Cúirt festival lineup revealed

In The Irish Times tomorrow, Carys Davis talks to Edel Coffey about her new novel, Clear. Jane Casey tells Fiona Gartland about the latest in her detective series, A Stranger in the Family. Chris Mullin, the British journalist, politician and author of Error of Judgement recounts his campaign for the release of the Birmingham Six, wrongly imprisoned for bombings and explains why he went to court to protect his sources. Claire McGowan, author of This Could Be Us, describes the lifelong challenges for a family with a severely disabled member such as her brother David. Colin Walsh, whose debut novel Kala won the Irish Book Award for Newcomer of the Year in 2023, tells Caroline Madden about it and living abroad. Gary Stevenson, author of The Trading Game, tells Mark Paul about making his fortune in the City of London and his fears for the world economy. And there is a Q&A with writer Rebecca Ivory about her debut story collection, Free Therapy.

Reviews are Declan Hughes on 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool by James Kaplan; Daniel Geary on The Rebel’s Clinic: The Revolutionary Lives of Frantz Fanon by Adam Shatz; Edel Coffey on The Playdate by Clara Dillon; Jessica Traynor on the best new poetry; Ian Hughes on How to Win an Information War by Peter Pomerantsev; Brian Maye on Colm Ó Briain: A Coat of Many Colours by Muireann Ó Briain; James Conor Patterson on Unconditional Freedom by David Casassas; Ray Burke on Mick Lynch: The Making of a Working-class Hero by Gregor Gall; Brian Cliff on The Hunter by Tana French; John Boyne on The Tower by Flora Carr; NJ McGarrigle on Write Cut Rewrite: The Cutting-Room Floor of Modern Literature by Dirk Van Hulle and Mark Nixon; Anna Carey on Bluestockings by Susannah Gibson; and Sarah Gilmartin on Barcelona by Mary Costello.

This weekend’s Irish Times Eason book offer is There’s Something I Have to Tell You by Michelle McDonagh, which you can buy with your paper for just €5.99, a €5 saving.

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Cúirt International Festival of Literature has announced details of its programme for 2024, curated by its director, Manuela Moser. Featuring an array of some of the most exciting Irish and international writers at work today, the 39th Cúirt International Festival of Literature will take place in Galway from April 23rd to 28th. Spanning over 50 events, the programme includes poetry, fiction, memoir, non-fiction, masterclasses and workshops, exhibitions, and family events. Booking is now open for all events.

Programme highlights include two Booker Prize winners, Paul Lynch and John Banville; Galway’s own Rita Ann Higgins, Edel Coffey, Elaine Feeney, Mary Costello alongside Mike McCormack; Paul Murray, Jackie Kay, Sinéad Gleeson, Rafeef Ziadah, Lemn Sissay, Leontia Flynn, and many more.

Moser said: “We’re excited to welcome audiences and authors to Galway this April for what is sure to be an inspiring week in celebration of literature. Cúirt celebrates stories and ideas, and as ever, we’re thrilled to host a wide selection of world-class authors at the pinnacle of their careers alongside exciting new voices.”

This year’s edition of Cúirt will amplify established and emerging Irish voices, among them Paul Murray (An Post Book of the Year 2023), Colin Batrett, Edel Coffey, Sinéad Gleeson, Annie MacManus and Ferdia Lennon. 2023 Booker Prize winner, Paul Lynch will speak about his novel Prophet Song and 2005 Booker Prize winner, John Banville will share the Town Hall Theatre stage on Saturday evening with Mike McCormack for a conversation about their most recent novels.

Cúirt will also showcase a number of Galway’s own writers, 2023 Booker Longlisted Elaine Feeney will celebrate the launch her new poetry collection; Nuala O’Connor will launch for her highly anticipated new novel; Colin Walsh will discuss his atmospheric, dark coming-of-age mystery Kala; social historian Jackie Uí Chionna; children’s writer Méabh McDonnell; Mary Costello will discuss her new short story collection Barcelona.

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The shortlist for the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize 2024 has been announced by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre. This is the sixth year of the prize, awarded annually for an outstanding debut collection of poetry in the English language.

Valued at €10,000, the prize is sponsored by the John Pollard Foundation, and administered by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre in the School of English, Trinity College Dublin. The patron is Stephen Vernon, who named the foundation in memory of his grandfather, John Pollard.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Trinity on April 11th. The shortlisted publications are:

Kevin Graham: The Lookout Post; Amy Acre: Mothersong; Declan Ryan: Crisis Actor; Susannah Dickey: ISDAL; Patrick James Errington: the swailing; Eli Payne Mandel: The Grid; Dawn Watson: We Play Here; and Alisha Dietzman: Sweet Movie.

Chair of the judging panel, Prof Eoin McNamee, director of the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre, said: “Each year the task of choosing a shortlist becomes more difficult as the work of first-time poets submitted to us grows in assurance, authority and beauty. It is, as always, a privilege for myself and fellow judges, Vona Groarke, Alice Lyons and Tom Walker to read and debate this work.”

Previous winners are Hannah Sullivan (2019); Isabel Galleymore (2020); Diane Louie (2021); Gail McConnell (2022); Victoria Adukwei Bulley (2023).

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Bono won Audiobook of the Year at the Aufie Awards in Hollywod this week for his memoir, Surrender, published by Penguin Random House Audio, which he wrote and narrated. Billie Fulford-Brown won Best Fiction Narrator for The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor, also published by Penguin Random House Audio.

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Black & Irish: Legends, Trailblazers & Everyday Heroes by Leon Diop and Briana Fitzsimons, illustrated by Jessica Louis (Little Island Books) has been shortlisted for Children’s Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. Sunburn by Cork-born author Chloe Michelle Howarth (VERVE Books) is shortlisted in the discover category. Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Air Fryer Book by Nathan Anthony, illustrated by Sophie Yamamoto (Ebury Press, Ebury) is up for the Non-Fiction: Lifestyle & Illustrated award.

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The winner of the 2023/24 Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize is Max Lury for his story Santa Fe. The judges were Alex Clark, Chigozie Obioma, Tomiwa Owolade and Susan Tomaselli, as well as Galley Beggar Press co-directors Sam Jordion and Eloise Millar. Santa Fe was one of the over 1,500 submissions entered for the award.

Jordison, chair of judges, said: “The judging process of the short story prize took many, many hours this year - because there were so many quality stories to read, so much to discuss and consider… and making decisions was often so complicated and involved. Which is not to complain! Just to give you some indication of the achievement of Max Lucy and ‘Santa Fe’. His haunting, ambiguous evocation of English dead zones and discomfort, combined with such crisp bright prose seemed to me almost Ballardian. Which is a big word to apply to a writer at the start of his career, I know. But also one I don’t think will overwhelm him because it also feels like Max Lury has a talent that is all his own - and will allow him to plot his own path. A path I feel sure many readers will want to follow.”

Santa Fe and the nine fellow stories of the 2023/24 Prize, can be read for free here.

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American author Kathryn Scanlan won this year’s Gordon Burn prize for her novel about horse training, Kick the Latch.

Based on interviews with Sonia, a horse trainer from the US midwest, the novel is “a thundering achievement, liberated from hard lines of genre and form by a laser-focus on not just excavation, but building of voice,” said judging chair and journalist Terri White. Scanlan said it was “a thrill and an honour to receive this prize, which is unique in its recognition of work that plays with form, style and genre”.

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Actor Bryan Murray and playwright Deirdre Kinahan have been named as the winners of the inaugural Pratchett Prize by Trinity College Dublin for challenging the stigma of Alzheimer’s Disease in their play An Old Song, Half Forgotten.

The 2023 Abbey Theatre production was written for and performed by one of Ireland’s most celebrated actors, Bryan Murray, who himself is living with Alzheimer’s. The “adjudicating wizards” were impressed with the new paradigm of theatrical production in which actor Bryan was supported to take on the lead role – from understudy and co-star to staging and script.

Inspired by the life and work of author Terry Pratchett the new award, administered by the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation, acknowledges the contribution of a scientist, artist, activist, or person living with the condition who collaboratively or individually works to reduce the impact of Alzheimer’s Disease.

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Rob Doyle is the inaugural Writer-in-Residence at the Belgrade Irish Festival in Serbia. The residency is a three-way partnership between Literature Ireland, the Belgrade Irish Festival (directed by Jas Kaminski), and the Krokodil Creative Centre (directed by Vladimir Arsenijević). The residency provides an Irish writer with an opportunity to spend time thinking and writing while exploring the multicultural city of Belgrade. The timing of the residency, coinciding with the festival, offers a chance to participate fully in the life and culture of this vibrant and dynamic city. This is a key opportunity to meet with local and international writers and artists.

Doyle said: “I am delighted and honoured to be invited on this residency, and very much excited for what will be my first visit to Belgrade.”

Sinéad Mac Aodha, director of Literature Ireland, said, “This new residency will offer Irish writers the chance to engage with the rich cultural offerings of the city of Belgrade, one of the oldest continuously-inhabited cities in the world. We are confident that writer Rob Doyle will benefit hugely from this opportunity, and look forward to building other cross-cultural exchanges in the years to come.”

The Belgrade Irish Festival takes place from March 8th-18th.

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Booker Prize winner Paul Lynch will be in conversation with Alex Clark at the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, on March 26th, at 8pm. Tickets are €20.

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The board of the Irish Writers Centre (IWC) is now seeking to appoint a Chief Executive Officer to take a fresh perspective on its future development. The IWC is the leading support and development organisation for writers in Ireland. Since 1991, the IWC has been supporting writers at every stage of their career arc from aspiring to professional, on an all-island basis. The closing date for applications is March 25th. Find out more here.

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The next event in the Friends of the Trinity College Dublin Library spring programme 2024 is on Thursday, March 21st.  Prof Christopher Morash will speak on his book, Dublin: a Writer’s City at 5pm in the Mháirtín Uí Chadhain Lecture Theatre, Arts Building, Trinity College Dublin. Admission is free and no booking is required.

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Ulster University Belfast hosted a Royal Irish Academy event to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1974 publication by John Hewitt of his Rhyming Weavers anthology of 18th- and 19th-century Ulster poetry.

This Royal Irish Academy event, organised by Ulster University in collaboration with the John Hewitt Society, brought together a diverse array of leading experts in Ulster-Scots and Gaelic poetry from the 18th and 19th centuries. The gathering aimed to honour John Hewitt’s rediscovery of the work of Ulster poets from that period, and to discuss their profound impact and influence on the literary and cultural landscape of the province.