Nuala Ní Chonchúir's Blog, page 18

TWO RADIO INTERVIEWS - ARENA & GLUCKSMAN HSE

Life is kind of bananas at the moment - lots of radio interviews with the USA, off to Glasgow tomorrow for a newspaper interview, trying to pack for the New England trip (book tour! Emily Dickinson Intl Society meeting!), prepping PR stuff for the UK release etc. etc.

I have been wondering whether other writers love this stuff, like really enjoy and relish it? I like it in many ways but the hecticness gets a bit overwhelming at times. I'm normally a Dickinson-like recluse: happy in my own company, at my desk, living a quiet life here in Ballinasloe. So all this running around to airports and festivals, constantly answering questions about myself and about Emily, feels frenetic. (My husband reckons other writers leave five years between books in order to avoid it all for a nice chunk of time. I should try that, maybe.)

Anyway, the PR whirl continues: Catherine Dunne and I will be on Arena on RTÉ Radio 1 tonight to discuss the Italo-Irish Literature Exchange English language anthology,  Lost Between  (New Island). Tune in here or listen to the podcast from tomorrow.

And my interview with of Dr. Miriam Nyhan of Glucksman Ireland House NYU Radio Hour is now online here. If you're a Mary Costello fan she was interviewed by Miriam earlier in July here.

BOOK TOUR IN THE USA & EMILY T-SHIRTS

My USA book tour for Miss Emily kicks off a week from today in the beautifully named Mystic, Connecticut. So exciting!

Here are the dates & venues. I'll be doing some media stuff along the way but I can link later:


BANK SQUARE BOOKS, CT 3rd August 2015 AT 12:00 PM BANK SQUARE BOOKS, 53 WEST MAIN ST, MYSTIC, CONNECTICUT
HARVARD BOOK STORE, MA
4th August 2015 7PM1256 MASS AVE, CAMBRIDGE
THE ODYSSEY BOOK SHOP, MA5th August 2015 AT 7:00PMMOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE, 9 COLLEGE ST, STH HADLEY
EMILY DICKINSON INTL SOCIETY MEETING8th August 2015 AT 1.30PMREADING WITH SUSAN SNIVELYAMHERST ALUMNI HOUSE, 75 CHURCHILL ST, AMHERST
My husband is coming with me and my youngest child, so while I was figuring out what to wear for my appearances, I decided to get them in on the act too:
My tour t-shirt, made by Creative Daffodil Literary Designs The husband's Emily t-shirt (beautifully ironed as you can see, ahem.) Junior's Emily D t-shirt by CafePress.com

AUDIO BOOK - MISS EMILY - GIVEAWAY

Win a copy of the Miss Emily audio book (Blackstone) on my Facebook author page. You have until tonight!

Meanwhile the novel is one of 10 books making news this week at LitHub (along with Harper Lee!).

Miss Emily Book Trailer

I haven't shared this here yet so here we go: the book trailer for Miss Emily.

MISS EMILY GIVEAWAY - DRAW RESULTS

It has been a wonderful, hectic week: West Cork Lit Fest on Monday; Miss Emily came out in North America on Tuesday; I've been writing yet more promo articles for the novel (which brings me close to Emily again); I've been having phone interviews with the USA and a face-to-face one with Glucksman House NYU; I've had the launch of the Italo-Irish anthology Lost Between on Thursday in Dublin and there have been interviews, reviews and articles galore about Miss Emily. Including one I wrote for the Huffington Post .

And today the Irish Times reviews Flash Fiction International , the Norton anthology, which features my Frida Kahlo story: 'Ní Chonchúir’s The Egg Pyramid is one of the collection’s strongest tales, transforming the brutal facts of Frida Kahlo’s relationship with Diego Rivera into a moving, tragic meditation on betrayal.' My stars are clearly aligned this week :)

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Anyway, I promised the results of the Miss Emily giveaway today so here they are:


The copy of the US edition of the book goes to Kathy McClung.


The 'Hope is the thing with feathers' fridge magnet and Emily cards go to: Sarah Barry.

The St Brigid's cross and Emily cards go to: Susan T.

Congrats, ladies. Please send me your postal address to nuala AT nualanichonchuir.com.

WASHINGTON POST REVIEWS MISS EMILY

It's all go around here  - The Washington Post has given Miss Emily a good review. Yay! Read it here.

PUBLICATION DAY GIVEAWAY

It's publication day today for Miss Emily. It's mad to think I signed the contract eighteen months ago with Penguin (having finished writing the book two years ago) and here it is today, finally released into the world (or part of it, at least!). The audio book also appears today, for those who prefer to listen rather than read.

Audio book of Miss EmilyThe pre-publicity in North America has been enormous and heartening. And my webmaster has fashioned a Miss Emily page on my website to report on some of it. (Watch out also for the novel's UK/Irl release from Sandstone on 20th August.)


In the meantime my lovely team at Penguin sent me flowers and my webmaster/husband gave me my fave champagne (and brekkie in bed). Spoilt, happy excited woman here!

To celebrate I am doing a Miss Emily giveaway with various prizes: a copy of the US edition of the book, a St Brigid's cross (features in the book), an Emily Dickinson fridge magnet, Emily cards etc. I will have three separate draws and you'll win what you win. Just leave a comment to enter. Simple as :)

WEST CORK LIT FEST - TWO GIGS

I head to Bantry tomorrow for the West Cork Literary Festival and my two gigs on Monday the 13th - my first billed as Nuala O'Connor.

Firstly, Coffee and a Chat in beautiful Bantry House at 10am with Siobhán Burke. €10.

Secondly, Reading and Q&A with Mary Morrissy at 1pm, Bantry Library. Free!

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED REVIEW FOR *MISS EMILY*

In America, Publishers Weekly has given Miss Emily a starred review. The excitement!! It's online here but I'll paste in the full text below in case it disappears from their site:
"O'Connor brings one of America's most beloved poets to life in this novel, which enters into the mind of Emily Dickinson as she retreats into a reclusive life amongst her parents and sister at their estate, the Homestead in Amherst, Mass., in the 1860s. O'Connor has conjured a fictional confidant for Emily in Ada Concannon, a headstrong 18-year-old Irish maid, who is hired by the Dickinson family on the day she arrives in town. The story unfolds as chapters alternate between first-person accounts by Emily and Ada. Emily grapples with her introversion and her chosen escape of writing: "The rustling passions of life are contained more truly for me in the words of poetry than in the everyday world." Ada greets stablehand Daniel Byrne, "trying to be a little formal, but something about him makes my mouth twitch and beam"—and just like that, a courtship begins. O'Connor is a gifted writer; not only does she bring a believable sense of poetry (clay is "deathly cool around my fingers") and self-assurance to Emily, she is also capable of conveying complex feeling succinctly, a talent shared by her historical heroine. The fascinating story also touches on issues of class and race. One wishes O'Connor would have done more to bring out Emily's interior life, but the reader is nonetheless pulled into the story. This novel has the possibility of being a book club juggernaut."

MISS EMILY - THE COVERS

For the first time in my writing history, I have a variety of covers for one book, which is pretty exciting. So I thought I'd do a round-up of the Miss Emily covers.

Penguin USA and Penguin Canada opted for the same cover for the North American paperback, designed by Olga Grlic. I have always dreamed of that little orange penguin on a cover of mine, so this is good stuff. This one is out July 14th:


The audio book, which also appears July 14th, from Blackstone Audio, is voiced by Irish actress Alana Kerr as Ada, and American actress Tavia Gilbert as Emily. They do a great job. (Alana recently also voiced Anne Enright's marvelous novel The Green Road.) Cover:


The large print hardcover, out 12th August in the UK, will apparently have this cover (is Emily by the sea?!):


And last, but by no means least, here is the edition that will appear in the UK, Ireland, NZ and Australia, as designed by the lovely Sandstone Press, my UK publishers, who are based in the Scottish Highlands. This one comes out August 20th:


Writer Dermot Bolger, who gave me a fantastic blurb, gave Miss Emily a nice mention in yesterday's Irish Mail on Sunday: