Loose Leaves/Sadbh It's not every day a literary critic has a conference devoted to him but then it's not every day that a colossus such as Denis Donoghue strides the stage. To mark his 75th birthday, writers and academics will throng Queen's University, Belfast from June 12th to 14th for an event appropriately titled 'Transatlantic Poetics and the Discipline of Literature'.
Appropriate because of the way his career has straddled Ireland and America. Sir Frank Kermode kicks off the proceedings, which even feature a lecture on the man himself, 'Denis Donoghue and Irishness in Literature in an Age of Identity Politics', by Hanna Gehoer of the University of Helsinki. Colm Tóibín, Harry Clifton, Medbh McGuckian, Sinead Morrissey and Ruth Padel are among the writers participating. Many topics are current, including papers on 'Reading Western Tragedy after 9/11 and Recent Global Events', and 'Canonisation and the Irish Theatre Diaspora: Irish Playwrights and American Reviewers'. The last lecture, in the Linen Hall Library, will be given by the subject of the conference himself, talking about 'Joyce, Leavis and the Revolution of the Word'.
It's 30 years since Prof Donoghue supervised Sadbh's MA thesis at UCD - a slightly terrifying experience at 21 that over the years has crystallised into a thrilling memory.
"In the 20th century in the Irish academy there really wasn't a literary critic of international stature until Denis came on the scene at a remarkably young age in the late 1950s. His first book, The Third Voice, a study of English verse drama ranging through T.S. Eliot, Christopher Fry et al would at first glance appear to be standard PhD fodder but was a quantum leap beyond that - and he was still only in his late 20s. Now, five decades later, he's still there at the top of the tree," says Robert Mahony, Visiting Professor of English at QUB, who with Brian Caraher, also of QUB, has organised the celebratory bash. Donoghue, who is Henry James Professor of English and American Letters at New York University, will have a new book out next month from Yale, called Speaking of Beauty. He won't, he says, be offering to say why Jennifer Lopez and Brad Pitt are beautiful, or what cultural axioms are at work in the common agreement that they are, but he will be outlining how beauty is a topic that has once again become interesting and even fashionable. He will also show how it can be discussed with intelligence and decency via a cast that ranges from Kant and Keats to Hawthorne and Housman, to mention just a few. The secret of all this productivity? He still plays tennis every day.
QUB conference details from www.qub.ac.uk/en/transatlantic
O'Brien captures the Rooney
The AIB Bankcentre in Ballsbridge, Dublin, was packed on Tuesday night for the awarding of the €8,000 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature to Edenderry-born Eugene O'Brien (35). In an era where longevity is becoming a rare commodity, it's good to note that this prize is now in its 28th year and still in robust good health. O'Brien shot on to the scene when his first major work, Eden, was premièred at the Peacock Theatre in 2001, going on to win the Best New Play at The Irish Times/ESB Theatre Awards and the Stewart Parker Best New Play Award in that year. He has written two monologues, America 87 and Checking for Squirrels, both produced by Black Box Theatre Company and co-wrote the short films, Cold Turkey and America - A Movie. His credentials as an actor are also impressive. At the moment he's working on a new play, Savoy, for production at the Peacock this autumn.
A real Danish treat
What nationality leaps to mind when you think of children's literature? Denmark, and the influence of Hans Christian Andersen, is visible indirectly in The World of Wonders, a Danish picture-book exhibition which runs at the ILAC Centre Library in Dublin until May 29th. Mainly composed of illustrated books and their artwork, you don't need to speak Danish to enjoy it and this could be the perfect focus for a school visit. Who knows what creative heights it might spur children on to? Exhibition details from Michael O'Brien at 01-4923333 or Nicola Sedgwick at
01-2952112.
Poets' corner
Paul Durcan, Anne Haverty, Cathal Ó Searcaigh and Anthony Cronin are among the writers featuring during two 10-day conferences in July and August at the Poet's House, in Falcarragh, Co Donegal. Interestingly, there are different fees for different folks - €800 for non-EU participants and €450 for EU participants.
Details from 074-9165470. E-mail: phouse@iol.ie
Website: www.poetshouse.ie