Louise Phillips's Blog, page 44
August 8, 2015
Signed First Editions....
For anyone who cannot make the launch, a facility for SIGNED 1st EDITION Large Format Paperbacks of 'The Game Changer' by Louise Phillips has been put in place.
This book will be signed by the author at the Official Launch in the Gutter Bookshop on TUESDAY 8TH SEPTEMBER 2015 and will be dispatched immediately afterwards.
A PERSONALISED MESSAGE CAN BE ADDED BY THE AUTHOR AT NO ADDITIONAL COST - PLEASE INCLUDE ANY DEDICATION DETAILS IN THE EXTRA INFORMATION FIELD WITH YOUR ORDER.
ORDER LINK: HERE
(Please note: This title is only available as a large format paperback and is not printed in hardback).
August 6, 2015
READING IRELAND focuses on Irish Crime Fiction....
Reading Ireland is a new on-line quarterly publication founded by Dundalk native Adrienne Leavy to promote Irish literature and contemporary Irish writing, both in Ireland and in the United States.
Here is what the editor Adrienne Leavy had to say:-“Each issue will focus on a specific genre or type of literature. For example, the summer issue, which was recently published, Reading Ireland focused on Irish crime fiction. Contributors included award winning Irish crime fiction writers Louise Phillips and Declan Burke, along with regular guest columnist Des Kenny from Kennys Bookshop in Galway.In the autumn, the focus will be on poetry, and the winter issue will concentrate on Irish drama. In recognition of the vital contribution that Little Magazines have historically made to the promotion of Irish literature and culture, each issue will also look at a Little Magazine from the past. Issue one can be downloaded at no cost under the subscribe tab on the website www.readingireland.net For more information, please contact Adrienne atleavya@cox.net”
For a snippet from my article on the Rise of Irish Crime Fiction, see below…..
Irish Crime Fiction – Emerald Noir or Emerald Diversity?There has been a lot of discussion of late about the rise of Irish crime fiction, and rightly so. Over the last decade we’ve seen a remarkable growth in Irish crime fiction writing, with more Irish writers than ever choosing the crime genre for creative expression. People have coined phrases such as Emerald Noir or Celtic Crime, to encompass this phenomenon, but it is more than the increased numbers of Irish writers now exploring the genre, it is also the wide diversity of their work, the sub-genres within it, the topics, location and settings, and the variety by which Irish crime fiction is portraying a sense of not only how we feel about the world around us, but how we choose to write about it.
Irish crime fiction was described as being a very big tent by Dr Brian Cliff, Assistant Professor in English and Director of Irish Studies at Trinity College Dublin. During the last crime fiction festival held at the college, a festival which had unprecedented numbers attending, when asked about Irish crime fiction, he said, “Irish novelists set their work as far afield as Jane Casey’s London, John Connolly’s America, and Conor Fitzgerald’s Rome, and they do so with a broad palette from psychological crime novels to international thrillers, from socially engaging hard-boiled fiction to supernatural mysteries.”
John Connolly and many others believe that Irish crime fiction has reached its own Golden Age, not simply because of the numbers of Irish authors now writing within the field, and the diversity involved, but also because of the high quality in terms of adventurousness and critical acclaim. “It’s a kind of coming of age for Irish crime fiction,’ says John, the creator of the highly successful Charlie Parker series.
Inevitably, with an explosion in artistic expression, covering both historical and contemporary fiction, the big question is why is Irish Crime fiction booming?
Some link the creative development to the rise and fall of the so called Celtic Tiger in Ireland, and there are good arguments to support this, not least of which is the realisation that crime fiction is so often drawn to explore society and the interactions which exist, especially when people are tested. Certainly, there has been a massive period of change in Ireland, one which has left a number of questions unanswered about Irish society. On face value, this social change may not appear to be obviously connected to the rise in Irish historical crime writing, with novelists such as Kevin Mc Carthy, Michael Russell, Anthony Quinn, Andrew Hughes, Conor Brady and Stuart Neville, writing about times past, but in many ways the rise in historical crime fiction makes sense, as it is an effective means of questioning who we are as a people, by going back and reflecting on what has gone before……To Download a FREE copy of Reading Ireland click HERE
Here is what the editor Adrienne Leavy had to say:-“Each issue will focus on a specific genre or type of literature. For example, the summer issue, which was recently published, Reading Ireland focused on Irish crime fiction. Contributors included award winning Irish crime fiction writers Louise Phillips and Declan Burke, along with regular guest columnist Des Kenny from Kennys Bookshop in Galway.In the autumn, the focus will be on poetry, and the winter issue will concentrate on Irish drama. In recognition of the vital contribution that Little Magazines have historically made to the promotion of Irish literature and culture, each issue will also look at a Little Magazine from the past. Issue one can be downloaded at no cost under the subscribe tab on the website www.readingireland.net For more information, please contact Adrienne atleavya@cox.net”
For a snippet from my article on the Rise of Irish Crime Fiction, see below…..
Irish Crime Fiction – Emerald Noir or Emerald Diversity?There has been a lot of discussion of late about the rise of Irish crime fiction, and rightly so. Over the last decade we’ve seen a remarkable growth in Irish crime fiction writing, with more Irish writers than ever choosing the crime genre for creative expression. People have coined phrases such as Emerald Noir or Celtic Crime, to encompass this phenomenon, but it is more than the increased numbers of Irish writers now exploring the genre, it is also the wide diversity of their work, the sub-genres within it, the topics, location and settings, and the variety by which Irish crime fiction is portraying a sense of not only how we feel about the world around us, but how we choose to write about it.Irish crime fiction was described as being a very big tent by Dr Brian Cliff, Assistant Professor in English and Director of Irish Studies at Trinity College Dublin. During the last crime fiction festival held at the college, a festival which had unprecedented numbers attending, when asked about Irish crime fiction, he said, “Irish novelists set their work as far afield as Jane Casey’s London, John Connolly’s America, and Conor Fitzgerald’s Rome, and they do so with a broad palette from psychological crime novels to international thrillers, from socially engaging hard-boiled fiction to supernatural mysteries.”
John Connolly and many others believe that Irish crime fiction has reached its own Golden Age, not simply because of the numbers of Irish authors now writing within the field, and the diversity involved, but also because of the high quality in terms of adventurousness and critical acclaim. “It’s a kind of coming of age for Irish crime fiction,’ says John, the creator of the highly successful Charlie Parker series.
Inevitably, with an explosion in artistic expression, covering both historical and contemporary fiction, the big question is why is Irish Crime fiction booming?
Some link the creative development to the rise and fall of the so called Celtic Tiger in Ireland, and there are good arguments to support this, not least of which is the realisation that crime fiction is so often drawn to explore society and the interactions which exist, especially when people are tested. Certainly, there has been a massive period of change in Ireland, one which has left a number of questions unanswered about Irish society. On face value, this social change may not appear to be obviously connected to the rise in Irish historical crime writing, with novelists such as Kevin Mc Carthy, Michael Russell, Anthony Quinn, Andrew Hughes, Conor Brady and Stuart Neville, writing about times past, but in many ways the rise in historical crime fiction makes sense, as it is an effective means of questioning who we are as a people, by going back and reflecting on what has gone before……To Download a FREE copy of Reading Ireland click HERE
August 5, 2015
Marilyn - beautiful images to remember...
August 5th - Anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death.
The first decent essay I ever created, was about Marilyn.
A quote from Time Magazine:
"Her death has diminished the loveliness of the world in which we live. Her life was filled with sadness—a bleak childhood, three unhappy marriages, her inability to have children. But for all her seeking, trying, hoping and never finding, she has left us many beautiful images to remember."
For more images, visit HERE
August 1, 2015
Tallafest 2015 - Exploring Character and Story!!
This festival gets more successful year on year and I'm thrilled to be taking part again.
If you want to book a place on my FREE creative writing workshop 'Exploring Character and Story' go to www.tallafest.ie and book your place!
This event is always oversubscribed so get booking!! #Tallafest15
A Date for the Diary!!!
ALL WELCOME for an evening of fun on the 8th September......
July 31, 2015
Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year
The 2015 shortlist for the Bloody Scotland Crime Book of the Year (formerly Deanston Scottish Crime Book of the Year) has been announced.
The shortlisted titles were chosen by an independent panel of readers and will now go on to a judging panel. Sitting on the judging panel for 2015 are Magnus Linklater, journalist and former newspaper editor, writer and broadcaster Sally Magnusson, and Caron Macpherson of Waterstones Argyle Street.
The winning book will be announced and the prize awarded on Saturday 12th September at a gala dinner as part of the Bloody Scotland festival, in Stirling.
IRISH DAILY STAR!
"I'm not superwoman...."
Nice piece in the Irish Daily Star about working smarter from home!!
Nice piece in the Irish Daily Star about working smarter from home!!
July 29, 2015
Eoin Mc Namee to launch THE GAME CHANGER!
I am both honoured and delighted that the very talented Eoin Mc Namee will be launching THE GAME CHANGER in September! (details of launch to follow very shortly!)
And in case you have been in hiding for the last decade, here's a little bit about Eoin. If you haven't picked up his latest book, Blue is the Night, it is a tour-de-force!
EOIN MC NAMEE's novels include Resurrection Man, later made into a film, The Blue Tango, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and Orchid Blue, described by John Burnside in the Guardian as 'not only a political novel of the highest order but also that rare phenomenon, a genuinely tragic work of art.'
His latest novel, Blue is the Night, won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award 2015.
And in case you have been in hiding for the last decade, here's a little bit about Eoin. If you haven't picked up his latest book, Blue is the Night, it is a tour-de-force!
EOIN MC NAMEE's novels include Resurrection Man, later made into a film, The Blue Tango, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and Orchid Blue, described by John Burnside in the Guardian as 'not only a political novel of the highest order but also that rare phenomenon, a genuinely tragic work of art.'
His latest novel, Blue is the Night, won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award 2015.
The Barking Crow!
I'm absolutely delighted that one of my crime fiction students, the wonderful Niamh Brennan, has been long listed for...
No Exit Press Short Story Writing Competition Devised as part of the celebrations for 30 years of Oldcastle Books, the competition was open to any unpublished writer with a passion for crime fiction. The intention was to find original voices that epitomise the No Exit Press List: strong, compelling writing that resonates long after the final page.All the participants should be congratulated on their engaging and original entries, but the writers who have made it through to the longlist are:Rachel Wolfreys – Vagrant HeartPhilip Willans – The SuspectNiamh Brennan – The Barking CrowMarie Henderson-Brennan – The Power of FourEric T Johnsson – ClayIan Robinson – RubiconLiz Kershaw – The Valentine MurdersSarah Mclean – A PieceTom Leins - The Brief History of Bad MenThe judging panel, headed by Oldcastle Books MD Ion Mills, includes bestselling author of the Geraldine Steel and Ian Peterson series, Leigh Russell; A is for Authors literary agent, Annette Crossland and one of Britain's finest noir critics, Barry Forshaw, author of Nordic Noir and Euro Noir.The shortlist will be announced on September 1st and the winner, who will have the opportunity to meet with Barry Forshaw, Leigh Russell and Annette Crossland, with the possibility of being signed by No Exit Press, will be announced on November 1st.
July 27, 2015
One Way Ticket to Budapest!
This day next week our last child will fly the nest on a One Way Ticket to Budapest. I think I know how I'm going to feel, but I'm wary all the same. Life can throw you curve balls....
