Flavia Alaya, author of Under The Rose
It comes as rather a relief to hear that Ireland does not have a monopoly on priests with children. Under The Rose, a forthcoming book from New York's The Feminist Press, is by American academic Flavia Alaya and it tells of her relationship with campaigning Irish American Catholic priest Father Harry Browne.
The pair met in Italy in 1957, when Flavia was 22 and Browne was 16 years her senior. They subsequently moved to live in and around New York, where Alaya raised their children and established herself as an expert on 19th century literature.
Originally, their relationship was clandestine, or sub rosa, but Browne eventually resigned his parish, although he never officially left the church. Their eldest son, Harry Browne, radio critic with The Irish Times says of Under The Rose: "Well, I'm highly biased but it is a great story and it certainly has a relevance in Ireland, with the ongoing debate about the church's attitude to women." It can't be long before the book has publishers on this side of the Atlantic reading it with a view to publishing it here.
SADBH was at the opening last weekend in Lisdoonvarna of the 32nd Merriman Summer School. The theme this year is the significance of song in popular culture. Writers, scholars, dancers, singers and summer school groupies gathered in the Spawell for Robert Welch's opening lecture, chaired by Michael Yeats, the poet's son.
Yeats senior, Welch commented, had heard sean nos singing for the first time at a fair in Gort in 1899 and described it as "a shocking experience that went into my heart and nerves." Among those around for the weekend were writers from all genres, including Irish language short stories scribe Alan Titley, children's author Gordon Snell, soon-to-be novelist Nuala O Faolain and seasoned novelist Maeve Binchy.
If you have a burning desire to see St Patrick restored to his former glory at the Hill of Tara, combined with a yen to see your poetry in print, then a new poetry anthology currently in the planning stages may be for you. A Chester publishing company by the name of Pathade writes to tell us of a proposed volume called Treasures by the Poets of Ireland which they plan to publish on St Patrick's Day 2000.
The prerequisite for inclusion is that your poem has never been published before. You also must be Irish, or have what they term "genuine Irish ancestry". You can't expect any financial gain but 20 per cent of the company's profits are going towards restoring the statue of Ireland's patron saint. The idea being that you get your reward in heaven, presumably. Contact the Pathade Publishing Company, PO Box 461, Chester CH3 5ZB, UK for more details.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival continues, a little over-shadowed by the antics of the main Edinburgh Festival, but influential nonetheless. The Irish contingent this year included novelist Colum McCann and poet Eavan Boland.
Following in the footsteps of Joyce and the other big lads of Irish literature, McCann, a New York resident, addressed the idea of exile and the artist in one session. Boland spoke about "the necessity of hearing the woman's voice in new Irish writing."
Spotted in the audience at the session involving the Irish was prominent South African author Andre Brink, while other speakers included the 1998 IMPAC award-winning novelist Herta Muller and journalist Peter Taylor, whose morning session, entitled Loyalists and Provos, was packed to the doors.
A late-arriving guest who slipped into Dublin's Waterstone's on Dawson Street on Tuesday night for the double launch of Claire Keegan's first collection, Antartica, and playwright Marina Carr's collected Plays One, provided a rather special note to kick off the new season of literary events.
Both authors read from their own work but, when Carr spotted actress Olwen Fouere sneaking in at the back, she asked her to come up and read with her. Olwen played the lead role in Carr's play, By the Bog of Cats, which opened at last year's Dublin Theatre Festival and she read the part of Hester Swain again on Tuesday night, to an appreciative audience that included literary agent Jonathan Williams and young novelist Lara Harte.
Sadbh