Newsletter, Spring 2010

www.irishpen.com.  Tel:  087-966 0770 email: info@irishpen.com  

Irish PEN acknowledges the ongoing support of The Arts Council and Dublin City Council’s Arts Office.

OUT AND ABOUT IN 2010

When we emerged out of hibernation from the early January snow, it was great to have such a range of social events lined up.

January went out with a memorable bang, with the Annual Irish PEN dinner and presentation of The Irish PEN Award for Literature 2010 to Brendan Kennelly held on Friday 29^that the Royal St George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire.   The magical tone of the evening was set by the glorious full moon, which bathed the harbour and moored yachts in a glorious light, and ever the poet, Brendan Kennelly commented on the beauty of the setting, as he made his way out from Trinity to join us. 

It wasn’t long before the room filled with well-wishers, colleagues and members, some of them old friends of Brendan’s.  To those of us privileged to be there, the note of sincerity in all the accolades was set when our Chair, Anne Le Marquand Hartigan, introduced Brendan and his achievements to the gathering in warm and affectionate terms.  Presenting the award, former TCD colleague and close friend, Senator David Norris was his usual effusive self and regaled us with tales of Brendan grading his essays, when the senator was an undergraduate and the poet his ‘prof’.  In his usual extraordinary and humble way, Brendan Kennelly expressed his delight at being honoured by Irish PENand then to everyone’s delight recited several poems from memory, some by Patrick Kavanagh, followed by lines of his own.  The hearty applause which ensued was prolonged and genuine and as several members commented, it was a ‘vintage’ evening, a privilege to share. 

See Photos on www.irishpen.com.

 In February,Our President, Brian Friel, saw his ‘Faith Healer’ back at the Gate and Edna O’Brien’s play ‘Haunted’ starring Brenda Blethyn, had a run at the Gaiety.  Friel fans won’t have long to wait until that theatre lifts the curtain on ‘Philadelphia Here I come’, directed by Dominic Dromgoole, which will run from March 9^th – April 10^th.

Down the road at the National Library, Kildare Street, novelist and elegant octogenarian, Jennifer Johnston co-launched the exhibition of the original Lifelines’ letters, to mark the 25^th anniversary of the project.  The Library has purchased the collection and they make interesting reading.

FEBRUARY ASSOCIATE MEMBER’S EVENING

‘Finding a Home for your Writing’ – our Associate Member night this year was held on February 11^th   2010 in the United Arts Club.

Our expert panel included, Eoghan Corry, editor of Travel Extra and travel correspondent to the Pat Kenny Radio show, Aine Toner, editor of Woman’s Way, and Sue Leonard, freelance journalist and author.

An informative and interesting evening, this helped members, in very practical terms with regards to how to submit articles to both Eoghan and Aine.   From her experience as a journalist, Sue gave a realistic account from the other side of the submission process of how to find an idea, hone it, build business relationships and eventually get your pieces published.  The wide-ranging experience of our panellists made the road home for your writing seem that little bit straighter.

WEBSITE REVAMP

Observant members will have noticed that our website, www.irishpen.com, has undergone something of a facelift.  We are very keen to post information of interest to writers and members and keep it as live and up-to-date as possible.  Log on to see news of recent events.  Sincere thanks to Joe Armstrong for his work on the revamp.  The really sharp among you will have also noticed a changed email address.  The new address is: info@irishpen.com. Over the coming months, we hope to use this address exclusively.  For the purposes of database management, this is an impassioned plea to members to send us mail to our NEW address above, confirming their email, and postal addresses, marking the subject line ‘Full Member database’ or ‘Associate Member database’ as appropriate.  In this way, we hope to be able to communicate more effectively with you all.

Please remember to renew your membership as we depend on the support of our members.  Any outstanding memberships for 2010 may be paid by following the links on the website, www.irishpen.com.  

Full Membership: €40.00        Associate Membership: €30 .00

There is a PayPal facility available.

MEMBERS’ NEWS:

CONGRATULATIONS to Leland Bardwell on being the first recipient of

‘The Dede Korkut Literary Award’, from Turkish PEN for her collection of short stories ‘Different Kinds of Love’, translated into Turkish.

MEMBERS’ PUBLICATIONS:

Sarah Webb’s ‘The Loving Kind’has recently been published by Pan & MacMillan (see www.irishpen.com.)  Marita Conlon-McKenna’s new book ‘Mother of the Bride’ about a big family Wedding was published on March 4^th. 

‘City Pick’ Oxygen Books will feature Dublinlater this month with an introduction to the fifty writers, who bring Dublin to life by Orna Ross.  

Orna may also be found on The Creative Intelligence Blog. 

Patricia O’Reilly’s latest novel ‘A Type of Beauty, the story of Kathleen Newton (1854-1882)’ will be launched at Listowel Writers’ Week, 2010.

About the complications of love, it is set in Victorian era London, Agra and Paris.

Shelley Goodman’s extensive work ‘Volf Roitman: The Wizard of Madi’, a long illustrated biography of her late husband, Roitman, a novelist, playwright, cineaste and master sculptor, will be published by Red Swan Press in the USA and in Italian, by the University of Florence.

OTHER EVENTS:

Dublin Book Festival: Over 40 free events, 100 writers and three days of fun for all the family, Dublin City Hall, March 6^th- 8^th.  www.dublinbookfestival.com. 

Inkwell Workshop:  Writing for Children Workshop, facilitated by best-selling

authors Sarah Webb and Oisin McGann, March 20^th, Fitzpatrick’s Castle Hotel, Killiney, Co Dublin.  9 – 4.30pm, includes lunch, writers’ tips information pack. €175.  For further information:  Contact Vanessa O’Loughlin at vol@esatclear.ie.

The Irish PEN Award for Contribution to Irish Literature 2009

It is with great pleasure that we announce that the winner of the 2009 Irish PEN Award for Contribution to Irish Literature is Brendan Kennelly.

Poet, personality, raconteur and professor, Brendan has published over 30 books of poetry, which most famously include ‘Cromwell’ (1983/1987), ‘The Book of Judas’ (1991), ‘Poetry me Arse’ (1995) and recent publications ‘Familiar Strangers: New and Selected Poems 1960-2004’ (Bloodaxe, 2004) and ‘Now’(Bloodaxe, 2006).

In a career which spans 40 years, Brendan’s work also includes prose and his Greek play trilogy, Antigone, Medea & The Trojan Women. As Professor of Modern Literature in Trinity College, Dublin, a position he held for 30 years, he is forever associated with that university and its environs, as the native Kerryman made Dublin his adopted home.

The Award will be presented at The Irish Pen Annual Dinner on Friday 29th January 2010 at The Royal St George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

Writer, broadcaster and Joyce expert, former TCD colleague Senator David Norris will make the presentation to Brendan.

The Dinner and Award Presentation is one of the highlights of the Irish Pen year and we advise early booking, as the dinner so often gets totally booked out.

Dates for your Diary

Thursday, December 10th: Patricia Scanlan & Aidan Storey, United Arts Club, 8.00pm.

Friday, January 29th 2010: IrishPEN Annual Dinner, Royal St George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin. 8.00pm

Thursday, February 11th 2010: Associate Members’ Night, United Arts Club, 8pm. Panel TBA.

Other News

Chairperson Anne Hartigan invited an enthralled audience to join her in conversation with Frank McGuiness at the Irish PEN event, 12th November 2009.
Anne’s gentle and intuitive style gave the audience a rare insight into the writer and the man. We learned to our surprise that Frank’s childhood was one devoid of books, despite his subsequent stellar achievement in literature.

Frank relayed how the diversity of his work has seen him writing for rock legends such as Marianne Faithful, who he found very talented and extremely knowledgeable on the subject of music and who calls on him to this day to write lyrics for her songs.

The atmosphere in the United Arts Club remained intimate, despite the packed room, and the appreciative audience warmed to Frank’s anecdotes, one of which recalled how when Monaghan reached a GAA final, one newspaper made a play on his title – ‘Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Sam’, (artistic licence allowed) and Frank joked that it was then that he knew he had arrived.

The evening ended with enthusiastic and prolonged applause for a generous and warm speaker.

Workshops work!

The first full-day Irish PEN subsidised workshop took place on Saturday November 14th to an enthusiastic response from the aspiring novelists who participated. Led by Patricia O’Reilly, novelist, non-fiction author and Creative Writing lecturer, the group covered an extensive range of topics and exercises, relevant to the experienced writers present. The United Arts Club proved a quiet and reflective venue and Anthony and the catering staff looked after all creature comforts, providing an excellent lunch and delicious home-made cake and cookies at coffee time.

Imbued with new energy, the participants broke up in the late afternoon, but not before the vigilant committee members present had persuaded the walk-in writers to take out a Pen membership! Congratulations to Caroline Brady, Associate member representative on her organisation of the day.

Membership Renewal

We would like to remind Members and Associates that it is time to renew your membership for Irish PEN.

Your subscription gives you priority booking for The Annual Dinner and other Irish PEN events, reduced admission to some events and ensures that you are on the newsletter and regular email update list. As a voluntary organisation, we depend on your subscriptions to help fund our busy programme throughout the year.

There is now a PAYPAL button for the payment of subscription renewals on the www.irishpen.com website. Just go to the membership page, then on the appropriate button for members or associates. You don’t need to have a PAYPAL account, merely a credit or debit card to take advantage of this service. This can also be used for the dinner payment.

Full Membership is Euro 40.00 and Associate Membership is Euro 30.00.

As we draw to the end of another year, we on the committee of Irish Pen would like to say a heartfelt thanks to all our members and associate members, who have supported the organization throughout the year. We would also like to thank our many guest-speakers, who have given of their time and talent for our monthly events. As usual, we have had many stimulating and enjoyable evenings, mostly extremely well attended, in the United Arts Club. And we will have more, before the year is out. So please keep attending!

Irish Pen is run by a voluntary committee. We are very lucky indeed to have the use of the United Arts Club, a lovely venue, full of charm and character (and with a bar!) in which to hold our meetings. But we have no secretariat and no office – the committee handles everything. For the Chairperson, in particular – Catherine Daly – Pen is a demanding commitment. We all owe Catherine a huge debt of gratitude for her sterling work during the past year. And thanks to all the committee members who have, in many different ways, kept Irish PEN going all year.

WHAT DOES IRISH PEN DO?
Irish PEN organizes a series of events which take place, usually on the first Thursday of every month, from September to May, in the United Arts Club. These events take the form of discussions about writing, advice sessions on publishing, readings, and interviews with celebrated writers. This year, for instance, we have had great evenings with Roddy Doyle and John Boyne, an evening on ‘how to get published’, a discussion on ‘Why Write in Irish’, among others. On 10th April we will have a panel discussion on the topic ‘What Readers Want’, with four exciting speakers. Our guest speaker at the AGM in May will be one of our most celebrated novelists, Colm Toibin.

Irish PEN in collaboration with sponsors AT CROSS also organizes the annual Irish Pen A T Cross Award for Irish Literature. This prestigious award is made to an Irish writer in recognition of a major contribution to Irish literature. It is presented at a gala dinner, held for the past several years in the Royal St George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire. This is an important prize and a popular event, which Irish literary life would be the poorer without.

Irish PEN has many other responsibilities. We are in liaison with International PEN, and participate occasionally in international projects – for instance, the PEN Poem Relay, about which you can read more in this Newsletter. We are also invited annually to nominate an Irish writer for consideration by the Swedish Academy (which awards of the Nobel Prize of Literature).

IRISH PEN NEEDS YOU!
Our AGM is coming up in May. If you have a little time to spare, and are interested in helping PEN, please consider putting your name forward for the committee. Don’t take Irish PEN for granted. It is an active organization which has achieved a lot over the past few years – and it has been in existence since the 1920s when Lady Gregory founded the branch. Ireland still needs Irish PEN – indeed, it would be shameful if we did not have a branch of PEN in this country. But without active members and a dedicated committee, it can’t do much. Consider becoming involved, if only for a year or two! Don’t take it easy and let someone else do the work – believe us, we would all rather write our novels and poems than write newsletters, stuff envelopes, and organize campaigns and dinners. But somebody has to do it. It could be you!

PEN CROSS DINNER 2008
The Pen Cross Award for 2008 was made to the playwright Thomas Kilroy. A special Irish PEN award, in recognition of his unique contribution to Irish literary life, was made to David Marcus. Thomas Kilroy and his wife, Julie, and David Marcus and his wife, Ita Daly, attended the dinner to receive their awards. The citations were made by Jennifer Johnston, for Thomas Kilroy, and William Wall, for David Marcus. Very special guests included Seamus and Marie Heaney, as well as Caroline Walsh and her husband James Ryan, Gerald and Dorothea Dawe, Ciaran Carty of the Sunday Tribune. Many PEN members attended event which is the highlight of the PEN year.
It received considerable publicity in the media.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS- click here for details

Irish PEN A T CROSS AWARD 2009
It is time to start thinking about the PEN CROSS award for 2009, which will be presented early in 2009.
We are now inviting nominations.

The PEN CROSS award is made to a writer of strong reputation in recognition of an outstanding contribution to Irish literature.
Previous winners have been: William Trevor, Seamus Heaney, Edna O’Brien, Jennifer Johston, Neil Jordan, Brian Friel, Maeve Binchy and Thomas Kilroy.
(So do not nominate one of them). All nominations will be very much appreciated and considered by the executive committee.
NB. This is a golden opportunity for you to express your admiration for an Irish writer. You won’t be asked for suggestions for the Booker Prize, or any of the other big literary prizes, but we are inviting you to tell us who you think should win the PEN CROSS award. Why not respond to the invitation? All it takes is some enjoyable musing, and a stamp (there will be a nomination form in your posted newsletter) or an email to irishpen@ireland.com.

THE PEN POEM RELAY
2008 INTERNATIONAL PEN CHINA CAMPAIGN
As you know, this year the Olympic Games are to be held in Beijing, in China, a country which has a record of serious human rights abuses. The freedom of expression which Irish writers take for granted is not enjoyed by Chinese writers. In a project known as the Poem Relay, spearheaded by the Australian branch of PEN, PEN seeks to raise awareness about lack of freedom of expression in China in a uniquely PEN way – using poetry.
PEN centres around the world have translated one short poem, ‘June’ (Liuyue) by the Chinese journalist and poet Shi Tao, who has been imprisoned for ten years for a minor charge related to alleged release of ’state secrets’.
This poem will be sent around the world, on a journey which parallels the journey of the Olympic torch, beginning on the 30th March, the day on which the Olympic torch was lit, and ending in Beijing in June, when the Games begin. New translations, in the various languages of the world, including many of its threatened minority languages, will be added as the poem makes its journey, virtually, from country to country. The translations can be viewed and the progress of the poem followed on this website:
www.penpoemrelay.org

Shi Tao’s poem has been translated to Irish for Irish PEN by Celia de Freine. We are most grateful to Celia for completing this beautiful translation at very short notice for us. Celia’s version of the Chinese poem will go online on the 6th April, as the contribution of our Irish branch of PEN to this project.

CONGRATULATIONS ! To Anne Enright on her shortlisting for the Booker Prize! Anne Enright gave us a wonderful evening on 10th May, when she spoke with her usual spirit and frankness about her life and her writing, and read from her latest novel, The Gathering. This brilliantly written novel about the fortunes of an Irish family over the course of a century exposes, with sharp insight and great humour, the dark and light side of domestic life in this country. It is not a totally original topic, but it is treated in a way which is utterly original. The Gathering is Anne Enright’s best novel to date, which is saying a lot, and it is one of the best Irish novels of recent times, in our view. Anne Enright’s voice is unique; every line she writes gleams with honesty, and often with mischievousness. The novel has the ring of authenticity and deserves to win the Booker Prize, which we trust it will.

COMMITTEE 2007-2008 At the annual general meeting in May, Catherine Daly was elected chairperson of Irish Pen. The following were elected to the committee: Éilís Ní Dhuibhne (secretary), Anne Hartigan (joint secretary), Marita Conlon McKenna (treasurer). Jenny Purcell, Sarah Webb, Father Anthony Gaughan, and Desmond Traynor. There is room on the committee for another associate member to represent associates. Anyone interested should contact a member of the committee at one of the talks or by e-mail.

EVENTS
As usual, Irish Pen will meet once a month, usually on Thursdays 8pm, in the Irish Arts Club, 3 Upper Fitzwilliam Street. The following events will take place in 2007:
Thursday 11th October
John Boyne, winner of the Bisto Book of the Year Award 2007, among other prestigious awards, and author of the best-selling novel, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, will entertain in conversation with Robert Dunbar.
Thursday 8th November
Martina Devlin, Denise Deegan and Clare Dowling read from their latest work and discuss their writing life.
Thursday 13th December
The Irish Pen annual Christmas meeting, at which we are delighted and honoured to have as our guest reader and speaker the greatest novelist of Dublin after Joyce, none other than Roddy Doyle.
Thursday 10th January
An evening devoted to getting published. Panellists to be confirmed.

PEN DINNER AND CROSS PEN AWARD
The great event of the year in Irish Pen is the presentation of the Irish Pen-AT Cross award at the annual dinner. This year, the dinner will be held, as usual, at the Royal St George Yacht Club, Dun Laoghaire. The date is 1st February 2008.The winner of the award, whose name will be announced later, will receive the Irish Pen-AT Cross Trophy. Booking form will be available with next newsletter.

MEMBERS PUBLICATIONS
Many members of Irish Pen have new books out this autumn:
Roddy Doyle, The Deportees. Cape
Sarah Webb, When the Boys are Away. Pan Macmillan.
Mum’s the Word. Compiled by Sarah Webb. New Island (In aid of the National Children’s Hospital)
Jennifer Johnston, Foolish Mortals. Headline Review.
Lia Mills, In Your Face. Penguin Ireland
With a Little Help from my Friends. Compiled by Melissa Hill. Poolbeg. (In aid of Irish Hospice Foundation)
Clare Dowling, No strings Attached Headline
Deirdre Purcell, Follow me Down to Dublin. Hodder Headline
Benjamin Black, The Silver Swan. Pan Macmillan
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Fox Swallow Scarecrow. Blackstaff Press

If you have a forthcoming publication, please let us know by e-mailing details to Irish Pen, irishpen@ireland.com and we can then list it in the newsletter.

Obituary:
Irish PEN says a fond farewell to Pat Connole, an honorary life-time member and former committee member who died a few weeks ago. An Australian who eventually came to make his home in Seapoint, Blackrock with his wife Detta, Pat was a friend to all. He served on the committee for a number of years. He was always ebullient and enthusiastic and full of stories with his writing and plays and big historical novels set in Australia. He organised a wonderful Australian/ Irish night of writing and culture a few years ago. A former teacher and Christian Brother, he had worked in Australia and New Guinea, and made a huge contribution to education in his homeland. He came to Ireland and ended up marrying his beloved Detta and teaching in CBC Monkstown. A rich and rare character Pat will never be forgotten by his many friends in Ireland and Australia.