LooseLeaves: The benefits of making it onto the Man Booker Prize for Fiction shortlist are instant and extraordinary. Writers used to toiling away in their studies suddenly come to the bookies' attention, but also see massive reprints of their novels.
Within hours of the shortlisting of The Sea by John Banville, his publisher Picador, which has to date sold 20,000 copies of the novel since its publication in May, had ordered a reprint of 14,000 copies. Launched at a snazzy lunch in the Brasserie na Mara in Dún Laoghaire - attended by Seamus Heaney and Anne Enright and his editor Andrew Kidd, among others - the novel will now be under the spotlight again on October 10th at the gala awards ceremony at London's Guildhall, along with the other Irish shortlisted novel, Sebastian Barry's A Long Long Way. Published by Faber in April and launched by Frank McGuinness at a party attended by Colm Tóibín, Hugo Hamilton and Barry's editor Angus Cargill, among others, it has to date sold 25,000 copies, with a reprint of 18,000 ordered since its shortlisting. Both The Sea and A Long Long Way also leapfrogged into the Irish fiction bestseller lists this week. Each shortlisted author receives £2,500 (€3,700) - the winner gets £50,000 (€74,000) - but the dividends of making it as far as the shortlist are evident even at this early stage.
John Kenny reviewed both of the shortlisted Irish novels for these pages. A Long Long Way, said Kenny, (26th March) deserved to win renewed attention for Barry (left). "Prior to A Long Long Way, Barry had frequently failed to convince with his themes and styles, with his leading characters who frequently fell under the weight of their ideological equipage. Here, in a lighter combination of personal motivation with considered artistic execution, he succeeds on almost all fronts." Seduced even by sound alone, Kenny wrote of The Sea ( May 28th) that Banville's prose read more and more like absolute music, with passages in the novel containing some of his most viciously arresting prose to date. "Simply, no writer does wistful like Banville."
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A refreshing aspect
A host of writers are among the line-up for the Aspects 2005 Literature Festival at the Heritage Centre in Bangor, Co Down, which starts on Wednesday. The first event is a talk by former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, who will be 80 next year, about his life and times. Novelists attending include Niall Williams, Ferdia MacAnna, John Boyne and Molly McCloskey, while poets taking part include Sinead Morrissey, Dennis O'Driscoll, Fred Johnston, Leanne O'Sullivan, Joseph Woods and Gearóid Mac Lochlainn. Books by Irish Times journalists aren't scarce on the ground this weather and Fintan O'Toole will be there talking about his new offering, White Savage: Sir William Johnson and the Invention of America, while Rosita Boland will read from A Secret Map of Ireland, which is being launched next week.
A town made of books
The third annual Graiguenamanagh Town of Books Festival kicks off next Friday and, while not quite Hay-on-Wye, it is a festival new to the Irish scene that is getting into its stride. One interesting feature this year will be the sale of antiquarian books from the collection of the bookseller Rudi Holzapfel, who died since last year's festival. He wanted the proceeds of their sale to go towards the cost of running the event. The festival continues over next weekend and many of the booksellers attending will give free book valuations to readers who bring along tomes they think may be of value. Graiguenamanagh Tourism is producing a book trail map to help people maximise their visit to the Co Kilkenny town and get around as many booksellers as possible.
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Out of Africa
Books by Africans and about Africa will feature at events in Britain this month and in October and November as part of Africa 05. Established authors such as novelist Chinua Achebe and playwright Wole Soyinka as well as newer voices like Chimamanda Adichie and Kwame Kwei-Armah are among those taking part. One of the highlights will come next month during the Times Cheltenham Literature Festival when Clare Short and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown debate the future of Africa. Other debates focus on being caught between two cultures and defining African writing.