Loose Leaves Caroline WalshTwo Irish poets are on the shortlist for this year's TS Eliot prize: Alan Gillis for his second collection, Hawks and Doves, published by Gallery Press and Matthew Sweeney for Black Moon published by Jonathan Cape.
Gillis, a native of Belfast, now lives in Scotland where he teaches at Edinburgh University. His first collection, Somebody, Somewhere, won the Rupert and Eithne Strong Award for Best First Collection in 2004 and was shortlisted for The Irish Times Poetry Now Award.
Black Moon is Sweeney's 11th collection. Born in Co Donegal and living in London, he also writes poetry for children. His Selected Poems came out in 2002 and he is writer in residence at the Munster Literature Centre in Cork for 2007 where he will be conducting mentorships with poets on the threshold of a first collection. He will also give public workshops on such topics as Notebooks and Drafts, The Sestina, Poetry and Food, Poetry and the Body, Poetry and the Sea and The Haiku as well as being involved in a short film project and workshops with children.
The TS Eliot prize fund is up this year. The winner will receive £15,000, with each shortlisted writer getting £1,000. The judges are the poets Peter Porter, Sujata Bhatt and WN Herbert and the winner will be announced on January 14th. Also on the shortlist are Ian Duhig's The Speed of Dark (Picador); Sophie Hannah's Pessimism for Beginners (Carcanet); Mimi Khalvati's The Meanest Flower (Carcanet); Frances Leviston's Public Dream (Picador); Sarah Maguire's The Pomegranates of Kandahar (Chatto & Windus); Edwin Morgan's A Book of Lives (Carcanet); Sean O'Brien's The Drowned Book (Picador) and Fiona Sampson's Common Prayer (Carcanet).
See www.poetrybookshoponline.com
This drama is William Blake
The 250th anniversary of William Blake's birth on November 28th, 1757, will be commemorated in Dublin when the Balloonatics Theatre Company presents a new solo performance William Blake: These Songs Are Not Mine, based on the poet's life, by Paul O'Hanrahan, who has previously done adaptations of the work of James Joyce. Featuring extracts from Blake's poetry and letters in a dramatised reading, the new show will be premiered on November 21st at the Unitarian Church, St Stephen's Green, Dublin at 8pm before transferring to London.
Hutchinson at 80
Michael Augustin, Sujata Bhatt, Eva Bourke, Harry Clifton, Philip Coleman, Louis de Paor, Pádraig de Paor, Paul Durcan, Kit Fryatt, Maria Johnston, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Ciaran O'Driscoll, Alan Titley and Robert Welch are among the stellar line-up that will be taking part in a symposium to mark the 80th birthday of poet Pearse Hutchinson in Trinity College, Dublin on December 14th and 15th. There will be readings, lectures and discussion of Hutchinson's work and admission is free. The venue is the Robert Emmet Theatre in the Arts Building.
See www.tcd.ie/info/conferences
Irish-language awards
The Connemara publishing company Cló Iar-Chonnachta has won the €10,000 Irish-language book of the year award for Mise an fear ceoil: Séamus Ennis - Dialann Taistil 1942-1946, the travel diaries of piper and music collector Séamus Ennis, published in April. The award was presented during the Oireacht na Gaeilge festival in Westport last week and is sponsored by Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge, the Irish-language books board. Ennis worked as a full-time collector for the Irish Folklore Commission, and the diaries give an account of his work in Mayo, Galway, Donegal, Clare, Cavan and Limerick. A musician who had the knack of persuading even the most reluctant to share their music with him, he was able to document an oral tradition that was dying but the diaries also reveal a lot about Ennis himself and give an insight into life in the west of Ireland during the second World War. His diaries are part of the National Folklore Collection at UCD and were prepared for publication by Ríonach uí Ógáin who also received a €5,000 cheque as part of the prize.
The award for the Irish-language children's book of the year went to new publishing company An tSnáthaid Mhór for Gaiscíoch na Beilte Uaine by Caitríona Nic Sheáin and Andrew Whitson.
That's the stocking sorted
Always great to see new outlets for bookselling and for the third year Clé, the umbrella group for Irish publishers, will organise and manage a showcase of Irish-published books at the RDS Christmas Craft Fair in Dublin from December 5th to 9th. This year they'll also be at the Christmas Fair at St George's Market, Belfast, from December 8th to 9th. As well as selling titles they'll be bringing along various authors for book signings - a nice touch at Christmas giving people a chance to get presents specially signed.