Pushcart Prize nomination
I’m pleased to announce that my poem, The Darwin Vampires, has been nominated by the Raintown Review for a Pushcart Prize.
To follow: a general roundup of recent news.
Home of the Irish poet, fiction-writer and screenwriter
December 4th, 2009
Out Now – The Watchful Heart anthology from Salmon
I have an essay and three poems in the anthology, The Watchful Heart — A New Generation of Irish Poets, which is edited by Joan McBreen and is published in May by Salmon.
May 17th, 2009
New poems in BlazeVOX 2k9 and elsewhere
A roundup of current and forthcoming publications:
Five of my poems appear in the spring issue of BlazeVOX 2k9 and can be seen at http://www.blazevox.org/
A haiku will appear in the next issue of Shamrock Haiku Journal.
And my poem ‘Anaphylaxis’ will be in the summer issue of Naugatuck River Review.
May 16th, 2009
JG Ballard appreciation at Eyewear
My appreciation of the late JG Ballard, one of my favourite authors, appears at Eyewear.
April 21st, 2009
Over the Edge ‘New Writer of the Year’ Award 2009
This year’s Over the Edge ‘New Writer of the Year’ Award is now open. I am honoured to have been asked to judge this year’s work, and I look forward to reading everyone’s entries. The closing date is August 3rd. You’ll find more details at http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2009/03/2009-over-edge-new-writer-of-year.html
April 20th, 2009
Reading at Over the Edge in Galway
On Friday March 13th I read at Over the Edge at Sheridan’s Wine Bar in Galway along with Todd Swift, Megan Buckley and Edward Boyne. Todd’s Seaway: New and Selected Poems was given its Irish launch on the night, as was Salmon’s fine new anthology of essays, Poetry: Reading it, Writing it and Publishing it.
Details here: http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html
March 16th, 2009
Greece-Ireland anthology now online
Last December, I took part in a Greek-Irish poetry symposium, along with Kevin Higgins, Susan Millar DuMars and three noted Greek poets. The accompanying bilingual anthology is now online. You can download it as a pdf here:
http://www.wordsontheweb.net/diadromes..%5B1%5D%5B1%5D.pdf
February 11th, 2009
New Doctor Who article up at Eyewear
Matt Smith has been announced as the Eleventh Doctor. My article about that, and the show in general, is now up at Eyewear.
http://toddswift.blogspot.com/2009/02/chapman-on-who-new-smith-in-tardis.html
February 4th, 2009
New publications update
In the last while, some of my new poems have appeared in, or been accepted for, the following: The Watchful Heart: A New Generation of Irish Poets (Salmon anthology, Spring 2009), Literary Ways 2: Greece-Ireland, The Fifteen Project, The Toronto Quarterly, nthposition, Gargoyle, The Raintown Review.
January 19th, 2009
New year catch-up
My review of Richard Matheson’s book, ‘I Am Legend’ is up at One Book here: http://garysmailes.typepad.com/onebook/2008/09/i-am-legend.html. It’s accompanied by clips from the film versions that have been made so far. None of these has captured the story of the book without compromise, which is a shame, but is perhaps understandable given Hollywood’s reluctance to do bleak and spend money on it.
The current issue of the London Magazine, that venerable poetry institution now celebrating 276 years, contains an updated version of the questionnaire it featured back in 1962. In the original, poets such as Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Robert Graves and Stephen Spender answered questions on the state of poetry. The magazine has now offered those same questions to today’s poets, including Medbh McGuckian, George Szirtes, myself and many others.
January 14th, 2009
Recent appearances
In the second half of the year, I gave a number of readings.
There was an appearance with other Salmon poets at the John Hewitt International Summer School in Armagh on July 31st. My fellow readers included Susan Millar DuMars, Seamus Cashman, Mark Granier, Lorna Shaughnessy and anne Le Marquand Hartigan.
On October 2nd, Barbara Smith, Paddy Dillon and I took part in the Dundalk event of the National Poetry Day, which, it is hoped, will become an annual fixture of the literary calendar. In the morning, we read and chatted on Harry Lee’s radio show about writing and poetry. In the afternoon we gave a public reading in Dundalk Town Hall. A very well-attended and enjoyable reading.
On November 4th, the night of the U.S. elections, I and several others took part in a reading to celebrate the launch of Todd Swift’s ‘Seaway: New & Selected’ at a jam-packed Oxfam shop in Marylebone High Street. Readers included Todd himself, of course, along with Salmon publisher, Jessie Lendennie, Kevin Higgins, Susan Millar DuMars, Pete Mullineaux. It was a very successful event and everyone had a good time. Afterwards some of us went to a local Italian restaurant to continue the celebrations. These were followed by a sleepless night for this poet anyway, as I stayed up to watch the election results.
In December it was my pleasure to participate in a Greek-Irish poetry symposium in Athens, along with Kevin Higgins and Susan Millar DuMars, both of whose work I admire very much. From the press release:
A Greek-Irish Literary Symposium will take place on Friday, 12 December 2008 at the Melina Merkouri Theatre, Ilion, Athens, with the participation of Greek poets Tassos Denegris, Nanos Valaoritis & Dimitris Lyacos and Irish poets Patrick Chapman, Kevin Higgins & Susan Millar DuMars. The symposium is sponsored by Culture Ireland, The Irish Embassy, Athens and The Office of the Mayor of Ilion. The symposium will also see the publication of Literary Ways 2: Greece – Ireland, in which poems by the participating Greek poets will be translated into English and poems by the three participating Irish poets will be translated into Greek. The poets will also read their work at the University of Athens at a reading organised by the Irish Embassy in Greece.
As well as the above, I read a few times in the Seven Towers series at both Chapters Bookstore on Parnell Street, and in Cassidy’s of Westmoreland Street.
December 30th, 2008
‘A Shopping Mall on Mars’ — out now
Available now from BlazeVOX Books, ‘A Shopping Mall on Mars’ is my fourth full-length collection of poems. You can buy it at BlazeVOX.org or Amazon.com — see the link to the right under ‘Books, film, audio.’
“Many of the poems in A Shopping Mall on Mars, Patrick Chapman’s fourth collection, take a wry and satirical look at the dangerous new world in which we find ourselves, looking back with a certain nostalgia at the relative innocence of the nuclear age. Others offer compassionate yet unsparing insights into death, madness and childhood. A few speculate with science-fictional clarity on the kind of future we might be heading towards. This is work of the finest order from one of the most original Irish poets of the last two decades.”
June 10th, 2008
Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights — Review in the Irish Times
My third collection, Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights, was reviewed in the Irish Times Saturday edition, 17th of May.
Fiona Sampson said:
PATRICK CHAPMAN’S Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights, the poet’s third collection, is a more conventional volume. Carefully and intelligently divided into five sections, its poems deal with the familiar challenges of an approaching mid-life: that stage where the pattern in the carpet has begun to reveal itself, but the speaker has not yet given up on agency. The volume’s first part tells the story of a failed relationship; the book really comes alive, though, from its second section. In Recess: Requiescat in Pace is a series of seven short, crystalline poems about a fatal car crash in Recess: “And I can have no faith/ Or offer comfort”. They include the keening Loss Chant: “The world is passing into Recess./ [ . . .] Evening, always passing into night./ Night is always passing into morning” [sic]. Equally felt is the third section, telling of a passionate affair, where intense emotion impacts into images of death and decay. Here, too, is the book’s best poem, Planet Virgo Collage: “‘Are you in love with me/ Or with the strangeness, the exotic?’// Eat the sea”. Chapman writes at his very best when, as here, his subject is unmediated experience.
June 8th, 2008
Trespass 4 Launch
Just back from London where I read on Thursday the fifth of June, as part of the launch evening for Trespass Magazine, issue four. Fellow poets reading included Roddy Lumsden, Aoife Mannix and several others. The evening was hosted by Trespass editor, Sara-Mae Tuson.
June 8th, 2008
Reading at Cúirt
Coming up — I’ll be reading at the Cúirt Literary Festival as part of the Salmon Celebrations on Sunday 27th of April, Brigit’s Gardens, Roscahill, Galway. Do come along.
April 20th, 2008
‘The Wow Signal’ — new review and interview
There’s a review of ‘The Wow Signal’ by Nuala Nà Chonchúir at the Short Review; as well as an interview with me. Check them out.
Review: http://www.theshortreview.com/reviews/PatrickChapmanWowSignal.htm
Interview: http://www.theshortreview.com/authors/PatrickChapman.htm
April 20th, 2008
Dublin Book Festival appearance.
It’s my pleasure to read along with Nuala Ni Chonchuir, Enda Coyle-Greene and Billy Ramsell at the Dublin Book Festival — Sunday, March 9th at 1 pm in Dublin City Hall. I’ll be reading from Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights.
From the Dublin Book Festival programme:
Author Reading: with Patrick Chapman, Nuala Nà Chonchúir, Billy Ramsell and Enda Coyle-Greene
Introduced by Pat Cotter (Munster Literature Centre)
Patrick Chapman’s collections include Jazztown (Raven, 1991), The New Pornography (Salmon, 1996) and Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights (Salmon, 2007). His story collection is The Wow Signal. With Philip Casey, he founded the Irish Literary Revival website in 2006.
Enda Coyle-Greene is pursuing a long-held ambition to study towards an MA in Creative Writing at Queen’s University Belfast. Her first collection, Snow Negatives, won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 2006 and was published by Dedalus Press in 2007.
Billy Ramsell began writing seriously in 2000 when he moved to Barcelona and in 2005 was short-listed for a Hennessy award. In 2007 his debut collection, Complicated Pleasures, was published by Dedalus. He lives in Cork where he co-runs Forum Publications, Ireland’s fastest growing educational publishing company.
Nuala Nà Chonchúir’s debut bilingual poetry collection Tattoo : Tatú was published by Arlen House in 2007, following two successful short fiction collections. She is fiction editor for Southword magazine for 2008; she will also judge this year’s Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Prize.
March 6th, 2008
Guest appearance on the Poetry Programme.
I’ll be Gerald Dawe’s guest along with novelist James Ryan on the Poetry Programme, RTE Radio 1, 7.30 pm, Saturday, March 8th. We’ll be discussing the Dublin Book Festival, and I’ll read poems from ‘Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights.’
Update: You can now listen to this show here. Select Programme 14.
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/poetryprogramme/1124237.html
March 5th, 2008
The AWP conference, and a reading at the Bowery Poetry Club.
On the second of February, along with several other Salmon poets, I read at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York. We were launching the Salmon anthology, A Journey in Poetry. It was a great night, with a full house and an enthusiastic reception from the American audience. Salmon’s Jessie Lendennie, who edited the anthology, introduced us. The anthology came together over a period of a year and is a fine production, featuring over a hundred Salmon poets who have published with the press in the last 26 years.
This event was part of the AWP conference where Salmon took a table. I did a book signing on the first of February for my collection, Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights, and met many interesting folks from the U.S. book world.
Aside from all of that, I attended readings and addresses by some fine writers including Galway Kinnell, John Irving, Frank McCourt and Billy Collins. Irving in particular impressed with his tales of how he writes — start with the final sentence and work towards that. Frank McCourt gave an amusing account of his time as a teacher in New York. Billy Collins, given the audience, read many funny poems on the subject of writing. And Galway Kinnell told of his meeting Robert Frost.
The conference itself was a great opportunity to promote both Salmon and our individual volumes, and it was lovely to meet my fellow Salmon poets from both Ireland and the U.S. I also met up with Geoffrey Gatza of Buffalo-based BlazeVOX Books, who will shortly release my fourth collection, A Shopping Mall on Mars.
February 6th, 2008
A new interview and review at the Fix
Happy new year to you all. A new interview and a review of Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights are now available to view at the Fix online.
Here:
http://thefix-online.com/features/patrick-chapman/
and here:
http://thefix-online.com/reviews/breaking-hearts-and-lights/
January 1st, 2008
Clé Library Tour Reading — New Ross, Co. Wexford, 11th December
On Tuesday the 11th of December there will be an event at New Ross library in Co. Wexford to celebrate the new anthology, Salmon: A Journey in Poetry. Jo Slade and I will appear along with Jessie Lendennie from Salmon. We’ll be discussing our work and careers, as well as reading and signing books. I’ll read from my new collection, Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights. This event is part of the Clé ‘Author and Editor’ Library Tour. See the Clé website for more details:
http://www.publishingireland.com/news_07tour.shtml
December 2nd, 2007
Readings in November
I’ll be taking part in some readings in November and December. First up, the schedule for November.
November 15th at Damer Hall, Dublin, 6.30 pm. This is to introduce the new anthology, Salmon: A Journey in Poetry, which features the work of over a hundred poets who have been published by Salmon since 1981. Buy it from www.salmonpoetry.com
November 29th at Damer Hall, Dublin, 6.30 pm. A reading by several poets who have published with Lapwing over the years. I’ll be reading from Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights, as some of its poems were first collected in two Lapwing chapbooks, Touchpaper Star (2004) and Cicatrice (2006).
October 24th, 2007
Book launch report
The writer PJ Nolan has blogged my recent book launch at Waterstone’s, Dublin — you can read a full report at http://www.pjnolan.blogspot.com/
October 22nd, 2007
Reading at the Irish Writers’ Centre
Following the publication of Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights, I’ll be doing a number of readings in the coming months. Next up is a Salmon Poetry event on Saturday, October 20th at 6.30 pm at the Irish Writers’ Centre, Dublin. I’m delighted to be reading with Mélanie Frances and Gordon Walmsley, who have fine new books out.
October 19th, 2007
Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights — out now
[Click on image for larger version]
My third poetry collection, Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights, is out now from Salmon Poetry. The book was launched at a reading in Waterstone’s, Dublin on October 18th. You can buy it at Waterstone’s, Hodges Figgis, Books Upstairs and from the Salmon website.
“Intimate and daring, the poems in Patrick Chapman’s remarkable third collection explore with often searing clarity the naked spaces of love, sex and death. Startling, original, sometimes quietly devastating, this is the finest work to date from a writer hailed as ‘one of the very best modern Irish poets.’”
October 19th, 2007
Autumn appearances
On Thursday the 20th, I read with Geraldine Mills as part of the Frank O’Connor Festival of the Short Story in Cork. Hosted by the inimitable Pat Cotter, this was a fun event in the Triskel Arts Centre.
At 1.15 pm this Saturday at the Aspects Festival in Bangor, I’ll be introducing two of Ireland’s finest writers: Dermot Bolger, who will read from his latest novel, The Family on Paradise Pier; and Hugo Hamilton, who will read from his memoirs, The Speckled People and The Sailor in the Wardrobe.
September 24th, 2007
Salmon: A Journey in Poetry
Salmon: A Journey in Poetry, is a new anthology celebrating a quarter-century of Salmon Poetry. It’s soon to be available from all good bookstores, and the Salmon poetry website. Featuring 106 Salmon poets in nearly 500 pages, it’ll make a great Christmas present. Each poet is represented by three poems. Mine are: Break Up (from The New Pornography) and Eidolon and Easter Comet from the forthcoming Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights. Pop over to the Salmon site and have a look.
September 4th, 2007
Happy Birthday, the other ‘Wow Signal’
Thirty years ago today, astronomer Jerry Ehman at Ohio State University’s Big Ear observatory recorded a signal from ‘out there’ that was so strange he wrote ‘Wow!’ in the margins of the printout. It became known as ‘The Wow Signal.’
There has been lots of speculation that this signal could have been artificial, from some extraterrestrial intelligence.
Of course, Elvis died that same day, so the ‘Wow!’ signal was probably his celestial limo driver ringing to say that he was waiting outside the gates of Graceland for the King to leave the building one last time.
August 16th, 2007
‘The Wow Signal’ – out now.
[click on image for larger version]
‘The Wow Signal’, my first collection of stories, is out now from Bluechrome. On July 24th, it will be released in a limited-edition signed hardback, as part of the Bluechrome Select series.
“A faded TV queen takes delicious, devastating revenge on the man who ruined her career. A couple, breaking up, burn their conjugal bed on a beach in the northwest of Ireland. A woman in San Francisco, coming to terms with the suicide of her lover, discovers that she’s carrying his child. A man who may be the reincarnation of a murderer, watches the ghost of the victim in the house across the street – as she draws him towards a stunning confrontation.
“Already acclaimed on individual publication, the stories in The Wow Signal are beautifully written vignettes that have a filmic quality. One story has, in fact, been filmed, starring Gina McKee and Aidan Gillen. Another has won a Cinescape award in the United States. In The Wow Signal, you’ll find terror and wonder, love and regret, and a vision of the world that ranges from haunting tragedy to the darkest comedy.”
See ‘The Wow Signal at Bluechrome
May 1st, 2007
Doctor Who: Fear of the Daleks – updated.
Doctor Who: Fear of the Daleks reached No. 2 in the Play.com top ten for general audiobooks, just behind Ricky Gervais; it reached number one in the sci-fi chart.
Fear of the Daleks stars Wendy Padbury as Zoe and Nicholas Briggs as the Daleks. Written by me, directed by Mark J. Thompson.
Here are some reviews.
“It’s a fun story that captures the comic-strip feel of late Troughton-era Who.”
– Saxon Bullock, SFX no. 155, April ‘07
“Read with gusto by Wendy Padbury, this second talking book returns to the 1968 era of Doctor Who as an amnesiac Zoe Herriott is plagued by dreams of her Time travelling with the Doctor and Jamie. This tale is primarily set on an asteroid where two cultures are engaged in peace talks; the travellers are captured by an ambitious tyrant who wishes to use Zoe as an assassin. ‘Fear’ fits into the period perfectly, right down to the theme tune, an authentic score, the talk of ‘space rockets’ and the twist that the Daleks survived their ‘Final End’. The depiction of Troughton’s Doctor as a bonkers sage is perfect, Padbury hits all the right dramatic beats while Nicholas Briggs acts out the Dalek lines with relish.”
– David Richardson, TV Zone magazine no. 213.
‘Making much reference to Zoe’s fabled photographic memory and intelligence, writer Patrick Chapman keeps the story moving along at a decent pace and…captures the second Doctor’s distinctive mannerisms well.’
– Doctor Who Magazine no. 381
April 6th, 2007
Haiku Reading Tuesday 20th at Damer Hall
Irish Haiku Society – Haiku Reading
I will appear with other writers for a reading at the Damer Hall on Tuesday 20 February 2007, 7p.m.
Here’s the lowdown.
Haiku Evening
(Patrick Chapman, Mark Granier, Anatoly Kudryavitsky, Clare McDonnell, Kate O’ Shea, Bee Smith & Martin Vaughan)
Poetry Ireland in association with the Irish Haiku Society
Damer Hall, St. Stephen’s Green West, Dublin 2
February 15th, 2007
A new interview at Authortrek
There’s a new interview with me at Authortrek, here:
http://www.authortrek.com/patrick-chapman-interview.html
January 30th, 2007
New Haiku at The Select Six
Three new haiku are now up at The Select Six, edited by Sam Smith. You can see them here:
http://www.bewrite.net/select_six.htm
January 30th, 2007
Happy New Year
Here’s hoping that 2007 will bring health, happiness and sunshine (but not too much of it – mind those UV rays) to all of you out there.
Coming in the new year:
‘Doctor Who: Fear of the Daleks’ – an audio play from Big Finish, narrated by Wendy Padbury as Zoe, with Nicholas Briggs as the voice of the Daleks. This was produced and directed by Mark J. Thompson with sound design by Lawrence Oakley.
‘The Wow Signal’ – my first collection of stories, to be published soon by Bluechrome.
‘Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights’ – my third collection of poetry. Due in October from Salmon.
January 1st, 2007
American Singularity – free ebook now available
In advance of my third print collection, some of the poems in it are now available as a free ebook published by BlazeVOX, Buffalo, NY. American Singularity is available at the BlazeVOX site and is free to download. visit blazevox.org
November 3rd, 2006
Sunday Miscellany anthology
Just published by New Island Books is Sunday Miscellany: A Selection from 2004 to 2006. It’s culled from pieces broadcast on the Sunday Miscellany radio programme on RTE 1. My poem, Sea of Tranquillity, appears in it. There are also many other intriguing pieces – prose and poetry – from some fine writers. It’d make a great present for Christmas and is a cool book to dip into.
October 20th, 2006
Babylon Burning. Now available in a print edition.
Babylon Burning, the anthology which commemorates the fifth anniversary of 9/11, is now available in a print edition from Lulu.com, having been a download at nthposition.com for the last month or so. Edited by Todd Swift and published by the tireless Val Stevenson at nth, it’s well worth a read and not just because I’ve got a poem in it. All profits from this book go to the Red Cross.
October 12th, 2006
Irish Literary Revival – First ten writers online.
The Irish Literary Revival website has just posted its tenth author. Philip Casey and I founded the site to host out-of-print books of Irish interest, with the co-operation and approval of those concerned. (You’ll find the full mission statement and submission guidelines at the site.) For the record, those ten writers are: Sara Berkeley, Philip Casey, Patrick Chapman, Philip Davison, Noel Duffy, Terry McDonagh, Ciaran O’Driscoll, Nessa O’Mahony, Rosemarie Rowley and William Wall. We’re proud to host these writers – check them all out at irishliteraryrevival.com
October 10th, 2006
Poems up at nthposition
Two poems from my forthcoming collection are now online at nthposition.
You can see them here:
http://www.nthposition.com/author.php?authid=369
August 13th, 2006
Poems up at The Virtual Writer
Three of my poems have just gone up at The Virtual Writer. They’re from my third full collection, Breaking Hearts And Traffic Lights, which will appear next year from Salmon.
Link:
http://www.virtualwriter.net/poetry/featuredpoets.asp?action=2&contentid=546
August 4th, 2006
Announcing ‘The Wow Signal’, a collection of stories.
The Wow Signal, my first collection of short fiction, has been accepted for publication by Bluechrome, UK. Due in 2007.
It contains stories I wrote between 1992 and 1998, and one from last year. These include Burning The Bed, which was turned into a multi-award-winning film with a script by me and sterling performances from Gina McKee and Aiden Gillen. Also in there is A Ghost, which won the Cinescape award in 2003. Another story, Happy Hour, was a finalist for a Sunday Tribune Hennessy Award in 1999. There’s also Return of the Empress, which appears in the anthology, Sex And Chocolate, from Paycock Press. And the title story, which was published in Future Welcome: Moosehead Anthology X. More details when the time comes.
July 14th, 2006
Grappa uno, grappa tutti – a writing week in Tuscany
The sound of a telephone rang in a room, in a house in Tuscany ten kilometres from Siena. It was a sunny day, which is to say, this day was like the one before it and the one after it. The telephone turned out to be a cicada, trapped inside the house. I’d only ever heard them at a distance, and this one was surprising; one of many unexpected moments at a fiction workshop I attended, from the 10th to the 17th of June, in a Contessa’s vineyard in the Chianti hills.
Michael Mele and Linda Mironti host workshop groups at various locations throughout Italy, throughout the year. The one I was on, the fiction workshop with Maureen Brady, shared a space and a week with a photography workshop and a painting course. One night the writers and the photographers joined forces to visit the local graveyard and put together a multimedia show for presentation the next evening. It was fun, but for us writers, the real business of the week was the morning sessions at the table by the swimming pool. There were five writers on the course: Dominique, Alethea, Evalyn, Robin and me. We had all brought work; I found the others to be good readers, their criticism spot on. Maureen’s way with leading a workshop was relaxed, professional and empowering. We all did a lot of writing, but it didn’t seem like work. I came away with a new enthusiasm, and a fresh perspective on the novel I’m finishing. Mornings after breakfast began with a different writing exercise after which we would give feedback on the pieces we had brought with us.
Evenings, the wonderful Kim from New Jersey prepared delicious local meals, with wine to suit. Those dinners would usually end up in long conversations into the night, even when we had each other’s work to read for the morning.
There were side trips to Siena and a restaurant in a local village where Andrea, a friend of Michael and Linda, cooked for us using vin santo in each dish.
This workshop, set in those glorious vineyards, had a special feeling about it. Maybe it was because we worked well as a group; we were all enjoying ourselves. On my return to Ireland, I was hungry to get writing, to take the feedback to my novel and finish it.
But before that, there was the final night. In the barn-space beneath the main house, everyone gathered for a polenta party. The painters had hung an exhibition of their work on the walls. The writers all read from writing they had done while here, and some they had brought with them. Then, as darkness fell, the photographers projected images they had made during this week.
Thanks to the two Michaels, Linda, Kim and Jennifer for keeping the whole thing running ship-shape, to my fellow writers, and to Maureen Brady for her insight. And, in the words of David Byrne: How did I get here? Todd Swift sent me an email, alerting me that this was happening. I applied with a sample of the novel, and got lucky.
The Contessa, of course, remained a mystery. Her dogs are buried in their own pet cemetery near the pool. Her voice could be heard in the distance, some times, calling to Prince. Her history is a tale in itself.
June 19th, 2006
Cicatrice mention at Eyewear
Eyewear, the cutting-edge literary and cultural review, has blogged my new chapbook, Cicatrice – see link under Arts & Reviews, to the left.
UPDATE: The poems in Cicatrice will appear, some in modified form, in my third full collection, due from Salmon in 2007.
May 11th, 2006
Grant McLennan, RIP
Grant McLennan, co-founder of The Go-Betweens with Robert Forster, has died of a heart attack in Brisbane, aged 48. He will be sorely missed. Forster and McLennan were the Lennon and McCartney of their time, their apparently effortless songcraft bringing light and joy to listeners. They were never really commercially successful, but influenced many bands, including REM and Belle & Sebastian, who would later acknowledge this. His early classic, Cattle and Cane, was recently named one of the best Australian songs of all time.
May 8th, 2006
Irish Literary Revival – Interview on The Enchanted Way, RTE Radio 1
Philip Casey and I appeared on The Enchanted Way on Saturday, May 6th, discussing The Irish Literary Revival which launched last week. We also read a couple of poems each, I from my next collection, and Philip from his latest book, Dialogue In Fading Light. The site is going well – with several authors’ books already up, and more to come. If you missed the show, you can listen to it at The Enchanted Way website, linked to the left.
May 7th, 2006
Cicatrice, my new chapbook
Cicatrice, my new chapbook, has just been published by Lapwing, Belfast. It’s the follow-up to Touchpaper Star.
You can buy a copy from Lapwing at this email address: dennis (dot) greig (at) ntlworld (dot) com, or direct, signed, from patrick (at) patrickchapman (dot) net.
May 3rd, 2006
Welcome to the Irish Literary Revival. Now Live.
Mayday. The Irish Literary Revival is live today at irishliteraryrevival.com, with our first authors already up, and many more to come.
Over the weekend, there were articles in the Irish Times and the Sunday Independent. We’ve also recorded an interview for The Enchanted Way on RTE Radio 1 which should be broadcast soon.
Several more authors are currently preparing their manuscripts for inclusion, and we’ve had positive feedback from a good few publishers.
Visit the Irish Literary Revival and have a look around. We hope you enjoy your stay and that you’ll spread the word.
May 1st, 2006
Toxin, a short experimental art film
A new short film, Toxin, has just been released on DVD by Songway Films. It’s part of a trilogy of experimental films directed by Denis McArdle, who also directed Burning The Bed. All three films, Toxin, Undertow and Room are on the DVD. Toxin is based on a script which I adapted from my own poem. It is a co-production of Songway Films and Aphasia, from a proposal by the author. It stars Mary Doherty as the illustrated woman. The film also features music by David Stalling and art direction by Anthony Kelly. You can buy the DVD at the Songway Films and Aphasia websites – see links.
April 29th, 2006
Irish Literary Revival – Launching Soon
Announcing a brand new website, Irish Literary Revival, which launches on May 1st. It’s created by Philip Casey and me, with the aim of bringing out-of-print books by Irish authors back into circulation. We’re putting up books by Irish authors, Irish-published authors, or those with a connection to Ireland.
We’re doing press, internet and radio media promotion, including an interview we’ve recorded for The Enchanted Way, RTE Radio 1.
Already several writers and publishers have agreed to participate and there are a good few books up on the site. It’s been received very enthusiastically, and we look forward to welcoming more writers and readers.
April 28th, 2006
Sex and Chocolate, a new anthology
This Valentine’s Day sees the publication of a brand new anthology of erotic confections called Sex and Chocolate, from Paycock Press in Washington DC. It’s edited by Richard Peabody and Lucinda Ebersole, and features my story, Return of the Empress, which I wrote especially for this anthology. Chocolate – and sex – will never be the same again.
February 8th, 2006