In Saturday’s Irish Times, Sophie White talks to Niamh Donnelly in Magazine about her new novel, Where I End, and Barbara Kingsolver discusses her latest book, Demon Copperhead, with John Self in Ticket, where there is also a Q&A with Elizabeth Strout about her new, Booker-shortlisted novel, her life and works.
Reviews are Neil Hegarty on Never Better: My Life in Our Times by Tommie Gorman and Time and Tide by Charlie Bird; John Self on three Booker contenders: Treacle Walker by Alan Garner; The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka; and The Trees by Percival Everett; Declan Hughes on the best new crime fiction; Karl Whitney on Little Republics: The Story of Bungalow Bliss by Adrian Duncan; Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi on Believing in Me by Deborah Somorin; Matthew O’Toole on Living with Ghosts by Brian Rowan; Niamh Donnelly on I Will Die in a Foreign Land by Kalani Pickhart; Una Mullally on Listen to the Land Speak by Manchán Magan; Sara Keating on the best new children’s books; and Sarah Gilmartin on Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng.
The Irish Times Eason book offer this weekend is Dream Town by David Baldacci. You can buy this popular thriller for €4.99 with your newspaper, a saving of €6.
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Sally Hayden has been shortlisted for the £50,000 Baillie Gifford Prize for her debut book, My Fourth Time, We Drowned, along with Caroline Elkins’ Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire; Anna Keay’s The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown; Polly Morland’s A Fortunate Woman: A Country Doctor’s Story; Katherine Rundell’s Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne; and Jonathan Freedland’s The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World. The winner will be announced on November 17th at an award ceremony at the Science Museum, London. Last year’s winner was Patrick Radden Keefe for Empire of Pain.
Hayden, a journalist who writes regularly for The Irish Times, has already won the Orwell Prize and the Michel Déon Prize for her investigation of the migrant crisis across North Africa and the plight of refugees in the Mediterranean.
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Profiles is a new Irish journal dedicated to portraiture in prose and visual art, showcasing the work of writers, artists and translators from Ireland and further afield. Profiles aims to publish writing and artwork that is empathetic without bordering on apologia, and to show human nature as it is, not necessarily as it should be. Their forthcoming issue features six pieces of fiction and 12 artworks. Contributors include authors whose work has appeared in The Stinging Fly, Poetry Ireland Review, Tolka and The Irish Times, as well as artists who have exhibited at IMMA, the Royal Hibernian Academy and the National Gallery of Ireland. The issue also features a new translation into English of a short story by José Ovejero, the 2013 winner of the Alfaguara Prize, one of the most prestigious literary awards in the Spanish language. It will be available to purchase online and at independent Irish bookshops from October 24th.
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The Red Line Festival kicks off today and runs until October 16th with over 40 events in performance venues including Rathfarnham Castle, Pearse Museum and Baldonnel Aerodrome as well as the Civic and branch libraries across South Dublin County. From tractor dates and daring debuts to Puca Puppets, from sporting icons and Irish legends of the Premiership to a trip to the dark side with a chilling new crime and horror strand, the Red Line Festival is a celebration of all things literary. The festival is produced by South Dublin Libraries and Arts at South Dublin County Council, offering a programme of events to appeal to people of all ages and interests, from children to adults, casual readers to bookworms with events in six different strands: As Gaeilge, Literary, Sport & Wellbeing, Music & Performance, Crime & Horror and Family.
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The Instituto Cervantes in Dublin hosts ISLA: the Irish, Spanish and Latin American Literary Festival, which runs from today until October 15th in Trinity College and the Instituto Cervantes. This 11th year of the ISLA Festival, Navigating Futures, will include a concert, guided tours, workshops and literary discussions with John Banville and his translator into Spanish, Nuria Barrios; the poet Moya Cannon, the Peruvian Alonso Cueto and his translator into English, Frank Wynne; Colombian writer Cristina Bendek, among others. Authors from Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Mexico will also participate in this three-day event to reflect on the importance of translation as part of the literary creative process.
This ISLA is special for the Galician writer Luisa Castro Legazpi, as she begins her journey as the new Instituto Cervantes Dublin Director, “I’m glad to start this new adventure as Director of the Instituto Cervantes Dublin with the ISLA Festival. An event where the best literature in Spanish from the two shores talks with the literature of the isle of Ireland, that has created one the most powerful and unbeatable imaginaries at a global scale. This is a country that I feel especially close to me thanks to its music and culture”.
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The Irish American Cultural Institute has given the 2022 O’Malley Award of €5,000 to Vukašin Nedeljković for his ongoing project Asylum Archive and the Butler Literary Award 2022 of $2,000 to Kerri ní Dochartaigh for her book Thin Places (Canongate).
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*Malorie Blackman has been chosen as this year’s winner of the PEN Pinter Prize by judges: Chair of English PEN, Ruth Borthwick; publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster Margaret Busby; and writer, editor and translator Daniel Hahn.
Borthwick said: “This is the first time the PEN Pinter Prize has been awarded to a writer for young people so you’d expect them to be exceptional. Malorie Blackman has transformed the world of writing for young adults. Her work never talks down, and her readers have responded by taking her to their hearts. Malorie has created dynamic imaginary worlds in which her protagonists are living with and challenging issues of injustice in a way that is totally engaging as she is above all a wonderful storyteller.”
Blackman said: “I am truly honoured and more than a little stunned to be the recipient of the 2022 PEN Pinter Prize. I have long admired Harold Pinter for his courage and dedication to human rights and social justice and have always believed in the power of the creative arts to connect and communicate with others. I especially believe in the power of fiction to shine a spotlight on the truth and feel truly blessed that I predominantly write for the most discerning, honest audience – young adults and children. Thank you English PEN for considering me a worthy recipient of this award.”
Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace has been named as International Writer of Courage 2022, awarded to a writer who is active in defence of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their own safety and liberty. Dr Al-Singace was selected as co-winner by Blackman in collaboration with English PEN’s Writers at Risk Programme.
Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace is an award-winning academic, activist, and blogger from Bahrain. He has spent over a decade in prison, where he is serving a life-sentence for his role in the 2011 pro-democracy protests. In July 2021 he launched a hunger strike to protest his ill-treatment in prison, in particular the confiscation of a manuscript he had been working on for years
Blackman said: ‘When I first heard of the plight of Dr Al-Singace – engineer, blogger and activist, I was immediately struck by his commitment regarding effecting change in his homeland, including by highlighting the methods used to supress freedom of expression. He has been incarcerated for over a decade and has been on hunger strike and without solid food for over 400 days, which shines a spotlight on an immensely brave man who defines the word courage.’
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The judges for the Women’s Prize for Fiction have been announced, marking the launch of the 2023 annual book award for fiction written by a woman. Chair of Judges, Louise Minchin, broadcaster and writer, is joined by Rachel Joyce, novelist; Bella Mackie, journalist, podcaster and writer; Irenosen Okojie, novelist and short story writer; and Tulip Siddiq, Member of Parliament. Louise Minchin commented: ‘The Women’s Prize for Fiction is a hugely exciting and important landmark in the annual cultural calendar. To be chairing the 2023 prize is therefore a great honour for me. I can’t wait to delve into the rich and varied novels that are on offer, and, alongside my fellow judges, help to celebrate women’s stories, sharing them with readers worldwide.”
The longlist will be announced next March 7th, the shortlist on April 26th, and the winner on June 14th.
