Ennis Considered Perfect Location for Book Club Festival

The 2009 Ennis Book Club Festival, in association with Clare County Library, has just ended for another year. Hundreds of literary enthusiasts gathered in Ennis from 6th – 8th March for the third annual event which featured well-known writers such as John Connolly, Mark O’Halloran, Gerard Stembridge, Peter Cunningham, Jennifer Johnston and many more. The festival was deemed to be a resounding success and both festival goers and authors thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Highlights of the weekend included “The Trial of Oscar Wilde” which took place at Ennis Courthouse and which was full to capacity; the Sunday Symposium in Glór where a panel of speakers, Terry Prone, Michael D. Higgins, Gerry Adams and Conor O’Clery treated the packed audience to an entertaining and informative discussion on “Reading Politics”; and John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, along with UK based writer Salley Vickers in an interview with Rachael English. The programme included very popular workshops on reading novels and poetry, tips for book clubs and recommended reading lists. As in previous years, many visitors commented on the town of Ennis as a perfect location for a festival such as this, on the excellent venues, and on the warm welcome they received.

Dates for the 2010 festival have been set from 5th – 7th March.

City-Lit: new series of travel books

A new series of travel books is to be published by travel publisher Oxygen beginning this month. The books take the form of literature anthologies on each city and will include excerpts from books as well as specially commissioned writing which aim to capture the essence of a place. Entitled City-Lit, the series will offer the unique feel for the sights, sounds and flavours of the city that only the very best writers can provide. Malcolm Burgess, the founder of Oxygen, said: "They will be bought by armchair travellers as well as by people visiting the city. There isn't anything quite like this on the market. We are obsessed and enthusiastic about cities and writing. Our only criterion is lovely, brilliant writing. It can be literary, journals, blogs or graffiti written on a bus stop." Unlike other travel guides the books will comprise a selection of writing about the particular city. There will be no glossy photographs, just simple line drawings and black and white text.

City-lit Paris is due to be published on March 31st and is described as the perfect city break guide to la vie parisienne. From Joanne Harris, Julian Barnes, Kate Mosse and Irène Némirovsky to Stephen Clarke, Gertrude Stein, Proust and Claude Izner, over seventy extraordinary writers provide the perfect Paris companion. Other city-lit guides to be published in 2009 include London, Berlin, Amsterdam and Dublin with titles in 2010 to include Istanbul, Mumbai, New York and Rome.

Diagram prize for Oddest Book Title

A global perspective on soft cheese packaging, the summation of a lifetime's work on monkey-related philosophy, and the long-awaited book-length consideration of Large Sieves are among the books in contention for the Bookseller magazine's annual Diagram prize for oddest title, in a year that judges have declared outstandingly strange. This year's winner will be decided by a public vote at www.thebookseller.com, and will be announced on 27 March.
The shortlisted titles are:
Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind by Dorothy Dorothy L Cheney and Robert M Seyfarth (University of Chicago Press);
Curbside Consultation of the Colon: 49 Clinical Questions by Brooks D Cash (SLACK Incorporated);
The Large Sieve and its Applications by Emmanuel Kowalski (Cambridge University Press);
Strip and Knit with Style by Mark Hordyszynski (C&T);
Techniques for Corrosion Monitoring by Lietai Yang (Woodhead);
The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-milligram Containers of Fromage Frais by Professor Philip M Parker (Icon Group International).

The Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year is presented annually by The Bookseller magazine. The award was first presented in 1978, when the prize went to the superbly named Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice written by various authors. Librarians, teachers and bookstore workers can all submit suggestions for the award. A list of finalists is compiled by Bookseller magazine, and released for public voting. The Diagram is unique in that spotters and judges alike do not actually have to read the books in question. Indeed, they are actively discouraged from doing so, in case a close knowledge of the subject makes them realise the book is less odd than it first appears. The imagination should be allowed to run wild. Winning the Diagram brings no immediate monetary reward for the author; instead it is the spotter of the title who receives a bottle of champagne. But most winning authors have been delighted at winning the award and at the ensuing publicity their book receives.

The Book of Kells into film

The Secret of Kells, an animated film based on one of Ireland’s finest national treasures, The Book of Kells is released this month. The film is the brainchild of Tomm Moore who has produced Irish language graphic novels through The Cartoon Saloon. Tomm was also the creator of last year’s Children’s Book Festival official poster and artwork.

Romantic Novel of the Year 2009

Julia Gregson’s East of the Sun, a story about love, friendship and adventure, has won the Romantic Novel of the Year 2009. Organised by the Romantic Novelists' Association, the award recognises the best of the year's novels exploring the deep mysteries of the human heart. East of the Sun tells the story of Rose, going to India to marry a man she hardly knows, her bridesmaid Victoria who is determined to find a husband, and their chaperone Viva, who wants to rediscover the India of her childhood. Cecelia Ahern’s Thanks for the Memories was one of the shortlisted titles.

Get involved with the Bisto Book of the Year Awards

The Bisto Book of the Year Awards will be announced on March the 11th and the winners will be announced on May 20th. If a school or reading group would like to get involved in shadowing the Awards more information is available from info@childrensbooksireland.ie

Ennis Book Club Festival, Friday 6th to Sunday 8th March

This year’s event, in association with Clare County Library, takes place from 6th – 8th March. The Ennis Book Club Festival is a unique literary and social gathering for book clubs and book lovers everywhere. The programme has a very broad brief, reflecting the reading passions and interests of the many people who attend the festival. It covers fiction, poetry, crime, short stories, memoir etc. Diverse themes are celebrated and explored through readings, lectures, workshops, debates, music, and even chocolate tastings! The festival also includes walking tours, advice on book clubs and reading lists, and opportunities to meet other Book Club members. The ideal recipe for a great weekend in Ennis!

Authors/speakers will include John Boyne, Jennifer Johnston, Salley Vickers, Gerard Donovan, Gerard Stembridge, Gerry Adams, Kevin Myers, Conor O’Clery, Mark O’Halloran, Michael D. Higgins, Terry Prone, Aifric Campbell, Manchán Megan, Allan Guthrie, Rita Ann Higgins, Medbh McGuckian, Micheal O’Siadhail and more.
Festival programme here >>
Further details at www.ennisbookclubfestival.com
To book events contact Glór Box Office at 065 6843103.

Seachtain na Gaeilge at Clare Museum

For Seachtain na Gaeilge 2009, Clare Museum is offering tours on the heritage of Gaeilge as displayed in the museum’s exhibition. As well as being available through Irish, the tours will be about the Irish language in a County Clare context. Each tour will discuss the language generally in the county and famous names associated with its preservation e.g. Brian Ó Looney, Stiofán Ó hÉalaoire, Eugene Ó Curry etc. It will also look at examples of Clare placenames and how they can illustrate the depth of the Irish language heritage in the county. The tours can be trí mhean na Gaeilge or bilingual, depending on requirements. During the week, a speaker will give three tours at 10am and 12pm for Primary Schools, and 2pm for Secondary Schools, and each tour will be up to 45 minutes in duration. Places are limited to 35 pupils for each tour and bookings can be made by calling the curator at 065-6823382 or by email at claremuseum@clarecoco.ie. It is essential to book early to avoid disappointment.

Clare Museum - Seachtain na Gaeilge, 2009 - March 3rd – 6th
Turasanna Ghaeilge an Chláir:
• 10.00am (Primary Schools)
• 12.00pm (Primary Schools)
• 2.00pm (Secondary Schools)

Escape Velocity - New Works by Ivan Twohig

An exhibition of new works by Clare-born artist Ivan Twohig takes place in Glór from the 6th to the 23rd March 2009. "Escape Velocity is a term used to describe how, in (post)modern culture, things seem to lose sight of their historical references to reality and enter into a new stage of the hyper-real. Contemporary art often makes reference to previous artworks in some sort of hope of validation. What does this desire to wittily reference past masters or art history in modern art really say about the current state of art and culture in general?" The works on show mix art history with elements of comedy and contemporary mass culture. Not to be missed.

Living Through Air: New Paintings & Video Installation by Frank Golden

Well known poet and artist Frank Golden presents a new exhibition of paintings and video installation at the Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon from March 13th to March 28th 2009. This show concerns itself with depictions of extreme events, extreme realities, notably paintings of the jumpers from the twin towers, which are based on downloaded photographs from the net. Other sequences depict war, torture, rape, and privation in a pop figurative manner. Frank Golden has been a working artist for over twenty years and has exhibited widely. “LivingThrough Air” will be his fourth one-person show. His published works include In Daily Accord (Salmon Press), The Interior Act (Salmon Press), Two Women of Aganatz (Wolfhound Press), and On Route to Leameneh (Raven Arts Press). He has received a variety of awards from The Arts Council, The Film Board, and Clare County Council and the forthcoming exhibition show prove a great attraction at this lively venue.