More To Life Than Books

Probably the Most Beautiful Book Stores in the World

2012-02-02T03:18:00.001-08:00

Librería El Ateneo Grand Splendid, Buenos Aires, Argentina: a converted 1920s cinema that uses theatre boxes for reading rooms and draws thousands of tourists every year.

A nice bit of bookish eye candy here. Flavorwire has compiled a photo article of their picks for The 20 Most Beautiful Book Stores in the World. This is the type of list that is sure to stir up some discussion about oversights and book stores that should have been included. Alas, I have never been to any of these book stores, but based on the photos, they look like excellent choices.

See photos of the other picks here.

Loads of Fiction Submission Deadlines Coming Up...

2012-01-28T03:55:00.000-08:00

JOURNALS:

Feb 15th: Horizon Review

March 15th: Southword Journal

March 31st: The Stinging Fly

March 31st: wordlegs

May 1st: Crannog Magazine

COMPETITIONS:

March 2nd: Bryan MacMahon Short Story Competition
Entry Fee: €10

March 5th: Cuirt New Writing Prize
Entry Fee: €10

March 19th: Mslexia Short Story Competition
Entry Fee: £10

March 26th: Molly Keane Creative Writing Award
Entry Fee: Free

March 30th: William Trevor/Elizabeth Bowen International Short Story Competition
Entry Fee: €20

March 31st: The Moth-Altun Short Story Prize
Entry Fee: €8

My Time at the Anam Cara Retreat in West Cork

2012-01-19T05:33:00.000-08:00

Late last year I spent some time at the Anam Cara Writers' and Artists' retreat in West Cork. My stay was a prize I won in the "Nightmare Review" competition hosted by writing.ie - a fantastic resource of all things writing-related.

I've written a little piece about my expereince of staying at the retreat, which is on the writing.ie website here.

And yes, I really did entitle it "Nightmare Review: Dreamlike Retreat". I must have been having an Alan Partridge moment.

Thanks again to Vanessa and writing.ie for hosting the competition and to Sue Booth-Forbes for her generosity and hospitality.

There's Nothing Quite Like a Real Book

2012-01-10T04:20:00.000-08:00

Aha! I knew those sneaky books were doing something amazing behind our backs. Check out this lovely little film made by Type Books.

Here's what the filmmakers had to say about it:

"After organizing our bookshelf almost a year ago, my wife and I decided to take it to the next level. We spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto. Everything you see here can be purchased at Type Books."

New Irish Writing in The Irish Independent

2012-01-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, people! Hope you're enjoying 2012. I had a nice end to 2011: My short story appeared in New Irish Writing in The Irish Independent on New Year's Eve. Also featured was a beautiful poem, "Kitty" by the lovely and talented Niamh Boyce. The story is now online and you can read it here.

About New Irish Writing:
The New Writing Page, edited by Ciaran Carty, appears in the Weekend Review in the Irish Independent on the last Saturday of each month and is open to writers who are Irish or who are resident in Ireland. Entries may be submitted (with a SAE) to: New Irish Writing, The Irish Independent, 27/32 Talbot Street, Dublin 1.

Submit up to six poems. Stories should not exceed 2,000 words. Remember to include your name, e-mail address and phone number.

Writers whose work appears in the page will be put forward for the Hennessy Award. Each category winner will receive a trophy and €1,500, while the New Writer of the Year receives an additional €2,500. Previous winners include Dermot Bolger, Joseph O'Connor, Patrick McCabe, Colum McCann, Frank McGuinness, Anne Enright, Hugo Hamilton and Neil Jordan.

Merry Christmas, Friends!

2011-12-24T14:21:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy and productive reading-and-writing-filled 2012!

Magpie Tales 96: Shadow Selves

2011-12-18T06:18:00.001-08:00

You offered to show me your shadow self. But I refused to light that lamp. So who can I blame now that you've taken my shadow too? Our shadows skulk together. They shimmy and sigh through late afternoon branches. They dance a malevolent foxtrot in the reflection of a black cat's eye. And on sunny days, they are there on the edges, waiting to eclipse our smiles.

But I refused to light that lamp, so who can I blame now?

[Photo prompt courtesy of Magpie Tales.]

Bah-HumBook!

2011-12-15T05:35:00.000-08:00

Looking for a literary antidote to all that tinsel-y Christmas cheer?

Check out this festive offering from For Books' Sake. Their list of winter weather recommendations contains "some of the glummest Christmases and frostiest winters literature’s fair hand has dutifully penned."

Merry Christmas, one and all!

The Continuing Mystery of the Edinburgh Book Sculptures

2011-12-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

A mysterious artist, nicknamed the "Banksy of Books", has been leaving intricately crafted book sculptures around Edinburgh City throughout the year. The most recent, and it seems the last, of these sculptures was left in the Scottish Poetry Library. It was accompanied by a note that read:

“‘You need to know when to end a story,’ she thought. Often a good story ends where it begins. This would mean a return to the Poetry Library. The very place where she had left the first of the ten. So, here, she will end this story, in a special place … A Poetry Library ….. where they are well used to ‘anon.’ Cheers Edinburgh It’s been fun!”

Despite worldwide media coverage on The Guardian, NPR, and Boing Boing, among others, the artist's identity remains a secret. What is clear, however, is the artist's love of books and of Edinburgh's libraries and literary institutions. Many of the sculptures had notes attached with sentiments such as: "This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas..."

The first mysterious sculpture that was found, dubbed the "poetree".

A book sculpture made from a copy of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, by James Hogg.

A T-Rex fights miniature soldiers as they burst from the ribboned pages of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.

Mslexia Short Story Competition

2011-12-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

The Mslexia Women's Short Story Competition is now open for entries until the closing date of 19 March 2012. Stories may be up to 2,200 words and on any topic.

Judge: Tessa Hadley

1st prize: £2,000 plus a one-week writing retreat at Chawton House Library (accommodation only) and a day with a Virago editor
2nd prize: £500
3rd prize: £250
3 other finalists win £100 each

All winning stories will be published in Mslexia magazine. Full details on the website.

[Image from www.mslexia.co.uk]

Poddle Publications To Launch Limited Edition Screen-Printed Anthology

2011-11-30T06:34:00.000-08:00

It's always great to hear about new publishers, particularly those giving opportunities to new and emerging Irish writers. So I was excited to hear about new Dublin-based Poddle Publications. In a world of online publishing and e-journals, there's something to be celebrated in Poddle Publication's old-school methods. They use screen-printing techniques, giving each hand-made issue a unique personality of its own.

Their first issue, ‘Long Way Around’ comprises the work of creative writing and visual art from new and emerging voices, and pieces within the anthology range in style from humour to horror to homey nostalgia. This limited edition book will be launched at 20:00 on the 10th of December in Commonplace Studios, 10 Burgh Quay, Dublin.

"Come along and chat to us, share a glass of beer and leisurely peruse what we think is worth your time and imagination."

For those who are curious about the methods used to produce the book, there will also be a small exhibition of how this crafted book was produced.

Images taken from poddlepublications.com

2011: The Final Countdown

2011-11-21T08:49:00.000-08:00

So, we find ourselves in the dregs of 2011, hurtling through the abyss into the promise of a shinier, happier 2012.

This has been a particularly trying year for me. Writing-wise, things haven't been great and moving from Galway, to New York, to Dublin has been draining, both emotionally and financially. I was in New York for three incredible, incredibly hot months and I basically wrote nothing during that time. Now, after two stressful months of house-hunting in Dublin, I've finally found a cosy place to live where I'll be for at least the next year. So, slowly I'm finding my way back into my work.

I have high hopes for 2012. I hope it's no less exciting than 2011 has been, but I also hope it's less stressful and more productive.

How has your 2011 been? What are your hopes for 2012?

If you write short stories, write poetry or take photographs, there's still time to make the most of 2011 and get submitting. Here's some publications with upcoming deadlines:

28 Nov
Mslexia: New Writing
(Poetry and short stories on the theme "It's the year 2212..."

30 Nov:
Fish Publishing Short Story Competition

Glimmer Train Short Story Award for New Writers

Writing4all: Writing Spirit Short Story Award

9 Dec:
Ropes
(Accepting fiction, poetry, drama and photography; all on the theme of "Links")

16 Dec:
Windows Publications Authors & Artists Introduction Seris No. 10
(Accepting short stories, poetry, and artwork)

31 Dec:
Labello Press Leonard A. Koval Memorial Prize

Chapbook Competition from Doire Press

2011-11-15T09:11:00.000-08:00

Connemara-based Doire Press has announced details of their 2012 1st Annual Poetry & Chapbook Competition.

I'm delighted to see that in addition to poetry, they are also accepting submissions of short stories, as this is the first chapbook competition I've seen to do so. Here's the details, taken from their website:

Winners will each receive 75 copies of their own professionally edited and printed chapbook, published by Doire Press. Chapbooks will be perfect-bound, contain up to 40 pages, feature colour front and back covers, as well as their own isbn and barcode.

Fiction entries: one short story (4,000 words max)
Poetry: 4-6 poems (10 pages max)

Deadline: January 9, 2012
Entry fees: €10 for first entry, €8 for each additional entry (you may submit multiple entries in either fiction or poetry, or submit to both fiction and poetry).

Judges:

Fiction: Alan McMonagle is an award-winning writer living in Galway. Shortly after receiving his MA in Writing from NUI, Galway in 2007, he published his debut collection of short stories, Liar, Liar (Wordsonthestreet, 2008). He has won several awards for his work, including second prize in the Séan O'Faoláin short story contest, joint-first prize in the Jonathan Swift Awards and a short-listing for the inaugural William Trevor-Elizabeth Bowen writing award. He was also one of four Irish authors placed on the long-list for the 2009 Frank O'Connor Award for his short story. His stories have appeared in many journals in Ireland and North America including The Adirondack Review, Grain, Prairie Fire and The Stinging Fly.

Poetry: James Martyn is from Galway and his work has appeared in The Sunday Tribune, The Stinging Fly and The Shop. He has had work broadcast on both RTÉ and BBC and has won the Listowel Writers’ Week Original Short Story Competition. He was short-listed for a Hennessy Award in 2006, for the Francis McManus award in 2007 and 2008, and for The William Trevor International Short Story Competition in 2007 and 2011. He won second place in the 2011 Dromineer Poetry competition. His first collection of poetry, Shedding Skin, was published by Arlen House in 2010.

Entries must include cover page with full contact information and title of story or first poem. Entrant’s name must not appear anywhere on the manuscript.

Entrants must not have any books published in the genre to which they’re applying; however, they can enter the other category. For example, if you have published a poetry book, you are not allowed to enter the poetry competition but can enter the fiction.

Entries must not have won any other contest but can have been published in literary journals or magazines.

For full submission details, see Doire Press website
You can also read extracts from some of Doire Press's books here.

Ropes 2012: Submissions Sought

2011-11-07T04:54:00.000-08:00

Ropes (Review of Postgraduate English Studies) from the MA in Literature and Publishing class at NUI Galway will be publishing its 20th annual issue in 2012 and is now accepting submissions of fiction, poetry, drama (max 2,500 words) and photography.

The theme this year is ‘Links’:

"This may be interpreted as reflections on the past and transformations to the present, on changes in people even if they intrinsically remain the same, or the effect development has had on our now digital culture. It can also be interpreted to reflect the authors own interpretation."

All entries must be previously unpublished and can be emailed to ropes.submissions@gmail.com by the deadline of December 9th, 2011.

For further information, you can sign up to the Ropes facebook page or check out their website.

Halloween...

2011-10-23T06:15:00.001-07:00

Stuck for costume ideas this year? You can always find inspiration in the creepy forgotten costumes of yore:

Really Cool Writing Stuff!

2011-10-15T09:09:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to an ad in the latest issue of Mslexia, I've just visited what appears to be "Writing Stuff" mecca. It's a shopping website dedicated to gifts for writers and readers. So, being the kind soul that I am, I thought I would share some of the swoon-worthy items I've been ogling:

Banned Books Bracelet

(Ooh, controversial jewellery!)

Virginia Woolf Quote Pin

(There's a range of these with quotes from different writers.)

"If Found Do Not Publish" Notebook

(To avoid unwanted posthumous publications. Very important.)

Owl Bookends

(These are available in other animals too, but why would you want those when you could have owls?)

U.S Literary Map.

(This is well cool. There's a UK one too, but alas, no Ireland version.)

Cheshire Cat Pendant

(Many years ago I spent an evening in Amsterdam believing that I was the Cheshire Cat, so I have a special affinity with this one.)

Book Handbag

(This is from the section of "Books Turned into Other Things" which also includes clocks and wallets.)

You can see the full range at The Literary Gift Company here.

Labello Press: Submissions Sought For "Gem Street" Anthology

2011-10-14T03:49:00.000-07:00

Labello Press is a new Tipperary-based independent publisher of short fiction.

"The aim of Labello Press is to publish beautiful books, the first of which will be our annual anthology "Gem Street", containing unique, well-written and thought-provoking previously unpublished short stories. We are looking for writing with guts and honesty. Humour is appreciated. Simplicity is foremost. Bravery is key."

Labello Press was set up by Deborah McMenamy as a tribute to her late father, Leonard A. Koval.

"In conjunction with this publication, we will award the Leonard A. Koval Memorial Prize to the three stories which most reflect the ethos of Labello Press... In addition, we will award prizes to the other eight short-listed stories included in the anthology. We believe, as my father did, in fairness and equality. We do not hold ourselves above and certainly do not believe in "better than."
We like to think of it as "different to."
Please join us on this adventure."

Submissions for "Gem Street" are now open until December 31st. Stories of up to 12,000 words will be considered. (Full submission details here.)

"My Blackberry Is Not Working."

2011-10-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

This made me smile today. It's a reinterpretation of the classic Two Ronnies "Fork handles" sketch:

Here's the original sketch from 1976:

"In Other Worlds": Sneak Peak of new Margaret Atwood Non-Fiction Book

2011-10-11T16:52:00.000-07:00

"Our earliest loves, like revenants, have a way of coming back in other forms; or, to paraphrase Wordsworth, the child is mother to the woman. To date — and as what I am pleased to think of as an adult — I have written three full-length fictions that nobody would ever class as sociological realism: The Handmaid’s Tale, Oryx and Crake, and The Year of the Flood. Are these books “science fiction,” I am often asked? Though sometimes I am not asked, but told: I am a silly nit or a snob or a genre traitor for dodging the term, because these books are as much “science fiction” as 1984 is, whatever I might say. But is 1984 as much “science fiction” as The Martian Chronicles, I might reply? I would answer not, and therein lies the distinction."

Margaret Atwood's new non-fiction book In Other Worlds explores her relationship with Science Fiction through a series of essays and includes some of her key reviews and thoughts about the form. Some of the writers she discusses include Marge Piercy, Rider Haggard, Ursula Le Guin, Ishiguro, Bryher, Huxley, and Jonathan Swift. She also elucidates on that old thorny issue; the differences between "science fiction" proper, and "speculative fiction," as well as between "fantasy" and "slipstream fiction."

If this book is even half as compelling as Atwood's previous non-fiction book about the writing process, Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing, it will be well worth a read. She posesses an incredible skill for imparting quite complex ideas to the reader in a way that is both accessible, enlightening and, thanks to her characteristic wit, hugely enjoyable.

You can read the full extract from In Other Worlds on the Random House website.

"Girls"

2011-10-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

"Girls" is a no-budget short film, written and directed by my super talented friend, Maureen O' Connell. It was shot on location in Dublin, Ireland and was screened last year at the Cork Film Festival.

The film is now up on Vimeo for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Great Writing, Great Places

2011-09-24T02:57:00.000-07:00

UNESCO Dublin City of Literature and Writing.ie have created a really innovative series of reader events. They are grouped thematically and take place in site specific places around the city. You can hear crime writers read tales of justice in The Four Courts, or hear spooky tales in the crypt of Christchurch Cathedral.

I'm particularly interested in the event taking place in Whitefriar Street Church, the home of Saint Valentine's relics, as one of my short stories is set there.

Wednesday 5th Oct: Getting to the Heart of it - Tales of Romance in the Resting Place of St. Valentine, Whitefriar Street Church

Tuesday 18th Oct: Dublin on a Plate - Food and Food Writing at its Best at Fallon & Byrne

Enjoy a hot buffet of: bacon & mustard croquet & buttered cabbage or slow cooked shin of beef & puff pastry crumble or blackened Connemara salmon & pickled vegetables or creamed goat’s cheese & marinated beetroot for only €20 per head, and listen to our great food writers in style!

Tuesday 1st Nov: A Tale of Terror in the Crypt of Christ Church Cathedral (for children aged 10+)

Wednesday 2nd Nov: Matters of Grave Importance - Tales from the Tombs at Glasnevin Museum

Wednesday 16th Nov: Scales of Justice - Crime Writing Discussion in the Unique Surroundings of The Four Courts

Saturday 19th Nov: So Much More Than Shopping - Bestselling Women's Fiction at The Lost Society, Powerscourt Townhouse Centre

For full details and to make a booking, see the writing.ie website.

LitReactor: New Site For Writers

2011-09-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

"A destination for writers to improve their craft. A haven for readers to geek out about books. And a platform to kickstart your writing goals."

This is how LitReactor, a new site for writers describes itself. It will offer writing advice from the likes of Chuck Palahniuk, Amy Hempel and Bret Easton Ellis.

The site launches on October 1st, but you can sign up for updates on the site now, and in the meantime there's this cool little promo on the pitfalls of procrastination to enjoy/be terrified by:

Holy Helvetiva, Batman!

2011-08-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

"Words have meaning and type has spirit, and the combination is spectacular."
- Paula Scher

I really enjoyed this succinct, but informative, PBS Arts documentary about typography. At the end, there is even a handy guide which teaches you: "How to Talk About Type Like You Know What You're Talking About". Anything I can use to trick people into thinking I know what I'm talking about gets two thumbs up from me.

What's REALLY On Your Mind?

2011-08-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

A recent study has identified the particularly modern phenomenon of "Facebook Envy". The site, which describes itself as "a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them" is currently used by 750 million people worldwide. Although its aim is to enable people to connect with others in a positive way, according to the study, use of the social networking site may actually have a negative impact on mood.

According to Psychologist Dr. David Swanson: "What you put on display is how great your life is--the cars you drive, the vacations you go on. Nobody's life is that perfect and so, whenever you start to compare your life to those images, you're going to be depressed, because you're going to feel like your life is lacking."

Jojo Hynes, an Irish artist currently living in Melbourne, explores some of these issues in "What's REALLY on Your Mind?" The short film, shot on Rose Street in Fitzroy, contrasts how people represent themselves online with the reality of what they really feel. Unlike Facebook, this will definitely put you in a good mood. Enjoy!

What's REALLY on your mind? from Jojo Hynes on Vimeo.

The Glorious Union of Two Nations

2011-08-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to an exhibition called IrelandAmerica: The Ties That Bind, at the New York Public Library For the Performing Arts. It's a Culture Ireland initiative and it's part of the Imagine Ireland season.

I'm pretty sure there were lots of fascinating items on display, but I can't remember any of them. All I know is that I innocently looked at a screen at one point, only to behold something deeply disturbing, a nightmarish vision. I can't erase the memory. Oh, but I could! The clip is below. I apologise in advance.

Dublin: One City, One Book - 2012 Book Selected

2011-08-09T09:35:00.000-07:00

Dublin: One City, One Book is a project which aims to encourage everyone in the city to read the same book during the month of April. The book for 2012 has been selected and it is (drum-roll please)...

On the face of it, Dubliners may seem like the natural choice for this project: It's set in Dublin; it's by one of the city's most famous writers; and it is one of the more accessible works by the writer, therefore probably a less daunting prospect for readers than a choice of Ulysses or Finnegan's Wake would have been.

I find the choice a tad uninspired. For one thing, I've already read it. In fact, I would venture that a great number of people have already read it. I mean, it's Joyce! Flippin' Joyce who is on the school syllabus, Joyce who used to be on the old ten pound notes, Joyce whose craggy face adorns all those "Great Irish Writers" posters, Joyce who has an entire annual day of celebrations devoted to one of his books, where people faff about in strange costumes. If anything, Dublin could use a little LESS Joyce. I for one, am suffering from Joyce fatigue.

Also, I thought is was wonderful last year that a living author was chosen for this project. Joseph O' Connor had the opportunity to be involved in the celebrations and take part in the line-up of events with Q&As and book signings, etc. That's something that will be lacking in 2012.

This initiative is now in its seventh year. Here's the books that were chosen in previous years:

2006: At Swim Two Birds, Flann O' Brien
2007: A Long Long Way, Sebastian Barry
2008: Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift
2009: Dracula, Bram Stoker
2010: The Picture of Dorian Grey, Oscar Wilde
2011: Ghost Light, Joseph O' Connor

Notice anything they have in common? Bit of a literary sausage party going on, no? I'd love to have seen a book by a female author chosen this year. Here's just a few I think would have made great choices:

Good Behaviour, Molly Keane
The Last September, Elizabeth Bowen
In a Cafe: Selected Stories, Mary Lavin
Mother of Pearl, Mary Morrissey
Tatty, Christine Dwyer Hickey
Hellfire, Mia Gallagher
You, Nuala Ni Chonchuir

Which book would you like to see chosen in future for the Dublin: One city, One Book project?

"Pablo Espanol?" Short Story in Cuadrivio

2011-07-31T15:03:00.001-07:00

Don't you just love Spanish? It's the upside-down question marks that do it for me. They look so, well, quizzical, which when you think about it, is a good look for a question mark. I took some Spanish classes a couple of years ago and can now have the following conversation with a native speaker, should the opportunity arise:

"Hola! Me llamo Maire, mucho gusto. Soy Periodista... Hasta Luego!"
(At this point, I run away before said native speaker has a chance to ask me anything.)

Why all the talk of Spanish? Well, in what is, without doubt, the most exciting thing to happen thus far in (what I optimistically call) my "writing career", one of my short stories has been translated into Spanish. It features in a special issue of Mexican literary journal, Cuadrivio, which focuses on Ireland and includes essays on Irish culture, history and politics, as well as poetry and short stories from Irish writers in Spanish translation. There are stories from Aileen Armstrong, Andrew Fox, Catherine Brophy, Eddie Stack, Eoin McDonnell, Henry Martin and Louise Hegarty, and poetry from Alan Garvey, Conor O' Reilly, Derek Coyle, George McWhirter, Keith Payne, Kevin Higgins, Noel King, Sarah Clancy, and Trevor Conway. You can see the issue HERE.

In Spanish, my story "A Shadow on the Threshold" is "Una sombra en el Umbral". Isn't that the coolest title ever? Can't you just hear it being read in a swarthy Javier Bardem-type voice? No? Just me then, okay.

My story was translated into Spanish by Hipatia Arguero Mendoza, who was really communicative and enthusiastic throughout. The fact that the story is written in the second-person made it tricky to translate and there's also a fair few colloquial expressions in there to boot. She even deciphered my rambling response to the query: What does the expression "Good man yourself" mean? So, a big thank you to Hipatia, as well as the editor, Joaquin Guillen Marquez, and all of the Cuadrivio team.

Here is "Una Sombra en el Umbral" in Cuadrivio.

I've also published the original English version, "A Shadow on the Threshold" on the blog, as I know everyone won't be as fluent in Spanish as myself (ahem).

A Shadow on the Threshold

2011-07-31T15:00:00.000-07:00

They say the devil can't enter unless you invite him in. And that's just what you did, isn't it? You flung open the front door. Said, “Ah, howaya devil? Come on in, why don't ya?” Led him by the elbow into the good room. Ignored the sulphur trail he left on the carpet. Sat him in the comfy chair by the fire. Told him to put up his feet. “Good man yourself.” Take a load off his filthy hooves.

Your ma tells people you fell in with a bad crowd. Too trusting, God love her―easily led. But they didn't lead you anywhere, did they? You sought them out. You ran towards them with abandon, arms flung wide open. Like the bicycle you cycled down the steep hill by the train tracks on a dare, because you were braver than your brother, Eamon, or any of his snot-nosed friends. Pedalling towards the abyss, the bicycle gaining momentum until that moment of free-fall, delicious and excruciating. An inhalation. Then time suspended. Them all waiting for you to fly over the
handlebars. But you didn't. At the bottom of the hill you exhaled and the world resumed its spinning and in that moment you knew that nothing could ever touch you.

You saw him in Dún Laoghaire yesterday when you were leaving the clinic. When he saw you coming he crossed the road. You wanted to call after him. It's different this time, Eamon. I'm off it for good. Tell mam... tell her... But instead you spat a curse on the ground.

There was no mythic pusher to lead you astray. You hunted it. Setting off like Shackleton into the Antarctic. Why? Because it was there. Because you could. And it filled the gaps, didn't it? You grabbed it like it was a life buoy that would save you. And you wore it. Yes, you dressed yourself in that stinking thing. Wrapped it around you until it became your flesh.

She must have changed the locks after last time. The keys in your hand are useless, but around the back you find the window open. With a dull thud you land on the linoleum floor. The kitchen is familiar but different somehow. Smaller, grainier. Like you're watching it on telly. You know without looking that the cutlery drawer is full of plastic spoons.

You enter the pawn shop without hesitation. No invitation needed. As you stand twitching in line, your foot tapping an uneven rhythm, an image floats up. Sitting on the high double bed, watching her getting ready. One of those rare nights he's bringing her out some place. Before he left. Her hair like a film star and the rings shining on her fingers. She dabs perfume behind her ears and turns to you and smiles.
“Here love, help me put on this necklace.” And with small hands you reach and fumble with the clasp.

A Short, Short Stroy with a Long, Long Title at Photograph Prose

2011-07-30T08:46:00.000-07:00

[Image from rustyoldcamera.com]

So, I've mentioned before how much I like a little site called Photograph Prose. It's a great idea; a fusion of photography and prose. Basically, photographers add their pictures to the site, and writers choose the one they find the most inspiring, and write a prose piece or poem based on it. Then both the photograph and the piece of writing are displayed together on the website.

I wrote a short, short story based on a photograph by Ewa Samples. You can see the photo and read the piece here.

Photograph Prose is always looking for contributors, so if you're a photographer looking to share your work, or a writer looking for inspiration, do check it out.

Booker Longlist

2011-07-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

[Nominee, Sebastian Barry, in classic "sitting backwards on a chair" pose]

The longlist for the 2012 Man Booker Prize For Fiction has been announced. This year's nominations include: one former Man Booker Prize winner (Alan Hollighurst); two previously shortlisted writers (Julian Barnes and Sebastian Barry) and one longlisted author (Carol Birch); four first time novelists (Stephen Kelman, A.D. Miller, Yvvette Edwards and Patrick McGuinness) and three Canadian writers (Alison Pick, Patrick deWitt and Esi Edugyan). Phew! Here is the full list:

Julian Barnes The Sense of an Ending (Jonathan Cape - Random House)
Sebastian Barry On Canaan's Side (Faber)
Carol Birch Jamrach's Menagerie (Canongate Books)
Patrick deWitt The Sisters Brothers (Granta)
Esi Edugyan Half Blood Blues (Serpent's Tail)
Yvvette Edwards A Cupboard Full of Coats (Oneworld)
Alan Hollinghurst The Stranger's Child (Picador - Pan Macmillan)
Stephen Kelman Pigeon English (Bloomsbury)
Patrick McGuinness The Last Hundred Days (Seren Books)
A.D. Miller Snowdrops (Atlantic)
Alison Pick Far to Go (Headline Review)
Jane Rogers The Testament of Jessie Lamb (Sandstone Press)
D.J. Taylor Derby Day (Chatto & Windus - Random House)

Granta, in a particularly crafty move, has made the first chapter of The Sisters Brothers available to read for free on their website. I read the extract and now I really want to read the rest. (Damn you, Granta! Your cunning plan worked. *shakes fist*) I've only read the first chapter, but my first thought was: future Coen Brothers' film. See if you agree. Here is the link.

The 6-book shortlist will be announced on September 6th, and the prize-giving ceremony will take place on October 18th in London. Alan Hollinghurst is the current bookies' favourite to win (What, again? Surely not!) with odds of 5/1, followed closely by Julian Barnes at 6/1, if ya fancy a flutter.

Word Portraits and Tuesday's Women

2011-07-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

"Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen."
-Leonardo Da Vinci

The literary and art worlds enjoy a symbiotic relationship; artists inspired by the words of writers, writers inspired by the images of artists, and on and on in a continuous cycle of creative expression.

Recently I came across two artists who have been influenced by the words of writers, but in very different ways.

As a fan of Haruki Murakami, I was intrigued to see the work of Johnny Acurso. He has created a series of portraits based on heroines from Murakami's work. The image below was inspired by the short story version of The Wind-up Bird Chronicles called The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday's Women.

["Tuesday's Girl": Image from the artist's website.]

John Sokol is an artist and author, who uses the words of writers to create what he calls "word portraits". The image below is portrait of Eudora Welty made up of words from "Powerhouse". It is just one of the images from this series, which also includes portraits of James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, and Ibsen, among others.

[Eudora Welty as "Powerhouse": Image from the artist's website.]

What Book Did You Hate That Everyone Else Loved?

2011-07-12T11:24:00.000-07:00

I hated Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. There, I said it.

Now, it goes without saying that reading is a subjective activity and the preference for one book over another varies with each individual. However, there are those books that EVERYONE seems to like. They reach bestseller status, or are heaped with critical acclaim, or in some cases both. So, what if you are the lone person baffled by the plaudits?

I have yet to meet a single person who shares my feelings on Tropic of Cancer. I've mentioned it over the years in various conversations, only to be bombarded with rhapsodies on Miller's prose style and entreaties to read the book again. These encounters usually end with me backing away while screeching, "I just don't like it, OKAY?!"

The Huffington Post recently put this question to their readers: What book did you hate that everyone else loved? The results were calculated into a poll, with some interesting results.

The current top 5 most hated books are...

1. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
2. Eat, Pray, Love, by Sarah Gilbert
3. The Shack, by William P. Young
4. The Bridges of Madison County, by Robert James Waller
5. A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan

I'm sure Stephenie Meyer is weeping at the news, but at least she has her million dollar bills to mop up her tears. I haven't read any of these five. In fact, I've never even heard of The Shack. Has anyone read it?

You can view the entire top 20 and contribute your own preference here. There's a few of the usual suspects in there, but also some surprises. I was shocked to see The Great Gatsby in the list.

So, what book do you hate? Come on, get it off you're chest, you'll feel better! And if you happen to hate Tropic of Cancer, do let me know.

"Let's All Go To The Lobby To Get Ourselves Some Scallops"

2011-07-08T12:25:00.000-07:00

Ah, cinema food! It seems no viewing experience is complete these days without a giant bag of sweets, a trough of popcorn, a serving of your favourite sugary carbonated beverage... in a bucket, or for the culinary brave: a plastic tray of nachos complete with atomic cheese-gloop from a can. But what if you could go to the cinema and eat actual food cooked on that very day by a real human person? What if you didn't even have to queue for this food and it could be served to you in the theatre at your very own table?

Well, that's exactly what happens at Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I went there on Wednesday evening to watch "The Trip". Although I liked the concept of a dine-in cinema, I was dubious about how it would work in practice. The reason popcorn works as a cinema food is because you can mindlessly shovel fistfuls of it into your mouth and if it falls on you, or on the floor, it's no big deal. But could the same thing be said about a Greek salad? Also, I'm a messy eater at the best of times. (Once while watching "Candy Man", I became so slack-jawed with terror that a large mouthful of partially chewed pizza fell out of my mouth and into my lap - something I am STILL helpfully reminded of by my friends, even though it happened some time in the 90's.) So, given my track record, I presumed that presented with the monumental task of watching a film AND eating a meal at the same time, it was inevitable that I'd be be leaving the cinema looking like the "before" person in a Daz advert.

I needn't have worried as this is something Nitehawk has taken into consideration. They ask you to arrive 30-45 minutes prior to the start of the film, so you can order and eat your food during their pre-show, which consists of a mixture of short films, clips from classic cinema, music videos, and animation. During this time, the house lights are up, so you can eat your meal without fear of public humiliation from "slobageddon".

The menu is broad and varies from small plates of items like hummus or chicken wings for $6, to main meals such as burgers or fish tacos from $11 - $13. One nice touch is that for each film, there is a signature dish and cocktail. For "The Trip", the dish was scallop ceviche (an obscene amount of scallops are eaten in the film), and the signature cocktail was the Alan Partridge (Pimms, lemon, cucumber).

As it happens, "The Trip" is all about new dining experiences, so proved an apt choice for a trip to Nitehawk. It was originally shot as a five-part television series, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Rydon (both playing themselves), so the film is a shorter version of the show. The two men embark on a road trip to the North of England on an assignment for The Observer to review a number of restaurants. The food angle seems somewhat of a pretext to get the two men together as neither one seems to know much about food, with Coogan at one point describing his tomato soup as “very tomato-y” and another dish as "like snot". Despite dining at a number of prestigious restaurants , the meal both men are most impressed by is a full English breakfast they eat at a roadside café. Here is the trailer:

The heart of the film and much of the comedy derives from the banter between the two men as they attempt to "one-up" each other through telling jokes, doing impressions and even singing. Although the film is enjoyable, charming and laugh-out-loud funny in parts, it doesn't entirely work. I haven't seen the TV series but I wonder if the story would lend itself better to that medium. The focus of the film is rooted squarely on the two main characters, and it's a shame that minor characters such as Coogan's American girlfriend and son from a previous relationship weren't developed more. These are people we only briefly see him speaking to over the phone, so it is difficult to really invest in them or care about them. The characters of the agent, the photographer and the hotel worker feature more prominently but again, feel underdeveloped. Perhaps this is not the case in the longer TV series.

Having said that, I haven't laughed so much at a film in a very long time. I've been a fan of Steve Coogan since his Alan Partridge days and would happily watch him in anything. I wasn't as familiar with Rob Rydon's comedy prior to watching this film, but I found him equally as hilarious as Coogan, and the two together make for a classic double act.

All in all, a film worth checking out and I'll definitely be back to Nitehawk Cinema for further cinematic and culinary treats.

[photo image from Black and WTF]

Approaching Fiction Deadlines: Avoid the Whoosh

2011-06-29T19:10:00.000-07:00

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

- Douglas Adams

Get a headstart on the submissions and avoid that whooshing sound:

July 15th: Penguin/RTE 2011 Short Story Competition
Max: 2,000 words

August 3rd: Over The Edge New Writer of the Year Award
Max: 3,000 words

August 17th: Mslexia
Max: 2,200 words
Theme: Motherhood

August 19th: Dromineer Literary Festival Short Story Competition
Max: 600 words

August 31st: Aesthetica Creative Works Competition
Max: 2,000 words

November 1st: Ireland's Big Issue Magazine National Short Story Competition
Max: 1,500-1,700 words

[Image from sharenator.com]

ESPN's "30 For 30": How I Learnt To Stop Worrying and Love Sports

2011-06-27T07:17:00.000-07:00

Well, here is a blog post I never expected to be writing. You see I'm just not that into sports: watching sports, playing sports, talking about sports... you get the picture. I see other people enjoying sports and I try my best to get into it, but as everyone else is immersed in shouting/cheering/throwing things at the screen, I find myself sitting with eyes glazed over, my thoughts straying to old episodes of The Golden Girls or making a final decision on the order of my top five cheeses.

However, recently after much arm-twisting from my boyfriend (both figurative and literal), I embarked on a brave new adventure in documentary-viewing. To celebrate its 30th anniversary, sports channel ESPN commissioned thirty documentaries by leading directors. The series is called "30 For 30" and the DVD boxset has just been released. Here's a trailer:

The documentaries cover a wide range of sports stories that took place over the past 30 years. However, ESPN weren't interested in going for the obvious subjects that everyone was already familiar with. They wanted to give their viewers something new and unexpected. Here is a great essay by Bill Simmons on the genesis of the series.

I haven't watched all of the films yet, but so far my personal favourites are "Once Brothers", the story of how the war between Serbia and Croatia affected the friendship of two players from the Yugoslavian basketball team; and "Two Escobars", the story of Andres Escobar, former captain of the Columbian soccer team and Pablo Escobar, infamous drug-lord, and the phenomenon of "Narco-Soccer".

I'll report back when I've watched all of the films, which I'm definitely planning on doing. Documentary films of this calibre don't come along often enough, so these really are a treat, both for sports-fans and people like myself who don't know their Arsenal from their elbow.

Hurray, I won!

2011-06-16T09:16:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I entered a competition run by writing.ie, a fantastic web resource for writers. The challenge was to come up with a "nightmare review" of a book. The review should be short, the kind that appears on a book jacket, and it should be the type of scathing review that every writer fears.

Well, I received some great news today. I've won the competition! The prize is amazing. It's a three-day stay at the Anamcara Writer's and Artist's Retreat in the Beara Peninsula in West Cork. It's somewhere I've always wanted to go, so I'm really excited and grateful to have been given this opportunity. Thanks to writing.ie for hosting the competition and to Sue Booth Forbes at the Anam Cara Wrier's and Artists's Retreat for choosing me as one of the winners.

You can read my nightmare review here if you like, as well as check out some other competitions at writing.ie.

Heavy on the Miracle Fortress, Harry

2011-06-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

So, I have about a dozen new mosquito bites and a billion new freckles, but I'm happy to report that I've survived my first week in New York.

We've done a fair bit of sightseeing, but being the book nerd that I am, a trip to the New York Public Library's Stephen A. Scwarzman Building was always going to be top of the agenda. An exhibition entitled Celebrating 100 Years is currently running. Since its foundation in 1911, the library has acquired an extensive collection of items under the guiding principle that all knowledge is worth preserving.
Many of these items of interest have been put on display in the exhibition in four thematic sections: Observation, Contemplation, Society, and Creativity. This makes for a varied collection which ranges from the sublime: a handwritten manuscript by Jorge Luis Borges, to the ridiculous: a letter opener belonging to Charles Dickens that was fashioned from the paw of his deceased cat, Bob.
Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed, so I couldn't take photos inside, but here is one of me outside by the famous Lion statue of Ghostbusters (oh my God, it's alive!) fame. The exhibition runs until December 31st if you'd like to check it out for yourself. The paw letter opener really has to be seen to be believed.

We also went to see Junior Boys last night and it was a really enjoyable gig. The light-show was something else. I think I may have received free lazer eye surgery. Junior Boys were fantastic, as was the support act: Miracle Fortress, who I'd never heard of before. Their music is kind of electro synth-y warbling, which is just my cup of tea. Here's one of their songs:

Photograph Prose

2011-06-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

Are you a writer looking for inspiration? Or a photographer looking to share your work? If you haven't already, be sure to stop by Photograph Prose, a site that marries word and image.

Here's how they describe themselves:

"Photograph Prose is a virtual gym for photographic and prosaic stylists to exercise their talents and execute imaginative nerve; creating together inspired works via conscious experience."

The site came to my attention as a number of fellow bloggers have featured some stunning work there, including Niamh Boyce (Keeping it That Way); Louise Phillips (When Newness Fades); and Nuala Ni Chonchuir (Clouds (after Basho)).

You can browse the gallery and choose one of the gorgeous images to base a piece of writing on, or indeed, submit a photo for others to be inspired by. Brilliant!

Story in wordlegs, issue 6

2011-05-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

Around this time last year I wrote this blog post about issue 2 of wordlegs. (I can't believe I linked to my own post. How very self-referential of me.)

Issue 6 has just come out and I have a flash fiction piece in it. If the story looks familiar, it's because it was based on a Magpie Tales prompt from a few months back.

You can have a look at the new wordlegs here. You can also see the questionable choice of writer photo I went with. It was vey hard to find a photo where I wasn't (a.) holding a drink in my hand; (b.) making a weird face; or (c.) holding a drink in my hand while making a weird face.

wordlegs are accepting submissions for issue 7 from now until June 30th, so get submitting! Details here.

Judging Books By Their Covers

2011-05-19T05:56:00.000-07:00

Just came across this really cool Vintage Irish Book Covers blog. There's some really nice images ranging from the 1920's to the 1970's. The Irish language ones are particularly interesting. There's many there I certainly haven't seen before.

The blog is run as part of designer and illustrator Niall McCormack's site. You can see some of his own work here.

Go Jimi!

2011-05-18T02:25:00.000-07:00

A big congratulations to my friend Jimi McDonnell, who has won first prize in the Dublin: One City One Book Short Story Competition.

The competition was run as part of the Dublin: One City One Book project. Now in its sixth year, the project is designed to encourage everyone in the city to read the same book during the month of April each year. This year's book was Ghost Light by Joseph O' Connor, who chose Jimi's story "Coole" as the winning entry in the short story competition.

You can read the winning story here and check out Jimi's blog here.

Okay, I should probably admit at this point that I never got around to reading Ghost Light in April. Did anyone read it? I'll have to add it to my insanely long "Books to Read" list.

Mag 63

2011-04-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

I emerged from my cocoon to discover I was still a caterpillar.

I watched my friends hovering overhead, dipping and skittering on new wings. Would they believe me if I told them that I'm happy as I am, that I waited in my chrysalis and willed myself to remain the same?

My sixteen legs are still on the ground. They don't see me now. I might nibble on this leaf or I might become it. Their rainbow flutterings ebb further from view, caught in the crosswind above.

Read more stories and poems inspired by the above photo prompt here at Magpie Tales

"Author Promoting Book Gives It Her All Whether It's Just 3 People Or A Crowd Of 9 People"

2011-04-14T09:51:00.001-07:00

I'm currently having the "what if nobody shows up?" jitters about tomorrow's Cúirt reading, so taking solace from this article from The Onion.

Believe in Yourself, Make a Plan of Action, and Follow Through With it

2011-04-13T05:14:00.000-07:00

Inspiring stuff...

Atlantis Collective Anthology Launch

2011-04-12T04:07:00.000-07:00

We launch our anthology as part of the Cúirt Literary Festival this coming Friday. Each of the eight members of the collective has a short story or two in the book and our contributing guest editor this year is Hugo Kelly. You can read his fantastic, prize-winning story "Traffic Lights" here.

I have two stories in the collection, "Even the Sea Dreams of Escape", which was featured in the last issue Horizon Review, and a second new story called "In the Brackish Water". (Yes, it does appear that I am somewhat obsessed with the sea.)

We will have a mix of music, film and performance at the launch party. I will be reading a (thankfully short!) extract from "In the Brackish Water". Wish me luck.

A Thing of Beauty For Once

2011-04-11T06:33:00.000-07:00

He should have killed them while he had his chance. Bashed in their skulls. Bludgeoned them into nothingness. They leered at him through malformed heads. His transparent creations – mangled, gnarled, monstrous – set forth into the world. Too late now. He had no choice but to smile on them, to choke on humiliation, tenderness and disgust.

In the candlelight, he drank to forget them. The wine flashed blood-red in the heavy glass as he raised it to his lips again and again. They began to fade, their shrill voices receding until he was laughing, quill in hand. What matter? This time, this time... a thing of beauty for once...

But they whispered to him in the night... We will live on, we are what you will leave... and they tormented his sleep.

In the morning, the empty glass was there, always there, like an accusation. The candle was burnt to the quick beside the scroll of paper, still blank. Always blank. What could he do, only look at his reflection in the mirror. Wine-blackened teeth in a cadaverous skull. He smiled and promised himself, tonight, this time, it will be different... a thing of beauty...

(Thanks to Magpie Tales. Read more poems and stories based on this prompt here.)

Cuadrivio Seek Essays/Articles For Irish Issue

2011-04-09T03:06:00.000-07:00

Mexican magazine, Cuadrivio invite submissions of essays and articles on Irish politics and society for an upcoming issue devoted to contemporary Irish literature.

Of particular interest are "texts related to challenges and opportunities presented in contemporary Ireland, its relation with the European Union and on the Irish Republican Army."

Deadline: May 1st
Around 6 pages per text

politica@cuadrivio.net
revistacuadrivio@gmail.com

Judging A Book By Its Cover: "Ten Stories About Smoking"

2011-04-08T04:50:00.000-07:00

For many, the enjoyment of reading stems not only from the content within the books, but from the books themselves as objects. I've never read a book on Kindle, and while I wouldn't be averse to giving it a go for curiosity's sake, I have a sneaking suspicion I would take to it like a cat to water.

So, I was interested to see the debut short story collection from David Evers being reviewed on The View on RTE on Tuesday night. As you can see from the photo above, Ten Stories About Smoking (Picador) comes in a cigarette package, with the book itself designed to look like the cigarettes. It is certainly a gimmick, but it has garnered the book considerable media attention, something that is difficult to achieve for new writers in today's market, particularly when the book in question is a short story collection.

Generating interest is all well and good, but that won't get the writer far if the content doesn't hold up. In this case, it seems it does. The collection has received many positive reviews, including this one from The Guardian. The panelists on The View praised the book for its sparse prose style, which they compared to Raymond Carver. In fact, the final story in the collection features Raymond Carver as he attempts to give up smoking.

Given the integral nature of the packaging and design of this book, one would assume that those interested in reading it would choose to purchase a copy rather than downloading it to their Kindles.

Of course, none of this is exactly new. McSweeney's Quarterly Concern has been playing with form for some time now. It is famous not only for content, but also for its style which changes radically with each issue. One issue was designed to look like a pile of mail, another a newspaper.

It will be interesting to see where, if anywhere, this will all lead. Are we witnessing the dawning of a new age of publishing where form will reflect content in new and startling ways? We shall have to wait and see.

(McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, issue 17)

(McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, issue 33)

Smith Coronas, Underwoods, Remingtons, oh my!

2011-04-05T15:50:00.001-07:00

Clickity clackity clickity... whiiiiiz ping! It's the sound of the typewriter movement that's taken the U.S by inky-fingered storm. The New York Times recently reported on a growing subculture of typewriter revivalists who are refurbishing, selling and swapping old machines and gathering at "type-ins" to "unplug and reconnect". (Article here)

One such new-wave typist is Robert Kowal, who collects typewriters and recently began to use them for his creative writing. He suggests the resurgence of interest in typewriters may be due to a "cultural nostalgia rather than a biological one... when the process of writing a letter, a reume, or novel was a physical act". He discusses his writing process in an interesting blog post, When Words Have Weight (here)

The aesthetically pleasing nature of these old machines has also played a huge part in their resurgence. LIFE recently celebrated the typewriter in a photo essay "In Praise of the Typewriter" (here). Captured in black and white, here you can see a young Fracois Sagan sprawled on the carpet in front of her typewriter; Tennessee Williams clacking away amidst what can only be described as organised chaos; and Agatha Christie sitting primly while plotting ever ingenious ways of bumping off characters.

Incidentally, I read my first Agatha Christie book over the weekend and was surprised to discover it was dedicated to her dog. That's the downside to a prolific output, you run out of people to thank. Although, perhaps that's unfair to "Peter". Maybe he really was "a loyal friend" and "a dog in a thousand".

I should say at this point that I have experienced first-hand the joys of the typewriter, and there is something indefinably satisfying about the feel of the keys under your fingers and the whoosh of the typebar rising up to stamp its inky indentation on the pristine white page. I received a Petite 990 typewriter (pictured above) for my birthday, possibly my 10th. At the time, there was an ad for it on TV that featured young girls in an office scene. The jingle was a reworked version of Dolly Parton's "Working 9 to 5". It went something like:

Working 9 to 5 and my intray's getting lighter
Petite 990 - just like a real typewriter
(9 to 5) Petite 990!
(9 to 5) Petite 990!

It seemed the product was aimed solely at little girls eager to play out secretarial fantasies, and not dreamy-eyed aspiring writers like myself. This was the age of Melanie Griffiths in Working Girl. The opportunity to join the rat race and work for a faceless corporation while wearing a suit the colour of dried poo with canoe-sized shoulder pads, drinking "caw-fee" and typing documents for the boys, was about as aspirational as it got. And there was little old me just wanting to tap-tap my little stories on the thing.

Strange, all this talk of typewriters and I've just come to a beautiful typewriter scene in the book I'm reading at the moment. Synchronicity, eh? I'll leave you with this short passage from The Speckled People by Hugo Hamilton.

At night, I can hear my mother downstairs in the kitchen with the typewriter. She's lettetetting on her own while my father is in the front room reading. The letters fly out and hit the page faster than you can speak. She's lettetetting and lettetetting because there's a story she can't tell anyone, not even my father. You can't be afraid of silence, she says. And stories that you have to write down are different to stories that you tell people out loud, because they're harder to explain and you have to wait for the right moment. The only thing she can do is to write them down on paper for us to read later on.

"To my children," she writes." One day, when you're old enough, you will understand what happened to me, how I got trapped in Germany and I couldn't help myself. I want to tell you about the time when I was afraid, when I stood in my room and couldn't shout for help and heard the footsteps of a man named Stiegler coming up the stairs."

Hooray! New book from Tina Fey

2011-04-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

I love Tina Fey. She boots that antiquated "women aren't funny" notion right in the goolies. Her show, 30 Rock is one of the funniest things on television. If her new book, "Bossypants" is a fraction as entertaining, it should be well worth the read. You can read Janeane Garofalo's review of the memoir for NPR here.

The Girl Who Cried "Novel"

2011-04-04T03:49:00.000-07:00

Hullo, it's nice to be back! I dropped off the radar a few weeks back with vague references to a "project" I was starting... It's a novel.

I was reticent about sharing this information for a few reasons. Chief amongst them is the fact that this isn't the first time I've tried to write a novel. The first novel I tried to write was awful. I mean, really, really bad. "Reading back over it by peaking through the fingers shielding my horrified eyes and inwardly cringing" bad. I've since put it out of its misery, and the knowledge that the wretched thing will never see the light of day means I can sleep soundly at night.

The second novel I tried to write was a lot better. I started off all guns blazing, but when I got to chapter 4, I got stuck. I had no idea what should happen next. I hadn't planned it, you see. I thought the plot would magically reveal itself like one of those answers you get when you shake a Magic 8 ball. It didn't happen. I took a break and wrote a short story. Then I came back to the four chapters and stuck in a few commas. Then I took a break and wrote another short story. Then I came back to it and took out a few commas. Eventually I grew despondent and abandoned it altogether. (I'm still hopeful I may come back to it in the future.)

This time around my approach is different. I've been letting the ideas “incubate” for the last few months. (And you thought I was just staring into space. Ha!) At first I did nothing more than write down the odd image or character description, until I felt ready to start. Instead of imposing a rigid structure on myself and getting stuck like last time, I decided I would write whatever I liked every day for a month, so long as I was writing something. Now, a lot of what I'm writing probably won't even make it into the novel, but it's given me the freedom to write without the pressure of thinking, okay, this is chapter 2. I suppose it's a type of gathering source material before beginning to put some sort of structure on things.

Another reason I was reluctant to talk about my novel-in-progress was to avoid the inevitable, “So, what's it about?” question. It's impossible to answer that question without sounding like a complete idiot who is writing the most idiotic book in the history of idiocy. If you think about Macbeth, it is essentially “about” a man who, with the encouragement of his wife, decides to kill a king. But that tells you little about the complexities of the story and frankly, makes it sound a bit shit. I always think it's odd when people talk about getting an “idea” for a novel, because to me a novel is made up of multiple ideas, several of which you're not even aware of until you sit down to write. It's an exploration. That's why it's so exciting, and terrifying... and long.

So, I'm feeling optimistic about my “project”. It's going well so far. I hope I can learn from past mistakes and enjoy the journey. But for the love of God, don't ask me what it's about.

(Photo taken from Black and WTF: the best site on the entire internet. Fact.)

On a break...

2011-03-13T04:20:00.000-07:00

Dear Blogosphere,

I love you, but I think we need to take a break.

It's not you, it's me. No, it is you. Well, I suppose we're both at fault. You are an endless source of entertainment and I am an undisciplined magpie, easily distracted by your shiny gems.

So, I've decided to belatedly take the advice of countless old school reports and "apply myself" *shudder* with this new project I'm working on.

See you in a month.

Much love,

Máire xxx

Magpie Tale #56 : "In the Soup"

2011-03-09T02:38:00.000-08:00

Growing up, there was always one kid whose house smelt of soup. And if you can't remember that kid, then it was you. Yes, you. Your house. Why would I lie?

When friends came over, didn't you notice small faces making eyes at the door, and the uncertain way hands reached, even when you proffered your best Barbie, the one without its hair hacked off?

Your house smelt of soup.

Maybe you'd stopped noticing, but we inhaled the muggy blast as soon as we stepped inside. We waded through the swamp of it. The air so heavy that it fogged up your windows. We could have scrawled our names on the glass, drawn lovehearts. But we didn't.

We always snuck a glance at the hob, expecting to see the heavy pot bubbling. We wanted to see for ourselves the thickening water dance with potato, onion, garlic. The boiling chicken carcus surrender up the last of its clinging meat. But we never saw a pot.

So we sat playing games on your sitting room floor and we sweated and we simmered until it was time to leave. And watching us from inside, you saw the lightness of our step once we shut your door behind us, and left you to dissolve. But later that night, we would see that boiling pot. Its dark lid gaping like a mouth.

Thanks to Magpie Tales for the prompt. You can read more garlicky stories and poems here.

SmokeLong Weekly—"The Way We Speak Now" by Angi Becker Stevens

2011-03-03T18:16:00.000-08:00

Wow, this is just stunning. I loved this flash fiction story over at Smokelong Quarterly. You can read it here.

"You can eat them like a giant packet of crisps."

2011-03-02T03:54:00.001-08:00

This short film piece on the making of Penguin's Mini Modern Classics series is very persuasive. Now I want to read all 50 of the books AND eat a giant packet of crisps.

Launch of Crannóg, issue 26

2011-02-26T06:23:00.000-08:00

The new issue of Crannóg Magazine was launched last night at The Crane Bar. It's a lovely spot for a launch - intimate and cosy without feeling cramped. Several contributors read their work and there were some really great poems and short stories. I particularly enjoyed E.M Reapy's short story, "Release" which skillfully paints a portrait of life in a small-town bar, and Danielle McLaughlin's "Fish And Fowl" with its beautiful prose and wry humour.

I read an extract from my story "Saint Valentine And The Science Of Love", which is also featured in the issue. I find readings fairly nerve-wracking and in the past I have fallen prey to the dreaded "wobbly voice of doom". The last thing you want at these things is for people to be looking at you with pity, as you cringingly attempt to read like a stammering tomato. This reading went well for me, thankfully. I suppose like anything, these things get better the more you do them.

If you'd like to submit to Crannóg Magazine, they will be accepting submissions between March 1st and May 1st for their summer issue. You can see the full details on their website here.

"Torture Your Protagonist"

2011-02-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

So, when I see articles entitled "Rules For Writers", or some such, I think, oh Christ, here we go again. Another tired piece advising us to write what we know and avoid overuse of adverbs. Yawn.

So why post a link to this one? Well, first and foremost it was written by Janet Fitch, whose book White Oleander is stunning. Secondly, she has some useful things to say. I love this comment:
"The writer is both a sadist and a masochist. We create people we love, and then we torture them."

There's plenty more gems like that in the full LA Times article here.

Ahoy! Is it me you're looking for?

2011-02-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

If Alexander Graham Bell had gotten his way, we would be answering our telephones today by saying, "Ahoy!"

We were robbed, people. Robbed.

Full story from NPR here.

"Shhhh!" Libraries on Film

2011-02-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

A major campaign is underway in the UK to save libraries, as proposed cuts put 450 branches and mobile services under threat. Protests have been imaginative, with mass "shhh-ins" and "read-ins" across Britain, as this article describes.

In support of the campaign, The Guardian has a great piece on famous cinematic moments which take place in libraries. It includes memorable scenes from Ghostbusters, The Breakfast Club (which I'm ashamed to admit, I still haven't seen) and Kes. You can read the article here.

Not included is the round-up is my own favourite library scene from Beauty and The Beast, where Belle receives an amazing gift from her hairy admirer. My, that beast certainly knows the way to a bookish woman's heart!

Do you have a favourite cinematic library scene?

New York Writer Likes To Do It On Train

2011-02-16T16:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, I admit, I've done it in lots of places. In bed, of course, as well as all over the house; on the sofa, at my desk, by the kitchen counter. I've done it at the back of the bus, in cars, on planes. I've done it quietly at the library and with a faint degree of guilt at work. Yes, when the mood strikes, I don't care where I am or who sees me. It's always a good time to write.

First-time novelist, Christopher Grant, is clearly a man who agrees. He wrote the majority of "Teenie" during his daily commute on the New York subway. Not only did he manage to write on the (presumably busy, hot and uncomfortable) train, he used the surroundings as inspiration for his work. He says:
"Being on the subway helps me get my creative juices flowing - seeing people interact with each other... The conversations are like gold."

You can read the full article from NY Daily News here.

(Photo image from nycmstar)

Magpie Tales #53: Saltier Than The Atlantic

2011-02-14T15:34:00.000-08:00

What he loved most were her spindly eyelashes. They looked like they were biding their time on her eyelids, waiting for just the right moment to crawl off her face and spin a web in her auburn hair. He was looking at them and thinking this when she said, “I don't know what you see in me,” for the four hundreth and fourty seven millionth time. Not that he was keeping count. It was a rough estimate.

So he told her again. “You have a beautiful face.”
She scrunched it up and said, “No, I don't.”
“You make me laugh.”
“No, I don't," she said. "I make you miserable.”
“I'm not miserable,” he sighed.

And she wrinkled her nose with every compliment and perversely, he found her inability to accept her beauty, in itself beautiful. Every breath she drew fuelled her discontent. Each exhalation hung heavy with disappointment and it filled the room until there was no space for anything else.

And she made a liar of him with the constant shaking of her head.
“I may as well be talking to the teapot,” he said. And sometimes he did. When he told it he liked its curves, it accepted the compliment.

And her tears were saltier than the Atlantic. He wanted to collect every drop and drink them down and make them a part of him. Maybe he should fill out inventories, make lists of her attributes and present them to her, but he knew she still wouldn't listen.

“I don't know what you see in me,” she said.
So she turned him into a fool who was always wrong. A man in love with a mirage. He wanted to be her mirror, to reflect back her image as he saw it, but she refused to see.

But there were nights when she spread herself open and took him deep inside the warmth of her. And she said his name and searched his face and said, “Do you love me?”
And she seemed to believe him when he said, “Yes, yes, yes.”
And the words from her lips were like a song. “You, you, you.”

A bit of an abstract take from me on this week's Magpie Tales prompt. You can read more pieces based on the image here.

Dublin Book Festival Programme Announced

2011-02-14T07:06:00.000-08:00

The full line-up for the Dublin Book Festival has been announced here.

It runs from Wednesday 2nd March-Sunday 6th March and includes book launches, readings, panel discussions, and children's events; many of which are free.

There's lots of interesting events taking place, including Fiction: Short Story Readings at 3.10pm on Saturday 4th March. Hosted by IWC chairman, Jack Harte, it includes readings by Christine Dwyer Hickey, Martin Malone, Geraldine Burke, and Billy O' Callaghan.

You can also hear lots of great writers reading their work on Sunday 6th March. Fresh Voices I at 1.10pm includes Claire Kilroy and Kevin Power, while Fresh Voices II at 4pm includes Nuala Ní Chonchúir and Sinéad Mac Aodha, among others.

There is also a political/economic slant to the programme this year, with events such as Setting Up Your Business and Surviving the Recession, Your Career and Finances: Getting Back on Track, and Political Reform in Ireland: A New Republic.

"This man refused to open his eyes" - Australian Criminal Portraits

2011-02-10T13:20:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that these photos, taken by the Sydney police between 1920 and 1945, are mugshots, when they appear more like skillfully composed images created by a master of portraiture. I suppose they exist as both of those things simultaneously, and are all the more resonant for this duality.

I would love to know the stories behind these pictures. The man who appears to be wearing a petticoat, the woman with the scraggy fur draped over her shoulders: who were these people and what crimes did they commit? Some stare brazenly out of the photographs, while others hide their faces in shame, or keep their eyes prised shut as though this would shield them from the prying lens of the camera, or the prying eyes of the people who years later would look at the image on a computer screen.

See other images here.

And the winner is...

2011-02-08T04:37:00.000-08:00

The inimitable Powell's Books has announced the top 50 books of 2010 in their annual Puddly Awards. These were calculated based on votes from Powell's.com customers for their book of the year. Kathryn Stockett's, The Help nabbed the top spot.

It was great to see Irish writers, Emma Donoghue, Room (4th place); Colum McCann, Let The Great World Spin (15th place); and Paul Murray, Skippy Dies (39th place), featured in the top 50 list.

I was also pleased to see the book that got my vote, Patti Smith's Just Kids come in 7th place.

I love that there's a mix of fiction and non-fiction and that they haven't separated them into separate categories. There doesn't appear to be any poetry or short story collections in the top 50 though, which is a shame.

See the full list here.

Upcoming Prose Submission Deadlines

2011-02-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

Tick tock! Isn't time flying? If this was a film, there would be a "pages flying off a calendar" montage right about now. Loads of submission deadlines coming up and dates to keep an eye on:

JOURNALS

March 15th: Southword

March 18th: Mslexia (Theme: Ego)

March 31st: Stinging Fly

March 31st: Wordlegs

March 1st-May 1st: Crannóg Magazine

COMPETITIONS

February 25th: Bryan McMahon Award/Writers' Week Originals

March 20th: Fish Publishing One-Page Story Competition

March 24th: Molly Keane Memorial Award

Some words of encouragement from Gwen Sefani:

Paris Review: Archive of Author Interviews

2011-02-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

[Graham Greene enjoying a tipple.]

The Paris Review has been publishing interviews with writers in their series, "The Art Of Fiction" since the late 1950's. Now, several of these archived interviews are available to read on their website.

Here are some of my favourite quotes from the interviews:

Graham Greene on whether he spends time with fellow authors:

"Not much, they are not one's material. A few of them are very dear friends of mine but for a writer to spend much of his time in the company of authors is, you know, a form of masturbation."

John Irving on the importance of having a working title before starting a novel:

"Titles are important; I have them before I have books that belong to them. I have last chapters in my mind before I see first chapters, too. I usually begin with endings, with a sense of aftermath, of dust settling, of epilogue. I love plot, and how can you plot a novel if you don’t know the ending first? How do you know how to introduce a character if you don’t know how he ends up? You might say I back into a novel. All the important discoveries—at the end of a book—those are the things I have to know before I know where to begin."

Annie Proulx on style:

"You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different worlds on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write. I read omnivorously—technical manuals, history, all sorts of things. It’s a relief to get away from your own stuff."

You can read the full interviews here

(Thanks to Reading the Short Story for the link.)

Kids' Club Storytime at Charlie Byrne's

2011-01-28T10:59:00.000-08:00

This is a cute idea. Maybe I could kidnap some children and go along.

Charlie Byrne's bookshop host a storytime event at 11am every Saturday. Resident book expert, Olivia, does a fun, dramatic reading of at least three books each week. Apparently, she also takes requests.

I wonder what books are requested the most. What are kids reading these days anyway?Is Enid Blyton still popular? I should jolly well hope so!

Horizon Review, Issue 5

2011-01-19T04:04:00.000-08:00

The latest issue of Horizon Review is out and available to read online. It contains poetry, prose, reviews, essays and cartoons. My short story, "Even the Sea Dreams of Escape" is included. Check it out here.

Short Stories on the Menu

2011-01-18T05:02:00.000-08:00

Stories on the theme of Restaurants & Bars sought for the Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize. At $25, the entry fee is on the steep side, but the prize is pretty great.

The winner receives $1,000 and 2 tickets to Selected Shorts at Symphony Space in New York where the prize-winning story will be read.

Full details here.

(Picture from Passive-aggressive Notes)

Writing in the Sky

2011-01-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

Shinichi Maruyami, a New York-based artist, creates these incredible water sculptures inspired by Japanese calligraphy. He calls them "kusho" or "writing in the sky".

Read the full story on NPR here

Feast your ears on The Guardian's short story series

2011-01-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

Fancy listening to some short stories? The Guardian have a fantastic series on their website where you can listen to famous authors read and discuss their all-time favourite short stories. There's Anne Enright reading Raymond Carver, Philip Pullman reading Chekhov, and Colm Tóibín reading Eugene McCabe, among others.

I particularly enjoyed hearing Ali Smith read 'A Conversation With My Father' by Grace Paley.

Check out the page here.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr! (I love my new electric pencil sharpener)

2011-01-02T12:25:00.000-08:00

When my boyfriend asked what I wanted for Christmas, I answered without hesitation. Some girls dream of romantic getaways to far-flung destinations, others of glittering rings on their fingers and bells on their toes, but me; well lately I've mostly been dreaming of very, very, very, very sharp pencils.
"An electric pencil sharpener!" I said, or more accurately screeched in his ear. (He was drifting off to sleep at the time so I had to ensure my request became lodged in his pre-frontal lobe.)

When writing a first draft I need four things: a quiet room, a strong cup of tea, a blank piece of paper, and a pencil. Not a pen, a pencil, and it must be sharp. There's nothing worse than sitting at your desk to write only to be confronted with a miserable stumpy excuse for a pencil. A blunt pencil is, well, pointless.

Thankfully I will never again be faced with the horror of a dulled writing implement. My new electric pencil sharpener has pride of place on my desk and makes a cheery noise when I shove an unsuspecting pencil into its awaiting razor-sharp blade-hole. "Brrrrrrrrrr!" sings my electric pencil sharpener, like a desktop vuvuzela cheering on my writing efforts.

Brrrrrrrrrr - the sound of 2011, year of the very, very, very, very sharp pencil.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T10:04:00.000-08:00

A festive photo from Recyclart of a Chritmas tree constructed from books at Gleeson Library, San Francisco.

Books of 2010

2010-12-18T04:43:00.000-08:00

I have a short story in the upcoming issue of Horizon Review, which is scheduled for release soon. The contributors were asked for their favourite three books of 2010 for a piece on the Salt Publishing blog and came up with some very interesting choices. Check it out here.

Soundings for Simon

2010-11-25T10:10:00.001-08:00

Ah, Soundings! This is the poetry textbook used by Irish students taking the Leaving Certificate English exam between 1969 and 2000. As I have safely established myself as an unapologetic book nerd, it won't come as a shock to hear I have a real soft spot for this book. Although I chucked the rest of my textbooks post Leaving Cert, Soundings was the one I held onto.

I haven't looked at it in a while, but I'm sure it's on some shelf somewhere, its pages still filled with earnestly underlined words and cringe-inducing notes like "metaphor for death?" and "imagery of nature!" scrawled around the margins.

I'm not alone in my fondness for Soundings. Owing to its popularity, the book has been relaunched in its original format, not as a textbook but as an item for nostalgic English students. (Read full story here.)

Soundings for Simon, a charity event based around the book takes place upstairs in The Bad Ass Café, in Temple Bar at 7pm on Monday 13th of December. Poets including Theo Dorgan, Maggie O' Dwyer and Enda Wylie will read their favourite poem from Soundings, discuss what it meant to them and share some of their own work.

Tickets on the door on the night are €10. All proceeds go towards the Simon Community.

Magpie Tales, No. 42 (A story based on a writing prompt)

2010-11-23T15:07:00.000-08:00

A Trophy Atrophy

Sue wondered what it felt like to be a winner. When she was younger, she used to look in a sort of disbelief at her best friend Ciara's trophies. They were displayed on a shelf in her bedroom that appeared on the verge of collapse from the sheer collective weight of Ciara's achievements. Sue wasn't envious of these trophies exactly. It was more that she was in awe of them, like meteors that had landed from some strange planet she didn't know the location of. Ciara was a champion Irish dancer. Sue had gone along to a competition once, and had sat transfixed as her friend leapt onto stage, her ringlets bouncing as she kicked her legs higher and higher with each a haon do trí. The dancing was impressive, but also alarming. Her friend looked like she was about to kick herself in the face. She wondered if Ciara would win a trophy for that too: Champion Irish Dancing Self-Face-Kicker, 1991.

Sue never won a trophy and over the years she came to accept this as her fate. Those shiny objects were things other people won and displayed on polished wood surfaces; not her. It wasn't that she was devoid of talent or special skills. If you were walking with her in a forest, she could point at any tree and tell you its name in both English and Irish. “Hawthorn, Sceach Gheal,” she would say, or “Ash, Fuinseóg.” Just by glancing at the sky, she could tell when it would rain, so she was never caught short without an umbrella. When she ate soup, she could pinpoint exactly which ingredients it contained – “onion, chicken stock, carrot, potato, celery, rosemary, thyme, sea salt and black pepper,” she would scrunch up her nose and declare – and whether the chef had used oil or butter to fry the vegetables.

She had special communication skills like Robert Redford in The Horse Whisperer, except she was the crazy-old-man-on-buses-whisperer. These conversations were never initiated by her, but the alcoholic downtrodden, the down-and-outs, and the outright loons, always knew to plonk themselves beside her, as though alerted by some internal tracking device. Sue could feel the sympathetic eyes of the other people on the bus, but she enjoyed talking to these people. She never listened to music when she took a bus or a train so that they would feel free to approach her. Anyway, why cram your ears and drown out the sounds of movement, when that was all part of the experience of travelling? However, she did bring her knitting with her occasionally. There was no end to what she could knit. Even tricky things like sleeves were no bother to Sue. Clickety clackety click went her needles, knit one, purl one, creating an endless variety of knitted delights.

Yes, Sue was talented, but knowing the names of trees, talking to people on buses and listing the ingredients in soup, none of these things could win you a trophy. This thought occurred to Sue during the Olympics. She wasn't particularly interested in the games, but she was having a coffee in town and the athletics was on the TV in the corner . How strange, she thought, for your one great skill in life to be the ability to run very fast in circles. To spend your entire life practising running very fast in circles so that one day you could represent your country and race against other people from around the world who are also very good at running very fast in circles.

Then again, at least these people were applauded and admired for running very fast in circles. It was their job. And they won trophies. No matter how accomplished she became, she would never be spotted by a knitting talent scout or sent to a Listing-Soup-Ingredients Training Academy, or be asked to represent her country in the chatting-to-crazy-people-on-buses Olympics.

It was just after leaving the coffee shop that she saw it in the window of an antiques shop: a trophy so old that the inscription had faded to a series of random marks. Who had it been awarded to and for what? There was no way of telling. Here and there the gold overlay had faded to a bronze colour and there were small pieces of rust encrusted along the bottom. But there was no denying the satisfying shape of those two handles that protruded from the body of the trophy and as soon as she looked at it, she knew she would have to buy it; as the urge inside her grew stronger to hoist the thing up over her head and wave it there in celebration of every inconsequential moment of every achievement-less day of her life, until her arms would become heavy with a pleasing dead weight.

This writing prompt photo was provided by Magpie Tales. Read more stories and poems based on the prompt here.

Come See TheFloorShow at The Irish Writers' Centre

2010-11-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

More variety than a selection box! The fabulous people at The Irish Writers' Centre have put together a new open-mic night called TheFloorShow. The event is free and poets, writers, singers, musicians, and performers of all types are invited to take part.

The first of these eclectic nights of entertainment takes place on Sunday December 19th, 8pm at 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1.
For further details, email: thefloorshowiwc@gmail.com
Or check out the facebook page here

Reading Like A Writer

2010-11-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

I just finished this fantastic book, Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose. I may be a bit behind the zeitgeist on this one as it seems it was first published in 2006, (which may explain how I picked it up for a bargain-tastic $6 in Powell's). Anyway, it's new to me and I can't recommend it highly enough.

The book is broken into chapters which cover topics such as Sentences, Paragraphs, Dialogue, and Gesture. Prose offers examples from famous literary works by the likes of Flannery O' Connor, Alice Munro and Philip Roth, and invites us to engage in what she calls "close reading" to decipher specifically what it is that makes these works great.

Prose describes how in her own development as a writer, she read and reread the authors she most loved.

"I read for pleasure, first, but also more analytically, conscious of style, of diction, of how sentences were formed and information was being conveyed, how the writer was structuring a plot, creating characters, employing detail and dialogue. And as I wrote, I discovered that writing, like reading, was done one word at a time, one punctuation mark at a time. It required what a friend calls "putting every word on trial for its life": changing an adjective, cutting a phrase, removing a comma, and putting the comma back in."

There is also an entire chapter on the work of Chekhov. Prose recounts how she was reading his collected stories while teaching a college writing course in the 1980's. She discovered that for each of the "rules" she imparted to her students about short story writing - know whose story it is, avoid giving characters similar names, think twice before having a character pick up a gun in the last paragraph and blow off his head for no apparent reason - Anton Chekhov had written a story that not only broke these conventions but brought the whole notion of "rules" for fiction writing into question.

The only downside to reading this book, if you can even describe it as such, is the sheer volume of books you will undoubtedly add to your "Must Read" list based on the examples used throughout. In fact, there is an extensive list of books recommended by Prose at the back of the book under the heading Books To Be Read Immediately. A great excuse for another trip to Powell's...

Write Around Portland

2010-11-01T16:16:00.001-07:00

So, I had my first volunteer session at Write Around Portland today. The work this organisation does is incredible. In partnership with social service agencies, they provide free writing workshops to people in the community who otherwise may not have access due to income, isolation or other barriers. Some of the people taking part in these workshops, which are run over 10-weeks, include people living with illness or disability, survivors of domestic violence, recovering addicts, and homeless youths.

Not only are workshops provided free of charge to participants, but potential barriers that may prevent people from attending have also been considered. Workshop participants are provided with writing journals and pens, bus tickets and even childcare, if needed.

After each 10-week run of workshops around the city, the participants are invited to submit their work for inclusion in an anthology. To date, Write Around Portland has published 33 of these books.

"These professionally-produced anthologies provide participants – many for the first time – the opportunity and satisfaction to see their words in print, while providing the public the opportunity to read the powerful stories and diverse voices of these important writers."

I am helping out with the anthology scheduled for release next month. Over the next couple of weeks we'll be reading all of the submissions, deciding which poems and prose pieces will be included and preparing the anthology layout.

When I heard about this organisation, my first thought was: Wow, what a fantastic service to the community. This was closely followed by my second thought: Why don't we have something like this in Ireland?

Perhaps I'm wrong on this, but to the best of my knowledge we don't have an Irish organisation like this. Of course children and teenagers are well served by the wonderful Fighting Words, set up by Roddy Doyle in Dublin, (which was inspired by 826 Valenica, a tutoring centre set up by Dave Eggers in San Francisco). But what about all of the other people who would benefit from a service like this?

I think spending time here has reignited my idealistic streak. Now I can't help thinking, why doesn't every city have something like this? We should have something like this, shouldn't we?

Bookmans Does Book Dominoes

2010-10-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here is an ad for Bookmans, a second-hand bookshop in Arizona. Love it! Might have to go into the local library and give it a go.

Powell's City of Books (I must face Meccca now)

2010-10-16T16:01:00.000-07:00

I made my first trip to Powell's Books yesterday. They have a few shops around Portland but I visited their flagship store, Powell's City of Books (which they refer to as 'the mother ship' on their website). It's located at West Burnside near Couch, pronounced by locals as 'Cooch' which I discovered much to my amusement when I asked someone for directions. It takes up an entire city block and stocks more than a million new and used books.

Unfortunately I can't take credit for the rather beautiful photo above. My battery died a death as I stood poised with my camera opposite Powell's. The image is taken from a blog, Portland at Night, which has some great shots of the city.

I had heard that as you entered Powell's City of Books you were handed a map, but I must have somehow missed that as I crossed the threshold in a trance-like zombie shuffle. The shop is divided into nine different colour-coded rooms which I enjoyed ambling through in an aimless fashion. My favourite was the blue room which had an amazing selection of novels and short story collections. I also found some really interesting books on Japanese culture in the purple room. One of the great things about Powell's is they shelve the second-hand and new books together. So, if you find a copy of a book you'd like to buy, you have a choice of different prices and editions. They also buy second-hand books from customers and offer either cash or store credit; something that is quite rare these days with major book shops.

I think you could eaily spend an entire day roaming around Powell's, your basket getting increasingly heavier as you spot more gems you simply can't leave without. They even have a little café with cakes and the most aromatic coffee I've ever encountered, so you can chill out and peruse your purchases, or rejuvinate and build up your strength before exploring yet another of the coloured rooms.

I'm already planning my next visit. I will be back, and soon.

Wordstock Festival in Portland, Oregon

2010-10-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

My arrival in Portland coincided with the final day of the Wordstock festival, an annual event that takes place over two days every October. It was held at the Oregon Convention Centre, with book stalls, workshops, literary stages and over 100 booths, all housed under one roof.

It was a great piece of (accidental and fortuitous) good timing on my part as it gave me a great sense of the amazing scope of literary organisations in Portland. Local groups such as Writer's Dojo, The Attic Workshop and The Grove Review all had information booths and friendly people on hand to chat about their services.

Speaking of The Grove Review, I have offered my services as a volunteer in their fiction department. They publish a literary journal twice a year which includes short fiction, poetry, artwork and interviews. It's a beautiful production and I'm really looking forward to getting involved.

There were several readings by various authors at Wordstock, including Joseph O' Neill. His book Netherland received the Pen/Faulkner Award for fiction in 2009. However, he chose to read from his non-fiction book Blood-Dark Track: A Family History which was first published in 2001 and has now been re-released. The book explores the hidden histories of his grandfathers, one Turkish and one Irish who were both imprisoned during WWII. O' Neill was very charming and down to earth. He looks and sounds a bit like Dudley Moore, only swarthier. Maybe it would be more accurate to say he's like a Hollywood actor who would be chosen to play Dudley Moore in a Dudley Moore biopic. Anyway, I'm definitely interested in reading both of his books now, as I must admit I've been meaning to read Netherland but haven't gotten around to it yet.

I also took part in one of the workshops, 'The Actor's Studio Method of Character Development: Knowing Your Characters Inside Out' with Joanne Smith Rakoff. It wasn't at all what I was expecting. I suppose I wanted to be challenged and maybe even to be brought outside my comfort zone. I picured myself giddily running around a classroom pretending to be a teapot while shouting jibberish at the other participants. However, we didn't undertake any acting exercises. The workshop was in the form of a guided discussion. It was still interesting and some good points were raised about the qualities that make for memorable characters and developing characters from the outside(starting with physical traits, etc.), versus the inside (starting with emotions, etc.).

I really enjoyed this festival and only wish I could have made it to both days.

San Francisco - City Lights

2010-10-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

San Francisco is an incredible place. It almost feels like the entire world has been condensed and crammed into this vibrant, multicultural wonderland. I shopped for paper lanterns and chopsticks in China Town; strolled around the palm tree-lined Mission district; downed a Sapporo beer in Japan Town; marvelled at live butterflies, brightly coloured frogs and tropical fish at an indoor rainforest; watched Rear Window in the Castro Theatre once the wurlitzer organ player had finished his introductory number; and discovered leg muscles I never knew I had on the way to the Russian Hills, (but the panoramic views of the city helped me forget the aches).

I also visited City Lights Bookshop, which manages to have an impressive range while remaining cosy and friendly. I picked up a copy of Glimmer Train, a journal of short fiction which has often been recommended to me over the years but which I could never find a copy of in Ireland. My boyfriend was also happy to discover a copy of Art Spiegelman's graphic novel, In the Shadow of No Towers. It's a good thing we left the shop when we did, or we wouldn't have made it through customs with the weight of our overflowing book-filled suitcases.

City Lights is probably most famous for its association with the beat poets, so naturally there was a whole section devoted to them. Upon publishing Allen Ginsberg's Howl And Other Poems, co-founder of City Lights, Lawrence Ferlinghetti was arrested in 1956 and stood trial on obscenity charges. He was eventually acquited and the book was ruled to be not obscene. The publicity from the trial drew attention to the book and helped it become a bestseller.

Howl, a film about Ginsberg and the trial has just come out and we went to see it in Berkeley during our trip. James Franco's portrayal of Ginsberg is fantastic and the gorgeous John Hamm of Mad Men fame also stars as Ferlinghetti's lawyer. It's definitely worth checking out for an insight into the story and there are beautiful animated sequences to complement extracts from the poems, like this one:

... I'm with you in Rockland
where we wake up electrified out of the coma
by our own souls' airplanes roaring over the
roof they've come to drop angelic bombs the
hospital illuminates itself imaginary walls collapse
O skinny legions run outside O starry
spangled shock of mercy the eternal war is
here O victory forget your underwear we're free
I'm with you in Rockland
in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-
journey on the highway across America in tears
to the door of my cottage in the Western night

And the winner is...

2010-09-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

This made me smile this morning...

Simon Cowell has received the dubious honour of being named the author whose book is most often left behind in hotel rooms. Other books in the top ten include Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love, The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and two books in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga, Breaking Dawn and Eclipse.

The survey was carried out in the UK with researchers questioning the managers of 452 Travelodge hotels. More than 20,000 books were left behind in its hotels last year and according to a spokeswoman, an entire suitcase of Mills and Boon romances were found dumped recently in a Leeds hotel room.

Read the full article at writing4all here

I can't recall if I've ever left a book in a hotel room, although I do remember insistently bequeathing Last Exit to Brooklyn to some random guy I was chatting to once on the Nightlink. I had just finished it and he told me he didn't read because books were boring.

Submissions From Emerging Irish Writers Sought For Mexican Journal

2010-09-25T02:58:00.000-07:00

Cuadrivio is seeking submissions of poems and short stories from emerging Irish writers for a special edition of the online journal scheduled for release in May 2011 for Bloomsday. Selected work will appear in Spanish translation.

Due to my tentative (i.e. non-existent) grasp of Spanish, I consulted Spanishdict.com to discover that Cuadrivio means:
1. Quadrivium, place where four roads meet.
2. Anything which can be undertaken four different ways.

Email submissions to: joaguimar@gmail.com
Deadline: November 20th 2010
Include a short bio

Magpie Tales

2010-09-23T02:31:00.000-07:00

I've always longed for a man who drank neat bourbon, smoked filterless cigarettes, and smelled of that old-fashioned cologne. You know, the type that comes in a square glass bottle. He would keep it on the shelf above the bathroom sink and reach for it after his morning shave. And when he'd splash some on his face he would never grimace from the sting. This man was elusive, but I knew he would appear eventually. I had all the faith of a Knock pilgrim who travels for miles and stares at a blank wall, waiting for an apparition of the Virgin Mary.

When I was 16 I took a ferry to Holyhead with my first boyfriend. I forget his name now. Dermot, was it? No, David. Yes, that's it. I'd never been on a boat and I pictured one like in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I imagined myself wiggling my way around the deck and dancing with the captain to the strains of a jazz band. After we boarded, we sat in the carpeted lounge that stank of sweat, cigarette smoke and stale beer. He bought 24 cans of Harp and proceeded to drink them one by one, throwing the empties over deck. I reapplied my red lipstick in my pocket mirror and turned to smile at him through the widening silence that stretched out between us. We watched the Irish Sea churning below. Nothing for miles but blue.
When we arrived at the port, I threw my arms around him and said, ‘Let’s keep going. Let’s go to London. Let’s never go back!’
‘Don’t be thick,’ he said, ‘I’ve football training tomorrow.’ And that was the end of that.

Perhaps that was what attracted me to Barry. My boyfriends before him were just that: boys. To me, Barry seemed like a real man, older, refined. He smoked marlboro lights and drank Guinness, not scotch. Every morning he sprayed himself with Lynx Africa from a can. But still, he looked a bit like Bogart. If you squinted.

The visual prompt for this story was kindly provided by Willow at Magpie Tales. To read more magpie tales click here.

Placating My Inner Bookworm

2010-09-20T04:32:00.000-07:00

My inner bookworm has been neglected of late. Starved of adequate literary nourishment it has shrivelled into a resentful wretch of a thing that gripes about the meagre scraps I deem to throw it, as it whines lamentfully for the days of yore when feasts of words were plentiful and hunger was something you only read about in books.

I didn't mean to be negligent, but I've been daft busy recently. I'm saving for my imminent trip to the States so have accepted every single transcription job I've been offered these past months. I'm making my way through the panic-inducingly large workload, but it's left me with little time for anything else, especially reading.

Now, the last thing I needed to do was buy more books. I've already got stacks waiting to be read, but I was home visiting my family in Dublin over the weekend and on Saturday I took an amble through the Blackrock Market, where I spent many a Saturday during my youth. I would fawn over the rings in the costume jewelry display, trying on each and every one before deciding which to buy, or plonk ridiculous hats onto my head and laugh at my reflection in the mirror, before scuurrying past the resident tarot card reader for fear she would stare at me with her icy blue eyes.

It's amazing how little the market has changed in the intervening years. That same smell - incense and freshly baked cake - floated through the air. Apart from the exotic addition of an asian food stall, the usual suspects of peculiarly shaped candles, children's toys, fridge magnets, crushed velvet scarves, knick knacks and furniture were still lined up.

Thankfully the book stall is still there too and I couldn't resist buying some books from their eclectic range. I just love classic penguin covers, so was delighted to pick up a copy of Vile Bodies. The two Granta books look really interesting. One is based on the theme of 'celebrity' and the other on 'the group'. I love thematic collections. It's fascinating to see how a variety of short story writers interpret the same prompt in different ways. Then there is Bitch Lit, which describes itself as 'a smart and subversive celebration of female anti-heroes.' It's also signed by four of the writers, which was a nice surprise I didn't discover until I got home.

Now I just have to make time to read them all before my inner bookworm gives up the ghost altogether, or worse, transmutes into a tapeworm to wreak revenge on me via my innards.

Today is a Gift...

2010-09-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

"Today is a gift: that's why it's called the present." I once saw that caption emblazoned on a giant poster of a rainbow. *Shudder*

Anyway, the present tense finds itself at the centre of a controversy in the literary world. Philip Pullman has branded the present-tense narration of three books on the Man Booker shortlist as "a silly affectation" which "does nothing but annoy."

Surely it's something subjective which ultimately comes down to personal preference, no?

There's an interesting Guardian article about it here

Probably the most amazing desk in the world...

2010-09-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

Imagine how happy you would be to work behind this desk. Look at the young man in the picture. He's most likely performing some dull admin task but he's smiling away and, hey, who can blame him?

Probably the Most Amazing Desk in the World is located in the Netherlands, in the Architecture Library of the Delft University of Technology. Let's plan a heist.

Frank O' Connor Short Story Festival

2010-09-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

I don't know what masochistic whim posessed me look at the Frank O' Connor Festival programme, as I can't actually attend this year. In fact, I've neve been. (Feckin' disgraceful!) I will definitely try to rectify that next year.

It looks like an amazing line-up. There is a workshop with Mary Morrisy, author of the mesmersing Mother of Pearl. There's also a reading by T.C Boyle. I recently read his collection After the Plague and am now intent on reading his other 19(!) books.

The good news is the programme is worth a look, even if you can't attend this year's festival. In addition to the timetable of events, it's full of author interviews, articles and extracts of stories by the authors nominated for the Frank O' Connor Interntaional Short Story Award.

Have a look, here.

"Puddled in dream-melt"

2010-09-01T08:25:00.000-07:00

A very interesting guest post on Writing4all by short story writer, Kevin Barry, where he discusses his morning writing routine.

Read it here

Incidentally, Kevin Barry was one of our guest speakers when I did the MA at NUI, Galway. He read us one of his short stories and he is a fantastic reader of his work. Very engaging. If you get a chance, definitely check him out.

Electric Picnic Preview at The Gallery Café, Gort

2010-08-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

Spoken word maestro, Marty Mulligan, hosted an Electric Picnic preview show at The Gallery Café in Gort on Monday evening. The night featured some of the Galway-based acts who Marty has lined up to perform on The Word stage this coming weekend.

With our seven members, double bass and guitar, the Atlantis Collective took up a good deal of the cosy upstairs room in the funky surrounds of the Gallery Café (which, by the way, is well worth a visit if you're out Gort way.)

The night featured an eclectic mix of verse, spoken word, music and prose in an informal, salon-style environment. Pete Mullineaux read a moving poem about bringing his father to a Neill Young concert; Eddie Stack had us in stitches with his short story about a telephone psychic and a dwarf with a U2 obsession; while accomplished slam poets, Dave Rock and Brendan Murphy both gave compelling performances. All in all, it was a great taster for the weekend to come.

The Atlantis Collective will performing a 30 minute set of short fiction and music on The Word stage at Electric Picnic this coming Sunday at 5.30pm.

Moloch - New Issue Online

2010-08-05T01:30:00.000-07:00

A new issue of Moloch is out and is available to view here. This e-journal edited by Clodagh Moynan and Ailbhe Darcy offers a stunning mix of poetry, short fiction and original artwork.

I was guest prose editor on this issue and really enjoyed reading the submissions. We chose two fantastic short stories which are well worth a read: 'No Barbarians Allowed' by Paul Kavanagh and 'Motley Crue' by Kevin Cabrera.

In this issue, you can also find poetry from Geraldine Mitchell, Paul Perry, and Alan Jude Moore, among others.

Moloch accepts submissions on an ongoing basis. See submission details here.

Will Days Indeed Come: I Come From There

2010-07-22T06:13:00.000-07:00

Over The Edge is looking for poems from poets worldwide on any aspect of the Israel-Palestine issue.

The poems can be from any point of view. The only criteria being that they must work as poems and be in some way relevant to what has been happening in that part of the world. We also welcome poems from those living in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank on any aspect of life as it is lived there.

The title of the project Will Days Indeed Come: I Come From There is borrowed from the titles of two poems: Will Days Indeed Come by Leah Goldberg and I Come From There by Mahmoud Darwish.
The poems will be published as part of a special feature on the Over The Edge website.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Poems should be e-mailed, both in the body of the e-mail and as an attachment to over-the-edge-openreadings@hotmail.com Poets should also simultaneously send a bio of no more than thirty words in the same format.

West Cork Literary Festival

2010-07-10T02:49:00.000-07:00

I'm back in Galway after spending a week at the West Cork Literary Festival. Bantry is a beautiful spot, but it does take a LONG time to get to from Galway. The world's leading scientists should take a break from inventing anti-wrinkle creams, or whatever it is they're doing, and get cracking on inventing one of those Star Trek-style teleportation devices.

Myself and my friend Bridget were at the festival to co-facilitate a 5-day workshop for children called Getting into Character: From Page to Stage. We had 15 participants in total, ranging in age from 8-12 and they were a fantastic group – enthusiastic, creative and at times, completely zany and off the wall! We used a combination of drama techniques and fun writing exercises to come up with ideas for characters and on the final day, the participants performed the plays they had written.

The festival line-up was great, with a mixture of both free and ticketed events. John Boyne read from his novel The House of Special Purpose. The story focuses on the relationship between Alexei Romanov, only son of Tsar Nicholas II, and his teenage bodyguard. In the Q&A session afterwards, John told us he actually wrote a lot of the book at The Hermitage in St. Petersburg. How cool is that? I've always been fascinated by that period of Russian history and visited The Hermitage myself a few years ago. It's an incredible place where you can feel the history seeping from the walls.

I've been a fan of the Fish Anthology for years, so it was great to have the chance to attend the launch. It took place in St. Brendan's Church and we sat in uncomfortable wooden pews while poet, Matthew Sweeney sermonised from the altar. Surreal to say the least. The overall short story winner was Jane Camens, who came all the way from Australia to attend the launch. She wore a hat during her reading. In fact, two of the other readers also donned prop hats before braving the microphone. What's that about? Is there some 'zeitgeisty hat-wearing performance thing' going on that I don't know about? Anyway, I was delighted to see Catherine Phil MacCarthy - IWC board member, talented writer and all round lovely individual - awarded the top poetry prize for her poem, Limbo.

Overall, a great festival with a relaxed, friendly atmosphere and a terrific and varied programme. I'd definitely recommend it.

Me at The Hermitage in 2006.

Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women's Stories - Submissons Sought

2010-06-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

Submissions of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, photography and artwork are currently being sought for a new anthology.

Mapping Me: A Landscape of Women's Stories is an anthology of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, photography and artwork. Its objective is to explore the connections - the invisible threads - that exist between women across the globe. How do women respond to motherhood, rage, loss, relationships and loneliness across cultures? Do we share the same concept of grief and sadness, joy and love? We seek writers and artists to tell stories, real and fiction, that negotiate the demands placed upon everyday women by society.

There are 6 submission categories:

1. Stories of movement and motivation, restriction and escape.
2. Stories about food and nurturing.
3. Stories about, touch, love, sexuality or virginity.
4. Stories about self-image, judgments, perceptions and observation.
5. Stories about motherhood, family, marriage, fertility, birth.
6. Stories of laughter, fun, malice, viciousness.

Short stories: no more than 1000 words
Creative non-fiction: no more than 1000 words
Poetry: 4 to 6 pieces.
Flash fiction - anything less than 500 words.

No entry fee.
Deadline: September 1st 2010
More info here.

I think I'll write a piece that falls into ALL categories. Surely that would increase my chances six-fold! So, a story about a pregnant cabbage with body issues who is plotting to flee from an arranged marriage to a sexy but malicious turnip. Practically writes itself...

Flash in the Pan

2010-06-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

Oh, if only I had a spare €200...

Fish Publishing is running an online course in flash fiction. It consists of ten modules and a series of assignments. The idea is to have a piece by the end of the course to enter into the Fish One-Page Story Prize.

I have become fascinated by flash fiction of late and am an avid reader of SmokeLong Quarterly. (It's the perfect way to get a sneaky fiction fix in work!)

Thus far I haven't fared too well with my own attempts, so I've really come to respect the skill it takes to write flash fiction well. Just how to write succinctly, yet still tell a story worth telling? It reminds me of that oft-quoted comment by Mark Twain, "If I had more time I would write a shorter letter."

New Publisher, Modesty Press, Seeking Submissions

2010-05-31T06:19:00.000-07:00

There's a new kid in town! The oddly named, Modesty Press, are a Dublin-based publisher who aim to publish "original new fiction in beautifully designed books at a reasonable price." Sounds great! (I for one would definitely be interested in purchasing said reasonably priced beautifully designed books of original new fiction.) Plans are also afoot for Modest Radio, a station that will air stories and interviews with writers, critics and others.

Modesty Press are currenly accepting submissions for the inaugural issue of A Modest Review. There is a minimum word count for fiction, but no upper limit, it seems. So good news for the 'long' short story writers.

Short fiction and creative non-fiction: 1,000 words min.
Poetry:No restrictions
Deadline: July 1st 2010

Check out the website here

'Diary of an Interesting Year'

2010-05-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed Helen Simpson's story, 'Diary of an Interesting Year' in The Sunday Times Magazine yesterday. If you didn't get to read it, it's available on their website here. It reminded me of Margaret Atwood's more dystopian offerings, like 'Oryx and Crake' or 'The Handmaid's Tale'. I love stories that tread quite dark territory, but still manage to maintain an element of the comic.

It's the first Helen Simpson story I've read, but apparently she has five collections of short stories. To the bookshop!

An bfhuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas, mais é do thoill é?

2010-05-19T07:09:00.000-07:00

Irish-language magazine An Gael are currently accepting submissions of poetry, short stories and articles.

Séamas Poncán, editor of An Gael, has the following to say: 'Má tá scéal, dán nó alt agat nach raibh i gcló go fóill, bheinn sásta súil a chaitheamh air agus tá seans ann go nglacfar é mar ábhar san iris seo. Is mise an t-eagarthóir. Seol ábhar go angael@optonline.net. Faraor, ag an bponc seo, ní féidir linn íoc as, ach tá seans ann go ndéanfar amhlaidh ar ball.'