When the late Maurice Kennedy's short story "Vladivostok" appeared on the Dublin literary scene in 1954 it caused a sensation. Now, almost half a century later, it has been republished in a small book assembled brings together some of the writings of an author who, as the late Augustine Martin put it, was "a sort of legend" to Martin's generation. Born in Youghal in 1924, Kennedy spent his working life of 40 years in the Civil Service - he worked as an Examiner of Estate Duties until his retirement in 1986 - but he was also a short-story writer and a regular contributor as literary and drama critic to The Irish Times, the Irish Press and various literary periodicals of the time. Not long after his death in 1992 his widow, the writer Val Mulkerns, asked Martin to edit a selection of her husband's writing. Martin felt, he says in an introduction written just before his own untimely death in 1995, pride at being asked and also nostalgia for a lean but rigorous time in Irish writing - and mild terror at handling the reputation of a man who had such high standards and retiring ways.
When "Vladivostok" appeared, its title confirmed its author as a remote and Chekhovian genius, redolent as it was of angst and modernity, wrote Martin, sad that the brilliant literary career it promised did not materialise.
Still "while we might wish he had written more, we rejoice that he has written so well". Well said. A limited number of copies of The Way to Vladivostok are available: Contact 0044207 2399617 or email conor@javelin.ie
Sadbh hears that A. Norman Jeffares and Risteard Mulcahy are to be the lead speakers at the seventh annual Gogarty Society weekend in Renvyle House Hotel in the wilds of Connemara, from October 20th to 22nd, which, she is assured by a correspondent is "always great crack". Two Gogarty publications are due to be launched there - a collection of his private letters compiled by his grandson, Guy St John Williams, plus a collection of his poems and plays compiled by Jeffares.
The Renvyle Letters, which is sure to attract most attention, is a collection of previously unseen family correspondence between Gogarty in New York, his wife "Neenie" in Renvyle House, his three children and others. They date from the time of Gogarty's departure from Ireland to New York in 1939 until his death there in 1957.
The Buck Mulligan portrait in Ulysses continued to rankle with Gogarty: "This country is beginning to see Joyce as he really was: a grim humourist", Gogarty wrote in 1956. As for Brendan Behan, he "got no mercy from the English. He was but another drunken Irishman." And regarding his political arch-enemy, the "melanotic sarcome" Eamon de Valera, Gogarty wrote in 1944: "There is some difficulty about getting over to Europe unless you are in service or a member of a Gov. in exile. I hope that Dev will soon be in that category." Lively stuff.
Sadbh is still trying to work out what 40,000 Canadian dollars is in punts, but it's a lot; a right whack of dosh indeed. Last month in Toronto, five writers gathered to announce details of the new Griffin Poetry Prize, which will finally go some way towards rewarding poets to the same extent as their novelist comrades.
No less personages than Canadian-based Michael Ondaatje (Sadbh's all-time favourite book is his Running in the Family), and Margaret Atwood were among those present to herald news of the awards, which are being funded by Toronto-based philanthropist Scott Griffin. There will be two awards of $40,000: one to a book of poems by a Canadian poet, and one to a poet from anywhere else. Each book must be in English, and have been published the year preceding the award.
No doubt publishers here will be sending their new books across the water in the hope that one of their poets will bag the loot - and the kudos. More information about the prize at www.griffinpoetryprize.com
The first Michael Hartnett poetry award, worth £5,000, was presented recently to Sean O Leochain at the opening of Eigse Michael Hartnett in Newcastlewest. O Leochain's name will be familiar to schoolgoers, since some of his work is on the Leaving Cert syllabus. Eigse Michael Hartnett, the newest literary festival on the Irish scene, with readings from a number of well-known poets, and events connected with the late Hartnett, will now no doubt go from strength to strength. The poetry award, co-funded by Limerick County Council and the Arts Council, will be presented for work in English next year.
Sequels, prequels - oh Lord, why bother when we already have the fine original book? Sadbh hears that that very 1980s phenomenon of writing prequels is breaking out again. We've had people trying to approach novels such as Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre from different perspectives - never any cop, in Sadbh's honest opinion. Now Sally Beauman, bestselling writer, has written a book called Rebecca's Tale, about, you've guessed it, the latent presence in Daphne du Maurier's classic novel, Rebecca, which opens with one of the most-quoted lines in popular literature: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again." Beauman apparently remarked that we never hear the story from Rebecca's viewpoint, hence her keenness to explore same: but we never hear Rebecca's story for one good reason - she's dead before the novel opens. If du Maurier had wanted us to know more about the mysterious Rebecca, she surely would have told us. Beauman's version is out next year from Little, Brown. Tread lightly when you tinker with a classic, thinks Sadbh.