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Swearing by contemporary Irish literature
A few weeks back Emma Gallagher wrote a piece for our blog, Open Book, canvassing Irish literature today - from contemporary Irish crime, to chick lit. Auckland Writers and Readers Festival kicks off on May 9th and will be hosting no less than four of Ireland's most well-known writers: Sebastian Barry, Roddy Doyle, Eion Colfer and Oliver Jeffers. To celebrate we couldn’t resist republishing Gallagher’s piece here, housing as it does a series of brilliant questions: Is there enough swearing in Irish literature to be truly representative? Is post-boom Ireland really palpable in recent reads? Does contemporary Irish lit concern itself with Ireland much at all?
Emma Gallagher talks contemporary Irish literature
For such a wee, damp island, Ireland has produced more than its fair share of literary greats: Swift, Wilde, Yeats, Shaw, Bowen, Joyce, O’Connor (a couple of them), Beckett, Heaney, O’Brien (a couple of them), Murdoch, Trevor, McGahern, Binchy, Doyle, Banville, Toibin, Barry, Enright, McCabe, and Keyes.
Even so, many critics want today’s Irish writers to say goodbye to the past – feck all the potatoes and the donkeys and the priests over the nearest dry stone wall – and deal to the new Ireland in all its post-boom, economically depressed, high unemployment and emigration glory. No more tilling lovely black clods of earth as the misty, mistlike Irish mist descends.
 15,000-pound-2007-BBC-National-Story-Prize-winning author Julian Gough says in his rant/interview with the Dalkey Archive Review, ‘Reading award-winning Irish literary fiction, you wouldn’t know television had been invented.' He wants to know, where are all the X-boxes and YouPorn? Where is all the swearing? ‘The Irish swear better than almost anyone else on earth, bar maybe the Spanish and a couple of countries in Africa. That’s another area where I think recent Irish literary writers – with the honourable exception of Roddy Doyle – have failed us badly.’
Gough rates Kevin Barry and Ross O’Caroll Kelly – and they’re both as far from soft clods of earth as you can get. Barry’s 2011 novel, City of Bohane, is a kind of a gangland Ireland 40 years in the future. (For some inspirational swearing, check out Barry’s story 'Fjord of Killary' in the New Yorker.) Ross O’Carroll Kelly is the satiric alter-ego of journalist Paul Howard, who nailed the rise and fall of the Celtic Tiger with his wealthy, rugby-playing, D4 dwelling (a posh Dublin postcode) creation. ‘Ross’ writes a column in the The Irish Times which is so popular it has spawned a number of novels, guides and plays such as Ross O'Carroll-Kelly's Guide to (South) Dublin: How To Get By On, Like, €10,000 A Day.
But despite any criticism, Irish writers are still winning awards and winning over readers across the world. Some new(ish) Irish writers to keep an eye on are novelist Claire Kilroy, and short story writers Claire Keegan and Philip O Ceallaigh.
Read the full article on Open Book.
Five Easy Questions with Emily Perkins
 Emily Perkins' Novel About My Wife won the 2009 Montana Medal for Fiction and her latest novel The Forrests, which will hit shelves in May, has been tipped to win this year's Booker Prize. She will appear in three events at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival in May. Perkins will generally be travelling here, there and everywhere in the next few months, appearing at the Sydney Writers' Festival and Hay-on-Wye Festival through our International Travel Fund. You'll also find her on Twitter @EmilyJPerkins
1. How would you describe The Forrests in a sentence or two?
Not very well, I'm afraid! I find doing that hard enough at the best of times but with this book especially. If I start saying 'it's about a woman...um... in time...' most readers are going to run for the hills. But it is about a woman in time.
2) The Forrests follows the life journey of main character Dorothy Forrest. What did you enjoy most about focusing on the life-time experience of this character?
It was a lot of pleasure writing this book - one of the most enjoyable aspects was when Dorothy really started to give in to the weirdness of things somewhere in her mid-life and the language could follow. Also, sexual tension. That's fun to write.
3) You’ve just launched your new website. What are a few of your favourite author/book websites?
Twitter is my main source for keeping up to date with book reviews, etc. I particularly like The Millions, The Rumpus, HTMLGiant, and Beattie's Book Blog for what's happening in NZ of course, but if I had to choose only one resource it would be Twitter.
4) As a reader what’s the best risk you ever took on a book?
There have been some guest choices for The Good Word that I'd never have usually thought about but have really enjoyed. The standout might be Michael Parkinson's biography of George Best, the only sporting biography I have ever read or, probably, will ever read. But what a life and what a story! (Steve Braunias put us onto it.)
5) What’s on your bedside table at the moment?
A lot of first novels for the Commonwealth Book Prize, but after those John Lanchester's Capital and Jeffrey Eugenides' Middlesex. I'm itching to get my hands on The Intentions Book by Gigi Fenster and to go on a Janet Malcolm binge.
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Book Council news
Meet Oliver Jeffers
 Critically acclaimed picture book author and illustrator, Oliver Jeffers, will be in conversation with Simon Waterfield at a special event at Mercy Conference Centre on May 8th. This is a very rare opportunity to see the New York-based Jeffers in action as he discusses his irresistible, witty books for all ages.
Jeffers grew up in Belfast and studied visual communications, graduating with first class honours from The University of Ulster in 2001. He has since exhibited his art internationally and won several awards, including the Nestlé Children’s Book Prize Gold Award, the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award and the Irish Children’s Book of the Year.
He is a co-founder of the art collective OAR and was the official World Book Day Illustrator in 2007. His titles include How To Catch A Star (2004), Lost and Found (2004) and this year’s series The Hueys, the first of which is The Hueys in the New Jumper.
Meet Oliver Jeffers -Wellington, 6pm on the 8th of May at Te Wahanga Atawhai Mercy Conference Centre, 15 Guildford Terrace,Thorndon, Wellington. Tickets: Buy your tickets online here to secure your seat. Parking: St Mary’s College, Guildford Terrace, Wellington.
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New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults Festival
 New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults - Festival and Celebrations is a ten day festival celebrating the importance of children's books, reading and writing with hundreds of events nationwide.
It takes place annually in May and includes a tour by New Zealand children's writers and illustrators into 26 regions, organised by the New Zealand Book Council. The festival culminates with the announcement of the winners of the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults and is sponsored by New Zealand Post and supported by Creative New Zealand. It is managed and administered by Booksellers New Zealand.
This festival of activities is for children, parents, teachers, librarians, community groups and anyone excited by the value and pleasure of children's books and reading. For more information visit our website
What's new on bookcouncil.org.nz
New on our blog
 Author, cartoonist, and graphic designer Sarah Laing took part in our True Stories Told Live fundraiser event for Writers in Schools in March. Sarah Laing wrote a 6-page comic to lock her story firmly into her memory. Read the first instalment here then head to Laing’s blog Let Me Be Frank for the full tale.
Keep your eye on the blog for upcoming Q&A with Helen Heath, celebrating the launch of her debut collection of poetry, Graft, on May 3rd.
Auckland Writers & Readers Festival 9-13 May
 The Auckland Writers & Readers Festival, New Zealand’s biggest festival of literature and ideas, kicks off on May 9 with more than 100 leading international and New Zealand writers and thinkers taking part.
Enjoy events with prizewinners Jeffrey Eugenides and Roddy Doyle; cosmologist and public intellectual Lawrence Krauss, prizewinning Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings, spy fiction author Dame Stella Rimington, New Zealand icon Maurice Gee and bestselling international crime writer Peter James.
Programmed to take place from 09-13 May in the heart of Auckland, and combining a dedicated two-day schools’ programme with three days and nights of public sessions, it will feature a diverse programme of fiction, science, religion, poetry, journalism, history and the arts, from literary offerings to popular fare.
For full programme details visit the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival website
Competition and residency opportunities
Please note this is only a sample of literary opportunities from the news page on our website:
Entries Now Open for the Te Papa Tupu Writers Programme 2012
The Maori Literature Trust invites you to enter the Te Papa Tupu Writers Programme for 2012. The best six writers will be offered the opportunity to participate in a six month incubator programme where they will develop their writing into a solid piece of literature with the possibility of having it published.
We are looking for people from all walks of life that have a drive and passion to write. We invite you to submit your work, in Te Reo Maori or English, in the following categories:
• Novel
• Short Story
• Non-fiction
• Children's chapter book
• Children's picture book
Submitted work should be 5,000-50,000 words and may be a finished piece or a working manuscript. Click here for programme Outline, Terms and Conditions and Entry Form. Entries close 5pm, Friday 12 June 2012. Entries received after the closing date will not be eligible.
For any further enquiries please email tepapatupu@huia.co.nz
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Entries for the 2013 Gavin Bishop Award now open
The biennial Storylines Gavin Bishop Award was established in 2009, and aims to encourage the publication of exciting, high quality picture books from New Zealand illustrators. It also recognises the contribution that Gavin Bishop has made to the writing and illustrating of children’s picture books, and gives an emerging talent the opportunity to benefit from his expertise.
In addition to a $1500 monetary prize, the winner of this award will receive mentoring and support from Gavin, and may also receive an offer of publication by Random House New Zealand, who are the proud sponsors of this award.
Each entrant will be required to submit a storyboard, a page of rough drawings and two pieces of finished artwork to fit with text provided by Random House. Entries for the 2013 Gavin Bishop Award are now open, and must be submitted by 30 November 2012.
For an entry form, guidelines and other information, please visit www.randomhouse.co.nz.
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Prime Minister’s Awards for Literary Achievement Call for Submissions
Every year, New Zealanders are invited to nominate their choice of an outstanding writer who has made a significant contribution to New Zealand literature in the genres of non-fiction, poetry and fiction.
The nominations are assessed by an expert literary panel and recommendations forwarded to Creative New Zealand for approval with the award recipients announced in a ceremony at Premier House.
Make your nomination here by 22 June.
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 The New Zealand Book Council receives core funding from Creative New Zealand. We are extremely grateful to our funding partners, who enable us to deliver our programmes. We also value your membership, which supports our work in schools and communities throughout New Zealand. |
Enjoy giveaway competitions, book news, and Q&A with NZ authors? Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for freebies and regular news and updates.
The winners of the two giveaway copies of Paul Thomas' new novel Ihaka: Death on Demand, courtesy of Hachette NZ, are Va Langdon (Auckland) and Janet Franklin (Havelock North). Congratulations.
This month we have three copies of Emily Perkins'  novel The Forrests to giveaway, courtesy of Allen & Unwin. To enter the draw, email us at the address below, with the name of the book in the subject line, and your New Zealand postal address in the body of the email. Draw closes 12 noon on Monday 7th of May. E:reception@bookcouncil.org.nz
Each month an industry insider tells us about books they're looking forward to seeing in the bookshops in the weeks ahead.
This month, Julia Phillips, owner of New Plymouth's Benny's Books gives us her top three book picks.
 New Zealand’s very own fantastic crime author Paul Cleave is back with another Theodore Tate chilling thriller, Collecting Cooper (Penguin NZ). Ex-cop Theodore Tate is out of jail after going off the rails and just about killing a young girl in a car accident, and he now has to hunt down the person who kidnapped her. A local professor Cooper Riley also goes missing at about the same time, is he the killer? Or does he have a collection of serial killer souvenirs for other reasons? This is a fast-paced book and Cleave weaves a very complicated story at just the right rate of knots.
 My Random House rep put The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce under my nose and told me ‘read this, you will love it, and so will readers of The Potato Peel Society,’ and he was right. 65-year-old retiree Harold receives a letter in the post from an old workmate, Queenie, who tells him she doesn’t have long to live. Harold tries to write a note but isn’t sure what to say. He tells his wife he is off to post the letter but when he gets to the letter box he decides to post it at the next post box. Again he can’t bring himself to post it and tries the next post box. After the third he decides he will walk the whole 627 miles to give the letter to her. Word gets out along the way about Harold’s plight and he is joined by a mix of wonderful and not so wonderful people. This is an extremely touching, tender and utterly captivating novel.
 We are huge fans of Peter James at Benny’s Books. Such huge fans in fact that when he comes to New Zealand in May he will be doing his only book event outside of Auckland at our store. Detective Roy Grace is back in great form in Not Dead Yet (Pan Macmillan). An obsessed stalker is after a glamorous rock superstar/actor, Gaia. An attempt on her life is made on the eve before she flies into Roy Grace’s turf, Brighton. Roy Grace is not happy that a stalker may be at large in his city, waiting, watching, and planning. When a mutilated torso is found on a chicken farm, Roy Grace has no reason at all to connect this to the star’s visit to the county. But as events begin to unfold, Roy Grace finds himself in a frantic race to save Gaia’s life.
 
 The influential Romance Writers of America has announced the finalists for the 2012 RITA awards and New Zealand author Nalini Singh was nominated not once, but three times. These prestigious awards are described as the 'Oscars of the romance writing world'. Winners will be announced July 28, 2012 at an awards ceremony, which takes place as part of the 2012 Romance Writers of America Annual Conference.
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The Storylines Children’s Literature Trust has announced the 2012 Storylines Notable Books List for children’s and young adult novels, picture books and non-fiction published in 2011. The Storylines Notable Book List was established in 2000 to reflect the wide-ranging achievements of New Zealand authors, illustrators and publishers. Read on here.
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Wellington writer Wes Lee has been chosen as one of the final five on the shortlist for The Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award, judged by Christine Dwyer Hickey in Ireland. The winner of The Bryan MacMahon Short Story Award will be announced at a Listowel festival event on May 31.
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New Zealand writers Adrienne Frater, Emma Martin, Carl Nixon and Sarah Quigley have been shortlisted for the 2012 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Those shortlisted for this prize or the Commonwealth Book Prize are now in the running to become a regional winner, announced on 22 May. The overall prize winners will be announced at the Hay Festival on 8 June.
Please note this is only a sample of events from the events page on our website:
Blue Smoke to Blue Beat: A musical conversation with Nick Bollinger and Chris Bourke
May 22-24
- New Plymouth - Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, May 22, 5.30pm
- Wanganui - Sargeant Gallery, May 23, 12 noon
- Palmerston North - City Library, May 23, 5.30pm
- Napier - Music Machine, May 24, 12 noon
- Masterton - Hedley's Bookshop, May 24, 7.00pm.
Nick Bollinger is the host of The Sampler on RNZ National, a music critic at the Listener, and the author of 100 Essential New Zealand Albums and How to Listen to Pop Music (Awa Press). Chris Bourke is the author of the award-winning Blue Smoke: the Lost Dawn of New Zealand Popular Music, 1918-1964 (AUP) and the best-selling Crowded House: Something So Strong (Pan Macmillan).
Venue: Various
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Vanda Symon & Paddy Richardson
10 May, 6.30pm
Readers & Writers Alive! presents a bookbovers’ dinner with crime writers Vanda Symon & Paddy Richardson. New Zealand is home to a growing number of crime writers, among them two Dunedin-based authors Vanda Symon and Paddy Richardson. Enjoy a delicious two course buffet and listen to Vanda and Paddy talk about how they came to be crime writers and the growth in popularity of New Zealand crime writing.Tickets can be purchased from the local i-SITE: $45: www.dandavin.org.nz
Venue: The Cabbage Tree, Dunns Road, Otatara
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An Evening with Melinda Szymanik
May 9th, 6.00pm-8.00pm.
Award-winning author, Melinda Szymanik will give a talk about the joys and challenges of writing for children in the changing world of publishing. It will be the perfect evening for writers, teachers, librarians, parents and kids to hear first hand from an outstanding New Zealand author, with giveaways, books and a special announcement about an exclusive contest. All welcome. Contact pr@pearjambooks.com by May 4th 20112 to confirm your attendance.
Venue: The National Library Auckland Centre
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