Aficionados of children's literature were on hand in the Blue Room of the Writer's Centre in Dublin at lunchtime on Wednesday to hear that the £1,500 Bisto Book of the Year Award this year was going to Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick for her book Izzy and Skunk. In a rare combination of talents, Fitzpatrick both wrote and illustrated the picture book, which focuses on a small girl called Izzy who loses her fears when she wears her glove puppet, Skunk. Picture books are the most difficult genre of all children's books - although many think they look simple, the art of writing a picture book text is akin to writing an outstanding poem. Galway writer Patrick Deeley won the Eilis Dillon Award with his novel, The Lost Orchard. The three merit awards went to Martina Murphy for Dirt Tracks; Eoin Colfer - he of the now bestselling Artemis Fowl - for The Wish List; and Martin Waddell for The Orchard Book of Ghostly Stories. The Bisto is now in its 11th year, and has survived the era of the Internet and text messages. Though mind you, that'll be next - text messaging people a paragraph of a story at a time...
Sadbh loves a bit of glamour now and again and is never adverse to looking at the fashion pages of the glossies in her local supermarket. You can like books and Hello! don't you know... So it was with interest that we noticed a piece in The Bookseller revealing that fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld is launching his own publishing house, called Editions 7L. This is the lad who is the creative advisor to Chanel. Editions 7L will specialise in quality art books, and the list will be distributed over here by Thames and Hudson. Hopefully the prices for the books will be a bit more reasonable than for the clothes. Still on style The New Yorker has been recently sending young writers, whose work has been featured in the magazine, out to read in boutiques in New York. If Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, bookshops are not the only venues these days for readings. Authors read at the Max Mara outlet on Madison Avenue, and the Polo store on East 72nd. "There was an enormous interest from the fashion community in connecting with the literary scene," explained Rhonda Sherman, director of special projects at The New Yorker. Hmm. Wonder if that would catch on in Brown Thomas. Depending on the season's colours, they could bill it as Purple Prose Evenings...
Second novels never seem to get the same attention as the first so it was great to see novelist Anne Enright being awarded the British-based Encore Award for a best second novel, for What Are You Like? Nearly as impressive was the venue where the dosh, all £10,000 of it, was handed out - none other than the House of Lords.
THE 17th annual Goldsmith Summer School runs this weekend in Longford. The theme this year is Oliver Goldsmith in London. Among the events will be readings by poets Paul Durcan and Vona Groarke . According to the press release, Groarke grew up "two fields away from Goldsmith's Lissoy Parsonage", so there must be something in the water, as they say, down that way. There will also be a tour of Goldsmith Country. More information on the weekend from 087-2286611.
THE Irish book world has lost a veteran in Jarlath Hayes who died recently in his 70s. A distinguished book designer he came to the profession in the 1960s via the advertising industry. He was also co-founder of Books Ireland in 1976. Many of the books that appeared from Irish publishers in the last couple of decades had Hayes's stamp on them. His name appears on many coversbut you might not have noticedit because it appears on the back, giving him credit as designer. Among the publishers he worked for were Gallery Press, Lilliput, Four Courts, O'Brien, and Round Hall, winning several awards from ClΘ - the Irish Publishers' Association - in the meantime.
STILL on prizes the £30,000 Orange Prize for Fiction will be announced next Tuesday in London. The Orange Prize is only for female writers, a proviso that has excited the same comments year after year. It does all seem a bit of a stunt at this stage, the main value of which seems to be that it drums up a lot of media coverage and controversy for the sponsors. Sadbh is of the opinion that good writing is good writing, and it does seem daft to be putting all sorts of artificial boundaries on same. For the record, the six short-listed authors are Margaret Atwood, Jill Dawson, Kate Grenville, Rosina Lippi, Jane Smiley, and Ali Smith. No Irish interest this year. Anyway let's hope the best writer wins as opposed to anyone else.