The Lit Review |17| A Poem for Ireland
A Poem for Ireland
Last September, RTE launched A Poem for Ireland to promote the wealth of words and images that have made up Ireland’s wonderful catalogue of poetry over the last 100 years.
The judges have pored over the suggestions made by the public and have put together a shortlist of 10 of Ireland’s greatest loved poems. If you love poetry, and voting for things, then please do so. The closing date is upon us.
You can view the short list and vote here.
World Book Day 2015 #CantLiveWithoutBooks
Celebrations are underway across Ireland and the UK to celebrate World Book Day 2015. How convenient that this has fallen on the same day that we publish The Lit Review. Earlier this week, a selection of authors gave reasons why they can’t live without books, and The Guardian has compiled some of these sentiments accompanied by delightful illustrations from Chris Riddell. Can you live without books? If the answer is ‘probably’ or even worse ‘absolutely’, then get out. If the answer is ‘of course not’ then pop over to Twitter to explain why you simply #CantLiveWithoutBooks
Bath Literature Festival honours Ted Hughes
This year the Independent (‘independence’ seems to be the theme of this Lit Review) Bath Literature Festival honours Ted Hughes, poet and author of the beloved story of a young boy and an Iron Man. The tribute to the acclaimed poet will feature his daughter Frieda, a well-respected poet in her own right. Kazuo Ishiguro will also appear at the festival this year to share reflections on his latest novel The Buried Giant.
Shakespeare and Company launch online store
The Parisian bookshop which gained worldwide fame as the hub of creativity amongst expat writers during the era of the Belle Époque has announced its foray into the world of online book selling.
This ramshackle shop located in the heart of Paris, just down the boulevard from Notre Dame Cathedral, insists that this new venture is not about ‘competing with other big internet companies’ but about recognising ‘consumer norms’ and casting their net that bit further to share with even more people the pleasure of indulging in an independent book store.
Although the website is pretty flashy, it can’t quite beat wading through stacks of books piled on rickety shelves and ladders. But the shop has promised that each book purchased online will be wrapped carefully and sent with a special message from the booksellers themselves.
Daring Independent Publishing House
I’m all about the independent book sellers this week. On the other side of the waves, a Brooklyn- based publishing house, Brooklyn Arts Publishing, has launched a ‘Pay what you Want’ campaign to promote their new poetry book Word Kingdom in the Word by Noah Eli Gordon.
Managing Editor Jo Pan says his reasoning is to keep abreast of the challenging and constantly changing book market by following the example of well-known and forward-thinking writers such as Neil Gaiman and Stephen King. The catch here is that many other writers offer the ‘pay what you want’ option for digital copies of their books only. BAP are putting their faith in people and in return book lovers get a beautiful book delivered right to their door. This is for a limited time only so take a look here.
Game Changer
The Moth, a U.S-based not for profit storytelling charity, has dedicated itself to live streaming stories to crowds worldwide. It has partnered with the U.S Embassy in Dublin to host workshops for young tellers and orators. The theme of these workshops is Game Change, and the hope is that they will harvest true stories from young people who will explore meaningful, personal and life-changing moments that they have experienced. These workshops are free of charge, but there are just 32 places and the closing date for entrants is 6th March. That is tomorrow, so I would advise you to drop everything you are doing and reach into your memory to pluck that personal and meaningful moment, so you can share it with others.
Five Lamps Festival Events
The Five Lamps Festival runs from March 4th-14th this year and the programme boasts a lovely selection of events. The Physical Narrative Workshop will take place on March 7th hosted by writer and circus performer Niamh Creely. The workshop explores gesture and movement and the ways in which the body can tell a story.
Take a look at the other literary events on the programme here.
