LOOSE LEAVES:The historian Diarmaid Ferriter will give the keynote lecture at this year's international seminar on John McGahern, which takes place from next Thursday to Saturday at venues in and around Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim.
"The literary, historical and environmental aspects of McGahern's work will be the focus this year," says Dr John Kenny, the event's academic director.
The McGahern scholar Denis Sampson will give an interview about his recent book, Young John McGahern: Becoming a Novelist, and Dr Frank Shovlin of the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool will talk about the influence of James Joyce on McGahern. Other guest speakers include the Chinese-US writer Yiyun Li, Prof Joe Cleary of NUI Maynooth and Yale, and the author and Irish Times contributor Paddy Woodworth, who will talk about the relationship between landscape and literature.
For further details and to book, phone 071-9621694, email arts@leitrimcoco.ie or see leitrimarts.ie.
Bringing an out-of-print book back to life
This year sees the 10th birthday of the independent British publisher Hesperus Press - a considerable landmark in the current economic climate.
As part of its celebrations, Hesperus, known for publishing classics and neglected books, is organising a competition that will see an out-of-print book republished with an introduction by the winner.
Entrants are asked to submit the name of one book they would like to see back in print and to write a 500-word introduction explaining why it is worthy. The winner, chosen by the Hesperus editorial team, will see the book and the introduction published in September. The deadline for submissions is June 1st.
See hesperuspress.com.
Literary greats take over Dalkey for a month
This week Binchy, next week O'Brien. In Discover Dalkey's Literary Gems, an eclectic literary event that continues until Saturday, June 23rd, Flann follows on from Maeve in a series of readings and short productions of work by writers who have been influenced by the area.
The Flann O'Brien week sees dramatisations of scenes from his novels The Dalkey Archive and At Swim-Two-Birds and sketches based on the characters in the Cruiskeen Lawn columns he wrote for The Irish Times under the name Myles na gCopaleen.
The dramatised readings, directed by Margaret Dunne, will be at 12.45pm next Monday Thursday and Saturday at Dalkey Castle and Heritage Centre. Tickets cost €8 and booking is essential, from maeve@dalkey castle.com or 01-2858366. For details, see dalkeycastle.com.
Children's authors at National Library
The annual conference of Children's Books Ireland will take place at the National Library of Ireland, on Kildare Street in Dublin, from 9.15am to 5pm today and from 11am to 5pm tomorrow. As well as the presentation of the CBI award, there will be presentations by children's authors, illustrators, publishers and critics, including Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Alan Early, Denise Deegan, Chris Judge, Mary Murphy and Judi Curtin.
For details, see childrensbooks ireland.ie. To check availability, call 087-9158431.
