The folk at the James Joyce Centre in Dublin tell Sadbh they're putting on John Huston's memorable film of The Dead for the season that's in it. If you have missed it in the past, this is an opportunity to see Huston's classic interpretation of Joyce's famous short story, which ends with one of the most evocative lines in Irish literature: "His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead." The film will be screened on December 6th and 13th at the Joyce Centre, North Great George's Street. Call 01-8788547 to book. A bargain at £3 a ticket, including, Sadbh notes with amusement, "minced pies and mulled wine at interval". Does this mean the pies will be served in very small pieces?
The new The Big Guide 2: Irish Children's Books, edited by Valerie Coghlan and Celia Keenan, is a big fat book stuffed with all sorts of interesting information. It's particularly focused on Irish books, although there are little synopses of international children's classics. The guide is aimed at the folk who fork out for books, i.e., adults, and teachers, but children will no doubt pick it up too. The essays are written by people with a long association with children's books, such as Robert Dunbar, Kate Agnew, and Liz Morris. What's perhaps most interesting about this book is the way it looks at how Irish history is presented in children's books. There is a fascinating essay by Celia Keenan, entitled The Famine Told to the Children. There have been an astonishing 17 children's books set during the Famine in the last 10 years, and this essay looks at how writers tackle this potent subject without losing their young readers, or airbrushing out the reality of that dreadful time. There are also thoughtful essays on a number of other related topics, such as writing about the conflict in Northern Ireland. An essential book for teachers and parents. It is published by Children's Books Ireland, in association with the National Reading Initiative, at £11.50.
A regular contributor to this newspaper is sports photographer Ray McManus of the Sportsfile photographic agency. He and his team have brought out a book called A Season of Sundays 2000, with captions by sports journalist Tom Humphries. The pictures are of places of worship where the faithful congregate on Sundays - football pitches and hurling grounds. If you want to know what a real Celtic Tiger looks like, look no further than the cover of this book, which captures a ferocious-looking D.J. Carey, snarling magnificently from behind the cage of his helmet, hurley held like a sword. The book is out early this month, published by Sportsfile, price £19.95.
Sadbh hears that the fourth volume of Dublin Stories is now in the bookshops, price £6.99. Published by the Inkwell Writers' Group, this collection contains short stories by such practitioners as Mary Craig, Vincent Caprani and Brian McCabe. Writers' groups seem to be breaking out all over these days but The Inkwell, which meets in Mahaffeys' pub, Pearse Street, says it's the oldest writers group in Dublin. Beat that!