Nuala Ní Chonchúir's Blog, page 54

FABER ANTH, O'CONNOR S'LIST & FLASH MOB NTERVIEW

I'm having a ball in Cáceres, Spain - a gorgeous heritage city, lovely people, very interesting Irish Studies papers on language and literature. With hot sun and tasty red wine. Heaven :)A few newsy bits: The Guardian mentioned Rozz Lewis's Faber anthology review today here.And I am interviewed by Christopher Allen here in connection with my judging of this year's Flash Mob. Please enter!! And, in good news, the shortlist for the 2013 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award has been announced and it consists of six titles.Thrilled to see David Constantine there.1) Tea at the Midland and other stories – David Constantine – Comma Press, UK
2) Siege 13 – Tamas Dobozy – Milkweed Editions, USA/ Thomas Allen, Canada
3) Black Vodka – Deborah Levy – & Other Stories, UK
4) Black Dahlia & White Rose – Joyce Carol Oates – Harpercollins, USA
5) We’re Flying - Peter Stamm – Granta, UK/ Other Press LLC
6) Battleborn - Claire Vaye Watkins – Granta UK/Riverhead Books USA 

The winning book will be announced in the first week of July and the author will come to Cork to read and receive their award at the culmination of the Cork International Short Story Festival in September www.corkshortstory.net

PIC REPORT: ITALIANS WALKING, FABER READINGS & FLY BIRTHDAY

I had a very busy literary weekend of events. Firstly a walking tour with the Italo-Irish Literary Exchange, which took in Trinity College and Lincoln Place. Then I scooted off to the Faber Social at the Dublin Writers' Festival where I was reading. After that, the Stinging Fly's 15th birthday bash in The Clarence. And yesterday to the Botanic Gardens for a reading from the Italo section of the exchange. All of it was exhilirating and fun.

I am packing for my trip to the AEDEI conference in Spain, as I head off tomorrow, so my report on the weekend consists of pics as I am too busy to write anything. Hi to everyone I met this weekend and big congrats to Kevin Barry who did a mighty job of the Faber launch. Kudos, Kevin. Or, as my daughter Juno calls you, 'Heaven' :)

Catherine Dunne and Federica Sgaggio Tour guide Pat Liddy and Jack Gilligan, IWC chair, at TCD Anthony Glavin at TCD Original front door of Finn's Hotel where Nora Barnacle worked in 1904, the year she met JJ Sweny's Chemist, Lincoln Place - features in Ulysses - lemon soap? I bought some - yum! In the window of Sweny's, a bust in a book of Joyce Mia Gallagher in Sweny's
PJ Murphy, volunteer at Sweny's, a Joyce pilgrimage stop-off Kevin Barry, Faber anthology launch, Smock Alley Paul Murray Little John Nee Eimear Ryan at the Faber launch Me reading 'Joyride to Jupiter' at the Faber launch The wonderful Michael Harding Pat McCabe Writers Helena Mulkerns, Sara Mullen and Patrick Chapman at the Fly birthday Dave Lordan reading at the Fly birthday
The fabulous Larry Beau at the Fly birthday The Italian Writers reading at the Botanic Gardens

LYDIA DAVIS WINS MAN BOOKER INTL PRIZE

Lydia Davis - photo: The GuardianI am delighted that Lydia Davis has won the Man Booker International Prize. This is a welcome shot in the arm to those of use who love/write/value short-short stories and flash fiction. Lydia read at both Cúirt in Galway and the Cork Short Story Festival last year and she divided opinion among writer friends of mine. I thought she was fab and bought her collected, a hefty volume of very short prose works. I highly recommend it.

From the Man Booker people:

"I was recently denied a writing prize because they said I was lazy." runs one of Lydia Davis's two-sentence short stories. Well not any more. Davis has just been awarded the fifth Man Booker International Prize at an award ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Her inventive, carefully-crafted and hard to categorise works saw off the challenge from nine other contenders from around the world. The judges - Professor Sir Christopher Ricks, Elif Batuman, Aminatta Forna, Yiyun Li and Tim Parks - recognised that crafting spare, philosophical and original works, however short, is not for the lazy at all but takes time, skill and effort.

The Prize, worth £60,000, is awarded for an achievement in fiction on the world stage and Davis's achievements are writ large despite often using startlingly few words (some of her longer stories only stretch to two or three pages). Her work has the brevity and precision of poetry. Sir Christopher Ricks, chairman of the judges, said her "writings fling their lithe arms wide to embrace many a kind. Just how to categorise them? They have been called stories but could equally be miniatures, anecdotes, essays, jokes, parables, fables, texts, aphorisms or even apophthegms, prayers or simply observations." Davis then is not like any other writer and she follows, and contrasts with, the previous winners of the prize -  Ismail Kadaré, Chinua Achebe, Alice Munro and Philip Roth.

Read more about the Man Booker International winner announcement here. 

FLASH MOB 2013

Image courtesy of fellow judge Marcus SpehI am one of the judges for the 2013 Flash Mob, open for entries NOW!

FLASH MOB 2013 is a hybrid blog carnival and competition celebrating International Flash Fiction Day. To enter the mob, post a previously unpublished work of flash fiction (300 words or fewer, not including title) to your own blog sometime between now and June 10 (closing date of contest).
Then send the following (1-4 below)  to flashmobjune22@gmail.com
1. the link to the story2. the story text in the body of your email without your name attached at the top 3. a brief bio4. a picture of yourself looking mean or cool or funny or arty–nothing boring, no nudity.

FABER ANTHOLOGY REVIEW

 
Rozz Lewis reviews the Faber anthology of Irish stories, Town and Country (ed. Kevin Barry) here ahead of next Saturday's launch. I'm very appreciative of her kind comments about my story 'Joyride to Jupiter.'

The launch at the Faber Social at the Dublin Writers' Festival on Saturday the 25th at 6pm, in Smock Alley, is going to be a lot of fun. Admission €10. I would love to see you there!

STINGING FLY - FLASH SHOWCASE UPDATE

Update re. flash showcase in The Stinging Fly: Submissions for the showcase (stories up to 500 words, only one story to be submitted per writer) will be accepted by e-mail only and on one day only: Saturday June 22nd, which is international flash fiction day. The Fly will give further instructions on how to make your submission closer to the time. Keep up to date here.

WRITERS & TIME INTERVIEW

Niamh Boyce, who will soon be world famous with her début novel, The Herbalist , interviews me today about managing time as a writer. Read it here.

Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition

Penguin Ireland in partnership with the RTE Guide magazine have announced their annual short story competition.

Rules: All entries for the 2013 RTE Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition should be original, unpublished and previously not broadcast short stories in English of 2,000 words or less. Manuscripts must be typed and cannot be returned. Entrants’ name and contact details (address, phone and/or email) should be on a separate page. The closing date is 6pm on Wednesday July 5th. Entries are welcome from anywhere in the world.

Send your entries to : RTE Guide/Penguin Ireland Short Story Competition, PO Box 1480, RTE, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 or you can email rteguide@rte.ie

ITALO-IRISH LITERARY EXCHANGE

Delighted to be heading off to Italy next year in very fine company indeed. From the Irish Writers' Centre:
Writers for Italo-Irish Literary Exchange announced!    
The Irish Writers' Centre is delighted to announce the seven writers who will travel to Italy in May 2014 thanks to a unique alliance between the Irish Writers' Centre, the Italian Institute of Culture in Dublin and the Verona-based arts organisation ònoma. They are:       Nuala Ní ChonchúirMia GallagherAfric McGlincheySean Hardie Liz McManusNoel Monahan  William Wall          The exchange will feature a daily series of workshops, recreational tours, publishing seminars and literary talks focusing on the challenges facing both emerging and established writers. Congratulations to all!      On 25th May 2013, five Italian writers arrive in Dublin to participate in an exciting programme of literary and cultural events including readings, day trips, panel discussions and musical soirées, before travelling on to Listowel. Acclaimed Italian author Dacia Maraini along with Gaja Cenciarelli, Ida Ferrari, Luigi Grimaldi and Federica Sgaggio will read their work at a free public event at 12 noon on Sunday May 26th at the stunning Botanic Gardens. ALL WELCOME.    On Sunday May 26th at 7PM - also a public event but this time at the Irish Writers' Centre - musician Seán Tyrrell is performing. Hailed as "one of the country's major folk voices" (Irish Music Magazine), "rooted in the heartfelt tradition of honesty" (Hotpress), and "the genuine article" (Billboard US), legendary singer/songwriter Seán Tyrrell will perform at the Irish Writers' Centre on Sunday evening, May 26th, at 7.00 p.m. as part of the Italo/Irish Literature Exchange festival. Don't miss this chance to hear what has been described as a"luminously distinctive voice" (Irish Examiner) and "astonishingly accomplished musicianship" (Hotpress). Tickets at €5.00 are likewise going for a song!

SALT WANTS NOVELS

UK based publisher Salt is actively seeking novel submissions directly from authors. See here for details.