Nuala Ní Chonchúir's Blog, page 47

WALES ARTS REVIEW - SPECIAL STORY ISSUE

Those of you who know me, know I am a fan of Éilís Ní Dhuibhne's work. I was asked by  Wales Arts Review  to name and recommend a favourite short story and I close Éilís's 'The Pale Gold of Alaska'.

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The issue also features an interview with a favourite Welsh writer of mine Rachel Trezise, as well as story picks from authors Patricia Duncker, Matthew Francis, Alison Moore,Stevie Davies, Nigel Jarrett, Kate North, Valerie Sirr, Tyler Keevil, Jim Morphy, Jimena Gibert and Chris Cornwell.
You'll also find my Paris-set story 'In Seed Time, Learn' in this issue and stories from John Lavin, Valerie Sirr and Chrissie Gittens among many more.

SAN FRANCISCO AFTERS

Trolley carLife goes on, despite jetlag, it appears: there are kids to be run to school, shopping to be bought, clutter to be annihilated, books to be edited, books to be promoted, readings to do, further trips to plan...So, it's just a few captioned pics of San Fran and the launch, rather than a proper report.

A San Fran dinerI didn't get to wander the city as much as I would have liked - conferences have a tendency to be full-on and one doesn't want to miss much. So much to learn from academics. There was great shopping by our hotel, though: Macy's, Anthropologie, Nordstrom etc. Plus there is the heavy schedule of socialising, which involves lots of yummy Anchor Steam beer in San Fran and trying to negotiate very steep streets in silly shoes. I met great people both at the ACIS West conference and at the Irish Literary and Historical Society, where I read/gave a talk on the short story Sunday evening.

Beckett's 'Come and Go'The launch of Of Dublin and Other Fictions was a blast. Lots of warm, fuzzy feelings in the room. Some grad students from San José State Uni treated us to the Beckett play 'Come and Go'. Oh, there is no silence like Beckettian silence. The students did a great job, as did director Matthew Spangler. I signed books, we drank wine, my reading seemed to go over well.

Launch night readingAs re. the chapbook, for the moment, if you want a copy of it, you can order from publisher at Tower Press, Jodi Chilson at: jodichilson AT boisestate.edu

Big night out after the launch with Cian McMahon, Jodi Chilson, Matthew Spangler & Caleb Richardson & moreAnd I got to see Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz (from the shore) and various parts of the city with the lovely Tony Bucher and Matthew Spangler of the Irish Lit & Hist. Go raibh maith agaibh, Tony agus Matt.
A streetcar named... The Bay Bridge The wonderful keynote speaker on Yeats, Rajeev Patke Caleb Richardson and Matt Spangler read Shaw Fisherman's Wharf Ale at Scoma's lovely restaurant (a haunt of Marilyn Monroe) Swimmer at the Wharf Me, windswept at the Wharf! Alcatraz
Tony Bucher, President of the Irish Literary and Historical Society, The famous fog

FROM SAN FRAN TO GORT AND ATHLONE

I am backward with jetlag (I haven't even blogged the Cork Short Story Festival but the lovely Adam Marek has!) but just wanted to pop up to flag two events I am taking part in this weekend.

Autumn Gathering for Women Writers, Gort, County Galway
I'll be reading from my new chapbook, Of Dublin and Other Fictions, at this tomorrow, Friday the 4th, at 10.30am in the Lady Gregory Hotel. I will have copies of the chapbook for sale there. (Chapbook can be ordered from jodichilson AT boisestate.edu, also.)

Athlone Literary Festival
I am reading at an event called 'Irish Identity and Culture - an Ever Changing Idea' with Prof. James Flannery and Bill Whelan (yes, that Bill Whelan) at the Athlone Literary Festival.
Ill be reading from Mother America and will have copies of it for sale as well as the chapbook.
Sunday 6th October, 3pm, Shamrock Lodge Hotel, Athlone

CHAPBOOK LAUNCH TONIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO!

I am supposed to be resting before the launch event for my chapbook, Of Dublin and Other Fictions, but San Francisco is too distracting. Apart at all from the fascinating papers on emigration, Irish-America etc. at the conference, there's the view.

San Fran hotel view - dawnAnd the shops.

There's great shopping close by My chapbook - yay!I am boggle-eyed with jet lag so I had better put my head down for an hour or so before the event starts at 6pm, with a bit of Beckett and then a bit of me reading from the book. I got to see it today for the first time. It's gorgeous - perfectly tiny and perfectly sweet looking. Good job, Jodi Chilson of Tower Press.

I HEART NY & MY NEW AGENT

Hotel room view - uptown from the BoweryWell, my agent meeting went well yesterday☺. She suggested a few things so I will be re-writing a little when I get home. She's lovely and we got on well, but I knew that from talking to her on the phone. So, all in all, a very positive meeting and I am now officially excited about my American novel. Yay!
Brekkie at McNally JacksonNext stop, San Francisco for my chapbook launch. It is chapbook heaven here in NY - I had to stop myself buying tons of them in McNally Jackson. What a book shop! Filled with covetable books, notebooks, cards. Impossibly cool staff too. And it's hard not to love a book shop that serves granola and OJ.

WRITERSWEB TV

If you’re writing for children or young adults, you need to be beside your computer on 28th September for the launch of WritersWebTV.com, a new Irish start-up delivering a world first for writers: top-class, online free-to-watch-live writing workshops.
They say:
Featuring Irish and international best-selling writers and industry professionals, these workshops are aimed at new and aspiring authors keen to polish their writing and get it on the path to publication.
The first workshop Writing for Children and Young Adults will run on Saturday, September 28th 10am-4.30pm (London time) with picture book authors & illustrators Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick and Michael Emberley; Emmy award winning director Norton Virgien of Brown Bag Films, and Literary Agent Polly Nolan. They will be joined by international bestselling YA authors Meg Rosoff and Oisín McGann, all giving their sage advice and talking the viewers through the colourful world of children’s and YA fiction.
You can avail of the workshops for free when you watch them live and can communicate with the experts the studio using Twitter, Facebook or email. You can also take part in each workshop exercise and benefit from on-screen feedback. If you want to download a workshop or watch it later, you can pay to keep the course.
The shows are streamed from a multi-camera broadcast studio, complete with an in-studio audience of aspiring writers who will present some of their work for critique by the best-selling authors. Led by Vanessa O’Loughlin, founder of writing.ie, the panel will cover the key elements of fiction writing at every workshop, and furnish you with tips and advice to help you polish your writing and get it on the path to publication.
Sign up now at WritersWebTV.com to join us on the 28th! Other upcoming courses include, Getting to the Heart of it: Writing Women’s Fiction on Tuesday, October 15th, Crime Pays: Writing Crime Fiction on Wednesday, October 30th, and Getting Published on Saturday, November 9th.More at www.writerswebtv.com, email: info@writerswebtv.com or get in touch through Facebook or @writerswebtv.

FLASH ARTICLE IN THE IRISH TIMES

I have a short article on flash fiction - the Word for Word column - in this weekend's Irish Times. Here!

Cork, New York and San Francisco

I'll say cheerio for a bit. I'm of to Cork, New York and San Francisco. Excitement!

CORK: For the Cork International Short Story Festival, to hear readers such as Angela Bourke and Alistair MacLeod, and to chair a panel on short story anthologies with editors and publishers of four recent anthologies, namely Kevin Barry, Sinéad Gleeson, Micheál Ó Conghaile and Elizabeth Reapy.That's on at 2.30pm in Triskel Christchurch on Saturday.

I may even participate in the Culture Night event - Flash Fiction Rapid Fire - at 9.15pm on Friday night. Also in Triskel.
NEW YORK: To meet my new literary agent and see if she enjoyed the finished novel. Eeek, nervous. And to enjoy New York, of course :)
SAN FRANCISCO: For the first time for the launch of my chapbook of short-short stories, Of Dublin and Other Fictions on Friday the 27th September at the Parc 55 Wyndham, Union Square at 7pm, as part of the American Conference for Irish Studies. I'll read from the book, which is the first publication for publisher Tower Press, run by Idaho-based academic Jodi Chilson. If you are in San Fran, or you know anyone there, all are welcome to come along to the launch.
On Sunday the 29th, I'll be giving a talk on the Irish Short Story at the Irish Literary and Historical Society at 5pm in the United Irish Cultural Center, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco.
I'll talk to you all when I am back. Slán go fóill!

BLOG AWARDS SHORTLIST

WWR is very pleased to have made the 2013 Blog Awards Ireland shortlist. Here's the full list in the
Best Arts and Culture Blog category. Thanks to those who voted for the blog. Mwah x
writing.ieWomen Rule WriterWestown LifeWe Love TownWait Till I Tell YouVintage Irish Book CoversVagabond LanguageTime Travel IrelandThe Woolly Way of IrelandThe Thursday InterviewThe Irish AestheteThe Brightness ProjectSpooool.iePJLynch GalleryNo More WorkhorseMcs Irish ArtLiterary Flotsam & Jetsam by an Attempted HumanLexicolatryK. S. MooreEpitome AbsoluteBuilt DublinBeanmimoArts ManagementA Year of Festivals in IrelandMutantspace

Writers' Workshop in Lismore Castle

Writer Ethel RohanSan Francisco-based Irish writer, Ethel Rohan, will teach a “Brilliance of Brevity” workshop in Lismore Castle, Waterford, as part of Abroad Writers Conference. This three day master class will focus on the crafting of electric and concise narratives. The workshop runs December 11-13th, 2013, and is for writers of both fiction and creative non-fiction. The class goal is to hone the art of selectivity and write one's best and briefest work. In-workshop writing will encourage fearless enjoyment of the process and the careful construction of the stories that participants are most burning to tell.
Other writers teaching at Lismore Castle as part of the Abroad Writers Conference include: Robert Olen Butler; Karen Joy Fowler; Mariel Hemingway; Claire Keegan; Jane Smiley; Lily Tuck; and many more.

Ethel Rohan is an award-winning writer and the author of two story collections, her latest is Goodnight Nobody. She invites writers at all levels to join her in Lismore Castle and says, "We will do great things together." For further details visit www.ethelrohan.com. To register email founding Director Nancy Gerbault at abroadwriters at yahoo.com.