In The Irish Times this Saturday, Samantha Harvey talks to John Self about her Booker Prize winning novel Orbital, Gerry Smyth writes about David Marcus and The Irish Times. There is an essay by Shamim de Brún on food and fiction: how writers are serving up the shifting uncertainties of our lives on a plate. Ronan McGreevy and Dr Emer Purcell, editor of The National University of Ireland Centenary Roll of Honour and Essays, explore the motivations of ther Irish who fought for Britain in the first World War. And there is a Q&A with children’s author Sibéal Pounder.
Reviews are Fintan O’Toole on the Routledge History of Irish America, edited by Cian McMahon and Kathleen Costello-Sullivan; Conor O’Clery on Believe Nothing Until It Is Officially Denied: Claud Cockburn and the Invention of Guerrilla Journalism by Patrick Cockburn; Vona Groarke on the best new poetry; Neil Hegarty on A Benedict Kiely Reader; NJ McGarrigle on Gambling Man by Lionel Barber; Brian Cliff on John Grisham and Jim McCloskey’s Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions; Adrienne Murphy on Wise Women: Myths and Stories for Midlife and Beyond by Angharad Wynne; Brigid O’Dea on Mad, Isn’t It? by Emma Doran and Country Fail, Some C***’s Guide to the Countryside by Killian Sundermann; Oliver Farry on The Taiwan Story: How a Small Island Will Dictate the Global Future by Kerry Brown; John Walshe on My Animals and Other Animals by Bill Bailey; Pat Carty on Night & Day by John Connolly; and Solana Joy on David Goodhart’s The Care Dilemma.
This weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer is Wicked by Gregory Maguire, just €5.99, a €6 saving.
Irish Times journalist Ella Sloane has won the annual Sarah Cecilia Harrison Essay Prize 2024 for her essay The education of the work-girls: Evaluating Dún Emer’s educational objective through the literary and visual material of Leabhar Dún Éimire. The runners-up for 2024 were Lian Bell with her essay, Doubles: A New Archive and Anne Marie Saliba with Gifford’s Grace: A life in Pen. Grace Evelyn Gifford (1888-1955): Ireland’s Finest Cartoonist.
Sarah Cecilia Harrison was an accomplished and talented artist and curator, as well as an advocate of social reform and women’s rights in Ireland in the early 20th century. The prize celebrates her legacy in the arts and as a social campaigner. It recognises the best new research and writing that highlight the stories of women and Ireland’s visual culture, encompassing fine art, design and craft. Entrants submitted 5,000-word essays following a call for submissions last spring.
Sloane graduated with a BA in English literature and sociology from Trinity College Dublin. She has since started writing for the Irish Times as part of the newspaper’s journalist graduate programme where she primarily writes features relating to arts, culture and lifestyle issues. For her final-year thesis, Sloane chose Trinity’s School of English’s Open Collections pathway, a non-traditional dissertation option that allowed her to engage in an archival research project. This essay is the result of her work. Fascinated by Ireland’s material history, she combined her love of literary and visual arts in this project, transforming it into something more than a dissertation. She hopes to continue exploring different aspects of Leabhar Dún Éimire to uncover the lives of the craft enterprise’s largely forgotten work-girls, building on the work of Trinity’s Cuala Press Project.
Caroline Campbell, director of the National Gallery of Ireland, said: “This essay prize is a celebration of fresh perspectives and new voices, shining a well-deserved spotlight on the contributions of women in the visual arts in Ireland. It is a platform for new writing that will elevate the stories of women whose creativity has shaped, and continues to shape, the vibrant artistic landscape of Ireland.”
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This winter, Dublin City Libraries will have their first teenage city-wide reading campaign. This campaign encourages teenagers right across the city to read one book and aims to promote reading for pleasure among teenagers.
Helena Close’s The Gone Book, winner of the White Raven Award in 2021, shortlisted for the Young Adult Book of the year award in 2020, and nominated for the 2021 Carnegie Medal is the city’s inaugural choice for this reading campaign.
The Gone Book (Little Island Books) is about growing up in modern Ireland. At the heart of all the action is Matt, a 15-year-old struggling to understand why his mother left the family home. It’s a book of two halves, funny and sad about families and friendship, skateboarding and surfing and trying to make sense of life as a teenager.
The 2024 reading campaign runs from November to January and there will be author visits to many Dublin City Council branch libraries. Copies of the book are available in all Dublin City Libraries as well as in all good bookshops. Dublin City Council Library stock can be borrowed from libraries nationwide.
Close said: “I am honoured and delighted to be a part of this fantastic project. I look forward to meeting as many teenagers as possible right across the city over the next number of weeks. I hope to encourage them to read and to avail of the wonderful library services available.”
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Bookselling Ireland, the committee of Irish members of the Booksellers Association of the UK and Ireland, which represents the vast majority of Irish bookshops including both chains and independents, has launched a new report about the cultural and social impact of Ireland’s bookshops.
The aim was to determine how Irish bookshops (both independents and chains) enrich the cultural and social lives of their communities, as well as identifying enablers and barriers, so that this contribution can be strengthened. Central to that is maximising the opportunities for communities in every part of the country to experience, enjoy and celebrate culture.
Key findings include: 83 per cent of Irish bookshops run activities such as author readings / books clubs; 94% of Ireland’s bookshops sell Irish-language titles while 30% support Irish-language events and festivals; 75,000 people attend bookshop events in Ireland each year; 54% of bookshops organise 10 or more events a year; mor ethan half of Irish bookshops host events instore for local schools; 46% organise storytime / storytelling events for children while 35% run book clubs / reading clubs for children; 67% of Irish bookshops support local charities in their area while 64% support local libraries
The survey also explored the barriers and the enablers to the range of activities and events delivered by bookshops. It revealed that the cost of running events and activities is overwhelmingly borne by bookshops or local communities. Further key findings include: 79% of bookshops would be encouraged to run more events and activities if the government provided additional support perhaps with a business rates relief scheme for community engagement; 79% saw grants /public funding as a vital source for enabling them to sustain and expand their wider role in the community; 78% of bookshops stating they would like to see more support from publishers to host events.
Minister of State Emer Higgins TD said, “I am delighted to be a part of this launch today and I welcome this report from Bookselling Ireland which showcases the huge cultural impact bookshops throughout the country have in their local communities. The report demonstrates how bookshops contribute to so many different aspects of culture, from supporting the Irish language to encouraging children to expand their love of reading. We are very lucky to have bookshops in almost every town and village in Ireland and we should continue to support them to ensure their continued success going forward.”
Dawn Behan, chair of Bookselling Ireland, said, “We have been delighted to work on this major research piece, and I’d like to thank our researcher, Howard Davies, who embraced the project with rigour and dedication. It’s really quite moving to read some of the case studies, and to know that our members are making real and meaningful contributions to the events, children’s, literary, reading and writing landscapes across Ireland. I’d like to congratulate our bookseller members for the passion and dedication they bring to their jobs and their shops, and their towns, villages and cities throughout the country. They are the hard-working engine of the book industry, and we are glad to be able to shine a light on all their achievements.”
