The latest updates on how we got into this fine mess
As the dog days of summer proceed, autumn looms and with it a return to that new specialist genre in Irish writing: the exploration of how Ireland came unstuck. Early out of the traps will be Irish Timesfinance correspondent Simon Carswell whose Anglo Republic: Inside the Bank that Broke Irelandis published on September 5th. Publisher Penguin Ireland says the book will show how the business model that brought Anglo Irish Bank 20 years of spectacular growth was also at the heart of its – and Ireland's – downfall. "Carswell paints a vivid and disturbing picture of life inside Anglo – the credit committee meetings, the lightning-quick negotiations with property developers, the culture of lavish entertainment – and of the men who presided over its dizzying rise and fall."
In October the same publisher will launch journalist and radio presenter Matt Cooper's How Ireland Went Bust: The Definitive Account of the Tumultuous Events that Led to Ireland Going Broke and Changed all our Lives Forever.He charts the country's downward spiral and takes us from the night in September 2008, when the Government guaranteed the debts of the Irish banks, to November 2010 when heavy-hitters from the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank appeared in Government Buildings.
Lest we forget that our trials are just part of a global catastrophe, Penguin/Allen Lane is bringing out a new book from financial crisis expert and author of The Big Short, Michael Lewis, in October. Lewis's new one is Boomerang: Adventures of a Financial Disaster Tourist.Looking at bubbles across Europe and at America, he charts how the cheap credit available between 2002 and 2008 offered entire societies the temptation to reveal aspects of their characters they couldn't normally afford to indulge. "Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers . . . The Irish wanted to stop being Irish."
It’s time to brace ourselves for impact, says Lewis, hammering home a message we’re used to hearing on all fronts now.
Take a jaunt to Inishbofin and focus on creativity
Creative writing on Inishbofin Island is on offer next month from Writing Train, a workshop programme run by writer and teacher Yvonne Cullen. Called Inishbofin Jaunt, the first weekend from September 2nd to 5th will focus on poetry and the personal essay; the second from September 9th to 12th, with writer Anthony Glavin (right), will take in short fiction as well as the personal essay. Cullen will teach on both courses. Budding scribes are billeted near Bofin’s East End beach and, circumstances permitting, there may be a boat trip to the even smaller island of Inishark or along the Bofin coast.
Details from 086-1701418 and writingtrain@gmail.com
First-time novelists invited to submit their work
Folk from Penguin Ireland, Transworld, O’Brien Press, Lilliput Press, Hachette Books, Liberties Press, Little Island and Arlen House will be on hand at the inaugural Irish Writers’ Centre Novel Fair for first-time novelists next spring.
The idea is to introduce emerging novelists to those in the publishing world, help them to bypass the slush pile and place their synopsis and sample chapters directly into the hands of publishers and agents.Marianne Gunn O’Connor, Yvonne Kinsella, Emma Walsh, Ger Nichol and Paul Feldstein are among the literary agents who will be at the fair on March 10th.
Places will be much sought after so there is a competition to decide who gets to go to the fair. Manuscripts submitted will be presented to a judging panel who will select a shortlist of writers. There’s no limit on style, genre, or target market, but the writer must not have published a novel before. The deadline for submissions is November 11th. See writerscentre.ie/novelfair.html
