PAGE TURNER
THE WORLD OF BOOKS WITH MADELEINE KEANE
ABUSY week beckons for our inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction. Anne Enright heads to Hodges Figgis on Wednesday evening to launch The Glass Shore, an anthology of short stories by women writers from Northern Ireland edited by the indefatigable Sinead Gleeson. And on Thursday Enright will give a public reading from her own work and a lecture on the Irish writer Maeve Brennan, at the University of Limerick. Joseph O’Connor, acclaimed novelist, McCourt Professor of Creative Writing and director of UL’s Creative Writing MA, remarked: “Each year since I started here at UL, we have kicked off the autumn term with a visit from a major international writer. Our first was Colum McCann, last year we hosted the great Richard Ford, and to welcome Anne Enright in October will be a special and particular delight for our students, faculty and all book lovers in the midwest. There’s huge excitement here for Anne’s visit. My advice is, book early!”
F**** OR those keen to follow in the footsteps of such distinguished writers, Ireland’s oldest independent publishing house, Mercier Press has launched a fantastic competition to find a first-time fiction author and it is accepting manuscripts until February 1, 2017. In addition to a publishing deal, the winner will receive a €1,000 cash prize. Managing director Mary Feehan explained “Mercier Press has a history of nurturing new talent. In an ideal world we will find our next John B Keane, but, our main reason for running this competition is to encourage creative writing. For both authors and publishers, fiction is a hugely competitive genre and we are keen to publish the best fiction Ireland has to offer.” To enter, aspiring authors must submit 10,000-12,000 words of original fiction aimed at young adults or adults, as well as a 1,000 word synopsis of the full novel. Full details at www.mercierpress.ie.
I**** ’VE always enjoyed the work of Robert Harris who writes riveting historical and political thrillers — among them Fatherland, Pompeii and An Officer and A Spy. His latest novel, Conclave, gathers 120 Cardinals in Rome: one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth. Harris will appear at the Pavilion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire on Tuesday next at 8 pm in conversation with Hugh Linehan. Tickets €10/€12 from the theatre.
The event has been organised by the folks at dlr LexIcon who follow it on Saturday with what sounds like a really fun family day. The library on Dun Laoghaire’s waterfront will run a series of shows, workshops, classes and a walkabout celebrating and inspired by the wonderfully imaginative oeuvre of the great Roald Dahl — so expect plenty of fantastic foxes, Oompa Loompas, Big Friendly Giants and other magical characters. For more details visit libraries.dlrcoco.ie