Midsummer's Day is always an auspicious one for a celebration and it certainly was a good day for poet Colette Bryce. Bryce was awarded the inaugural Rupert and Eithne Strong Trust prize at a ceremony in D·n Laoghaire. When the Strongs died, they left a sum of money to their nine siblings. The children decided they would use the money to set up an award for a young Irish poet, who could do with both some formal recognition and some honest-to-god money. Hence £2,000 a year for 15 years will be given to promising poets such as Bryce, who have published to good reviews but still need a boost. Various Irish and British publishers were invited to nominate work from poets on their list they thought would merit this award, and all accepted. The selection process was then made through the Arts Office of D·n Laoghaire Rathdown. Always good to see poets getting some money, since they trade in possibly the least financially lucrative of the writing professions.
Sadbh hears good news of Billy Collins, the American poet whose collection from Picador, Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes, sold out in Dublin last week after his reading at the Dublin Writers Festival. Last week, as he was fresh off the plane from Ireland, he was told that he had been appointed Poet Laureate of America. The post is for one year, and comes with a stipend of $35,000 and an office in the Congress Library in Washington. "My first reaction was kind of hyperventilation, I suppose. It came completely out of the blue, like a soft wrecking ball from outer space," he told the New York Times on Midsummer's Day - yet another fortuitous day for a poet!
There is still much sadness in Donegal and the greater community of Irish writers at the recent death of James Simmons. Tributes have been paid by fellow poets at his passing.
"Jimmy was both beguiling and subversive, a bohemian with good bourgeois manners," said Seamus Heaney. He commented that Simmons, who was 68, had always remained young because of his terrific energy. "To quote one of his titles, he had 'energy to burn'. He never lost faith with the idea that high art and popular culture could coalesce in some way. I'll miss him. He was a sweet man to meet, that's the thing and, like anybody of interest, complicated."
Michael Longley said he had shared Simmons's deep love of jazz. "Like all good jazz men Jimmy was a fierce improviser, making the most of what was around. He brought to Irish poetry the vigour of the popular song, and wrote some beautiful songs as well as some very fine poems. He was a bundle of energy, making things happen. There was something genuinely radical about him and his best work. In his poetry he dealt with what life presented to him and, like the jazz improviser, turned it into art."
"He was an old friend, a brave man and a fine poet," said Derek Mahon.
"Not all poets thought you could be taught to write poetry but he thought so," commented Eileβn N∅ Chuilleanβin. However, he was "not a conventional academic. The striking thing about him was how original and personal he was." (see today's Obituary Page )
It's all poets this week. Sadbh hears that there will be a number of poetry readings in an unusual location in the coming month - at sea. As part of a publicity enterprise for the SeaCat Irish National Poetry Competition, a trio of poets will be taking to the Irish Sea to read from their work during the crossing. First to enliven the crossing will be Enda Wyley, who sails on Thursday from Dublin to Liverpool at 1 p.m. She will be followed by fellow poets Moyra Donaldson and Frank Galligan, who will both sail from Belfast to Troon in Ayreshire on July 20th and 27th respectively. Let's just hope they don't suffer from sea-sickness. There's still time to get your entry in for the £5,000 first prize in the competition, and there's also a children's category. Deadline for the senior writers is Monday July 9th. Entry forms from libraries and bookshops or at www.irishpoetry2001.com
The summer edition of Books Ireland is out, and Sadbh has been looking through this 241st issue of Ireland's lively alternative to Britain's Bookseller. Among the articles is an interview with Benedict Kiely by Shirley Kelly. Kiely, whose recent Collected Stories was published by Methuen, will turn 82 this August, and was made a Saoi in 1996. Writers never retire. Kiely tells Kelly: "There are three unfinished novels in the house, and I'd like to get them finished. I think I could pull them together, but we'll just have to wait and see." Hopefully we won't have to wait too long.
Congratulations to Tom MacIntyre on winning this year's Ireland Funds Literary Award, presented to him in UCD last Tuesday night by Seamus Heaney. In receiving the £20,000 award he joins an illustrious list of winners over the past 30 years which included Austin Clarke, Brian Friel, John McGahern and Michael Longley.