LOOSE LEAVES:Good to see bookshops fighting back against online sales with their trump card: author events. Readers may remember that when the now-closed Waterstones first came to Dawson Street in Dublin, its evening readings were lovely social events that were always packed out: a win-win for visiting authors and the bookshops.
Belinda McKeon, writer of the award-winning Solace, will be at the Rathgar Bookshop, in Dublin 6, on May 23rd at 7.30pm to read from and discuss her work. Admission is €4, including wine; email rathgarbooks@eircom.net.
Hodges Figgis, on Dawson Street, is going one better with a free event based around the short story, on May 24th at 7pm. Two fine exponents of the genre, Kevin Barry and Mary Costello, will be there to read from their latest work. Barry’s new book of stories, Dark Lies the Island, is picking up rave reviews, as is Costello’s debut collection, The China Factory.
The stationery collection of the original country girl
This week’s fine documentary Edna O’Brien: Life, Stories, on RTÉ, gave a fascinating insight into the daily routine of a writer. Every morning the 81-year-old is at her desk in her book-lined study in Chelsea writing longhand – her assistant types up the work later – and her preferred paper is the swanky stationery from the Merrion Hotel in Dublin. When the hotel discovered that its guest regularly slips its letterhead into her bag for later use, it promptly dispatched a couple of reams to her London home. O’Brien, much to her assistant’s horror, is a ruthless self-editor, requesting that great chunks of work be deleted without a hint of writerly angst.
Sendak joins the wild rumpus in the sky
The American author and illustrator Maurice Sendak, one of the most important children’s-book artists of the 20th century, died this week, at the age of 83. His most famous book, Where the Wild Things Are, which he wrote in 1963 and is still a bestselling must-have for any child’s bookshelf, is credited with changing the genre. Out went moralistic tales of good children doing brave things in a safe world where, no matter what happens, everything is tied up in a bow at the end and in came a world of fantastic monsters, bold children and bossy, difficult characters who go on great adventures. It’s told in simple language with bold illustrations that leap off the page (above).
His most recent book, Bumble-Ardy, which was published in the US last September and spent five weeks at the top of the New York Times bestseller list, tells the story of a mischievous orphaned pig (his parents have long since been turned into sausages) who at the age of nine throws himself his first birthday party; the event quickly spirals out of control.
A Fish prizewinner called Martin
Congratulations to Bradford-born Martin Childs, the winner of this year’s Fish Poetry Prize for his poem What Remains. Childs is no stranger to awards: as a movie production designer he won an Oscar for his work on Shakespeare in Love, and he has also received several Bafta nominations. The second prize went to Irishman Michael Ray, for Before Flight, while Laila Farnes from Somalia picked up third prize, for Still Life.
The runners-up in what is a truly international award include Nina Larsen from Norway, Fiona Lynch from Australia, Cassandra Keen from France and Jane Clarke from Ireland. Billy Collins was this year’s judge.
