A chara, – Gabriel Rosenstock (August 31st) questions the omission of Irish-language writers from some festivals and asks if it is related to the poor profile of Irish language books in our book shops and libraries.
As a small bookshop owner in the midlands I cannot let this assertion go unchallenged. Irish books are actually displayed disproportionately to the demand for them due to the regard that most booksellers and librarians have for the language. I know many booksellers who take copies of books in Irish just to support the writer, knowing in their hearts that the books will never be sold. And most public libraries that I know have large sections of books in Irish which are in perfect condition – for the simple reason that they are never touched.
Perhaps Mr Rosenstock is ignoring the mote in his own eye in focusing on a non-existent bias against Irish writing.
Perhaps the problem lies in the ease with which one can publish a book in Irish. More than one writer in the native language has confided in me that he will make a profit even if he does not sell a single book such are the grants available for publishing and writing in Irish. This obviously has an effect on quality. Thus quality control is virtually non-existent as a small community of “critics” review books written and published by their colleagues who take it in turns to win the annual round of prizes that are doled out at the taxpayers’ expense.
Mr Rosenstock asks can all 300 Irish-language writers be bad – the answer is nobody knows. Nobody is reading what they write and the public do not know how their money is being spent to keep a mini cottage industry alive.
Is not the real problem that writers in Irish are writing in a language that very few read and even fewer are able to judge its literary quality? And what is Mr Rosenstock’s solution to this? More grants for translation and more inclusion in posters. Who says the Stalinist command economy is dead? – Is mise,
SEAN HAYES,
Roscommon Road,
Athlone,
Co Westmeath.