinn Fein Rebellion As They Saw It shows he was a close observer of those events. The book consists of two accounts of the Rising - one by Arthur Hamilton Norway, the Secretary of the GPO, and the other by his wife, Mary Louisa Hamilton Norway, who was living in the Royal Hibernian Hotel in Dawson Street at the time. They were also Neville Shute's parents. This is the first time that Arthur's account will be published, having been found by Professor Keith Jeffery - who provides an introduction to the book - in the National Library. Arthur Hamilton Norway reveals that he was called to Dublin Castle just 10 minutes before the GPO was stormed. Had he stayed, he would have been the only man there with a loaded pistol to greet the rebels. It had been given to him just that morning by Neville, who was himself out on the streets with the Red Cross during the Rising.
Clifden Arts Week - always a wonderful 10 days in the west - swings into action on Thursday and runs until the 26th. This year it's part of the Millennium Festival celebrations, so you can expect plenty of drum-banging and parades on that account. As usual, there's a strong literary element to the programme, including a reading by Michael Longley to mark his 60th birthday, which will include some of the Longley poems that are on the new Leaving Certificate English syllabus.
Maeve Binchy will open the proceedings with her reading on Friday. Another highlight is the official launch of Dermot Healy's new novel, Sudden Times, on Sunday . There will also be an appearance by Nevada poet Shaun T. Griffin, and a clatter of poets with Galway connections will read together on September 20th - Mary O'Malley, Michael D. Higgins and Michael Coady, with songs by Thom Moore. For further information, contact 095 21164.
Scriobh Literary Festival in Sligo has long been one of the most vibrant festivals on the literary circuit, and it also kicks off on Thursday. Of particular interest is the reading by Mexican poet and translator Alberto Blanco, who will be making his first visit to Ireland for the occasion.
When he talked to Sadbh from his Mexico home, he enthused that "Ireland, believe me, is not just another country for me. It's not only that each and every country is unique; it's the fact that, for anyone interested in poetry, Ireland is something else."
Blanco, a chemist by profession, has translated the work of such poets as Emily Dickinson, Allen Ginsberg and Bertholt Brecht into Spanish, and is also the editor of one of the most influential anthologies of contemporary American poetry in the Spanish-speaking world. He will be reading next Saturday with novelist Lawrence Scott, who hails from Trinidad and Tobago and lives in London. Keep an eye out too for the tribute to the late poet, Eithne Strong, on Friday.