Books news in brief
Sadness and delight
The announcement of the winner of this year’s TS Eliot Prize for poetry on Monday came tinged with sadness. While Jen Hadfield (right) became at 30 the youngest ever winner of the £15,000 (€16,700) prize, the news came as it was announced that one of the shortlisted poets, Mick Imlah, had died aged 52 after a long illness. It was, said the Poetry Book Society, which organises the prize, a sad day for poetry, but as English poet laureate and chairman of the judges Andrew Motion said, one of delight too, as Hadfield’s winning collection Nigh-No-Place heralded a remarkably original poet near the beginning of what was obviously going to be a distinguished career. Hadfield lives on the Shetland island of Burra. Imlah, who had motor- neurone disease, edited Poetry Review from 1983 until 1986, and worked at the Times Literary Supplement from 1992, where he was poetry editor. His last collection, The Lost Leader, won the Forward Prize last year.
Blood sucker
If you’re wondering why street banners featuring Dracula pop up all over Dublin city centre this spring, the answer is simple. Dublin City Council has chosen Dubliner Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula as its featured 2009 title for its One City, One Book initiative. It will be all things gothic in April, with people encouraged to read Stoker’s masterpiece . Promoting Dublin’s literary heritage in this way is also linked to the city’s application for Unesco City of Literature status. Stoker (left) was born in 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent on Dublin’s northside. His wife, Florence Balcombe, was previously courted by Oscar Wilde.
Literature debates
The quality of scholarship on offer around the country and open to the public is startling; it’s something wonderful in the otherwise grim scenario of contemporary life. Fionnuala Dillane of UCD this week kicked off a series on literature and journalism in TCD organised by Trinity’s school of English. Her topic was George Eliot and the Victorian Press. After a whistle-stop tour through Eliot’s work as an editor with The Westminster Review and all the effort she put into it, one began to realise it was a miracle Eliot had the energy to be a creative writer as well, leaving the world with Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda, instead of just being gobbled up by the Fourth Estate. The lectures take place on Tuesday evenings at 7.30pm in the Uí Chadhain Theatre, Arts Building, TCD, admission is €6. The topics coming up include: Hemingway the Reporter, by Stephen Matterson (February 3rd); Foreign Correspondents – Olivia Manning and Evelyn Waugh, by Eve Patten (February 10th); and Joan Didion and the New Journalism, by Philip Coleman (February 24th). The full programme is at www.tcd.ie/OWC/events.html.
Ahern on shortlist
Cecelia Ahern’s novel Thanks for the Memories – in which the consequences of a blood transfusion aren’t quite as expected – is this week among the six titles shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year award. The prize is £1,000 (€1,116). Organised by the Romantic Novelists’ Association this award –previously won by Irish writer Cathy Kelly – was inaugurated in 1960 to raise the profile of romantic novels and enhance the standing of the genre. Also on the shortlist are The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer; Star Gazing by Linda Gillard; East of the Sun by Julia Gregson; Sophia’s Secret by Susanna Kearsley; and Before the Storm by Judith Lennox. The winner will be announced on February 10th.