Now that the blazing sunshine is finally losing its glare (a joke, Gentle Reader), the longer days will soon be upon us. Before you know it, it will be time to pull the curtains across, light the fire, and gather round the radio. RT╔'s Book On One season returns this month, weighing in with extracts from the much-talked about At Swim, Two Boys, by Jamie O'Neill. Ring a bell? No, he is not to be confused with Flann O'Brien, author of At Swim-Two-Birds. Jamie O'Neill is the young Irish writer who got an advance of £350,000 for his book, which is set in Dublin and environs at the time of the 1916 Rising. His novel has received pre-publication endorsements from various quarters, including one from the British novelist and critic Peter Ackroyd who says the music of O'Neill's prose creates a new Irish symphony. His publishers Scribner will launch the novel with a bash in Dublin next Tuesday at the National Museum on Kildare Street. At Swim, Two Boys will be read on the radio by Barry McGovern. Other books which will feature in the Book On One slot in the coming months are: The Last of the Irish Males, by Joe O'Connor; Company - A Chosen Life, John Montague's memoirs; Catherine Dunne's The Walled Garden; and James Ryan's Seeds of Doubt. The programme runs Monday to Friday from Monday next at 9.45 p.m. on RT╔ Radio One.
News is just in of the five short-listed poets in the first SeaCat Irish National Poetry Competition, which has a first prize of a cool £5,000. They are, in no particular order: Merrily Harpur, Co Roscommon for 'The Lesson'; Caroline Lynch, Co Cork for 'My Grandfather'; Noel Monaghan, Co Cavan for 'The Funeral Game'; John O'Donnell, Co Dublin for 'Nighthawks'; and Denis Collins, Co Wexford for 'The Parcel'. The winner will receive the award on November 19th, which seems like a very long time to wait. The competition is still open to entries in the primary and secondary school categories, the closing date for them being Monday October 9th. Entry forms are available from www.irishpoetry2001.com or local bookshops and libraries.
The Irish Translators' Association is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. The association was set up in 1986 and is the only body to represent translators and interpreters based in Ireland. The association has links with several other similar bodies abroad, including the International Association of Translators. It organises residencies through the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, has established various translation studies networks, and offers the Prix de l'ambassade each year in conjunction with the French Embassy. Its tiered membership is open to students and professionals and non-professionals alike. More information from http://homepage.tinet.ie/~translation/
For the first time the Association of Teachers of English is this year holding an autumn conference and the good news is it hopes the public will attend too. Taking place at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, it kicks off on Friday, September 20th with a keynote address from journalist and author Robert Fisk. The Augustine Martin Silver Medal will be presented to John Kenny of St Killian's, the German school in Dublin. Speakers lined up for the seminar the following day include Hugh Haughton of the University of York who will give a talk about the poetry of Derek Mahon, and Eddie Holt, Irish Times columnist and lecturer at Dublin City University. The event is the swansong of chairperson Kate Bateman who has headed up the Association of Teachers of English with such flair - and now moves on to new challenges and new frontiers.
Blackstaff is celebrating its 30th year in business this year. Founded by Jim and Diane Gracey, its first title was Riotous Living, a collection of political cartoons by Rowel Friers. Since then, some 700 titles later, it has gone on to publish such authors as Bernard MacLaverty, John Hewitt, Sam Hanna Bell, and Jonathan Bardon. Among the forthcoming titles this year are Let's Twist Again, a new novel from Leo Cullen; Last Before America, Irish and American Writing, edited by Fran Brearton and Eamonn Hughes of Queen's University; and Stepping Stones, the Arts in Ulster 1971-2001, edited by broadcasters Mark Carruthers and Stephen Douds.