Loose Leaves:Fans of Canadian writer Alice Munro, still basking in the glow of her last book, The View from Castle Rock, can see how her work transfers to the screen during the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, now in full swing.
Her story, The Bear Came Over the Mountain, from the collection, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, has been adapted by Canadian actor Sarah Polley. Called Away from Her, it's Polley's directorial debut and shows on Thursday at Cineworld 17 at 8.40pm. Polley saw the potential for a film after reading the story in the New Yorker. Starring Julie Christie , it features a couple, married for decades, as it becomes obvious that the wife is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. Though Munro wasn't involved in the adaptation, she gave the film the thumbs-up via a voicemail to the director.
It's set in the rural hinterland of Ontario so well known to fans of Munro's work, and making vivid that landscape was one of the high points of making Away From Her. Though January 2006 was the mildest January in recorded history in many parts of Ontario, the first morning of principal photography at Lake of Bays, near Bracebridge, began at minus 33 degrees, so cold that everyone's eyelashes crystallised, according to producer Jennifer Weiss.
"We were shooting on a frozen lake and it was exquisite . . . These locations, especially the exteriors, are crucial to understanding these people and the life they have set up for themselves. They've made the choice to make life simpler, but life isn't always simple and there is always history" - something no one knows better than Munro . . .
It's all part of the great book-to-film boom that's set to be as big this year as it was last. A look at what's on in Irish cinemas this week throws up Charlotte's Web, adapted from the
EB White classic; Hannibal Rising, grace á Thomas Harris; Notes on a Scandal, the screen version of Zoe Heller's 2003 Man Booker-nominated novel; The Last King of Scotland, based on Giles Foden's book about Idi Amin; and Running with Scissors, drawn from Augusten Burroughs's take on his chaotic childhood. Meanwhile, last night, the opening film of the Dublin Film Festival was Jindabyne, starring Gabriel Byrne, which is based on the Raymond Carver story, So Much Water So Close to Home.
And that's all just this week . On the horizon is one of the year's biggest book-to-film landmarks, Atonement, adapted from Ian McEwan's novel and starring Keira Knightley.
Not all film adaptations may live up to the books they emanate from - some may be better - but it does go to show, you can't beat a good story.
Professor Amis gives it a go
As creative writing programmes continue to multiply, the field gets more competitive, and there's no doubt that the University of Manchester scored a coup this week with news that Martin Amis (pictured below) is to be its new professor of creative writing. In his first teaching post, the author of Money (1984), The Information (1995) and last year's The House of Meetings, will run postgraduate seminars at a Centre for New Writing, which will open in September. Irish poet Vona Groarke (pictured above) and novelist Patricia Duncker will also be attached to the centre.
Amis's duties will include four public events a year, including a two-week summer school where writers will teach MA students. It had always been a quiet ambition of his to give teaching a go, said Amis. "My father taught - at Swansea, Princeton and Cambridge - for 15 years, and by all accounts he was very good."
Amis, back living in England after a sojourn in Uruguay, added that while he may be acerbic in his writing, he imagines he'll be gentle with his students. His next novel, The Pregnant Widow, comes out next year and he hopes his adventures in academe may produce a novel ("a campus novel written by an elderly novelist - that's what the world wants").
Classes for western poets
Michael O'Loughlin, Galway writer-in-residence, will give poetry masterclasses at the Western Writers' Centre in the city on March 2nd. His books include the poetry collections, Stalingrad: The Street Dictionary and Another Nation: New & Selected Poems, and a short story collection, The Inside Story. The classes last from 7.30pm until 9pm; admission is free. Details: westernwriters@eircom.net. The Galway writer-in-residence post is supported by Galway city and county councils.