In The Irish Times this Saturday, Sally Rooney has written an essay about the Irish property crisis, arguing that enters are being exploited and evictions must be stopped; Deirdre Falvey writes about Lily and Elisabeth Yeats, subjects of a symposium later this year; Neil Gaiman talks to Tara Brady about the stage adaptation of his book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane; and there is a Q&A with Scottish poet and author Jackie Kay, one of the judges of this year’s Rathbones Folio Prize.
Review include Seamus Martin on Russia’s War by Jade McGlynn; Oliver Farry on Homelands: A Personal History of Europe by Timothy Garton Ash; Niamh Donnelly on Danielle Evans’ Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self; Declan Hughes on the best new crime fiction, including the latest by Liz Nugent and Jane Casey; Martina Evans on running noses, sharp feet; Jan Carson on Travellers to Unimaginable Lands by Dasha Kiper; Liam Cagney on Dance Your Way Home: A Journey Through the Dancefloor by Emma Warren; Neil Hegarty on Cuddy by Benjamin Myers; Eoin O Broin on It’s Not Where You Live, It’s How You Live: Class and Gender Struggles in a Dublin Estate by John Bissett; and Sarah Gilmartin on Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood.
This weekend’s Irish Times Eason book offer is Forever Home by Graham Norton. You can buy the No 1 bestseller for just €4.99, a €6 saving, with your paper at any branch.
Maggie O’Farrell has been shortlisted for Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards along with Love Marriage by Monica Ali; Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes; Fairy Tale by Stephen King; Babel by RF Kuang; and Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart.
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy has been shortlisted for debut fiction book of the year alongside Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola; Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus; The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty; The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer; and The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn.
You Don’t Know What War Is: The Diary of a Young Girl From Ukraine by Irish-based Yeva Skalietska has been shortlisted for children’s nonfiction book of the year along with Am I Made of Stardust?: Dr Maggie Answers the Big Questions for Young Scientists by Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and illustrator Chelen Ecija; A Better Day: Your Positive Mental Health Handbook by Dr Alex George and illustrated by The Boy Fitz Hammond; Girlhood Unfiltered by Ebinehita Iyere; You Can Do It: How to Find Your Voice and Make a Difference by Marcus Rashford and Carl Anka; and Queen Elizabeth: (Volume 88) Little People, BIG DREAMS by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara and illustrator Melissa Lee Johnson.
Halfway up the Stairs, the Children’s Bookshop in Greystones, Co Wicklow has been named Independent Bookshop of the Year (Ireland) in the annual British Book Awards (incorporating Ireland & the UK).
Owner Trish Hennessy said: “We are so proud of this achievement! There are so many wonderful indie bookshops in Ireland, especially our fellow nominee, Little Acorn Books in Derry, and it is a real honour to receive this accolade, especially as a dedicated Children’s Bookshop. We have a wonderful team of dedicated children’s booksellers - Trish, Amanda, Meriel, Kathleen and our Events Manager, author Sarah Webb. We work hard to get the best books into children’s hands and we are lucky there are so many wonderful children’s books out there! We hold events every Saturday, and upcoming events include author visits from Erika McGann & Clive McFarland on April 8th and Aoife Dooley on April 22nd.
“We are looking forward to representing Ireland at The British Book Awards, which will take place in London on May 15th.”
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From diverse children’s presses to climate-positive companies to publishers of Nobel Prize winners, 10 small presses across the UK and Ireland were honoured this week as regional and country winners for The British Book Awards 2023 Small Press of the Year. New Island Books, which has become renowned for spotting award-winning debut authors and which celebrating its 30th anniversary last year, is Island of Ireland winner.
It and the other winners - SRL Publishing; Boldwood Books; Fitzcarraldo Editions; Sweet Cherry; Bluemoose Books; Scottish Mountaineering Press; David Fickling Books; Little Toller Books; and Firefly Press - are now in contention for the overall Small Press of the Year Award, to be announced at The British Book Awards ceremony at Grosvenor House London on May 15th. The overall Small Press winner will also compete to be crowned Independent Publisher of the Year.
Last year was New Island’s most successful since its foundation due to the release of hugely popular titles such as Donal Fallon’s Three Castles Burning, Ulysses: A Reader’s Odyssey by Daniel Mulhall and Nora by Nuala O’Connor, which was named as One Dublin One Book.
General manager Mariel Deegan said, “We’re absolutely thrilled that the outstanding work of our authors and staff has been recognised by the British Book Awards. New Island has always aimed to be an essential part of the Irish literary ecosystem and we’ve seen sustained growth over the last few years in which time our books have been enjoyed by an audience both old and new. We are extremely grateful to all our partners, particularly NALA and the Arts Council whose support has enabled us to continue to take risks.”
Since being founded by Edwin Higel and Dermot Bolger in 1992, New Island has championed the work of new writers while providing a stable home for more established authors. New Island is looking forward to a successful 2023 with debuts from new voices in Declan Toohey (Perpetual Comedown) and Katherine O’Donnell (Slant) and well-known authors such as William Wall (Empty Bed Blues) and Glenn Patterson (Two Summers) .
Irish poet Jessica Traynor is to receive the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award for Poetry 2023. She will be the 27th recipient of this prestigious US award for poetry, which honours both the literary achievement of the poet and their contribution to the community of writers in Ireland.
Dubliner Traynor has been invited to America in early May to give readings and to receive her award at the Center for Irish Studies at the University of St Thomas in St Paul, Minnesota. Closer to home, she will also be reading at the Cúirt International Festival of Literature in Galway on April 21st.
Traynor’s third collection Pit Lullabies was published by Bloodaxe Books in March 2022. It was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and a Poetry Book of the Year in The Irish Times. Pit Lullabies followed two acclaimed collections from Dedalus Press: Liffey Swim (2014) and The Quick (2018).
“It’s such a special honour to receive the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Prize,” Traynor said. “To have my own work recognised this way, and to be in the company of such a prestigious group of past winners, is a dream come true.”
The poet succeeds Seán Hewitt as a poetry critic for The Irish Times next month, along with Stephen Sexton and long-standing critic Martina Evans.
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The only debut book on the shortlist for this year’s Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration is Rescuing Titanic by Belfast-based author and illustrator, Flora Delargy. With “suspense and tension”, Rescuing Titanic tells the lesser-known history of the Carpathia, the little ship that heroically rescued 705 Titanic passengers, through “expansive watercolours”. Delargy has a personal connection to the story, as her grandfather and great grandfather both worked in the Belfast Shipyards where the Titanic was built.
The Eternal Return of Clara Hart by Louise Finch, the only debut in the running for the Medal for Writing, is also the first shortlisting for independent Irish publisher Little Island. “Pacy, witty and darkly relatable”, the cyclical nature of the story is reflected in the “ingenious” narrative style, with “sharp, acerbic language” to effectively demonstrate the complexity of modern teenage relationships in this unflinching look at the impact of toxic masculinity.
The winners will be announced and celebrated on June 21st at a live and streamed lunchtime ceremony at The Barbican, hosted by former Children’s Laureate Lauren Child, who won the Carnegie Medal for Illustration – then known as the Kate Greenaway Medal – in 2000 for her first Charlie and Lola book, I Will Not Ever Never Eat A Tomato.
The winners will each receive £500 worth of books to donate to a library of their choice, a specially commissioned and newly designed golden medal and a £5,000 Colin Mears Award cash prize.
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The University of Limerick creative writing team, led by Joseph O’Connor, is looking to recruit a full-time lecturer in creative writing for the academic year 2023-24. The successful candidate will be an internationally recognised, published writer of fiction and/or creative non-fiction, with substantial experience of teaching in higher education, an excellent knowledge of Irish and UK publishing, and, ideally, demonstrable editing and journal publication experience. Applicants must be available to take up the role in early September. Further information for applicants is available online. The closing date for applications is March 30th. Informal enquiries may be directed to Yvonne.Cleary@ul.ie.
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Marilynn Richtarik will be giving two presentations (at TCD and Maynooth) based on her new book Getting to Good Friday: Literature and the Peace Process in Northern Ireland (Oxford, 2023).
The first presentation will be at 5pm on March 21st, in the Neill Lecture Theatre of the Trinity Long Room Hub. This talk is part of the TCD School of English staff and postgraduate seminar series. There is no need to register. The second talk, Forging a Usable Past: Brian Friel’s Making History, will be at 1pm at the Arts and Humanities Institute in the Iontas Building at Maynooth. Please register via Eventbrite here if you’d like to attend either in person or via Zoom.
