WOMEN RULE WRITER

CAITLIN HORROCKS IN REVIEW

2012-02-15T18:03:00.002Z

My review of Caitlin Horrocks's fabulous collection This is Not Your City is in the brand new Short Review. There is also an interview with Caitlin here.

Other short fiction collections reviewed in the February issue include [Refuge]e by Adnan Mahmutovic and The Doll: Short Stories by Daphne Du Maurier.

Kudos, as always, to Tania Hershman who is the editor of the Review.She does sterling work and she still manages to write her own fiction. New book due this spring!

FEEL THE LOVE

2012-02-14T11:01:00.001Z

Saint Valentine receives a rosary from the Virgin, by David Teniers the 3rd

Happy Valentine's Day!

Jason O'Donnell, a student at the National Learning Centre in Limerick, islooking for submissions for a book of love poems called The Colour OfLove which is his end of course final project.

The poems may be inany style, keeping to the theme of 'love', but must beoriginal and previously unpublished. The book will be published inLimerick later on in the year.

Closing date for submisions is the 31stMarch 2012. Submissions, by email only, should be sent tolimerickwriterscentre@gmail.com with LOVE in the subject box. Please also include brief biographical details.

THOUGHTS AFTER NEBRASKA

2012-02-13T20:52:00.000Z

So much to tell, so little time...Where do I begin on the Nebraska trip? Our lovely hosts? The sweet book shops in Lincoln? My fellow readers? It was a whirlwind of a few days and it was action-packed. It's a bit of an antic-climax to be home, mopping up baby sick, cleaning my scruffy house, and imploring my eldest to study for his mock Leaving Cert exams (to no avail). Sigh...

Marianne Kunkel, managing editor, Prairie Schooner

The trip was a huge success, mostly because of the warmth (and efficiency) of the Prairie Schooner crew: Stephen Behrendt, Kwame Dawes and Marianne Kunkel, and everyone else who helped us out and made everything easy and enjoyable.

Bike in the snow, Lincoln

I arrived to snow in Nebraska - well-managed snow that didn't bring the country to a standstill, as it does in Ireland. It was cold. Oh so cold. And they have a wind in Lincoln that would skin a mink. There's a local 'joke' that says that if one day God decided to take away the Nebraskan wind, everything and everyone would fall over. This wind has ice at its heart and may have accounted for the empty streets I encountered each morning on my walkabouts. We had the mornings free so I spent from 9am to midday, each of the three days, wandering the streets of Lincoln, exploring book shops, cafés and vintage shops. I rarely get to be alone so this was nirvana for me.

Kwame Dawes interviews Deanie Rowan-Blank

Aidan Rooney, reading

On the two afternoons each of us guests - myself, Aidan Rooney, Sandra Bunting and Deanie Rowan Blank - were interviewed and we read at the Sheldon Art Gallery. The Sheldon owns the Edward Hopper painting 'Room in New York', which brought to mind Pictures from Hopper the brand new short fiction collection from Neil Campbell. I'll be reviewing that collection here soon. The Hopper was so captivating I went back to see it a second time.

'Room in New York', Edward Hopper

Also at the Sheldon, Aidan and myself took part in a panel on contemporary Irish literature, chaired by Stephen Behrendt, and with two PhD CW students, Karen Babine and Bret Shepard. We talked a lot about sense of place in Irish writing and we hit on poetry reviewing and the role of the internet in literary publication.

Cody Lumpkin interviews Sandra Bunting

Kwame and Marianne brought us for dinner in the Green Gateau, an atmospheric French(-ish) restaurant where I got my first taste of lavosh, a delicious Armenian flatbread. Mmm. The talk and banter flowed on poetry, writing, teaching, whiskey, publishers and lots more besides.

On the second afternoon we listened to a group of PhD students from the English Department at UNL read extracts from the Irish issue of Prairie Schooner. Crystal Gibbins read Ann Tannam's wonderfully witty poems, John Schulze read an extract from William Wall's novel extract, and there was also a section read of Aiden O'Reilly's short story 'A Drop to Warm my Blood'.

Irish Car Bomb truffles

That evening there was a reception in The Sheldon Gallery to celebrate the issue's launch and there was Irish-themed food. I had already had dinner with the lovely Scott Winter who runs Air Schooner, the podcast for the journal, in The Blue Orchid, a Thai place, great for veggies like me. So I didn't get to sample the food, which included Irish Car Bomb Truffles (!) and Shamrock Martinis (all I know is they had Baileys in them).

Stephen Behrendt, editor of the Irish issue and us

After the reception the four of us read, mostly from our selections in Prairie Schooner. The backdrop to our reading was a slideshow of beautiful photos from Alen MacWeeney. It was a lovely evening and we enjoyed a drink afterwards at our hotel, before parting fondly. We all were leaving at various times the next day.

Indigo Bridge Books & Café

As for my mornings that I spent to myself, I enjoyed very much two book shops in particular: Indigo Bridge Books, a spacious shop with gorgeous displays and a dinky coffee shop. I got Juno a pink Pride and Prejudice t-shirt with a peacock on it. Perfect for her in so many ways :)

Eddy, the beautiful shop cat in A Novel Idea

The other book shop I loved was one that sold secondhand books, A Novel Idea. It houses two shop cats - the one called Eddy followed me around. I got some Nebraskan poetry anthologies there which was pleasing.

Compare and contrast

I also had a great time at the Nebraska History Museum which houses a vast and impressive display of Native American artefacts: dolls, weapons, beaded clothes, paintings, photos, war bonnets etc etc. It was brilliant.

Me with snowbank

OK, this has turned into a very looooong blog post (and I hate long posts). Overall, it was a great trip: the people were incredibly friendly and welcoming; our suites in the hotel were roomy and comfy; we were treated like royalty; there was lots of interesting chat about literature and Lincoln is a really nice city to visit. I only saw one section of the downtown area but it was fun, lots of good places to eat, tons of culture etc etc. I'd go back in a heartbeat :)

Begorrah - breakfast in Lincoln :)

YouTube READING OF 'PEACH'

2012-02-07T09:10:00.001Z

So I am off on my Nebraska trip tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to getting going and to meeting my fellow readers and all the Prairie Schooner crew at the launch events in Lincoln.

I made a video of me reading 'Peach', my story that is in Prairie Schooner, and have posted it on YouTube. Because YouTube only allows clips, rather clunkily I've had to chop it up into four parts. But it's there anyway, for anyone who has oodles of time on their hands. Part 1 is below, the other parts are handily called Peach Part 2 etc.

Cheerio and talk to you all next week!

DERMOT BOLGER CALLS FOR WOMEN'S MONOLOGUES

2012-02-06T09:53:00.000Z

Writer Dermot Bolger is looking for women from Ireland to write a 650 word monologue about moving into a house in Dublin, any time in the last forty years. He specifically wants unpublished writers (unpublished in book form, I imagine).

The monologues will be performed during his play in the Axis in Ballymun (a different one for each performance) - opening night 10th April. The writer can read it, or an actor will perform it if the writer doesn't want to.

Send your monologue to teachestsanddreams@gmail.com
or to Tea Chest and Dreams Competition, Axis Arts Centre, Main Street, Ballymun, Dublin 9.

ANOTHER FREE FLASH COMP!

2012-02-05T09:20:00.002Z

Areyou sick of hearing about comps yet? There has been an explosion of short storyand flash comps lately and here's another from Writers & Artists:

Writea 300 word flash to be judged by Vanessa Gebbie.

Prizes:

Firstplace winner will receive a signed copy of Vanessa'snovel The Coward’s Tale in hardback, a copy of the Writers’and Artists’ Yearbook 2012, and also have their work featured on ourwebsite.

Secondplace winner will receive a signed copy of The Coward’s Tale in hardback and also havetheir work featured on the W&A website.

HighlyCommended- two highly commended entries will also have theirwork featured on the website.

Ifyou are up to the challenge, read Vanessa Gebbie’s flash fiction article for inspiration and submit your entry to writersandartists@bloomsbury.comby the 22^nd February 2012.

Winners will be announced on the 7^thMarch – good luck!

2012 McLaverty Short Story Award

2012-02-03T11:07:00.001Z

In memory of Michael McLaverty, one of Ireland’s acclaimed short story writers, the Linen Hall Library has launched the 2012 Michael McLaverty Short Story Award. Entrants must have been born in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland and be over 18 years of age.

Word count: 3000

The prize is £2,000 and the writer’s work will be published by the Library.

The Library is delighted to announce that the confirmed adjudicators will be Anne Tannahill, freelance editor and former MD of Blackstaff Press, and Irish novelist Jennifer Johnston.

The competition originally launched in 2006 and runs biennially. The purpose of the award is to foster and encourage the tradition of the Irish short story. Closing date for entries is midnight Friday 29 June 2012.

For more information about entry guidelines please contact the Linen Hall Library on 028 9032 1707, or visit the website.

'PEACH' READING & NEBRASKA EVENTS

2012-02-02T11:29:00.001Z

Sheldon Art Museum, Lincoln

There's an audio clip of me reading from my story 'Peach' here at the Prairie Schooner site. The clip is taken from a video of me reading from the story. I have to chop up the video and get it up on YouTube - it's about half an hour long. The clip is just a few minutes, though.

I'm heading to Lincoln, Nebraska next week for the 2 day launch event of Prairie Schooner - can't wait! It's a bit of an adventure because I'm going alone. I normally have at least my husband with me. All that aeroplane time to read and think and write. Yay! And Lincoln seems very vegetarian friendly too, which is cool. Nom nom.

Schedule here:

Feb. 9th - Sheldon Art Museum

1-2 p.m.: on-stage interview/reading with Sandra Bunting

2-3 p.m.: on-stage interview/reading with Nuala Ní Chonchúir

3:30-5 p.m.: panel on contemporary Irish literature

Feb. 10 - at Sheldon Art Museum

1-2 p.m.: on-stage interview/reading with Aidan Rooney

2-3 p.m.: on-stage interview/reading with Deanie Rowan Blank

3:30-5 p.m.: issue launch (guest readings from issue)

7-8 p.m.: reception

8 p.m.: readings from Bunting, Ní Chonchúir, Rooney, Blank

Here is some info on my fellow readers Sandra Bunting, Deanie Rowan Blank and Aidan Rooney.

LEAP YEAR FLASH COMP

2012-02-01T10:10:00.000Z

Happy Saint Brigid's Day, readers!

Here's a free-to-enter flash fiction comp with a leap year theme, this month having 29 days and all. It's run by Creative Writing - The Artist's Way (with more than a nod to Julia Cameron, I'm sure). Details below:

To celebrate leap year, and tofind some bold and original writing, we are running our first ever flashcompetition. 5 winners will be published in an e-anthology and receive a freecopy of our book.

Length: 750 words max

Theme: Take a Leap (feel free to interpret)

Entry fee: free

Deadline: 29th February, sarahjanedobbs@gmail.comwith ‘Take a Leap’ in the subject line

Prize: 5 winners receive e-book publicationand a free copy of Creative Writing for Creative People: Beginners. First place receives a free place on our course (if the author desires).

PODCAST FROM NEBRASKA

2012-01-28T09:25:00.003Z

Wright Morris, author

Ahead of my trip to Nebraska in early February, I've been interviewed on Air Schooner - by the velvet-voiced Scott Winter - the brand new radio-magazine podcast from Prairie Schooner. The programme starts with an interview with Stephen Behrendt who was managing editor of the magazine when the Irish issue was put together.

I've also been reading Wright Morris in preparation for my trip, which is probably like someone who has never been to Ireland reading Liam O'Flaherty ahead of coming here. But I am enjoying Wright's wryness and language and it's good to know something about Nebraskan writing.

TREVOR-BOWEN PRIZE 2012

2012-01-27T09:06:00.003Z

Unknown photographer, Elizabeth Bowen, May 1953

It is certainly the season for literary competitions. Find the Trevor-Bowen details below. First prize has been upped to €3000 - that's the same as the Francis MacManus Award's pot. When I won that I brought my family on holiday to Portugal, bought a press for my wineglasses (so necessary) and a red leather Filofax. I had a day job at the time so could afford to be splashy with the cashy. No such luck these days. I've just remembered Ita Daly was one of the judges then too :)

Anyhoo, here are the details of the Trevor-Bowen. Good luck :)

WILLIAM TREVOR / ELIZABETH BOWEN

INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY COMPETITION 2012

FIRST PRIZE: 3,000 EURO (SPONSORED BYWILLIAM TREVOR)

2nd prize: 500 Euro

5 runners up prizes of 200 Euro each.

Mitchelstown Literary Society is pleased toannounce the launch of the second William Trevor / Elizabeth Bowen International Short Story Competition.

The Society was founded to celebrate thelives and works of two of Ireland's literary greats with Mitchelstownconnections. The short story competition evolved as a natural adjunct to ourannual literary festival and aims to provide a competitive outlet for new andemerging writers in the short story genre. The continued support of WilliamTrevor includes sponsoring the very generous First Prize.

Our adjudicators are both well-known shortstory writers and book reviewers. They will select a short list ofapproximately 25 stories to be passed on for final adjudication.

Drumshanbo born, Dublin resident, Ita Daly,our main adjudicator, was married to writer and editor, the late DavidMarcus. Educated at UCD, Ita holds aMasters Degree in English. She haspublished five novels, a collection of short stories and two children'sbooks. Two times winner of the HennessyLiterary Awards and an Irish Times Short Story Award winner, Ita's last novel'Unholy Ghosts' was long listed for the Impact Award.

Details of rules, official entry form(s),payment methods etc. can be had from our official contact points indicatedbelow.

There is entry fee of €20 per entryand the closing date for receipt of entries is last post on Friday, 30th March2012.

The winner and runners up will be notifiedpersonally as well as results being posted to the competition website as theybecome available.

Entries, by post only, to:

Trevor/Bowen International Short StoryCompetition,

37 Upper Cork Street,

Mitchelstown,

Co. Cork,

Ireland.

Contact Points: Tel: 025/84969. Email: cusackliam@eircom.net

Visit: www.mitchelstownlit.com

WOMEN WRITERS WANTED

2012-01-26T13:04:00.000Z

US publisher Carolina Wren Press is looking for entries for the Doris Bakwin Award - a book prize for women writers. I am reliably informed that 'books by this press are very well done and received' and that 'theywould like Irish writers to enter'.

Deadline: March 15th, 2012

Entry Fee: $20

Website: www.carolinawrenpress.org

E-mail address: carolinawrenpress@earthlink.net

A prize of $1,000 and publication by Carolina Wren Press is given bienniallyfor a short story collection, a novel, or a memoir by a woman. Submit a printedcopy of the first 50 to 60 pages of a manuscript and an electronic copy of thefull manuscript with a $20 entry fee by March 15.
Send an SASE, e-mail, orvisit the website for complete guidelines.

Carolina Wren Press, Doris Bakwin Award, 120 Morris Street, Durham, NC 27701.(919) 560-2738.

Virginia Woolf's Birthday - two poems

2012-01-25T10:10:00.001Z

Virginia Woolf was born on the 25th January 1882 - 130 years ago today. So here's a (sad) poem for her birthday from my collection Tattoo ~ Tatú (Arlen House, 2007).

I'm reading Virginia's short fiction at the moment. Hmm. Finding it a bit impenetrable. But I will soldier on.

See below for a just added second poem for Virginia by Adam Wyeth.

Virginia’s Last Walk

Theday collapsed on me:

therewas nowhere to go

butfull forward,

somy feet stepped on,

surerthan I that

therewas no way back.

Iloaded the pockets

ofmy smock with

stoneon grey stone,

andstood on the bank

smellingthe river-stink,

watchingthe churn of weeds.

Awood-pigeon broke

froma high branch,

andI lifted my head

tothe slap-flutter of wings,

theflash of a purple throat –

amomentary distraction.

Ieased myself into the Ouse,

letits wet fingers mangle me,

andthe weight of my dress

pullme down and down.

Theriver swallowed me,

closedin over my head.

Theday had collapsed:

Ihad nowhere to go

butfull, fast forward,

somy feet stepped on,

surerthan I that

therewas no way back.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Addendum:

Adam Wyeth just posted this in the comments (at least I am presuming it was Adam Wyeth!!!). It is wonderful:

Who’s Afraid

The stone knew nothing.
Any one of them could
have been selected.
But this one had a particular
shape and feel that she liked.

*

In the golden country
amid the South Downs,
she runs –
needing to unravel
barbed wire knots
that tear her mind.
Then stops – beneath
a large beech tree –
pulls paper and pen
from her flowery pocket,
swiftly scribbles.
In the middle of a tunnel
the only way out
is to walk through everything.
But the light grows dim,
she runs out of paper.
It is final then.
She makes her way down to the river,
stops to pick up a heavy stone
and forces it into her pocket.

ELEANOR HOOKER INTERVIEW

2012-01-24T08:27:00.000Z

Poet Eleanor Hooker

Today I interview poet Eleanor Hooker, whose début collection The Shadow Owner’s Companion is published by Dedalus Press next week. Eleanor lives in NorthTipperary. She has an MPhil in Creative Writing from Trinity College and is Vice-Chairperson and PRO for the Dromineer Literary Festival. She is also helm and Press Officer for the Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat. She began her career as a nurse and midwife.

A big welcome to the Women Rule Writer blog, Eleanor, I always love to host poets here.

Thank you very much for having me here, Nuala.

Tell us a little about your collection The Shadow Owner’s Companion. Has it been a long time in the making? What were your triggers for these poems?

I guess like many debut collections, many of the poems have autobiographical elements. It’s inevitable that poems reflect the poet’s life in some way, but I detest the term ‘confessional poetry’. I think it is a pejorative tag used to demean poems and should be banned from the lexicon.

The oldest poem in the collection is ‘Granddad’. I haven’t tweaked or re-worked it because it was written when I was very young and with an entirely different sensibility. Granddad died when I was fourteen. Many of the triggers for the poems come from life events, while others are triggered by something I’ve read, heard or overheard.

‘Glow Stone’ was written for my elder son George. He gave me a glow stone for my bedside (I’m still afraid of the dark!), so I gave him a sonnet.

For me this book has atmosphere, which is always welcome. There is a certain amount of menace in the poems, particularly with reference to childhood. Can you talk about that?

I like that it has atmosphere. Childhood can be an at times baffling and even frightening place. When I look back, it seemed there was a system of rules that everyone understood except me. I was a persistent day dreamer with a wild imagination, which often got me into trouble.

As a child I worried a good deal. I remember being taken to the cinema to see Bambi and Pinocchio - horror movies! They tap into a child’s worst fears of abandonment, of being orphaned. I never took my boys to see either of those movies.

I could never do something simply because I was told to, I always needed to understand why. The answer ‘That’s the why’, so often given, never satisfied.

Like Ted Hughes, the pike is a recurrent motif in your poetry. What is the significance of that particular fish for you?

In my poems, the pike is a metaphor for every kind of menace. Pike are also known as freshwater sharks; they are predatory fish that prey on the living and the dead. Northern Pike have razor sharp teeth not only in their jaws but also on their tongues, the roof of their mouths and their gill rakers! If we catch a pike, we always let it go, poor fish!

Ghosts appear in your poems. Have you encountered ghosts or are these the fictional kind?

Our house has a reputation for its following shadows. It can be pretty spooky here.

You enjoy working in forms, particularly the villanelle. Which comes first for you, the poem or the form?

The poem, or rather the idea for a poem. Sometimes I find a particular idea needs to be contained by form, and I welcome the chant-like repetition a villanelle allows an idea within a poem.

You are a founder member of the Dromineer Literary Festival, as well as PRO for the Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat. You are also a wife and mother. How do you prioritise your writing in the midst of all that busy-ness?

I am most productive when I am busy. Our two boys are at university now and I am a full time volunteer. We have a blast on the literary festival committee, we work steadily throughout the year and it only gets really crazy a month before the festival. As well as Press Officer, I am also a helm on the lifeboat; it’s physical and demanding and inspires my poetry. It’s good, I think, to have an active physical and intellectual life.

Why do you write?

Poems are a safe place to put vulnerable, breakable things. Prose provides company.

What is your writing process – morning or night – longhand or laptop?

I jot ideas down in a notebook. I would go through too much paper if I wrote longhand, so I transcribe my ideas to the computer and work from there. Someone told me recently that their poems start with a line, which they write down and work on later. I think that is so cool, I always begin with an idea, a concept. I’m a late night person.

Who is your favourite woman writer?

I couldn’t narrow it down to just one, but I had a look just now and I do have more collections of poetry by women on my bookshelf, than by men.

Which poet would you like to see on the Leaving Cert?

Is that not the kiss of death, I wonder? Though I remember well the poets I covered for the Leaving Cert, and even if they didn’t much care for those on their Leaving Cert my boys do have an opinion on the poets they learned. Perhaps the examinations boards are asking the wrong things of the poetry they put on the syllabus.

What is your favourite bookshop?

I love to visit the bookshops along the higgledy-piggledy streets in Hay-on-Wye.

What one piece of advice would you offer beginning writers?

Writing is hard work, so if a piece comes together too easily, then probably it didn’t get enough work and it will show.

What are you working on now?

I’m writing new poems, but also short stories that might someday form a collection.

Here is a poem from Eleanor's book, reproduced with the kind permission of Dedalus Press:

Glow Stone

for George

Hurtling past moon day’s unmade fields, past all

Those wasted hours farther back the same train.

Getting up to find you, a stricken trawl 

Through storybook days, damped with fretful rain.

The same train, but your car grappled back to

Yesterday. I managed just to ravel

Time as it spliced my need to nurture you.

How could I let this happen and travel

Down the same lines as my parents? 

Listen to me child; this is not the worst,

Please allow a moment for atonement, 

We’ll snatch a piece of nevermore, but first,

Entrust me with that glow stone love, to creel

For night the light of day, a moon day’s steal.

You can buy The Shadow Owner’s Companion HERE. I wish Eleanor every good wish as she launches her first book.

THE GOLDEN PEN AWARDS

2012-01-22T10:25:00.003Z

This is a local competition, where I live, but is open to all:

Enter your poems and stories in the 14^th Annual Golden Pen Competition

FirstPrize: €100 for adults, €50 forstudents

Prizes for 2nd & 3rd placed writersplus publication in the Festival Magazine

Entry fee: ADULTS €5: (£4 or $5, UK/USA)

STUDENTS: €3 or £2

No entryform required

Open Theme

Stories up to 2000 words

Poems 70 lines

Send your poems and stories to:

The Golden Pen, Gurteen, Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland

Deadline: April 1st 2012
Winners will be notified before June 9th

SAY MY NAME, SAY MY NAME

2012-01-21T07:50:00.001Z

My name is pretty unpronouncable. I realise this every time someone goes to introduce me. I was doing workshops in schools the last two weeks; then a talk to an MA class; then a podcast interview with an American site - each time the person who introduced me either asked how to pronounce my name, or gave it their own special pronunciation. Irish, Americans, Antipodeans and Europeans alike have difficulty with my name. It doesn't help that my surname (which is the Irish for O'Connor, btw) sounds nothing like the way it looks.

So, here is the from-the-horse's-mouth guide to pronouncing Nuala Ní Chonchúir:

Nuala - pronounced NOO-LA (rhymes with 'hula', as in 'hula hoop')

Ní - it sounds the same as KNEE (as in 'knee cap him')

Chonchúir - it has two parts: the first part sounds like CRUH (as in the start of the word 'crutches'); the second part sounds like HOOR (as in 'she's a mad hoor').

NOOLA KNEE CRUH-HOOR

NUALA NÍ CHONCHÚIR

See? Simple, when you know how!

BURNING BUSH - the revival

2012-01-20T08:25:00.002Z

Burning Bush is back! When I first started sending work out for publication, it was the local magazine here in Galway - it was always interesting, lively and, sometimes, a little controversial. One of its editors, poet Michael S. Begnal, has revived the magazine online, under the editorship of poet Alan Jude Moore. Alan's editorial contains a little of the history of the magazine.

The first issue sees poetry from many poets who were Bush regulars way back when (the late nineties, early noughties). I have two poems in there and there is work from wonderful writers such as Patrick Chapman, John MacKenna, Gerard Smyth, Emily Cullen, Dave Lordan, Peadar O'Donoghue and C. Murray, not to forget Michael S. Begnal himself.

It looks like they need more subs from women writers so, ladies, get submitting here for future issues. The next deadline is the 1st March for April publication.

KILKENNY POETS - CALL FOR SUBS

2012-01-19T08:16:00.001Z

I am editing the Kilkenny Poetry Broadsheet this year. This call for submissions is for poets born or resident in County Kilkenny only.

The aim of the publication is to give local writers a platform for their work.Each poem selected is included in the broadsheet which in available for freethroughout the county. It's an impressive looking publication each year.

I am open to haiku, prose poems, epics, sonnets, free verse, villanelles; poems that are dark, funny, moving, passionate, political - whatever you want to write, in whatever form moves you!

Application formsand submission rules are available from the Arts Office, No. 76 John Street,Kilkenny T: 056 7794138

Email: niamh.finn@kilkennycoco.ie

Or they can be downloaded from:

www.kilkennycoco.ie/eng/Services/Arts

No electronicsubmissions accepted.

Closing date forreceipt of submissions:

4pm, Monday 27^thFebruary 2012

FISH FLASH

2012-01-17T11:55:00.001Z

The Fish Flash Fiction Prize has been an annual event since 2004. Write a 300 word story and win €1000 plus publication. The comp closes on the 20th March.

Micheal Collins is the judge of the 2012 Prize. He is the acclaimed author of eight books, including novels and short stories which have been translated into seventeen languages. His work has garnered numerous awards, including Irish Novel of the Year along with being shortlisted for both The Man Booker Prize and Impac Prize.

Read all about the competition here.

KINDLE & MY AGENT WISH LIST

2012-01-12T15:42:00.002Z

I got my Kindle. Woo, the excitement! It's so pretty and light. The first book onto it was Ron Rash's Burning Bright, which I am embarrassed to admit I am only getting around to now. I also got some free Oscar Wilde so I am now sorted for the weekend at least :) Any suggestions for great poetry and or short fiction e-books appreciated. (Er, reasonably priced!) I can, of course, recommend YOU which is available for Kindle from Amazon.com :)

My new novel has been rejected by another agent. Weep, gnash, snarl. That's the second rejection; the last one came just before Christmas. Nice. They say lovely things but again I am getting 'It is a quiet book', which I now take to mean 'It is uncommercial when compared to chick-lit/celebrity memoirs'. This latest rejection said: 'It is beautifully done but is a matter of me not having enough time and being very cautious about taking anything on, rather than a reflection on the quality of the work.'

The book is with a London agency now (via a literary scout) so the situation is not desperate (yet) - I am waiting to hear from them. In the meantime here is my very undemanding and simple Agent Wishlist:

* Based in London or Dublin

* Preferably female (I'm flexible on that)

* An excellent business person (as opposed to being a lovely person...she can be lovely but I want a business person first and foremost)

I'm fed up that this is proving to be so extraordinarily time-consuming and hard. Thoughts?

ARENA REVIEW OF THE JUNO CHARM

2012-01-07T09:59:00.002Z

Writer Dave Lordan reviewed The Juno Charm on RTÉ Radio 1's Arena last night.It was a thoughtful and generous review. Big thanks to Dave. It's is here about 45 minutes into the programme. Click 'Latest Programme'. It will be archived after that.

There was fantastic music from brothers Harry and Alfie (from now on known as Hudson Taylor), particularly the opening song on the programme, 'Battles'. We will be hearing A LOT from Hudson Taylor in the future. You heard it here first (well, you heard it on Arena first, but you know what I mean...). Anyway, listen to them, they are fab. And look at them. Aw :)

HAPPY WOMEN'S CHRISTMAS

2012-01-06T14:34:00.000Z

It is Women's Christmas today in Ireland - Oíche Nollag na mBan. (So why am I the one slaving over the removal of all things Christmassy from the house, I ask myself? Hmmm.) Anyway, the Irish Writers' Centre are hosting a reading and music with some fine Irish women artists to mark the day. I wish I was going but I can't. Details:

Oíche Nollag na mBan

This year The Irish Writers'Centre , in association with Dublin City Council Arts Office, invite you tocelebrate Oíche Nollaig na mBan a little differently. Whether you want to listen to some ofIreland’s finest writers, celebrate an age-old Irish tradition, or you’re justglad the 12th Day of Christmas has finally come about – join us in the IrishWriters' Centre, Parnell Square Nth., Friday January 6th at 6pm for an early evening of prose, poetry, spoken word andmusic in the company of

Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill

Celia De Fréine

Mary O’Donnell

Éilis Ní Dhuibhne

Mia Gallagher

Sarah Clancy

and musicians Jane Hughes &Ellen Cranitch

WHERE I WRITE

2012-01-05T10:03:00.001Z

A few months ago I was asked to take part in writing.ie's Where I Write series. I sent in photos and a description. They have opted not to use the photos but there are descriptions of our writing spaces from Declan Burke, myself, and Sinéad Moriarty here.

And of Darren Shan, Sheila O'Flanagan (with pics) and Claire Allan's spaces here.

Here are the pics I sent them, anyway. I prefer the visuals, often, when itcomes to desks :)

My desk

My luck plate for the novel

ARLEN HOUSE READING - PHOTOS

2012-01-04T09:51:00.000Z

As usually happens to me, I was sick over Christmas so hereabouts (and everything else) was neglected. I'm still a bit wonky but, very belatedly, here are some photos of the Arlen House pre-Xmas showcase reading in Galway City Library.

Nuala and Órfhlaith Foyle

Alan Hayes, Publisher, Arlen House

Alan & the writers with fellow writer Patricia Burke-Brogan (standing)

Pat McMahon, County Librarian, launching the evening

Órfhlaith Foyle

Nell Regan

Neil Donnelly

Nuala Ní Chonchúir

Deirdre Brennan

The Skeff afterwards: Alan McMonagle & Juno size each other up over pints and chips

SHORT FICTION JOURNAL COMP 2012

2012-01-03T10:12:00.002Z

I was a runner-up in the Short Fiction journal comp in 2011, so naturally I am biased as to its worthiness, heh heh. But it really is a great publication that features some excellent contemporary writing so their competition is definitely worth a go.

Details of the prize are here. Briefly it's £10 stg to enter, allowing up to two stories, you also get a free copy of the 2012 issue (worth £10). First prize is £500 plus publication. Second prize, £100. Good luck!

HAPPY 2012 - comps 'n' stuff

2012-01-01T10:04:00.002Z

Ath-bhliain faoi mhaise! Happy new year, everyone!

My friend Alan McMonagle (recent Pushcart Prize nominee) is judging an exciting new short fiction comp from Galway-based publisher Doire Press. There is a poetry comp too and they are looking for stories up to 4000 words (or 4 to 6 poems). Winners will each receive 75 copies of their own professionally edited and printed chapbook (one for poetry, one for fiction), published by Doire Press. Chapbooks will be perfect-bound, contain up to 40 pages, feature colour front and back covers, as well as an isbn and barcode. Closing date is January 9th so get cracking!

Prairie Schooner also have an exciting comp. It's a book prize and is open to unpublished and published writers. They 'welcome manuscripts from all living writers, including non-US citizens, writing in English.' Winners will receive $3000 and publication through the University of Nebraska Press. Manuscripts should be mailed with a postmark between January 15th and March 15th. More here.

My forthcoming short story collection, Mother America, due in May from New Island, got a shout-out in the Irish Independent today in their look at what's coming out bookswise in early 2012. Yay! New collections also due from Kevin Barry, Éilis Ní Dhuibhne and Seamus Scanlon. And a novel from John Banville. And a new poetry collection from Paul Durcan - his 22nd - called Praise in Which I Live and Move and Have My Being. 2012 is going to be a good reading year, methinks. I can't wait to stuff my Kindle with goodies :)

IN MEMORY OF NESSA

2011-12-23T09:14:00.000Z

Kingfisher Sister

In the halcyon hours of winter solstice,

you loosened your grip

for the slip towards death.

You had no mate to hoist you on his back

and fly over the flat-calm sea,

mourning you with his cries.

But in your last storm, a thaisce, never fear,

our sorrow saw you safely

into the blue,in a blaze of red.

(For Nessa who died the 23rd December 2001.)

LAST STOP FOR THE JUNO CHARM

2011-12-22T17:34:00.000Z

Today, I'm on the last stop (phew!) of my tour for The Juno Charm. This time in England at the charming Parrish Lantern blog. Thanks to all my hosts along the way: Órfhlaith, Vanessa, Tania, Rachel, Niamh, Mel and Parrish.

That's the last of interview mania for a while, you'll be glad to hear. If it helps, I'm exhausted too :)

GALWAY ADVERTISER INTERVIEW

2011-12-22T08:28:00.001Z

I'm interviewed in The Galway Advertiser today by Charlie McBride here. There are some slight inaccuracies but, hey ho, that's in the nature of interviews. Nothing untoward or life threatening!

INTERVIEW - PRAIRIE SCHOONER BLOG

2011-12-21T07:17:00.001Z

I'm interviewed at the Prairie Schooner blog today by the lovely Ted Wheeler , writer and editor. We talk about my story 'Peach', in the current issue, as well as Dublin, loneliness, Éilis Ní Dhuibhne and Julius Winsome.

Go HERE to read our chat.

READING IN GALWAY - TOMORROW!

2011-12-20T20:30:00.001Z

ARLEN HOUSE

warmly invites you to celebrate beautiful books and enjoy a showcase reading by

Nuala Ní Chonchúir
TO THE WORLD OF MEN, WELCOME

Órfhlaith Foyle
SOMEWHERE IN MINNESOTA

Deirdre Brennan
HIDDEN PLACES : SCÁTHÁN EILE

Neil Donnelly
TULLAMORE TRAIN

Nell Regan
BOUND FOR HOME

Wednesday 21 December @ 6.00pm
Galway City Library
Augustine Street
Galway

RSVP: Alan Hayes, Publisher, ARLEN HOUSE at phone 086 8207617; Email: arlenhouse@gmail.com

PRAIRIE SCHOONER WINNER

2011-12-20T14:07:00.001Z

And the winner of the copy of Prairie Schooner (the Irish issue) is ... Armelandliz!! Congrats!

SUNDAY MISCELLANY LIVE AT XMAS ONLINE

2011-12-18T20:31:00.000Z

Sunday Miscellany Live at Christmas, broadcast this morning on RTÉ Radio 1, can now be listened to online here. Click 'latest show' - later it will be listed down the page a bit.

My piece 'A Lonely Christmas in Switzerland' is the first reading after the familiar intro music, Galliard Battaglia by Samuel Scheibt.

THE JUNO CHARM - VIRTUAL TOUR - #6

2011-12-15T10:04:00.000Z

Stop 6 on The Juno Charm virtual tour takes me to Mel Ulm's blog, The Reading Life, in the Philippines. A snippet of our conversation:

Mel: Your poems and short stories assume a goodknowledge, for example, of European painting and French history. Myquestion then is do you think there is a "Joyce" effect in your work? Does the heritage of Joyce, Yeats, and Beckett drive the standardsof acceptable writing among Irish writers to higher levels than one mightfind elsewhere?

Me: Well, I think there is definitely a sense of our literary heritagehovering over our heads. We all learn the greats at school (Yeats, Kavanagh,Boland et al) and so we are steeped in them from a young age.

Read the rest here.

SUNDAY MISCELLANY LIVE & MEETING PAUL DURCAN

2011-12-14T10:48:00.001Z

The Paul Durcan collage

I took part in Sunday Miscellany Live at Christmas at the National Concert Hall last night. It was fantastic and I got to meet one of my literary heroes, Paul Durcan, about whom I had written a (fictional) poem. He was very gracious and kind about it - he is a gentle, lovely man. He sat beside me at dinner in The Terrace Café and I really enjoyed his company.

The concert was a collaboration with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and the music was out of this world. I opened the show so I got to enjoy the rest of it from the wings and, in the second half, from the auditorium.

My piece was about a lonely Christmas I spent in Switzerland at 18. The orchestra played the music 'Snow Ride' after I read; it was so beautiful and Christmassy but I can't find it online.

Other guest contributors included Dermot Bolger, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Rita Ann Higgins, Leo Cullen, Catherine Foley, Joe Kearney, Julie Feeney, Michael Harding, Martina Devlin, Niamh Ní Charra, Kevin Conneff, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Tríona Marshall, Paddy Moloney and, of course, my new friend Paul Durcan :)

The programmes will be broadcast on RTE Radio 1 next Sunday the 18th December, 9am, and on Christmas Day at 9am. If they go in the order we went last night, my piece will be the first one on next Sunday morning.

As an aside, but related, Paul asked me about the collage I did of the poem about him. I gave it to The Winding Stair book shop last week (the poem is set there) so he reckons he will sneak in and have a look at it one of these days :)

PRAIRIE SCHOONER - GIVEAWAY!

2011-12-13T10:26:00.000Z

My copies of Prairie Schooner - the Ireland Issue - arrived this morning. As I have a spare, I am going to give one away to you, lovely blog readers. I will post to anywhere. Draw next Tuesday, the 20th.

My story 'Peach' is in the journal, along with work by Mary O'Donnell, Kathleen Murrary, Aiden O'Reilly, Ted Deppe, Grace Wells etc. etc.

Just put a comment saying you want to be in the draw and I will pop your name in the hat.

PICTURES FROM HOPPER - NEIL CAMPBELL INTERVIEW

2011-12-12T08:57:00.001Z

NeilCampbell drops by today for an interview in anticipation of the publication ofhis second short fiction collection Pictures from Hopper bySalt. The book will be launched in Northumbria, at Gallery North, tomorrownight at 6pm.

Neil’sdébut collection of stories, Broken Doll, was published by Salt in 2007.Two chapbooks of poetry, Birds, (2009) and Bugsworth Diary, (2011) have been published by Knives, Forks andSpoons. Born in Manchester, he now lives in Northumberland.

Hi Neil and welcome to Women Rule Writer.Huge congrats on the publication of Pictures from Hopper, your secondshort fiction collection, by Salt.

Sum up Pictures from Hopperin five words.

Stories influenced by Hopperpaintings.

Talk about your love for the artist Hopper. How did you 'discover' him? Whatdraws you to his work? How did you first hit on the idea of writing storiesinspired by his work?

Many years ago I went to New York, and wandered into the Hopper Room atthe Whitney Museum. I also saw a documentary on TV at some point. But the truthis, I'm no expert at all, and that helped me in writing the stories. I've neverread what Hopper or anyone else has said about any of the paintings, so I hadno preconceptions at all.

I write instinctively and didn't even know the word ekphrasis until afew weeks ago (though I had read and admired Pictures from Brueghel). I startedwith Gas, and was pleased with the results, and so I took it from there. I washouse sitting for Nicholas Royle, and inbetween drinking all the beer that Nickhad tried to hide, I used a Hopper book from his shelf to find paintings Ithought I could get a story out of. So I owe a thanks to Nick for that, andmuch else, really.

There were also correlations with Hopper and the writers I was readingat the time, like John Cheever and Elizabeth Bishop. Compare Hopper's Gas andBishop's poem In the Filling Station, and you get the idea.

Tell us moreabout this new short story collection – does it differ from Broken Doll in terms of themes orsubject matter? Do you feel any changes in your writing from your own POV?

This book is different from Broken Doll in that there are many morenarrative voices and types of short fiction, and it is much less obviouslyautobiographical. There are some unreliable narrators too. But it is a pitymore people didn’t read Broken Doll.

The cover for Pictures fromHopper is haunting – a big building with lots of windows like dead eyes.Can you tell us how the use of that image came about and what relevance does ithave to the book?

Chris Hamilton Emery (publisher at Salt) came up with that and Iimmediately thought it perfect. It is like a Manchester version of Hopper’s ‘SundayMorning’. And though I like your simile I don’t think the eyes are dead.

What is your favourite thing aboutthe short story form?

Brevity.

You wrote a thesis on Raymond Carverand you are a fan of Richard Yates. Would you say they have influenced you? Ifso, how?

I used to drink with this guy in Middlesbrough. For someinexplicable reason he gave me a copy of Cathedral. It was an American editionwith a picture on the front of man drinking beer at a table. And there was ahardhat on the table and a TV on in the background. Carver was the first writerI thought I’d be able to have a beer with. I understood the people in hisstories.

Yates was an influence on BrokenDoll. But once I read John Cheever I realized why Yates never got a story inthe New Yorker. Cheever is a genius of the short story, perhaps the best of all.Goodbye My Brother, The Swimmer, The Sorrows of Gin etc etc. And Richard Fordprobably knows more about the short story than anyone alive. I wish someonewould publish his non-fiction.

Who are your favourite short fictionwriters and why?

John Cheever writes sentences ofutter beauty, and he’s got that little something extra that you can’t put yourfinger on. And he’s funny too. Richard Ford for his absence of bullshit. AndreDubus because he writes about the heart. Elizabeth Bishop for herconcentration. Sam Shepard for his voices and humour, Flannery O’Connor for herpeacocks. The Nick Adams stories by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was an absolutemaster, and not ‘macho’ in the stories at all. Etgar Keret for his optimism andhumour. I’m reading Day out of Days by Sam Shepard at the moment. And Coast ofChicago by Stuart Dybek, and they are both great books.

I have that Dybek book – it ismasterful.

You are a poet as well as a shortfiction writer. Do you find a crossover of themes between the two, or does eachstand alone for you?

I write poems sometimes, entirely oninstinct. Landscape is playing an increasing role in both. In fact, all mypoems are nature poems really. I love Norman MacCaig’s Assynt poems. I get anidea either for a story or a poem, that’s it.

What is your writing process – morning or night; longhand or laptop?

I’ve just started to write longhand in the evenings. I’ve had enough ofscreens.

What one piece of advice would you offer beginning writers?

Don’t piss into the wind.

What are you working on now? Any plans to write a novel?

No, none at all. I’m quite happy to read them occasionally, especially ifthey are by Cormac McCarthy. But I’ve got too many stories to work on. I’m justwriting one short story after another, and I absolutely love it.

Thanks a million for stopping by,Neil. I look forward to reading Pictures from Hopper very soon and Ihope it does the business for you.

Well, me too, and I must read Nude.

ARLEN HOUSE XMAS LAUNCH - GALWAY

2011-12-11T11:57:00.001Z

ARLEN HOUSE

warmly invites you to celebrate beautiful books and enjoy a showcase reading by

Nuala Ní Chonchúir
TO THE WORLD OF MEN, WELCOME

Órfhlaith Foyle
SOMEWHERE IN MINNESOTA

Deirdre Brennan
HIDDEN PLACES : SCÁTHÁN EILE

Neil Donnelly
TULLAMORE TRAIN

Nell Regan
BOUND FOR HOME

Wednesday 21 December @ 6.00pm
Galway City Library
Augustine Street
Galway

RSVP: Alan Hayes, Publisher, ARLEN HOUSE at phone 086 8207617; Email: arlenhouse@gmail.com

JUNO CHARM TOUR - STOP #5

2011-12-08T09:28:00.001Z

I'm over in Bristol today, virtually, for Stop 5 on The Juno Charm tour, with the wonderful writer Tania Hershman. I met Tania online and subsequently in real life; she is a great writer and the sweetest woman.

A snippet from Tania's interview with me:
'Your poems are a wonderful combination of very physical and visceral and soaring flights of language. You use some words I have never heard of (English words!) but didn't want to look them up, I loved the not-knowing. How do you write your poems? Do you search for words that are new to you?'

She names which words were new to her. Go here to read more.

ARENA TONIGHT

2011-12-07T16:54:00.001Z

I'm on Arena tonight, on RTÉ Radio 1, 7.30pm, with the lovely Seán Rocks, talking about The Juno Charm and reading a few poems.

POEM IN THE IRISH TIMES

2011-12-05T12:32:00.001Z

Paul Durcan - shot by Angela Halpin

My poem 'Dancing with Paul Durcan' was in The Irish Times on Saturday. A nice surprise - thanks to all those who texted me to let me know as I obliviously stuffed my face with pizza and supped red wine in Ciao Bella Roma :)

OF PRAIRIE SCHOONERS AND PUSHCARTS

2011-12-02T17:46:00.001Z

I'm off to Dublin tomorrow for The Peers, my writing group's, Xmas do. We normally meet in my house in Ballinasloe but every December we decamp to Patrick Chapman's place in Dublin for seasonal cheer. We work first - three hours of workshopping - then head to Ciao Bella Roma for lovely Italian food, then to who-knows-where for drinkies. I can't wait. My group are utterly brilliant: talented, uncompromising and fun. I learn something new with them every month.

I used to only bring poetry to the group but I've been writing so little poetry this year that I have been workshopping chunks of stories and it has been really interesting. It's amazing what you don't see in your own work sometimes (and I consider myself a pretty good self editor).

Anyway, all of this is a pre-amble to what I feel a bit shy about saying and that is that I heard today that one of my stories has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. I know little about the Pushcart but having googled it, it looks fairly top notch. So I'm chuffed.

The story is called 'Peach' and it will be in the December issue of Prairie Schooner. While I'm at it I may as well tell you that the nice people at Prairie Schooner are having me over to Nebraska for their two-day launch event in February which is, as a Nebraskan (or my 9 year old) might say, awesome!

Have I mentioned that I love short stories and all the good things they bring to my life?

COMP ENTRY TIPS

2011-12-02T08:09:00.001Z

Here are some concise and true tips about entering short story comps from Ian Skillicorn on the 'If Shakespeare...' blog. Having been a judge of various lit comps, I would concur with them.

JUNO CHARM VIRTUAL TOUR - STOP 4

2011-12-01T09:40:00.001Z

Today my virtual tour takes me to the blog of mega-watt talented Rachel Fenton (she writes, she draws, she mothers) in lovely New Zealand. Rachel always looks at things slant (to mangle Emily Dickinson...) and it's one of the things I love about her - the girl has got style. It's a pleasure to be interviewed by her.

Oh, and she's giving away a copy of the book!

A sample question from Rachel:
"This collection made me think of a pioneer sea voyage, in so much as the moon winking from many of the poems, the varied geographies, and lonely land marks. It’s a work rich with places. For e.g., “Blue House, Magdalen Islands, Quebec”: I read it from the bottom line up and the image of a photograph, my grandma in front of a lighthouse in Canada, came to mind – when I got to it, the title was perfect, and I wondered, how important is travel to your writing?"

Go here to read the rest of our chat.

Ten paradoxical traits of the creative personality

2011-11-30T09:25:00.001Z

This is a very interesting look at creative types byMihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a psychology professor in a university in California. If you are a creative person, you may find yourself nodding your head in agreement a lot. I did.

Here are the 10 basic points:

1.Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they're also oftenquiet and at rest.

2.Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time.

3.Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility andirresponsibility.

4.Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted senseof reality.

5.Creative people tend to be both extroverted and introverted.

6.Creative people are humble and proud at the same time.

7.Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping.

8.Creative people are both rebellious and conservative.

9. Mostcreative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremelyobjective about it as well.

10.Creative people's openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering andpain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment.

You can read explanations of the ten points here.

VIRTUAL TOUR - JUNO CHARM - # 3

2011-11-24T14:02:00.001Z

Today my virtual book tour for The Juno Charm takes me back across the Irish Sea, from last week's stop in England, to County Kildare and writer Niamh Boyce's blog.

Here is a sample question from Niamh:
'There are so many voices in the collection and, for me, those different voices added a thrill to the collection, I never knew who I was going to meet, Frida Kahlo, van Gogh and his model and mistress Sien. The people who draw you to write about them, are those who 'posterity does not sympathise with,' the ne'er do wells? How does that process happen, is it a matter of someone sparking your interest and the voice coming to be quite organically from that? Have you ever tried to write from the point of view of someone you didn’t like, or do you have to feel a sympathy?'

Go here to read my answer and to see what else we talked about.

GERTRUDE STEIN'S WRITING ROUTINE

2011-11-22T18:36:00.001Z

Gertrude Stein by Picasso

Gertrude Stein, Joyce, Mavis Gallant, Hemingway and Baudelaire et al are on my mind because I am going to Paris. This is a hilarious piece on Stein, extracted from The New Yorker, October 1934. The bit about the cows is priceless:

'In case you're interested, we have learned a few things about her that she may not tell in her lectures. Miss Stein gets up every morning about ten and drinks some coffee, against her will. She's always been nervous about becoming nervous and she thought coffee would make her nervous, but her doctor prescribed it. Miss Toklas, her companion, gets up at six and starts dusting and fussing around. Once she broke a fine piece of Venetian glass and cried. Miss Stein laughed and said "Hell, oh hell, hell, objects are made to be consumed like cakes, books, people." Every morning Miss Toklas bathes and combs their French poodle, Basket, and brushes its teeth. It has its own toothbrush.

Miss Stein has an outsize bathtub that was especially made for her. A staircase had to be taken out to install it. After her bath she puts on a huge wool bathrobe and writes for a while, but she prefers to write outdoors, after she gets dressed. Especially in the Ain country, because there are rocks and cows there. Miss Stein likes to look at rocks and cows in the intervals of her writing. The two ladies drive around in their Ford till they come to a good spot. Then Miss Stein gets out and sits on a campstool with pencil and pad, and Miss Toklas fearlessly switches a cow into her line of vision. If the cow doesn't seem to fit in with Miss Stein's mood, the ladies get into the car and drive on to another cow. When the great lady has an inspiration, she writes quickly, for about fifteen minutes. But often she just sits there, looking at cows and not turning a wheel.

Miss Stein always drives, and Miss Toklas rides in the back seat, squealing and jumping, for they say that Miss Stein is the worst driver in the history of automotive engineering. She takes corners fast, doesn't put out her hand, drives on the wrong side of the street, pays no more attention to traffic signals or intersections than she does to punctuation marks, and never honks. Now and then Alice will lean over from the back seat and honk. They haven't had any accidents. One writer who visited her had a fake wire sent to him from Paris calling him back, because he was afraid he'd be killed in the Ford.

Miss Stein spends much of her time quarrelling with friends—always about literature or painting. The quarrels are passionate ones, involving everybody, taking hours to get under way, lasting for years (like the one with Hemingway).'

CW workshop with Dave Lordan

2011-11-21T11:00:00.001Z

Dave Lordan is running this in Wicklow in early December. It's very good value and may be a nice Christmas present for the budding writer in your life. Or, indeed, for yourself.

Finding inspiration: A Creative Writing workshop with Dave Lordan:

Hotspot Cafe, Greystones, Co. Wicklow

Fri Dec 2nd. 7.30 to 9pm.

Where do stories and creative ideas come from?

How can we make creative use of our own vast store ofstories and experiences?

How can we jump-start our imaginations when we just aren'tfeeling up to it?

How do we draw inspiration from our everyday lives?

How do we make time in our busy lives for inspiration andcreativity?

All are welcome to take part in this fun, informative andstimulating workshop with Dave Lordan. The cost will be €10, includingadmission to the fabulous Speakeasy Cabaretlater on that evening. Booking is advised.To book a place phone Dave on 0870921117, or e-mail at dlordan@hotmail.com.

Dave Lordan is a multi-award winning poet, playwright andfiction writer as well as a popular reviewer on RTE Radio 1's flagship ArenaArts show. He is the current holder of the prestigious Ireland Chair of PoetryBursary Award. He is also one of Ireland's leading creative writing teachersand currently teaches on the MA in Poetry Studies in Mater Dei Institute andfor Co Wicklow VEC, as well as to numerous school and community groups.

Read more about Dave at www.davelordanwriter.wordpress.com

JUNO LAUNCH BALLINASLOE - PICS

2011-11-20T10:30:00.001Z

Thanks to my friends from all over who came to the launch of The Juno Charm yesterday in Ballinasloe. I am hugely appreciative of all the support. It was a lovely day of readings and cake - thanks so much to Crumbs and Cream Café for making the cake - it was delicious!

Ciana Campbell presenting me with a glass commemorative plaque

The Juno Charm cake!

Signing - with Karen O'Neill to my left, Gwen Bond of Siar Scéal & artist Fiona Glynn

Mary O'Rourke & the mayors of Galway and Ballinasloe

Mary Melvin Geoghegan, poet, launching The Juno Charm

Juno admiring the cake

The Essentials of Fiction - A Seminar with Claire Keegan

2011-11-18T18:27:00.001Z

Just in from The Munster Literature Centre:

We are pleased to present a seminar on writing fiction with one of our young masters, Claire Keegan. In recent years Claire has been spending far less time teaching and more time concentrating on her own work. This opportunity to share in her knowledge is becoming increasingly rare.

Claire Keegan is the author of Antarctica, Walk the Blue Fields and Foster; publications which have earned her the William Trevor Prize (judged by William Trevor), The Francis MacManus Award, The Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, The Edge Hill Prize and The Davy Byrnes Award (judged by Richard Ford) among many others.

"a natural inheritor of the mantle of John McGahern and Alistair MacLeod, a writer already touched by greatness." --Declan Kiberd

"Every line seems to be a lesson in the perfect deployment of both style and emotion." --Hilary Mantel

The seminar is designed for anyone interested in writing a short story or a novel, or is already having difficulty with their fiction. It will examine how fiction works and how stories begin.

structure of narrative * writing dialogue *

tension in fiction
* point of view/perspective characters & language * conflict * character development
* shape/ structure of a paragraph *

reading recommendations * Q&A session

The Metropole Hotel

Saturday December 10th

10am - 1pm

Tickets €50

Claire is waiving all fees and proposed this endeavour as a fund-raising event for the Munster Literature Centre which is a registered charity. All monies raised will be spent on the promotion of writers and writing.

To purchase tickets contact Jennifer at

Info@munsterlit.ie or phone 021-4312955.

WILLESDEN HERALD COMP - STILL OPEN!

2011-11-18T08:01:00.001Z

Willesden Comp judge, Roddy Doyle

I have developed an affection for The Willesden Herald short story competition over the years and I just want to let you know that the comp is still open - until the 16th December.

It has a nice big upper word count limit of 7,500, which is unusual and welcome. You can enter online and there is a modest entry fee of £3.

£300 first prize plus the coveted Wills Herald mug.

Roddy Doyle is this year's judge and ten stories will be shortlisted and have the chance of being published in an anthology.

All you need to know here.

JUNO CHARM TOUR # 2 & LAUNCH PICS

2011-11-17T08:46:00.001Z

Today I am with the immeasurably talented Vanessa Gebbie in Sussex, England, on my virtual tour. Vanessa is the author of two short story collections (Salt) and the recently published novel The Coward's Tale (Bloomsbury). It is a beautifully written book, set in Wales, and Vanessa will be arriving here shortly on her virtual tour for the novel.

A wee taster of Vanessa's thoughts/questions on my poetry:
"I want to ask about all the poems, as they have your stamp of being mesmeric, many are seductive, and all seem beautiful to this reader ... but I will confine the question to one, hidden in the middle, ‘The Japanese Madonna’. I love that."

Go here to read what else Vanessa was curious about in The Juno Charm.

The Dublin launch last night was a lovely event, all thanks to Alan Hayes and the Irish Writers' Centre for hosting, and to my fellow launchee Órfhlaith Foyle who read beautifully. And thanks, of course, to everyone who turned out to support us. It was heartwarming to see so many friends, relatives, writers and strangers. I am a tadge wobbly this morning after it all :)

Alan Hayes, Publisher, Arlen House

Nuala

Órfhlaith Foyle

Órfhlaith & Nuala, breathing sighs of relief after the reading

John Foyle, Órfhlaith, Gearóid Ó Foighil

THE BOOKS ARRIVED!

2011-11-15T19:34:00.001Z

JUNO CHARM LAUNCHES

2011-11-15T10:39:00.001Z

Juno at the Pushkin Museum, Moscow

The Juno Charm has its Dublin and Galway launches this week. All are welcome. I haven't seen the book yet but I am assured it is in transit and will be with me today. I can't wait to hold it.

DUBLIN LAUNCH

Wednesday 16th November, the Irish Writers' Centre, 7.30pm.
This is a joint Salmon Poetry/Arlen House launch for myself and Órfhlaith Foyle.

Both Órfhlaith and I will give readings and wine will be served.

GALWAY LAUNCH

Saturday 19th November, Gullane's Hotel, Ballinasloe, 2pm
As part of the inaugural Ballinasloe Literary Day.
Speaker: Mary Melvin Geoghegan (poet).

I will read from the book and there will be cake and tea :)

PICS FROM PRUFROCKS AT SPLASH

2011-11-14T18:27:00.001Z

The Prufrocks had a great time at Splash - surrounded by beautiful art, an appreciative audience and insanely creaky floor boards. Thanks to all our supporters who came along and we look forward to our next outing which may be Belfast in the spring. Can't wait :)

Two of the visual artists who stood out for me were Baubie Sunshine and Barry Quinn. Click on their names to view their work on their sites. Beautiful, magical stuff.

Nuala Ní Chonchúir

Barbara Smith

Maureen Gallagher

Mary Mullen


Jaki McCarrick

The Prufrocks!

NUDE - NEW REVIEW

2011-11-12T16:10:00.001Z

The Parrish Lantern blog, based in the UK, has done a glowing review of my short story collection Nude. One of the joys of blogging is making connections with other literary bloggers and lately that has been happening a lot. Is there a return to blogging? An upsurge brought on by the recession, similar to the renewed interest in crafts and baking? I hope so :) I certainly know that blogging has been good to me over the last four years and more.

My thanks to the people behind The Parrish Lantern. I will be dropping by their blog in late December for the final stop on my virtual tour for The Juno Charm.

PRUFROCKS READING - SPLASH FEST DUBLIN

2011-11-12T09:12:00.001Z

The Prufrocks – the women’s poetry group I'm a member of – will perform at the Splash Art Festival in Dublin tomorrow, Sunday, the 13th November. Join Barbara Smith, Jaki McCarrick, Mary Mullen, Maureen Gallagher and myself for a feast of poetry.

Splash is organised by the Art Wave collective and features crafts and art work for sale, including jewelry, photographs and paintings. It was pretty fabulous last year.

La Catedral Studios, 3pm

€5 entrance

NEW LOOK 4 NEW BOOK & DUBLIN LAUNCH

2011-11-11T08:13:00.001Z

My lovely webmaster has given my website a colour scheme overhaul to celebrate the publication of The Juno Charm. I love love love it; blue is one of my favourite colours. This is my eighth book which is kind of crazy when you say it out loud.

In other news, the Dublin launch for the book will take place next Wednesday in the Irish Writers' Centre at 7.30pm, in a joint Salmon Poetry/Arlen House launch for myself and Órfhlaith Foyle.

Both Órfhlaith and I will be giving readings, so come along for a great night which celebrates two wonderful independent publishers. See below for more details.

ARLEN HOUSE & SALMON POETRY

warmly invite you to celebrate the launch of three beautiful books

and enjoy a showcase reading by

Órfhlaith Foyle and Nuala Ní Chonchúir

who will read from their latest short fiction collections from Arlen House

Somewhere in Minnesota

and

To the World of Men, Welcome (expanded ed.)

Nuala will also read from her poetry collection The Juno Charm (Salmon)

Wednesday 16 November @ 7.30pm
Irish Writers’ Centre, Parnell Square, Dublin 1

RSVP: Alan Hayes, Publisher, ARLEN HOUSE at phone 086 8207617
Email: arlenhouse@gmail.com

JUNO CHARM VIRTUAL TOUR - STOP 1

2011-11-10T08:20:00.001Z

My virtual tour for The Juno Charm starts today in Galway at my friend writer Órfhlaith Foyle's blog.

Today is publication day (woo!) and appropriately there is a full moon tonight - the moon features a lot in the book, not just on the cover:)

Órfhlaith says of the collection:

'Your poems play with and worship the ordinary life, yet they also lift life to extraordinary heights through love and guilt, sex and sorrow; terrible grief over miscarriage and the slow growing of new joy that culminates in The Juno Charm itself.'

Go here to see what Órfhlaith asked me about the book.

VIRTUAL TOUR - THE JUNO CHARM

2011-11-09T09:31:00.000Z

I am looking forward to kicking off my virtual tour for The Juno Charm at my friend Órfhlaith's blog tomorrow, Thursday, which is also publication day.

I will be taking in seven blogs on the tour, which will take place over seven successive Thursdays. Please join us for poetry and chat at each stop along the way. Here are the dates and venues:

10th November: Órfhlaith Foyle's Blog in Galway
17th November: Vanessa Gebbie's Blog in Sussex, UK
24th November: Niamh Boyce's Blog in Kildare
1st December: Rachel Fenton's Blog in Auckland, NZ
8th December: Tania Hershman's Blog in Bristol, UK
15th December: Mel Ulm's Blog in the Philippines
22nd December: Parrish Lantern Blog in Kent, UK

HAPPY 4th B'DAY SHORT REVIEW!

2011-11-08T08:29:00.003Z

This month Tania Hershman's stupendous endeavour The Short Review turns four! Over the last four years, their forty or so reviewers worldwide have reviewed 439 story collections and anthologies, and the journal has interviewed over 250 authors.

In celebration there are lots of giveaways in this issue.

I have reviewed Best European Fiction 2010 for the birthday issue and there is also a review of Yiyun Li's Gold Boy, Emerald Girl, among many more.

Go there and enjoy short stories and all about them.

ARLEN HOUSE LAUNCH - SHORT FICTION

2011-11-07T09:14:00.000Z

ARLEN HOUSE

warmly invites you to celebrate beautiful books

and enjoy a showcase reading by

Órfhlaith Foyle and Nuala Ní Chonchúir

reading from their latest short fiction collections

Wednesday 16 November @ 7.30pm

Irish Writers’ Centre, Parnell Square, Dublin 1

RSVP: Alan Hayes, Publisher, ARLEN HOUSE at phone 086 8207617

Email: arlenhouse@gmail.com

2011-11-04T09:59:00.001Z

And the winner of the Shine On anthology (Dedalus Press), as chosen from the hat by Finn, is Úna Spain! Congrats Úna :) I'll be in touch!!

Short FICTION accepting subs

2011-11-03T13:14:00.001Z

Tom Vowler, writer and Assistant Editor at the UK journal Short FICTION, has been in touch to say that they are accepting submissions of short stories up to the end of December.

They accept one story per author and are publishers of good quality literary fiction. Their site says:
"We have wide-ranging tastes and have happily published traditional character driven stories next to non-conformist work of extraordinary innovation. Novel chapters which function as self-contained units may additionally work well for us."

There are sample stories on the website to give you a flavour of the type of work that has been published to date. They accept simultaneous submissions, but no postal subs. E-mail work in MS Word format to: shortfiction2010@googlemail.com

And if you'd rather £500 for your story, their short fiction comp opens on January 1st 2012. See the site for details.

SALMON'S 30th BIRTHDAY SHINDIG

2011-11-02T10:23:00.000Z

I went to Salmon's 30th birthday celebrations in the beautiful Unitarian Church on St Stephen's Green last night. Going to these types of events is like sitting down with a good anthology - you are suddenly privy to a selection of poets you were unlikely to stumble across in a normal day's reading.

The beautiful and mega-watt talented Mary O'Donnell launched the evening and she talked specifically about Salmon's contribution to opening up the poetic world in Ireland to women writers, and especially to those in the west of Ireland, like Rita Ann Higgins, Eva Bourke and Moya Cannon. (Arlen House took up the poetry baton in the 1990s and, along with Summer Palace Press, these publishers, in particular, continue the good work with women writers.) Mary said, 'As an American writer living in Ireland, Jessie allowed us to see ourselves.' She cited Joan McBreen's anthology of women poets The White Page as a highlight for her in Salmon's publishing history.

Other speakers included Director of Poetry Ireland Joseph Woods who told us that Salmon were the first to publish our new president Michael D. Higgins, namely his first collection, The Betrayal.

Jessie Lendennie, publisher and co-founder with Salmon spoke, as did her fellow founder Michael Allen. When Michael was no longer part of Salmon, Jessie, who proclaimed herself 'stubborn', said she just wanted to keep going. And so she did.

I am a roe in the Salmon caste of writers, according to author Michael O'Loughlin (that is, I have not yet spawned) but I'm nearly there - I should have my book in my hand next week. Michael's wife Judith Mok was among last night's readers and she also sang, beautifully - she's a professional opera singer as well as a writer.

Other readers, among many, included Alan Jude Moore, Nessa O'Mahony, Pete Mullineaux, Bertha Rogers, Ann le Marquand Hartigan, John Fitzgerald and, my favourite reader of the evening, the wry English poet Julian Stannard. Julian had everyone giggling at his irreverant and beautifully written work. I bought his collection The Parrots of Villa Gruber Discover Lapis Lazuli and read it on the bus on the way home and can highly recommend it. Julian's work and all of these Salmon poets can be discovered on their site here.

There were lots of poems about dogs, several about meat and Michael Allen read a long Michael D. Higgins poem about a harsh schoolmaster who goes a bit doolally after seeing a Virgin apparition. The poem had several refrains one of which was 'love everybody but particularly love yourself'.

There was wine, there was chat, there were wall-to-wall poets, there was Luka Bloom, there was a raffle of all the books published by Salmon this year, there was the shush of the Luas as it passed by the church door. All in all, it was a fine celebration of Jessie and her thirty years of publishing great poetry.

PRESIDENTIAL GIVEAWAY - SHINE ON

2011-10-29T08:47:00.000+01:00

In honour of our wonderful new President, Michael D. Higgins, I am giving away a copy of the new Shine On: Irish Writers for Shine anthology which contains a poem by the very man. Also a story by me and fabulous work by lots of other Irish writers. I blogged its launch here.

In the spirit of patriotism, I am confining this giveaway to Ireland. Sorry, my lovely overseas readers - I will do a giveaway of the new poetry book next month which will be for everywhere :)

Just leave a comment to say you want to be in the draw and I will pull a name out of the hat next Friday, the 4th November. Good luck!

SYLVIA PLATH'S BIRTHDAY

2011-10-28T13:00:00.003+01:00

Sylvia Plath in 1953

Sylvia Plath would have been 79 yesterday, had she lived. In honour of her birthday, here is my favourite Plath poem from Ariel:

The Moon and the Yew Tree

This is the light of the mind, cold and planetary
The trees of the mind are black. The light is blue.
The grasses unload their griefs on my feet as if I were God
Prickling my ankles and murmuring of their humility
Fumy, spiritous mists inhabit this place.
Separated from my house by a row of headstones.
I simply cannot see where there is to get to.

The moon is no door. It is a face in its own right,
White as a knuckle and terribly upset.
It drags the sea after it like a dark crime; it is quiet
With the O-gape of complete despair. I live here.
Twice on Sunday, the bells startle the sky —-
Eight great tongues affirming the Resurrection
At the end, they soberly bong out their names.

The yew tree points up, it has a Gothic shape.
The eyes lift after it and find the moon.
The moon is my mother. She is not sweet like Mary.
Her blue garments unloose small bats and owls.
How I would like to believe in tenderness-
The face of the effigy, gentled by candles,
Bending, on me in particular, its mild eyes.

I have fallen a long way. Clouds are flowering
Blue and mystical over the face of the stars
Inside the church, the saints will all be blue,
Floating on their delicate feet over the cold pews,
Their hands and faces stiff with holiness.
The moon sees nothing of this. She is bald and wild.
And the message of the yew tree is blackness - blackness and silence.

And here is my response poem to it, from my new collection The Juno Charm. It was first published in The Chimaera.

Poem Beginning with a Line by Plath

This is the light of the mind, cold and planetary,

it keeps me solitary, stumbling inside paranoia.

My anchoritic needs are not a bow to religion,

they are as prosaic as any modern-day hermit’s:

who is there to trust with the black of my heart, when

some trample, some steal what’s mine for their own?

LITERARY DEATH MATCH - Dublin!

2011-10-28T09:12:00.000+01:00

The madness and fun that is the Literary Death Match returns to Dublin next week. It's a great night out (as a former LDM champ, I may be biased....no, I'm not - it's a really fun night. I laughed until my jaw hurt.)

This is from their site:

"After a too-long two month wait, Literary Death Match returns to The Workman's Club with our odd flurry of literary and comedic shenaniganism, in what will be a must-see night of levity, lit and pretty lighting!

First up on the roll call of literary geniuses is the jaw droppingly funny poetry tycoon Fintan O’Higgins, Hip-Dweebster-Princess turned writer Sabina Sirbu, poetry funatarian Erin Fornoff and film directing, novel writing legend Peter Sheridan.

On the all-star judging panel we have Father Ted star Joe Rooney, journalist and filmmaker Derek O’Connor and literary do-it-all Mia Gallagher!
Hosted by LDM creator Todd Zuniga."

Where: The Workman's Club, 10 Wellington Quay, Dublin (map)
When: Doors at 8, Show at 9:15 (sharp); afterdrinks after.
Cost: €7 preorder; €10 on the door.

QUOTABLE QUOTES - George Konrad

2011-10-27T10:53:00.000+01:00

This stuff is on my mind a lot since the summer. Thank you for this, George:

'I believe that it is my job not only to write books but to have them published. A book is like a child. You have to defend the life of a child.'

FLASH FICTION in the IRISH TIMES

2011-10-26T11:57:00.000+01:00

My flash story 'The Doora Spinster' appears in The Irish Times today in an article about flash fiction by Declan Burke.

Alison Wells, myself, John McFetridge and Rob Kitchin give our thoughts on flash. They are calling for flash stories up to 500 words and will publish the best ones.

Read the lot here.

JACKIE KAY ON THE SHORT STORY

2011-10-24T09:52:00.000+01:00

Jackie Kay has a wonderful essay/thought-piece on the short story over at Thresholds. A snippet:

'I am writing short stories again and they make me happier to write than anything. There is a great swirling freedom in the short story. You have to hold your breath as you write one. You never know if you are going to pull it off. Writing one story does not help you to write another. Each time, the form demands you find something new, something you have not found before.'

JUNO CHARM PRE-ORDER

2011-10-21T16:18:00.000+01:00

My poetry collection The Juno Charm is now available for pre-order on Salmon's website here. Publication day is the 10th of November and they will deliver on that day.

JUNO CHARM COVER

2011-10-20T17:44:00.000+01:00

I got my cover today. Beautiful! Thanks to Siobhán Hutson in Salmon and the artist Anni Betts. I'm getting excited now!

MANCHESTER FICTION PRIZE WINNER

2011-10-18T10:39:00.000+01:00

Krishan Coupland

The winner of the Manchester Fiction Prize was announced last Friday as Krishan Coupland for his story 'Days Necrotic'. It is a chilling piece of fiction (pardon the pun, which you will get when you read it.) It is surreal and dark and a worthy winner. Read it here along with the rest of the shortlisted stories. Congrats Krishan!

HUNGRY HILL - POETS MEET POLITICS

2011-10-17T09:19:00.000+01:00

Hungry Hill have a new competition for poems on any aspect of politics, news, and current affairs, with a first prize of €100; all shortlisted poems will be included in an online anthology, and the authors will be invited to a public reading in January 2012. (In Cork, probably - to the best of my knowledge they are based in County Cork.)

The entry fee is €5 for up to three poems, and the closing date for entries is 16 December 2011.

Cherry Smyth - a wonderful poet - will judge.

For full details, including instructions for online entry, see www.hungryhillwriting.com