sadbh@irish-times.ie
Details have been announced for Cuirt 2001, Galway's literature festival which has a long-standing, loyal following. The festival will run this year from April 23rd to 29th. The opening event will be a joint reading by poet Michael Longley and novelist John McGahern, who tends to eschew the limelight. McGahern's new novel will be published next year, so perhaps we will be treated to an extract from it in Galway. Novelist Michael Collins, short-listed for last year's Booker Prize, will hold a prose workshop, in addition to a reading. Reading for the first time in Ireland, as far as Sadbh is aware, will be artist and poet Frieda Hughes. Yes, that Hughes. She is the daughter of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, and her reading with award-winning Danish poet Inger Christensen is one of the most interesting events on the programme.
Poets are well-represented this year. Richard Murphy, whose Collected Poems came out last year, will read with Britain's poet laureate, Andrew Motion. Fleur Adcock is another poet who will attract interest. Frank Kermode, currently the Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard, will give the Anne Kennedy Memorial Lecture. He'll be talking about his most recent book, Shakespeare's Language. American novelist Richard Powers will read in tandem with Canadian writer and poet Anne Michaels. Others at Cuirt this year include novelists Jim Crace, Clare Boylan, and Anne Haverty; biographers Adrian Fraser and Anthony Cronin; and poets Glyn Maxwell, George Szirtes, Siobhan Campbell, and Caitriona O'Reilly. More information from the Galway Arts Centre, 091-565886.
Writer Elizabeth Bowen still casts a long and gracious shadow, and public interest in her continues to endure. This week, an exhibition on her life and work opened at the Dublin Writers' Museum, launched by John Banville, who wrote the screenplay for the recent film version of Bowen's The Last September. Two years ago, Robert Nicholson, curator of the Joyce Tower at Sandycove, wrote a letter to this newspaper, asking for the loan of any Bowen-related items which the public might have. The response surprised everyone: it was tremendous - and eclectic.
Among the items currently on show at the Writers' Museum are: a piece of brick salvaged from Bowen's Court after it was so short-sightedly demolished; first editions of several of her books; personal letters and cards; portraits and drawings; and the citation for her CBE. The exhibition will run until the end of April, with a possible extension. More information from 01-8722077.
The Books Ireland children's spring seminar takes place this year on April 6th and 7th in Limerick's Belltable Arts Centre. The first day will be pitched at children aged nine to 12-plus, and the second day at adults. Those attending include: Aubrey Flegg, author of The Cinnamon Tree; Jamila Gavin, who has just won the prestigious Whitbread Children's Book of the Year award with Coram Boy; and author and Irish-language publisher Colman O Raghallaigh. Jane O'Hanlon, education officer at Poetry Ireland, will also be there. Booking and more information from 061-319866.
The splendidly-named KeoughUniversity of Notre Dame, based in Illinois, has announced its programme for this year's Irish seminar. The third, it will be held in Newman House, St Stephen's Green, Dublin, during July. Aimed primarily at graduate students, the month will be divided into weeks of four topics; culture, politics, gender, and constitutional. The directors are Seamus Deane, Luke Gibbons, and Kevin Whelan, and this year's theme is "Contemporary Ireland". Seamus Heaney, whose new collection, Electric Light, is due out shortly, will be one of the speakers during the first week. Speakers for following weeks include novelist and journalist Nuala O'Faolain; Claire Wills, editor of the forthcoming volumes IV and V of the controversial Field Day Anthology; author Tom Nairn; and Martin Mansergh.
The foot-and-mouth crisis continues to have ripples in every sphere and one victim was last night's Dublin launch of Mary O'Malley's new poetry collection, Asylum Road. Sadbh was at the Galway launch in Kenny's bookshop last week, at which the book got a rousing welcome from the Mexican ambassador, Daniel Dultzin. Though coincidental, many felt it was fitting that the party coincided with the arrival in Mexico City of the twoweek long rebel trek across the country, which had retraced the route taken 87 years ago by the revolutionary leader, Emiliano Zapata. The new date for the Dublin launch is Friday, April 20th, at the Irish Writers' Centre , Parnell Square, at 7 p.m. Warnings that foot-and-mouth precautions may affect other literary events have reached our ears, so it seems wise to check with the organisers if you're planning to attend anything.
Sadbh