Literary editor Caroline Walshsuggests worthwhile dates for your diary.
Fine words cultivated, distilled and aged
Senior counsel Michael O'Higgins (below right), a familiar face at tribunals and courts, won a Hennessy XO Literary Award in Dublin this week with his appropriately titled short story; it was called The Great Escape. O'Higgins, who was a journalist before becoming a barrister, was among 18 shortlisted writers at an awards ceremony lunch in Dublin's Four Seasons hotel on Tuesday where, courtesy of the sponsor, cognac was in plentiful supply.
Thanks to their 37-year-old history, these awards - always highly respected - now have the added provenance that comes with age. Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, who, with Douglas Kennedy was a judge this year, spoke of how, though she had never won a Hennessy, she had been shortlisted at the beginning of her career, making her all the more delighted to be a judge.
One of the first jobs I was sent to on starting in The Irish Times32 years ago was covering the Hennessys and their importance decades later is borne out by the roll call of writers who won one in their youth - including Joseph O'Connor, Frank McGuinness, Marina Carr and Pat McCabe. On Tuesday, Man Booker-winning novelist Anne Enright was inducted into the Hennessy hall of fame, marking the start of another award-winning week for the writer. On Thursday, her novel The Gatheringwon the top prize at the Irish Book Awards: the Hughes and Hughes Irish Novel of the Year award.
The overall Hennessy XO New Irish Writer for 2007 is Valerie Sirr (right), whose short stories have appeared in publications including The Stinging Flyand the Sunday Tribune'sNew Irish Writing slot, where all the shortlisted work was initially published. Sirr also won the Emerging Fictioncategory with Summer Rain. The Best Emerging Poetry award went to Mary Madec (above) for her poem In Other Words, with O'Higgins taking the Best First Fiction prize. Each category winner gets €1,500, and Sirr receives an additional €2,500 as overall winner.
Enright spoke of the worth of the Hennessy awards, particularly in a country that doesn't do praise all that easily; that doesn't have a culture of praise. Though entering the hall of fame made her ask, "Am I dead?", it also gave her a chance as a writer who's been so caught up in the razzmatazz of the prizegiving circuit herself this year to say to fellow writers to make sure they kept themselves open and vulnerable to the work itself.
Don't keep your voice down
The American bestselling author Jodi Picoult (below) kicks off a new initiative, the "DLR Library Voices" series of author readings, run by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Library Service, on Monday at 7pm in the County Hall. Picoult, whose first novel, Songs of the Humpback Whalewas written in 1992 and whose work is translated into 30 languages, will read from her latest novel, Change of Heart.
The series continues with Joseph O'Connor and Julia Kelly on May 22nd. Hugo Hamilton - who grew up in nearby Glasthule - will read from his forthcoming novel, Disguise, on June 5th. On June 17th, the reader is novelist John Boyne, while on June 24th Cathy Kelly will be in conversation with Irish Timesjournalist and novelist Kate Holmquist. Tickets, at €5, are available in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown branch libraries. See also www.dlrcoco.ie/library.