The Spinning heart by Donal Ryan:Reviewed by Simon Lewis
Sometimes nagging isn’t a bad thing. For the last couple of months, Rozz has been at me to read The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan. She was claiming that I would really like it and I stubbornly ignored her until we were packing for a New Year’s trip away where she forced me to put the book in my rucksack. We were on the ferry from Rosslare and I had planned to take advantage of the ship’s free wifi when the “moderate” sailing conditions left me face down on a pillow. When I woke up, there was only about twenty minutes before we arrived at Pembroke so I took the book out and started. By the end of the first paragraph I was hooked.
The Spinning Heart is a collection of chapters with a different narrator in each one. All the narrators are connected in some way to Bobby Mahon, the protagonist, and first narrator of the book. All the characters write in the first person and each have their own unique voice and way of portraying their world, a small village in the middle of nowhere in Ireland, post Celtic-Tiger where most of the men were in the building trade and have been left in the lurch by a guy they worked for. As each character takes to the stage, we learn a little bit more about how they are coping with this sudden adversity in their lives.
The thing that jumped out to me was that I could instantly see every small village in Ireland in each of the characters. Donal Ryan has captured the voice of early 21st century rural Ireland – men who had to underachieve because it was expected of them, the appetite for gossip amongst certain women and those who are either too simple or too trapped to do anything about where they are. The book is wrapped up nicely with a chapter from Bobby’s wife, Triona, who clears up any ideas that we may have had through reading some of the other characters.
I’m really glad Rozz made me read this book. The only problem now is that I believe that because of this triumph, the suggestions are going to come more regular and I may find my rucksack becoming weightier.
Happy Christmas to all and everyone who reads my blog! It has been an excellent 2012 and hoping that 2013 will see lots of books, writing and enjoyment!
I found a lovely, festive short story by Belinda Mc Keon. We all know here from Solace, her wonderful novel, but she writes short stories too. and rather well as would be predicted! This story was published in the Irish Times in 2011. Enjoy this!
Thresholds calls itself the home of the international short story forum and that’s exactly what it is. This website is obsessed with the short story form and they have some very nifty resources there. One of the best would be the podcasts they have from Joseph O’Connor and Sarah Hall. Each podcast lasts for nearly 40 minutes covering a master class from a master in short story writing. Nice to download and listen to on your way into work or just walking.
Julian Girdham, the teacher who runs the sccengish blog is running a “Book of the year” survey. It is super easy to fill out and really interesting to read other peoples faves.
The SCCEnglish blog is the blog of the English department in St. Columba’s college in Dublin. It is a funfest and literary packed blog that will appeal to anyone who loves english, reading and writing. Kind of like my blog…Hmmm, wait a minute?
Anyway, the blog is used not only by the general public but mostly the students in the school. I would have loved a resource like this when I was a teenager. All I had was a well-worn copy of Macbeth and a Christmas play to feed my literary loves!
I felt under pressure to write my favourite reads of 2012. The thing is that this article should have been published in 2013, surely? But, in the last few days I have read loads of “Best of 2012” articles so I thought I had better get to work!
This article is very easy to write as 2012 has been packed full with brilliant, brilliant short stories. But, it was really, really hard to choose only ten but I tried! It’s all down to personal taste.
The short form is everywhere. Personally, 2012 has been the year that I have been reintroduced to this form. If you read my blog, you will know how much I rate Kevin Barry. I am convinced that I would not have delved further into the short story form without his brilliant work. I also think out of all the short stories I have read this year, his work stands way out. But, I’ve spoiled it slightly for you so read on!
10-Fish anthology 2012
God, I hate that term-emerging writers but I am not so foolish to think all writers are the same. In Fish we get some great short stories in the form of unpublished and not famous authors from all over the world. This anthology also includes a section on memoirs, poetry and flash fiction. I think this anthology sends a calling to all “aspiring” writers. If you want to write but haven’t quite then read these stories. Some of them are good, some are great and some are way above anything you might write! But, good writing should push you on and inspire you. This is why Fish is great.
10-European Fiction 2012
My husband bought me this when he went to the Dalkey Book Festival…without me. I became very sick and had to take to the bed. I was gutted but he came back with a lovely book! This book is made up of fiction from all over Europe and is compiled into themes of love, hate, lust, etc. I read a lot of Irish fiction so each story gave me a new experience. Very accessible and very quirky.
9-William Trevor Selected stories
Of course, Trevor is the master of the genre. His Selected stories collection is a massive volume so I downloaded it to my kindle. He writes easily and brilliantly on Irish and English life and characters. Stories that will cry and think. He gets the short story like no other. He the man.
8-The beautiful indifference by Sarah Hall
The-Beautiful-Indifference
I really enjoyed these stories, all very much different characters and settings but with a full-on theme of landscape, animals and humans, we are left trying to breath for air. Something I will read again.
7-Mother America by Nuala Ni Chonchuir
The great thing about this book is that you can pick it up, read one story and think about it for a few days before you delve into another. Or you can read it all in one go!
All of the stories are delightful and capture that important moment of life that a good short story should and then rising to a satisfying conclusion. The stories never get too long or tedious. some are only of a few pages, which is great to see flash fiction taking its rightful place in the short story collection.
6-Some kind of beauty by Jamie O’ Connell
The cover grabbed me first then the author’s photo made me read on. Okay, Jamie O Connell is an attractive and wonderfully polite young man but he also writes well. I liked his stories because of the different world they threw me into. Jamie has a great knack for writing in varying voices from gay to child like to very female. A great debut. I want more!
5-The China Factory by Mary Costello
The China Factory
This is Mary Costello’s first short story collection and I am jealous. Her stories are honest and raw, touching on the pain of the human condition. A beautiful book with a cover that I loved! If you have to get one new Irish short story writer this year, get this. The Stinging Fly offer a package in which you can but this book and a subscription to their stinging fly magazine. Bonus!
4-Homesick by Roshi Fernando
I came across Roshi Fernando by accident and thankfully so! I heard her read at the Cork short story festival in September. Some other author didn’t show up. I don’t even remember who that was meant to be now! Roshi’s Homesick is a series of short stories that flick between different protagonists and times in their lives, beginning with a New Years Eve party and ending with a funeral. Incredibly heart warming, sad and makes the theme of the foreigner in a strange country become incredibly meaningful. It read like a short story anthology or a novel. Loved. Loved. Loved.
3-The shelter of neighbours by Eilis Ni Dhuibhne
Eilis Ni Dhuibhne is the one really. This collection merges Irish myths and modern like extremely well. She doesn’t go over board with this as this type of myth-o-mixing can grate on me. Some of her stories share characters and places, giving a wonderful sense of the community to the whole affair. I think that short story collections that merge shared characters and locations are going to be more prominent in 2013.
2-Granta book of Irish short stories edited by Anne Enright
I really, really like anthologies. Anne Enright edited this and that’s the reason I think it works so well. The flow of the stories are effortless. I remember attempting to write up a Top ten of my favourite stories in this collection. It began to turn into a top forty or something so I gave up. If you want to read perfect short stories, any of these in here will do! (Kevin Barry also has one in here too. Just saying.)
1-Dark lies the island and There are little islands by Kevin Barry
I’ll be honest; I read both of Kevin’s short story anthologies and his novel, City of Bohane in one go! I was booked into see him read at Bantry and arranged to have a mini interview with him so I had to know my stuff! Kevin gets Ireland. He gets Irish weather. His writing is overly dramatic and silly but I bet you won’t find one writer that comes near to what he does. He has reinvigorated the form. Put him on the Leaving Cert and watch the interest in English class grow. If you get a chance to hear him read, I promise you he will entertain you! It’s not hard to predict that he will expand into film very quickly but don’t get too big, Mr Barry! And don’t forget that you do short stories really, really well!
You have till 21st December. If you missed out on Radio 1 Arena programme with David Lordan, then check out the link here http://www.rte.ie/radio1/arena If you click on New planet cabaret, you will hear the clip related to it.
New Planet Cabaret – Arena’s Creative Writing Course
Dave Lordan launched the first ever on-air creative writing course which Radio 1 is calling ‘New Planet Cabaret’. Writers can send their stories to arena@rte.ie with ‘creative writing’ in the subject title. They are looking for stories on the theme ‘The Party’ before December 21st .
David spoke about the title of the course in that he is looking for writing that is alive, well-travelled/multi reflective and of a cabaret-entertainment style! Some really good concepts there to keep in mind.
The party theme is a great prompt. David spoke about the fertility of lies and how we should use this in our fiction writing. He questions that people think telling lies in writing is morally wrong. To try to break out of this, he urges people to ask our friends about an interesting party that you have been to-wake, wedding, house party. Listen to the story and then tell the story from their point of view. He recommends that you add in at least three lies to the story! Keep in mind that you are writing for an intelligent audience around the 700 word mark, which will last for about a couple of minutes. David gives us a song to inspire us at the end of the podcast. It is a personal favourite of Simon and I-Party hard by Pulp.
For the last month, I have noticed the name of David Lordan springing up everywhere! Dave is very well known in literary circles, he teaches creative writing at Mater Dei Institute amongst millions of other things, I’m sure!
He is running a certified course for creative writing in Mater Dei in January 2013 and I am definitely looking into this.
So, when I flicked to RTE news ap and saw the following news, I felt a warm, Christmas, creative writing glow! Brilliant idea from RTE and David. Now, I must find out if they do an app or a podcast download!
RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena programme is to run an on-air creative writing course, with opportunity for submissions to be broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 and published by New Island Books.
Sean Rocks
The course begins on Tuesday December 4 at 7.30pm on the programme and continues on the first Tuesday of the month thereafter throughout 2013.
The course, which is being run in association with New Island Books, is entitled New Planet Cabaret and features writer, poet, performer and creative writing teacher Dave Lordan discussing, deconstructing and demystifying the process of writing poetry, short story writing, novel writing, writing for theatre, crime fiction, song lyrics.
Each month, Dave will set out assignments for followers of the course, who will then be invited to send their submissions in to arena@rte.ie for review by Dave Lordan and the Arena team.
Dave Lordan currently teaches contemporary critical theory and poetic practice on the MA in Poetry Studies at Dublin City University. He also teaches creative writing at primary, secondary, third, and adult education levels. An internationally-acclaimed poet, he was the first to win Ireland’s three national prizes for young poets.
Lordan is also the current holder of the Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary Award and previous winner of both the Patrick Kavanagh and Strong Awards for poetry.
New Planet Cabaret will feature guest contributions from acclaimed writers, including Nick Kelly, Colm Keegan and Kathy D’Arcy to name but a few. Arena is presented by Sean Rocks.
It is a bit of a debate in the the teacher world and at teacher conferences-Can we teach children how to be creative?
I really enjoy teaching children how to write, no matter what level they are at. I also love motivating children to want to read! David Lordan, who is a creative writing guru, poet and writer of all things creative, is going to be giving a course that will help teachers learn how to teach children how to be creative in their writing! The details are below, I have to footnote Nuala Ni Chonchuir as she revealed this information first on her blog- http://womenrulewriter.blogspot.ie/
This course is going to be accredited and it sounds delish!
Teaching creativity
Here is something new and exciting for those who want to become teachers of CW. Or for those who already teach and want to gain new skills. A Teaching Creativity course taught by Dave Lordan, one of our most innovative young writers. His new book of short fiction First Book of Frags will be out shortly. I’ve read it and it’s a cracker. The course is great value at €200 for four sessions. Details:
Teaching Creativity is an innovative new course in which anyone interested in becoming a teacher of Creative Writing can acquire the fundamental skills and inspiration to do so. The module will be taught by poet Dave Lordan on behalf of The Irish Centre for Poetry Studies at the Mater Dei Institute, and will cover the teaching of creative writing in primary, secondary, adult and community contexts, areas in which he has acquired an abundance of experience over the years.
As well as boosting the CVs of participants and enhancing their teaching abilities, it will also provide specific opportunities for particular groups of people:
Qualified teachers will discover new inspiration for the integration of creativity into the design and delivery of curriculum, as well as how to design a short course in creative writing, enabling a confident response to the increased emphasis on creativity in the Junior Cert, for example.
Community educators and youth workers will be able to develop the potential for incorporating creativity into their work.
Writers, both aspiring and established, can develop the skills that will enable them to do creative teaching work that will complement their craft.
Participants will be asked to produce a short course and lesson plans. A certificate will be issued to all participants. The course can also be taken for credit as part of MDI’s Masters in Poetry Studies, as long as an expanded assessment piece is presented.
The module will be taught over four Saturdays at the Mater Dei Institute: January 19th, February 2nd, March 9th and April 13th. Sessions will run from 9.45a.m- 12.45p.m. The course fee is €200. The module co-ordinator, Michael Hinds, is happy to answer any enquiries: michael.hinds@materdei.dcu.ie
Dublin Book Festival starts today and I wish I lived in Dublin!
But, for now I will have to make do with a Sunday trip to the city! Am hoping to catch Niall De Burca of storytelling.ie, Nuala Ni Chonchuir, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne and Mary Costello. I am ultra excited as it will be the first time I will have heard Nuala and Mary read. These 3 women all together represent my top three female Irish short story writers in my library! I was blown away by Mary Costello’s The China Factory so I will bring it and Mother America along to get them signed.
Here’s my review of Nuala Ni Chonchuir’s latest short story collection. Nuala is reading at the Dublin Book Festival this year and her book is rather good!
This was my first book from Nuala that I had read. I have came across Nuala through her blog and at various literary readings in the last while. She is incredibly generous with her time and comments on readers’ blogs. Now, it’s my turn to be generous with my comments and time.
Mother America is quite a female book. We can see that from the title and most of the stories focus in on women, mothers, sisters and wives. Having said that, it doesn’t prevent Nuala from writing brilliant narratives from a male perspective either. The short story collection opens with Peach which is written from a male perspective. Its opening line demands your attention
There was a pregnant woman getting drunk in the back lounger.
Dearie me. I was ready immediately with my judgements on this woman who turns out to be quite a tragic lady in the end. This story will hit you with the rawness of feeling and pity you feel for the two main protagonists.
Nuala’s stories range from the really short type like The Egg Pyramid;a story that uses the story of the Mexican painters Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. It focusses on Diego’s and his infidelity with Frida’s sister Cristina. It uses this as a comparison with the woman in the story and her sister. Crushing stuff in very few words.
Letters is one of those really good short stories where you have so many questions to ask about the characters within it. The story opens with a mother opening her son’s letter. We find out this woman relocated to America for her son but has been effectively dumped and left there to do battle with a country she feels like an alien in. Nuala creates a believable character and made me feel rather angry at her son!
Nuala is also brilliant at creating stories from the past. Triangle boy, Moongaxer, Scullion and My name is William Clongallen all speak of women from the past but they all tell of themes of infidelity, love identity and women’s struggles. Universal themes that can be found throughout all of her stories.
The great thing about this book is that you can pick it up, read one story and think about it for a few days before you delve into another. Or you can read it all in one go!
All of the stories are delightful and capture that important moment of life that a good short story should and then rising to a satisfying conclusion. The stories never get too long or tedious. some are only of a few pages, which is great to see flash fiction taking its rightful place in the short story collection.
Sometimes nagging isn’t a bad thing. For the last couple of months, Rozz has been at me to read The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan. She was claiming that I would really like it and I stubbornly ignored her until we were packing for a New Year’s trip away where she forced me to put the book in my rucksack. We were on the ferry from Rosslare and I had planned to take advantage of the ship’s free wifi when the “moderate” sailing conditions left me face down on a pillow. When I woke up, there was only about twenty minutes before we arrived at Pembroke so I took the book out and started. By the end of the first paragraph I was hooked.
