Lisa McInerney won her second major award in a fortnight when her novel, The Glorious Heresies, was named winner of the Desmond Elliott Prize 2016, worth £10,000 for the best debut novel of the year, at a ceremony in London on Wednesday night.
Accepting the award, McInerney said: “I’ve been thinking about the Desmond Elliott Prize a lot this week, and how it does a lot not just for new authors, but for those we’d like to find our books. Prizes like this are like dating apps for readers, and I am hugely grateful.”
The Elliott prize runners-up were Mrs Engels by fellow Irish author Gavin McCrea and The House at the Edge of the World by Julia Rochester. The judges, novelist Iain Pears, The Pool's Sam Baker and Katy Guest, former literary editor of the Independent on Sunday, were unanimous in their decision. Pears said: "We knew we had found a major literary figure of the next generation when we made our choice last month – it's good to see other prize judges have subsequently agreed with us. Lisa is a genuinely exciting writer – there is electricity running through her prose.
“This is a complex, unusual, violent book, bleak but with welcome humour, and she manages a huge cast with confidence; there is never any doubt that she is in complete control, right to the unexpected but perfect ending. I know what it is to try and control a complicated text, and spent years learning my trade. She has done it on her first outing, and that is close to astounding.”
The prize is presented in the name of the late Irish publisher and literary agent Desmond Elliott. Last year's winner was Claire Fuller, author of Our Endless Numbered Days. Eimear McBride won in 2014 for A Girl is a Half-formed Thing. Like McInerney, McBride also won the Baileys Prize.
Prizes for Sarah Crossan and Thomas Morris
Another recidivist prize recipient is Sarah Crossan, who this week added the £5,000 CILIP Carnegie award to a trophy cabinet that already holds The Bookseller's YA Book Prize 2016 and the Irish Children's Book of the Year Award for her verse novel One, about conjoined twins. Sioned Jacques, chair of the judges, said: "Sarah's book, One, is poignant and thought-provoking, each chapter a poem that is a work of art in its own right, while collectively they create a highly emotive and engaging story. The judges found it deeply moving, beautifully observed, unusual but perfectly crafted – the sort of book that will stay with the reader long after the final page."
Crossan, who was shortlisted for the Carnegie medal in 2013 for The Weight of Water and 2015 for Apple and Rain, called for more industry support of poetry, saying children inherently "trust poetry" at a young age "and then we kill it for them by around Year 8 with testing leaving no space for joy or performance".
Thomas Morris, who is stepping down as editor of the Stinging Fly magazine after two years at the helm, has won a £2,500 Somerset Maugham Award for his short story collection, We Don't Know What We're Doing (Faber). Judge Philip Hensher said of it: "This masterly first book shows a literary virtue that will never falter: interest in other people."
Casting call for Eoin Colfer musical
There is a casting call for Noël, a new musical by Eoin Colfer, in Dublin next week.
Composed by Liam Bates, it will run in the Wexford Opera House this December. It tells the story of a young girl who is distraught at the disappearance of her mother. On a journey to find her, Noël meets a motley crew of characters who want to help: Nick, a disillusioned homeless man with a secret, forms a bond with the child. In helping Noël, Nick rediscovers his belief in the magic of Christmas and in himself.
The production is currently looking to cast the lead role and will be holding auditions in Bow Street Academy on Thursday, June 30th. A feisty but vulnerable 10-12-year-old girl, the hopeful should have an excellent singing voice (range: C3-G4) and acting skills (theatre/performing experience a big plus). Auditions will take place on June 30th. To apply please send a CV and headshot to Bow Street Academy for Screen Acting with Maureen Hughes via casting@bowstreet.ie.
Colfer said: “I am delighted that this Wexford-born project is being nurtured and produced by a fellow Wexford man and a classmate to boot. Michael Londra and I have been searching for a project to collaborate on for years and Noël is the perfect vehicle. We are both very excited by the prospect of discovering a new musical star to light up the stage this Christmas.”
The musical will be directed by Ben Barnes and is produced by Emmy-nominated tenor Michael Londra and Broadway producer Steve Peters. Londra said: “As a kid in Wexford, I saw how creative Eoin was. Now I witness that all over the world seeing his books in every country I am on tour in. We’ve wanted to work together for the longest time and Noël is that project. Coming home to do it makes it even more perfect but then I get to take what we make in Wexford and put it on the world stage. First though, we’ve to find a perfect Noël.”
Maeve Binchy walk in Dalkey
Maeve Binchy once said that when she was growing up in Dalkey, it felt more like the boondocks than Dublin’s answer to Malibu. Its reputation has since been transformed, not least thanks to her own stellar literary career.
This tradition is now being celebrated with the rather clunkily-titled Maeve Binchy and famous Irish Writers Walk, which wil lrun every Friday at 1.30pm until September 4th and at other times by appointment.
The walk starts at the Writers’ Gallery at Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre. Here, the visitor can explore the gallery which features the work of 45 creative artists from James Joyce to Bono, Samuel Beckett, Binchy and more. While the guided walk is focused on Maeve Binchy, it includes other well-known writers.
From Dalkey Castle, along the streets, walkers will enjoy snippets from the work of Binchy, Joyce, Hugh Leonard and Flann O’Brien, just for starters. The setting of the schoolroom scene (Nestor Episode) from Ulysses, is just close by. The route to Torca Cottage, of George Bernard Shaw fame, reveals itself here too. The encounter between Binchy and Beckett, when he was directing his play in London, will enliven the hidden gem that is St Patrick’s Square. Local anecdotes from our entertaining and knowledgeable guides add colour to the facts. The walk will finish in the beautiful Maeve Binchy Garden in Dalkey Library where a mosaic to her memory proudly stands. Here also the Rosa Gordon Snell, which Maeve commissioned for her husband, flowers in season. The walk lasts just under one hour and is fully microphoned to the lead tour guide for ease of listening. Minimum numbers and advance booking essential.
The walk can be combined with a living history tour at Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre for €13. Here, the resident actors will take you back in time and enthrall you with tales of Tudor times. dalkeycastle.com
Hay Festival Kells
Words and Music, the Hay Sessions brings together poet and Gallery Press founder Peter Fallon, The Lost Brothers' Oisin Leech and his sister Saramai for an intimate interlude of music, song, poetry and conversation. The event, part of Hay Kells festival, takes place this Saturday, June 25th, at 2pm at the Church of Ireland / Charles Noell Stage. Admission €6
Walking on Eggshells
Finally, congratulations to Caitriona Lally (like Morris and McInerney, an Irish Times Book Club alumnus), whose debut novel, Eggshells, first published by Liberties Press in May last year, has been snapped up by Melville House, the New York publishing house founded by Dennis Johnson and Valerie Merians, for publication in the US next spring. She was also the featured writer in Starboard Home, a musical celebration of Dublin's maritime tradition commissioned by Dublin Port as part of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme, which premiered at the National Concert Hall this week.
