Miller book's Monroe gossip

LOOSE LEAVES:  COULD THERE be more revelations about Marilyn Monroe? Weidenfeld & Nicolson, who are bringing out a biography…

LOOSE LEAVES: COULD THERE be more revelations about Marilyn Monroe? Weidenfeld & Nicolson, who are bringing out a biography of Arthur Miller next January, say the book has new material on the playwright's marriage to the iconic actress.

Arthur Miller: The Definitive Biographyby Christopher Bigsby, a director of the Arthur Miller Institute at the University of East Anglia, focuses on the 15 years after the second World War - the productive period in which his work included Death of a Salesman(1949) and The Crucible(1953).

The book ends after Monroe's death in 1962. Miller lived on for over 40 years, dying in 2005.

Leabhar Power generation

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A big push to get people reading in Irish gets underway on Monday with the start of Leabhar Power throughout the country. Run by Clé - The Irish Book Publishers' Association, Foras na Gaeilge, Bord na Leabhar Gaeilge, the Arts Council and the book distribution agency ÁIS, and now in its fourth year, they hope the message will reach into homes where Irish is not the first language.

Writers Gabriel Rosenstock, Riona Nic Chongail, Gabriel Fitzmaurice and Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin will take part in bookshop events for children, a catalogue of recommended reading in Irish will be in bookshops and libraries, and everyone who buys an Irish-language book in one of the shops participating in the promotion - which runs until St Patrick's Day - will get a Leabhar Power canvas bag to bring it home in.

Meanwhile writers Celia de Fréine, Anna Heusaff and Éilis Ní Dhuibhne take part in a talk, Why Write in Irish?, in Dublin at 8pm on March 13th at an event in the United Arts Club on 3 Upper Fitzwilliam Street.

Éilis Ní Dhuibhne, who will chair the event, is the author of three books in Irish. De Fréine is a poet, critic, dramatist and screenwriter in both Irish and English. Anna Heusaff's novels include, Bás Tobannand Cúpla Focal.

Booking is essential at irishpen@ireland.com

Talk on original Dublin It girl

What was Laetitia Pilkington, whose memorial tablet can be found in St Ann's Church on Dublin's Dawson Street, really like?

Norma Clarke, author of Queen of the Wits: A Life of Laetitia Pilkington, just published by Faber, will give a free lecture on the writer at 1.30pm on Monday March 3rd, at St Ann's with a free glass of wine and book-signing session afterwards.