Annette J Dunlea

Fish Publishing Writing Competitions

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:05:00 +0000

http://www.fishpublishing.com/
Fish Publishing - writing contests -Short Story, Poetry and Flash Fiction Competitions
- Fish Blog - Fish Twitter -
Welcome to Fish Publishing, home of the best international writing competitions, and publisher of over 300 emerging authors and poets since 1994 in the Annual Fish Anthology.
The Fish Short Story Prize is an open door that's inviting writers to walk through it. It has to be encouraged, celebrated, congratulated.
- Roddy Doyle -
Fish is doing God's own work. It's an inspiration and an avenue to writers everywhere.
- Frank McCourt -
I hail anyone who enters the Fish Prize . . . It is difficult to create from dust, as all of us writers do. I know that the best stories are those that are still untold – so keep writing, keep creating, keep the faith.
- Colum McCann -
Honorary patrons of the Fish Short Story Prize:
Roddy Doyle, Colum McCann, Dermot Healy

FISH SHORT STORY PRIZE
NOW OPEN
Judge: Ronan Bennett
1st prize 3,000 Euro. Best 10 published in 2010 Fish AnthologyFISH ONE-PAGE STORY PRIZE (Flash Fiction)
NOW OPEN
1st prize 1,000 Euro. Best 10 published in 2010 Fish Anthology
Judges: John Hegley and Simon MunneryFISH POETRY PRIZE
NOW OPEN
1st prize 1,000 Euro. Best 10 published in 2010 Fish Anthology
Judge: Matthew Sweeney

The 2009 Fish Anthology was launched on Thursday 9 July in St Brendan's Church, Bantry, Co Cork. 19 of the 29 writers attended from five continents, and the audience of 200 were treated to a wonderful series of readings. See our News Page for a report on the launch.

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Fish Publishing, Durrus, Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland

e: info@fishpublishing.com

Publishing Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 13:02:00 +0000

http://www.publishingireland.com/links.shtml
Freelancers
The Irish Association of Freelance Editors, Proofreaders and Indexers provides a Directory of Members including their skills, qualifications, areas of expertise, special interests and any other relevant information.
www.afepi.ie

National Library of Ireland
online catalogue
nli.ie

Kenny's Bookshop
kennys.ie

BooksIrish
booksirish.com

Organisations and Associations
Childrens' Books Ireland
childrensbooksireland.com

iBbY Ireland
ibbyireland.ie

Ireland Literature Exchange
irelandliterature.com

Irish Copyright Licensing Association
icla.ie

Illustrators Guild of Ireland
illustratorsireland.com

Irish Writers' Centre
writerscentre.ie

The Munster Literature Centre
munsterlit.ie

Poetry Ireland
poetryireland.ie

Western Writers' Centre - Ionad Scríbhneoirí Chaitlín Maude, Galway
twwc.ie

The James Joyce Centre
jamesjoyce.ie

Irish Translators' and Interpreters' Association
translatorsassociation.ie

International Association for the Study of Irish Literature (IASIL)
iasil.org

The Seamus Heaney Centre - Belfast
qub.ac.uk

Over the Edge
overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com

Oscar Wilde Centre
tcd.ie/OWC/

Irish Haiku Society
freewebs.com/irishhaiku

Agencies and Funders
The Arts Council
artscouncil.ie

The Arts Council of Northern Ireland
artscouncil-ni.org

Foras na Gaeilge
forasnagaeilge.ie

Culture Ireland
cultureireland.gov.ie

Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism
arts-sport-tourism.gov.ie

The Library Council
librarycouncil.ie

Links and Online Resources
White House Poets
myspace.com/thewhitehousepoets

Dingle Writing Courses
dinglewritingcourses.ie

Publishing Training
Publishing Training Centre
train4publishing.co.uk

Centre for Publishing Studies - Stirling University
pubstd.stir.ac.uk

Marketability
marketability.info

Events
World Book Day
March 4, 2010
worldbookday.com

Seachtain na Gaeilge
March 3 to 17, 2010
snag.ie

Leabhar Power
March 3 to 17, 2010
leabharpower.com

Dublin Book Festival
March 2010
dublinbookfestival.com

Poetry Now – International Poetry Festival
March 26 to 29, 2009
poetrynow.ie

World Book & Copyright Day
April 23, 2010
unesco.org

Cúirt
April 21 to 26, 2009
galwayartscentre.ie

Listowel Writers' Week
May 27 to 31, 2009
writersweek.ie

IMPAC Award
June 11, 2009
impacdublinaward.ie

West Cork Literary Festival
July 5 to 11, 2009
westcorkliteraryfestival.ie

Yeats Summer School
July 25 to August 7, 2009
yeats-sligo.com

Journals & Magazines
Books Ireland
islandireland.com/booksireland

Simply Haiku
simplyhaiku.com

Crannog Literary Magazine
crannogmagazine.com

WOW Magazine
An online magazine of original poetry and fiction
wordsontheweb.net

JMI – The Journal of Music in Ireland
thejmi.com

BLOGS
Poetry Ireland have excellent links to literary blogs at:
poetryireland.ie

Dedalus Press
dedaluspress.blogspot.com

Galway Public Library
galwaylibrary.blogspot.com

Eoin Purcell
eoinpurcellsblog.com

International Book Fairs
Salon du Livre
March 26 to 31, 2010
salondulivreparis.com

London Book Fair
April 19 to 21, 2010
londonbookfair.co.uk

Bologna Childrens Book Fair
April 23 to 25, 2010
bookfair.bolognafiere.it

Bookworld Prague
April 14 to 17, 2009
bookworld.cz

BookExo America, New York
May 25 to 27, 2010
bookexpoamerica.com

Frankfurt Book Fair
October 14 to 18, 2009
October 6 to 10, 2010
frankfurt-book-fair.com
For more information contact Publishing Ireland
info@publishingireland.com

Books in the Media

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:24:00 +0000

List
1. Paths of Glory by Jeffrey Archer

2. Day is Done by Peter Yarrow

3. True Blue by David Baldacci

4. The Ghost King by R.A. Salvatore

5. A Gift To Last : Can this Be Christmas by Debbie Macomber

6. Inside the Kingdom by Robert Lacey

7. Its Not What You Think by Chris Evans

8. Get Her Off The Pitch: How Sport Took Over My Life by Lynne Truss

9. Who's Who 2010 2010 - Who's Who by A & C Black Publishers Ltd

10. Club Dead: A True Blood Novel by Charlaine Harris

11. Lord of Misrule - Morganville Vampires No. 5 by Rachel Caine

12. The Thirteen Curses: Bk. 2 by Michelle Harrison

13. Secret Army - Henderson's Boys v. 3 by Robert Muchamore

14. At the Gates of Darkness by Raymond E. Feist

15. Crocodile Tears - Alex Rider No. 8 by Anthony Horowitz

16. "Harry Hill's TV Burp" Book by Harry Hill

17. Gordon Ramsay's World Kitchen - "F-Word" by Gordon Ramsay

18. Life Class: The Selected Memoirs of Diana Athill by Diana Athill

19. My Championship Year by Jenson Button

20. New Larousse Gastronomique by Hamlyn

21. Love Letters of Great Women by Ursula Doyle

22. Your Face Tomorrow: Poison, Shadow and Farewell v. 3 by Javier Marias, Margaret Jull Costa

23. The Original of Laura: (Dying is Fun) a Novel in Fragments by Vladimir Nabokov, Dmitri Nabokov

Product Descriptions and Bibliographical Details: http://astore.amazon.com/annduniriwri-20

Author Sarah Webb

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:17:00 +0000

http://www.sarahwebb.info/
Sarah Webb has written seven bestselling novels including, ‘When the Boys Are Away’, ‘Take a Chance’, and ‘Always the Bridesmaid’. Her books have been published in many different countries including the U.S. and Indonesia. She has also written four children’s books, has contributed short stories to many collections including ‘Moments’, and has compiled and edited two charity collections of her own, ‘Travelling Light’ and ‘Mum’s the Word’.

Sarah studied Arts in Trinity College, Dublin and worked in the book trade for many years as a Children’s Buyer. She now combines writing with working as a Children’s Book Consultant, and reviewing children’s books for the Irish Independent. She has also programmed and run many successful readers’ days, and is on the committee of Irish Pen.

She lives in Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin, with her partner and three children and spends as much time as possible in her parent’s second home in Castletownsend.

Sarah is currently working on her eighth adult novel and her debut teenage novel.

Author Snell

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:15:00 +0000

http://www.obrien.ie/author.cfm?authorID=36
Gordon Snell has written many books for children as well as comedy for adults. He lives in Dublin with his wife, best-selling author, Maeve Binchy.

Gordon Snell is a well-known scriptwriter and author of books for children and adults. Some of his most popular titles include The Phantom Horseman, Dangerous Treasure, The Mystery of Monk Island , The Curse of Werewolf Castle and The Tex and Sheelagh Omnibus.

Books in the Media

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:06:00 +0000

List:

1. The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson

2. Spook Country by William Gibson

3. Sharp Teeth by T Barlow

4. The Given Day by Dennis Lehane

5. The Human Stain by Philip Roth

6. Bel Canto by Ann Prachett

7. The Caprices by Sabina Murray

8. Family Britian 1951-57 by D Kynaston

9. Hells Heroes by Darren Shan

10. Driven To Distraction by Jeremy Clarkson

Product Descriptions Online at : http://astore.amazon.com/annduniriwri-20

Author Gaye Shortland

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:58:00 +0000

http://www.poolbeg.com/authors/shortland_gaye.htm
Gaye Shortland,

Author of Rough Rides in Dry Places

Born in Cork, Ireland, Gaye Shortland has taught English literature at University College Cork, the University of Leeds, Ahmadu Bello University Nigeria and the Universite de Niamey in Niger. She lived for fifteen years in Africa, spending much of that time with the nomadic Taureg of the Sahara and eventually managing a restaurant for the American Embassy in Niamey. She married a Taureg and had three children.

She began to write in 1994 on her return to Ireland, and now lives in Cork with her children. She is now editor at Poolbeg Press and the author of four critically acclaimed novels.

Turtles All the Way Down and Mind That ‘tis My Brother are comedies set in Cork.

Polygamy and Harmattan are set in Africa.

Author Anne Marie Scanlon

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:55:00 +0000

http://www.poolbeg.com/Romantic-Fiction/Anne-Marie-Scanlon/p-33-238/
Anne Marie Scanlon has been dispensing love advice from New York in the Evening Herald – now she is bringing her depth of research and wisdom to single ...

An Irish girls guide to dating!

Anne Marie Scanlon has been dispensing love advice from New York in the Evening Herald – now she is bringing her depth of research and wisdom to single Irishwomen everywhere! From the original New York Doll . . . Tired of the Irish dating scene? Played by one too many Players? Bagged one too many Bad Boys? Then It’s not Me, it’s You is definitely for YOU . . . A GROUNDBREAKING, BALL-BREAKING, TONGUE-IN-CHEEK self-help guide for Irishwomen who want to find, tame and RETAIN a man WANT A KEEPER? Then DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!!!!!

My Literary Website - Rhyme Zone.Com

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:46:00 +0000

http://www.rhymezone.com/
Shakespeare
Comedies, Tragedies, Histories, Poetry, Top lines, Coined words. Quizzes
Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives, State capitals, French, Spanish, More...

Quotations
Douglas Adams, Voltaire, Groucho Marx, User submissions, More...
Mother Goose
Simple Simon, Old King Cole, Jack and Jill, Pairs and Pears, More...

Famous Documents
Old Testament, New Testament, U.S. Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution.
Other features
Boxcar Blockade puzzle game, Twisteroo, Valentine Slam, Forum, Dictionary Search, Reverse dictionary

Books in the Media

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:07:00 +0000

Books in the Media

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:09:00 +0000

Books in the Media

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:01:00 +0000

National Book Award 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:01:00 +0000

http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2009.html

2009 Winner Irish Author Colum Mc Cann - Let The Great World Spin

FICTION

Winner: Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin (Random House) - Interview

Finalists: Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage (Wayne State University Press) - Interview
Daniyal Mueenuddin, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders (W. W. Norton & Co.)
Jayne Anne Phillips, Lark and Termite (Alfred A. Knopf) - Interview
Marcel Theroux, Far North (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) - Interview

FICTION JUDGES: Alan Cheuse, Junot Díaz, Jennifer Egan,
Charles Johnson, Lydia Millet
NONFICTION

Winner: T. J. Stiles, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt (Alfred A. Knopf) - Interview

Finalists: David M. Carroll, Following the Water: A Hydromancer's Notebook
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) - Interview
Sean B. Carroll, Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) - Interview
Greg Grandin, Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City (Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt) - Interview
Adrienne Mayor, The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy (Princeton University Press) - Interview

NONFICTION JUDGES: David Blight, Amanda Foreman, Steve Olson,
Camille Paglia, John Phillip Santos

POETRY

Winner: Keith Waldrop, Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy
(University of California Press) - Interview

Finalists: Rae Armantrout, Versed (Wesleyan University Press) - Interview
Ann Lauterbach, Or to Begin Again (Penguin Books) - Interview
Carl Phillips, Speak Low (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) - Interview
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, Open Interval (University of Pittsburgh Press) - Interview

POETRY JUDGES: Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, A. Van Jordan,
Cole Swensen, Kevin Young

YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE

Winner: Phillip Hoose, Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux) - Interview

Finalists: Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith
(Henry Holt) - Interview
David Small, Stitches (W. W. Norton & Co.) - Interview
Laini Taylor, Lips Touch: Three Times (Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic) - Interview
Rita Williams-Garcia, Jumped (HarperTeen/HarperCollins)

YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE JUDGES: Kathi Appelt, Coe Booth,
Carolyn Coman, Nancy Werlin, Gene Luen Yang

DISTINGUISHED CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN LETTERS

Gore Vidal

LITERARIAN AWARD

Dave Eggers
The Winner in each of the four categories – Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and People's Literature – will be announced at the 60th National Book Awards Benefit Dinner and Ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on Wednesday, November 18.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2009 National Book Awards Dinner Master of Ceremonies

Andy Borowitz

Andy Borowitz is an author, comedian, satirist, and film actor. His work appears in The New Yorker, The Huffington Post and at his satirical website, BorowitzReport.com. He has received numerous awards for his writing, including the first-ever National Press Club Award for humor in 2004. He has written six humor books and is a two-time finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. He won the NAACP Image Award for creating the hit television series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, starring Will Smith. He produced the Oscar-nominated film Pleasantville and wrote the upcoming Paramount motion picture Dinner for Schmucks, starring Steve Carell and Paul Rudd. He has made countless television and film appearances, including the Woody Allen film Melinda and Melinda. He is writing his first novel.

Author Nancy Ross

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:57:00 +0000

http://www.poolbeg.com/authors/ross_nancy.htm
Nancy Ross,
Author of
Alice,
Still Waters Run Deep,
The Enchanted Island,
Love and Friendship
A debut author at the age of 75!

Debut author Nancy Ross came to writing late in life. At seventy-five she signed a four book deal with Poolbeg and her novel Alice , for readers of any age simply looking for a good read, will be published in June 2006.

Interestingly Nancy is not the first author of such fiction who came to writing late in life. Writers of this genre have been dubbed as the most talented and natural storytellers. Readers tend to sympathise with the situations the heroines find themselves in. As Elizabeth Buchan ex-Chair of the Romantic Novelists ’ Association, former editor and current author says “ a lot of women readers in particular have rotten circumstances – money is tight, they ’ re struggling, perhaps they ’ re single mothers or dealing with elderly parents. To read about deprived circumstances in which the heroine very often starts out and somehow struggles through can only be a comfort. You can make sense of your life and feel something will come out of it. If it isn ’ t actually happening to you at the very least you can read about it ” .

Her creative talents may indeed be owed to her father B.C. Hilliam a renowned songwriter in England in the colourful 1920s. One of his compositions is still played as a march at the Trooping of the Colour and he ran his own series for the BBC, writing music, lyrics and topical songs. However her greatest inspiration was Eileen O'Casey, wife of playwright Sean O'Casey, who encouraged Nancy to write.

The young Nancy grew up on the edge of the New Forest where their rural calm was broken when their home became a billet for officers during the Second World War. During the Battle of Britain Nancy recalls as a young girl being brought up onto the roof to look at the night sky during one of the famous raids.

Nancy 's mother was also made of stern stuff helping one night to dig out some seventeen injured soldiers buried in a bombing raid. Every day Nancy and her friend set off on their bicycles to school in the next village dodging the swerving tanks as they travelled.

At 17 the young Nancy chose to join the WRNS where she was the second youngest in the whole service. She was posted to Henstridge where she worked in the control tower instructing aircraft when and where to take off and land, writing down their conversations while airborne, in code.

After the war Nancy moved to Ireland where she became a teacher before marrying a racehorse trainer and settling down in County Meath . The marriage did not last and Nancy returned to England where she married again and had three children.

Nancy found herself on her own once more however she soon struck up a friendship with Eileen O'Casey, wife of the playwright Sean O'Casey. Nancy 's mother had shared a stage with Eileen and they had become friends. Years later they found themselves living in the same building and Nancy became Eileen's secretary. Taking her young baby with her Nancy wrote as Eileen dictated her first book about her husband called, Sean.

More books followed and the pair shared a lifelong friendship working hard and sharing delicious meals at favourite restaurants. "Eileen loved to spend money. She was extravagant and had a tremendous sense of the ridiculous."

Eileen resisted old age and resented having to be looked after but she was always happy to see her loyal friend Nancy who held Power of Attorney overseeing royalties from Sean's plays and books. "I used to visit her and bring my youngest son along with me. Eileen was very fond of him and he could cheer her up. Eileen called me by my second name, Joan. She would often say to me, 'you could write a book, Joan'. Well, it has taken me a while. But now I have done it."

Books in the Media

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:41:00 +0000

Irish Fiction on The Book Nest

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:22:00 +0000

http://www.booknest.ie/Irish-Fiction/?sort=price
RTE Seamus Heaney Collected Poems on CD
A Treasury of Irish Verse
The Secret Scripture
THE BEND FOR HOME

A funny, direct, lively and moving account of growing up in small-town Ireland. Healy lovingly coaxes his childhood into being until, one day, his elderly mother hands him the coded diary he kept as a teenage tearaway and the uncut past bursts in like a blast of raw air.
THE BALLYCONNELL COLOURS

The poems in Dermot Healy's first collection - launched in 1992 to an unusually warm reception - move in a variety of registers, from the background amd imaginative landscape of County Cavan to the West of Ireland coast where he now lives
WHAT THE HAMMER

Dermot Healy's poems 'project an open, rugged humanity, celebratory of common life'. In his second collection he broadens his focus from his communal devotions to the quick of the natural world. Local speech patterns incorporate idiosyncratic observations and sometimes surreal incursions.
A GOAT'S SONG

In a wind-battered Mayo cottage, playwright Jack Ferris tries to salvage something from his broken love affair with Catherine Adams. Drink and despair drove her away can his imagination call her back? But as he summons up her past, Jack finds he has also called up her RUC father and a whole dangerous world of opposed traditions.
THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN

From the very opening pages, we see the many memorable characters as they move about Joe and Kate Ruttledge, who have come to Ireland from London in search of a different life. There is John Quinn, who will stop at nothing to ensure a flow of women Johnny, who left for England 20 years before in pursuit of love and Jimmy Joe Mc Kiernan, head of the IRA, both auctioneer and undertaker. The gentle Jamsie and his wife Mary embody the spirit of the place. They have never left the lake but know everything that ever stirred or moved there.
TALKING ABOUT TOM MURPHY

Talking about Tom Murphy is shaped around the six plays in the landmark Abbey Theatre Murphy season of 2001, assembling some of the best-known commentators on his work: Fintan O'Toole, Chris Morash, Lionel Pilkington, Alexandria Poulain, Shaun Richards, Nicholas Grene and Declan Kiberd. The dialogue of essays and responses here reveals not only the Irish but the European dimensions of Murphy's dramatic imagination. The book, which includes a long and revealing interview between Tom Murphy and Michael Billington, and is illustrated with production photos from the Murphy season and with manuscript material from the Trinity College Library collection, provides a fresh and vivid understanding of one of Ireland's greatest living playwrights.
THE REED BED

Dermot Healy's poetry distils the essence of a gift he exercises more often and elaborately in other forms - for narrative, dialogue, characterisation, and acute insight and observation.

In this new work - set in and around his home on the ocean's edge of Sligo, in London and further afield - he captures the every day's ordinary dramas and 'small habits', noting at the same time the hallway 'where something is after happening'.
Whistling Under Water

James Murray’s debut collection of Irish fiction.
Within the confines of these pages a variety of characters act out dramas that stretch from the rational to the far side of the absurd. These stories illuminate the shadows of life with luminescent humour, like flickering images from film clips. They take the reader on a literary carousel where both appalling and the appealing mingle and blend on the edges of society. Here sharp wit and unusual insights emerge from the shadows and cast light on the world of normality and routine. There are sixteen very different tales in this collection - sixteen dimensions, where a new distinct fiction voice emerges.
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

Roddy Doyle modern Irish classic. Winner of the Booker Prize for Literature.
Paula Spencer

When we first met Paula Spencer - in "The Woman Who Walked into Doors" - she was thirty-nine, recently widowed, an alcoholic struggling to hold her family together. Paula Spencer begins on the eve of Paula's forty-eighth birthday. She hasn't had a drink for four months and five days. Her youngest children, Jack and Leanne, are still living with her. They're grand kids, but she worries about Leanne. Paula still works as a cleaner, but all the others doing the job now seem to come from Eastern Europe, and the checkout girls in the supermarket are Nigerian. You can get a cappuccino in the cafe, and her sister Carmel is thinking of buying a holiday home in Bulgaria.

Irish Fiction Harris County Library

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Irish Fiction http://www.hcpl.net/read/irish-fiction

Sebastian Barry. The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty
An acclaimed playwright's novel--the heartbreaking epic of a fugitive everyman. When a Irish romantic innocent signs up to fight with the British in World War I, he is branded a traitor by his countrymen--and the IRA orders his assassination to be carried out by a childhood friend.

Maeve Binchy. Circle of Friends
From Knockglen to Dublin, heartbreak and betrayal follow three extraordinary and unforgettable women as an explosive confrontation brings hidden lies to the surface and tests the meaning of love and the bonds of friendship.

Lisa Carey. The Mermaids Singing
Somewhere off the coast of west Ireland lies Inis Muruach, the Island of the Mermaids, a world where myth is more powerful that truth, where the sea sings with the haunting voices of women, and where death is never as strong as the redemptive powers of family and love. It is here that Lisa Carey sets her novel, weaving together the voices of three generations of Irish and Irish-American women.

Brendan O'Carroll. The Mammy
A popular Irish comedian chronicles with raw humor and great affection the comic misadventures of a large and lively North Dublin family in the 1960s.

Annabel Davis-Goff. The Dower House
Molly Hassard grows up in the dower house, built to accommodate a series of Hassard widows displaced by the deaths of their husbands and the marriages of their sons. Molly, an upper-class orphan in an Ireland emerging from the post-war years, soon learns that coming-of-age means not merely growing up but finding her place between the romance of tradition and the allure of the new .

Seamus Deane. Reading in the Dark
Seamus Deane's first novel is a mesmerizing story of childhood set against the violence of Northern Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s. The boy narrator grows up haunted by a truth he both wants and does not want to discover. The matter: a deadly betrayal, unspoken and unspeakable, born of political enmity.

Roddy Doyle. The Commitments
This funky, rude, unpretentious first novel traces the short, funny, and furious career of a group of working-class Irish kids who form a band, The Commitments. Their mission: to bring soul to Dublin!

Bartholomew Gill. Death in Dublin
In Bartholomew Gill's last and most dramatic novel, Irish police chief Peter McGarr is plunged into the ratified atmosphere of Dublin's Trinity College as he investigates the cold-blooded murder of a library night watchman and the baffling disappearance of an Irish cultural icon--the Book of Kells.
James Joyce. Dubliners
Joyce paints vivid portraits of the denizens of the city of his birth, from the young boy encountering death in the first story to the middle-aged Gabriel of the haunting final story, "The Dead". One of the greatest short story collections in the English language.
Walter Keady. Celibates & Other Lovers
It is 1945, and in a rural Irish village called Creevagh, a young man waits eagerly for the mail, convinced that one letter will bring his salvation. Since the age of reason, Phelim O'Brien has been obsessed by a morbid fear of hell; and from the age of puberty, tormented by the certainty he'll wind up there. But his friend, Philpot Emmett, refuses to accept that the slightest tittle of carnal pleasure is a mortal sin, and where Phelim struggles, Philpot happily yields. Father Coyne admonishes, Catherine Ryan tempts, and the formidable Maura Higgins rebels against them all.
Marian Keyes. Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married
Lucy Sullivan is getting married . . . or is she? Truth be told, Lucy doesn't even have a boyfriend. But Mrs. Nolan has read her tarot cards and predicts that Lucy will soon be walking down the aisle--much to the dismay of her roommates, Karen and Charlotte.
Morgan Llywelyn. Lion of Ireland
Set against the barbaric splendors of the 10th century, this is a story rich in truth and legend and one of the great novels of Irish history.
Pat McCabe. The Dead School
The critically acclaimed author of The Butcher Boy returns to small-town Ireland to journey inside the world of a schoolteacher and a headmaster, as they grapple with their own demons and struggle to cope with the tragedy that strikes a young student in their charge.
Edna O'Brien. Wild Decembers
O'Brien's latest novel charts the quick and critical demise of relations between "the warring sons of warring sons" fighting over inherited land in the countryside of western Ireland.
William Trevor. The Story of Lucy Gault
The Gault family leads a life of privilege in early 1920s Ireland, but the threat of arson leads nine-year-old Lucy's parents to leave Ireland for England. On the day before they are to leave, Lucy runs away. In this profound and moving story of love, guilt and forgiveness, Trevor has written a novel that stands alongside the best literature in the English language.
Leon Uris. Redemption
The legendary author of Trinity explores the saga of the Irish people through the Larkin family in an epic that ranges from Ireland to New Zealand, Egypt, and Gallipoli and captures the love and loss, triumph and tragedy.
Niall Williams. As It Is in Heaven
Time has already stopped for Stephen Griffin. Twenty-eight years old and haunted by death, the tall, awkward, shy schoolteacher is content to care for his father in Dublin and let life pass him by. Then a miracle appears: a string ensemble from Venice and, with it, a violinist named Gabriella Castoldi. Even though the worldly, beautiful musician seems incapable of giving her heart, love seizes Stephen Griffin ... unbidden and shaking every particle of his spirit.

Irish Fiction Suite 101

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:11:00 +0000

http://irish-fiction.suite101.com/
Sep 20, 2009

John Banville and The Sea

By: Christine Breen-Williams

Ireland's most talked about novelist, John Banville, won the 2005 Man Booker prize with a bittersweet novel of loss and remembrance. Will he do it again? more...

Jun 14, 2009

An Analysis of Shaw's Pygmalion

By: Jenna Galley

For anyone who loves a good laugh about a mythical rags-to-riches anti-love story with a twist, then Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is not a play to be missed! more...

Apr 22, 2009

Book Review – The Gathering by Anne Enright

By: Hana Lewis

Anne Enright writes about grief which is biological and timeless. She uncovers the place we cannot see where the dead essential self of someone we have loved disappears. more...

Apr 1, 2009

Book Review -- Saving Grace by Ciara Geraghty

By: Susan Whelan

Irish writer Ciara Geraghty invites both laughter and tears in her debut novel, which has been a #1 bestseller in Ireland. more...
Mar 16, 2009

Finn Mac Cool, a Novel by Morgan LLywelyn

By: Fred Hasson

Morgan Llywelyn's Finn Mac Cool, written in 1994, is among her best efforts to bring the mythic heroes of Irish folklore to the modern reader. more...

Sep 8, 2008

Glossary of Words in The Sea by John Banville

By: Leslie Timmins

This glossary defines obscure words used in the Booker Prize-winning novel, The Sea, by John Banville. All of the words are used by the novel's obsessive hero, Max Morden more...

Sep 5, 2008

Word Use in The Sea by John Banville

By: Leslie Timmins

The Irish writer John Banville won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for his fourteenth novel, The Sea, in 2005. The award raised the ire of some critics. more...

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Irish Fiction From Listmania Amazon

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:08:00 +0000

http://www.amazon.com/best-Irish-Fiction-Nonfiction-Film/lm/2XEGL6RFG2CW0

The best of Irish Fiction, Nonfiction and Film
A Listmania! list by E. Lacey (Los Angeles, CA, USA)

1. The Great Shame: And The Triumph Of The Irish In The English -Speaking World by Thomas Keneally
The list author says:
"It's a little dry at times, but it's probably THE history of the Irish in Australia. By the author of Schindler's List."
2. For the Cause of Liberty: A Thousand Years of Ireland's Heroes by Terry Golway
The list author says:
"The lives and accomplishments of dozens of historical figures both major and minor."
3. Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt
The list author says:
"If you're Irish and you haven't read this, please buy it immediately. A stunning and unforgettable memoir."
4. The Wearing of the Green: A History of St. Patrick's Day by Mike Cronin
The list author says:
"A thorough history of the origins of St. Patrick's Day and the various ways it is celebrated around the world."
5. The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal and the Search for Peace by Tim Pat Coogan
The list author says:
"A great history lesson from one of the best-known journalists and historians in Ireland."
6. The IRA by Tim Pat Coogan
The list author says:
"A concise history of the IRA and Irish resistance."
7. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Twentieth-Century Classics) by Jeri Johnson
The list author says:
"A classic Irish coming-of-age tale by one of the greats."
8. Irish on the Inside: In Search of the Soul of Irish America by Tom Hayden
The list author says:
"Certainly controversial, but always interesting."
9. How the Irish Saved Civilization (Hinges of History) by Thomas Cahill
The list author says:
"There's more serious history here than the title suggests."
10. I Am of Irelaunde: A Novel of Patrick and Osian by Juilene Osborne-McKnight
The list author says:
"This book revisits all the old Irish mythology, weaving a tender, compelling story about St. Patrick and those of his time."
11. Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams
12. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
The list author says:
"Roddy Doyle creates some of the most extraordinary contemporary Irish tales. This is probably his best."
13. A Star Called Henry (Doyle, Roddy, Last Roundup, V. 1.) by Roddy Doyle
14. In the Name of the Father DVD ~ Daniel Day-Lewis
The list author says:
"A haunting, moving film about jailed Irishmen."
15. The Wind That Shakes the Barley DVD ~ Cillian Murphy
The list author says:
"A very moving film set in the early days of Irish independence, when the politics of the time set brother against brother in rural Ireland."
product
16. Irish Fiction, The Penguin Book of by Colm Toibin
The list author says:
"An amazing anthology of Irish fiction."
17. The Path to Freedom by Michael Collins
The list author says:
"Michael Collins in his own words."
18. My Left Foot DVD ~ Daniel Day-Lewis
The list author says:
"Daniel Day-Lewis won a much-deserved Oscar for his passionate performance as Irish artist and writer Christy Brown."
19. the Commitments by Roddy Doyle
20. Some Mother's Son [VHS] VHS Helen Mirren
The list author says:
"A very human look at the hunger strikes of 1981."
21. A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry
The list author says:
"One of Ireland's best contemporary authors at work."
22. Once DVD ~ Glen Hansard
The list author says:
"An absolutely beautiful film about two young musicians in Dublin."
23. Bloody Sunday DVD ~ James Nesbitt
The list author says:
"A brilliantly filmed version of the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry, Northern Ireland."
24. Waking Ned Devine DVD ~ Ian Bannen
The list author says:
"A very sweet and fanciful film about the residents of a small Irish town."
25. Ryan's Daughter (Two-Disc Special Edition) DVD ~ Robert Mitchum
The list author says:
"A classic film set in 1916 in a British-occupied Irish village on the coast of Western Ireland."
26. Jaywalking with the Irish by David Monagan
The list author says:
"An American family moves to Ireland and their experiences there are recorded in this book."

Irish Fiction

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:58:00 +0000

http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/booklists/irish.html
Irish Fiction
Adler, Elizabeth. Legacy of Secrets

Barry, Sebastian. Annie Dunne
Barry, Sebastian. The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty
Binchy, Dan. Fireballs
Binchy, Maeve. Circle of Friends
Binchy, Maeve. Tara Road
Boylan, Clare. 11 Edward Street
Brennan, Maeve. The Rose Garden: Short Stories
Brennan, Maeve. Springs of Affection: Stories of Dublin
Brown, Christy. Down All the Days

Carey, Lisa. The Mermaids Singing

Davis-Goff, Annabel. The Dower House
Davis-Goff, Annabel. This Cold Country
Deane, Seamus. Reading in the Dark
Donleavy, J.P. The Ginger Man
Donoghue, Emma. The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits: Stories
Doyle, Roddy. The Barrytown Trilogy
Doyle, Roddy. Paddy Clarke, Ha-Ha-Ha

Flanagan, Thomas. The Tenants of Time
Flanagan, Thomas. The Year of the French

Gill, Bartholomew. The Death of an Ardent Bibliophile
Gill, Bartholomew. The Death of an Irish Politician
Gordon, Mary. The Other Side

Haien, Jeannette. The All of It
Hassler, Jon. A Green Journey
Higgins, Aidan. Flotsam & Jetsam

Jones, Ann T. A Country Divorce
Joyce, James. Dubliners
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Keady, Walter. Celibates and Other Lovers
Keady, Walter. Mary McGreevy
Keane, John B. The Bodhran Makers
Keane, John B. The Ram of God
Keane, Molly. Conversation Piece
Keane, Molly. Good Behaviour
Keyes, Marian. Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married
Keyes, Marian. Rachel's Holiday
Kiely, Benedict. A Letter to Peachtree and Nine Other Stories

Labiner, Norah. Miniatures: A Novel
Lash, Jennifer. Blood Ties
Lavin, Mary. A Memory and Other Stories
Lavin, Mary. The Shrine and Other Stories
Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan. The Rose and the Key
Llywelyn, Morgan. 1916
Llywelyn, Morgan. Finn Mac Cool

McBride, Regina. The Nature of Water and Air
McCabe, Pat. Breakfast on Pluto
McCabe, Pat. Mondo Desperado
McCann, Colum. Everything in This County Must: A Novella and Two Stories
McCann, Colum. This Side of Brightness
McDermott, Alice. Charming Billy
McDermott, Alice. Child of My Heart
McEvoy, Dermot. Terrible Angel: A Novel of Michael Collins in New York
McGahern, John. By the Lake: A Novel
McKinty, Adrian. Orange Rhymes With Everything
McLaughlin, Marilyn. A Dream Woke Me: And Other Stories
McNamee, Eoin. The Last of Deeds & Love in History
McNamee, Eoin. Resurrection Man
Martin, William. The Rising of the Moon
Moore, Ann. Gracelin O' Malley
Moran, Thomas. Water, Carry Me
Moran, Thomas. The World I Made For Her
Moreton, Cole. Hungry for Home: Leaving the Blaskets: A Journey from the Edge of Ireland
Mulrooney, Gretta. Marble Heart

Nolan, Christopher. The Banyan Tree: A Novel

O'Brien, Edna. House of Splendid Isolation
O'Brien, Edna. In the Forest
O'Carroll, Brendan. The Chisellers
O'Carroll, Brendan. The Mammy
O'Connor, Frank. Collected Stories
O'Faolain, Nuala. My Dream of You
O'Flaherty, Liam. The Black Soul
O'Flaherty, Liam. Famine
O'Hanlon, Ardal. Knick-Knack Paddy Whack
O'Neill, Jamie. At Swim, Two Boys: A Novel
Osborne-McKnight, Juilene. Daughter of Ireland

Park, David. The Big Snow
Parker, Robert B. All Our Yesterdays
Phelan, Tom. In the Season of the Daisies
Prunty, Morag. Wild Cats & Colleens

Ridgeway, Keith. The Long Falling

Somerville, E. O. E. The Irish R. M.
Sweeney, Eamonn. Waiting for the Healer

Taylor, Alice. Across the River
Taylor, Alice. The Woman of the House
Thoene, Brock and Bodie. Only the River Runs Free
Trevor, William. Felicia's Journey
Trevor, William. The Story of Lucy Gault

Uris, Leon. Redemption: A Novel
Uris, Leon. Trinity

Wall, William. Alice Falling
Watkins, Paul. The Promise of Light
Williams, Niall. As It Is In Heaven
Williams, Niall. The Fall of Light
Wimmer, Dick. The Irish Wine Trilogy

Books in the Media

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:54:00 +0000

Irish Theatre

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:37:00 +0000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_theatre
Irish theatre From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oscar Wilde remains one of Ireland's best-known playwrightsThe history of Irish theatre begins with the Gaelic Irish tradition. Much of the literature in that Celtic language was destroyed by conquest, except for a few manuscripts and fragments, such as the Book of Fermoy. The scribe who copied this leather book—Adam Ó Cianáin—copied out a dialogue called The Colloquy Between Fintan and the Hawk of Achill in the 14th century, and the little play is obviously much older. Such texts indicate something like a Gaelic theatrical tradition that was pagan, and not rooted in Passion plays. The Colloquy (conversation) is divided, as in a script, between one character "Fintan" and the hawk, whose dialogue is indicated above his speeches by "an t-én", or "the bird." The oldest Irish play to survive the Viking and English invasions is probably this Gaelic Irish conversation between a man and a hawk on the island of Achill at the edge of the known world. A source link for the play can be found below.

The history of Irish theatre in the familiar sense begins with the rise of the English administration in Dublin at the start of the 17th century. Over the next 400 years this small country was to make a disproportionate contribution to drama in English.

In the early days of its history, theatrical productions in Ireland tended to serve the political purposes of the administration, but as more theatres opened and the popular audience grew, a more diverse range of entertainments were staged. Many Dublin-based theatres developed links with their London equivalents and performers and productions from the British capital frequently found their way to the Irish stage. However, most Irish playwrights from William Congreve to George Bernard Shaw found it necessary to leave their native island to establish themselves.

At the beginning of the 20th century, theatres and theatre companies dedicated to the staging of Irish plays and the development of indigenous writers, directors and performers began to emerge. This allowed many of the most significant Irish dramatists to learn their trade and establish their reputations in Ireland rather than in Great Britain or the United States.
Small beginnings
Although there would appear to have been performances of plays on religious themes in Ireland from as early as the 14th century, the first well-documented instance of a theatrical production in Ireland is a 1601 staging of Gorboduc presented by Lord Mountjoy Lord Deputy of Ireland in the Great Hall in Dublin Castle. The play had been written by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton for the 1561/2 Christmas festivities at the Inner Temple in London and appears to have been selected because it was a story of a divided kingdom descending into anarchy that was applicable to the situation in Ireland at the time of the performance. Mountjoy started a fashion, and private performances became quite commonplace in great houses all over Ireland over the following thirty years.

The Court in Kilkenny
In 1642, as a result of the English Civil War, Dublin Royalists were forced to flee the city. Many of them went to Kilkenny to join a confederacy of Old English and Irish that formed in that city. Kilkenny had a tradition of dramatic performance going back to 1366, and the Dublin company, much attenuated, set up in their new home. At least one new play was published in Kilkenny; A Tragedy of Cola's Fury, OR, Lirenda's Misery, a blatantly political work with the Lirenda of the title being an anagram of Ireland.

With the restoration of the monarchy in 1661, John Ogilby was commissioned to design the triumphal arches and write masques for the new king's entrance into London. Ogilby was reinstated as Master of the Revels and returned to Dublin to open a new theatre in Smock Alley. Although starting well, this new theatre was essentially under the control of the administration in Dublin castle and staged mainly pro-Stuart works and Shakespearean classics. As a result, Irish playwrights and actors of real talent were drawn to London.

The Restoration
An early example of this trend is William Congreve, one of the most important writers for the late 18th London stage. Although born in Yorkshire, Congreve grew up in Ireland and studied with Jonathan Swift in Kilkenny and at Trinity College, Dublin. After graduating, Congreve moved to London to study law at the Temple and pursue a literary career. His first play, The Old Bachelor (1693) was sponsored by John Dryden, and he went on to write at least four more plays. The last of these, The Way of the World (1700) is the one Congreve work regularly revived on the modern stage. However, at the time of its creation, it was a relative failure and he wrote no further works for the theatre.

With the accession to the throne of William of Orange, the whole ethos of Dublin Castle, including its attitude to the theatre, changed. Smock Alley stayed in existence until 1811 and new theatres, such as the Theatre Royal, Queens' Theatre, and The Gaiety Theatre opened during the 19th century. However, the one constant for the next 200 years was that the main action in the history of Irish theatre happened outside Ireland itself, mainly in London.

The 18th century

Oliver GoldsmithThe 18th century saw the emergence of two major Irish dramatists, Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, who were two of the most successful playwrights on the London stage in the 18th century. Goldsmith (1728–1774) was born in Roscommon and grew up in extremely rural surroundings. He entered Trinity College in 1745 and graduated in 1749. He returned to the family home, and in 1751, began to travel, finally settling in London in 1756, where he published poetry, prose and two plays, The Good-Natur'd Man 1768 and She Stoops to Conquer 1773. This latter was a huge success and is still regularly revived.

Sheridan (1751–1816) was born in Dublin into a family with a strong literary and theatrical tradition. His mother was a writer and his father was manager of Smock Alley Theatre. The family moved to England in the 1750s, and Sheridan attended Harrow Public School. His first play, The Rivals 1775, was performed at Covent Garden and was an instant success. He went on to become the most significant London playwright of the late 18th century with plays like The School for Scandal and The Critic. He was owner of the Drury Lane Theatre, which he bought from David Garrick. The theatre burned down in 1809, and Sheridan lived out the rest of his life in reduced circumstances. He is buried in Poets' Corner at Westminster Abbey.

The 19th century
After Sheridan, the next Irish dramatist of historical importance was Dion Boucicault (1820–1890). Boucicault was born in Dublin but went to England to complete his education. At school, he began writing dramatic sketches and soon took up acting under the stage name of Lee Moreton. His first play was Legend of Devil's Dyke 1838 in which he acted himself in Brighton. His first London production was London Assurance 1841. This was a great success and he seemed set to become the major writer of comedies of his day. However, his next few plays were not as successful and Boucicault found himself in debt. He recovered some of his reputation with The Corsican Brothers (1852), a well constructed melodrama.

In 1853, he moved to New York, where he soon became a hit with plays like The Poor of New York (1857), Dot (1859, based on Charles Dickens's The Cricket on the Hearth) and The Octoroon (1859). These plays tackled issues such as urban poverty and slavery. Boucicault was also involved in getting the 1856 law on copyright passed through Congress. His last New York play was The Colleen Bawn (1860). In that year, Boucicault returned to London to stage The Colleen Bawn and the play ran for 247 performances at The Adelphi Theatre. He wrote several more successful plays, including The Shaughran (1875) and Robert Emmet (1884). These later plays helped perpetuate the stereotype of the drunken, hotheaded, garrulous Irishman that had been common on the British stage since the time of Shakespeare. Other Irish dramatists of the period include John Banim and Gerald Griffin, whose novel The Collegians formed the basis for The Colleen Bawn.

Boucicault is widely regarded as the wittiest Irish dramatist between Sheridan and Oscar Wilde (1845–1900). Wilde was born in Dublin into a literary family and studied at Trinity College, where he had a brilliant career. In 1874 he won a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford. Here he began his career as a writer, winning the Newdigate Prize for his poem Ravenna. His studies were cut short during his second year at Oxford when his father died leaving large debts.

During a short but glittering literary career, Wilde wrote poetry, short stories, criticism and a novel, but his plays probably represent his most enduring legacy. Wilde's first stage success came with Lady Windemere's Fan (1892), which resulted in his becoming the most talked about dramatist in London. He followed this up with A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and his most famous play The Importance of Being Earnest that same year.

George Bernard ShawWith these plays, Wilde came to dominate late-Victorian era British theatre. His plays are noted for the lightness of their wit, but he also contrived to address some serious issues around sexual and class roles and identity, as he wrote himself 'treating the serious things lightly and the light things seriously'. Events in Wilde's personal life were to overtake his literary success and he died in Paris in 1900. He remains one of the great figures in the history of Irish theatre and his plays are frequently performed all over the English-speaking world.

Wilde's contemporary George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) was a very different kind of writer. Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to London in 1876 intending to become a novelist. Here he became active in socialist politics and became a member of the Fabian Society. He was also a very public vegetarian. His writing for the stage was influenced by Henrik Ibsen. His early political plays were not popular, but he made a breakthrough with John Bull's Other Island (1904). Shaw was extremely prolific, and his collected writings filled 36 volumes. Many of his plays are now forgotten, but a number, including Major Barbara, Saint Joan (usually considered his masterpiece) and Pygmalion are still regularly performed. Pygmalion was the basis for the movie My Fair Lady, a fact which benefitted the National Gallery of Ireland as Shaw had left the royalties of the play to the gallery. A statue to the playwright now stands outside the gallery entrance. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1924.

The Abbey and after

A poster for the opening run at the Abbey Theatre from December 27, 1904 to January 3, 1905.A sea change in the history of the Irish theatre came with the establishment in Dublin in 1899 of the Irish Literary Theatre, later to become the Abbey Theatre. The history of this theatre is well documented, and its importance can be seen from the list of writers whose plays were first performed here in the early days of the 20th century. These included W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, John Millington Synge, George Moore, and Sean O'Casey. Equally importantly, through the introduction by Yeats, via Ezra Pound, of elements of the Noh theatre of Japan, a tendency to mythologise quotidian situations, and a particularly strong focus on writings in dialects of Hiberno-English, the Abbey was to create a style that held a strong fascination for future Irish dramatists. Indeed, it could almost be said that the Abbey created the basic elements of a national theatrical style.

This period also saw a rise in the writing of plays in Irish, especially after the formation, in 1928, of An Taidhbhearc, a theatre dedicated to the Irish language. The Gate Theatre, also founded in 1928 under the direction of Hilton Edwards and Micheál MacLiammoir, introduced Irish audiences to many of the classics of the European stage.

Mid 20th century
The twentieth century saw a number of Irish playwrights come to prominence. Samuel Beckett is probably the most significant of these. Beckett had a long career as a novelist and poet before his first play, Waiting for Godot (1953) made him famous. This play, along with his second, Endgame, is one of the great works of absurdist theatre. Beckett was awarded for the Nobel Prize in 1969.

The Lyric Theatre, founded in 1944 by Austin Clarke was based in the Abbey until 1951 and produced many of Clarke's own verse plays. From the mid 1950s, the Unitarian Church at St Stephen's Green, Dublin was home to Amharclann an Damer/The Damer Theatre. The Damer produced both professional and amateur Irish language theatre. The world premier of Brendan Behan's An Giall (The Hostage) took place here in 1958. The theatre closed in 1976. Behan went on to be an extremely popular dramatist, particularly through his work with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Royal in Stratford, East London.

Other important Irish dramatists of this period include: Denis Johnston, Thomas Kilroy, Tom Murphy, Hugh Leonard, Frank McGuinness,and John B. Keane.

Recent developments
In general, the Abbey was the dominant influence in theatre in Ireland across the 20th century. Beckett's example has been almost entirely ignored, although his plays are regularly performed on the Irish stage. Behan, in his use of song and direct address to the audience, was influenced by Bertolt Brecht and Denis Johnston used modernist techniques including found texts and collage, but their works had little impact on the dramatists who came after them. In the 1970s and 1980s, a number of companies emerged to challenge the Abbey's dominance and introduce different styles and approaches. These included Focus Theatre, The Children's T Company, the Project Theatre Company, Red Kettle, Druid Theatre, TEAM and Field Day. These companies nurtured a number of writers, actors, and directors who went on to be successful in London, Broadway and Hollywood or in other literary fields. These include Joe O Byrne, Peter Sheridan, Brian Friel, Stephen Rea, Garry Hynes, Martin McDonagh, Conor McPherson, Marina Carr, Jimmy Murphy, Billy Roche and Gabriel Byrne.

In the 1990s and 2000s a new wave of theatre companies arrived. These include: Bedrock, Blue Raincoat, B*spoke, The Corn Exchange, Corcadorca, Fishamble, Pan Pan, Playgroup, Raw, Rough Magic, and Tardy Lasso.

References
For the text in Gaelic Irish of the Colloquy of Fintan and the Hawk, http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/G109001/index.html
Christopher Morash: A History of Irish Theatre 1601–2000
The Abbey Theatre
Beckett
Boucicault
The Gaiety Theatre
The Gate Theatre
Drama and Theatre Studies at Trinity College
Irish Writers Online
An Taidhbhearc
Shaw
Wilde
The Irish Playography
The Irish Theatre Handbook
[edit] See also
Irish literature
List of Irish dramatists
List of Irish theatres and theatre companies
Irish fiction
Irish poetry
List of Irish poets

Irish Drama

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:34:00 +0000

http://www.hsc.csu.edu.au/drama/hsc/studies/irish_drama/2759/Irish_theatre.htm
Introduction
This unit looks at the contextualising of Irish Drama from Synge to McDonagh. It encourages students to explore theoretically and experientially the theatrical forms and dramatic techniques that some prominent Irish playwrights have used to represent Ireland on stage.

Ireland
Context
History
Political context
Cultural context
Cultural identity
Social context
Northern Ireland

Dramatic history
Earlier theatre
The Fay Bothers
Edward Martyn
George Moore
Sean O’Casey
John Millington Synge
Brendan Behan

Features of Irish drama

The prescribed texts
The Playboy of the Western World
The Plough and the Stars
Dancing at Lughnasa
The Beauty Queen of Leenane

The playwrights
J.M.Synge
Sean O’Casey
Brian Friel
Martin McDonagh

Theatre companies

Activities
Background study
The language
Script interpretation
Improvisation\playbuilding

Extension activities
Additional activities

Irish Plays Database

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:31:00 +0000

http://www.irishplayography.com/search/alphasearch.asp
A -Z by Title

The Irish Playography found 485 results matching your query

Play Title

Author

A Beginning of Truth G.P. Gallivan

A Better Place Robert Hogan

A Borderline Case Harry Barton

A Bottle Of Smoke Harriet O'Carroll

A Bride for the Unicorn Denis Johnston

A Brief Taste of Lightning Malcolm Hamilton

A Bronze Twist of Your Serpent Muscles Gavin Quinn

A Bunch of Lavender Jane Barlow

A Close Shave with the Devil Ena May

A Cold House Brian Campbell, Laurence McKeown

A Country in Our Heads Dolores Walshe

A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer's Assistant Tom Murphy (1)

A Cry From Heaven Vincent Woods

A Day in the Life of a Pencil Raymond Scannell

A Deadly Weapon Laurie Brooks

A Death at 16 Prince Regen Platz Tom Walsh

A Deuce O' Jacks F R Higgins

A Different Rhyme Lorraine O'Brien

A Disciple Teresa Deevy

A Fishpond All On Fire Tif Eccles

A Flutter of Wings T.C. Murray

A Galway Girl Geraldine Aron

A Handful of Stars Billy Roche

A Jew Called Sammy John McCann (1)

A Leap in the Dark Hugh Leonard

A Leprecaun in the Tenement M.M. Brennan

A Life Hugh Leonard

A Light In the Sky Donal Giltinan

A Light in the Window of Industry Conor McPherson

A Little Bit of Blue Alan Archbold

A Little Like Paradise Niall Williams

A Little Winter Love Alun Owen

A Lock of the General's Hair Jack Loudan

A Loud Bang on June the First Wesley Burrowes

A Love Song for Ulster Bill Morrison

A Majority of One William Liddell

A Matter of Practice Cyril Daly

A Merry Death Nikolai Evreinov

A Minute of Your Time Richard Dormer, Karl Wallace

A Minute's Wait Martin J McHugh

A Miracle in Ballymore Brian Foster

A Most Notorious Woman Maggie Cronin

A Mother's Heart Pearse Elliot

A Moving Destiny Deirdre Hines

A Night In November Marie Jones (1)

A Page of History Eilis Dillon

A Picture of Me Louis Lovett

A Picture of Paradise Jimmy Murphy

A Piece of Monologue Samuel Beckett

A Play on Two Chairs Michael West

A Pound on Demand Sean O'Casey

A Priest in the Family John Synge, Kieran Tunney

A Quiet Life Nicholas Kelly

A Quiet Twelfth Hugh Quinn

A Rage to be Free Fred Williams

A Really Big Bed Nell McCafferty

A Right Rose Tree Michael Joseph (M.J.) Molloy

A Riverside Charade Bryan Walter Guiness

A Rogue of Low Degree Eamon Kelly

A Royal Alliance Fergus O'Nolan

A Saint of Little Consequence John Crilley

A Serious Thing Oliver St John Gogarty

A Short Walk to the Sea Desmond Hogan

A Skull in Connemara Martin McDonagh

A Slipper for the Moon Micheál Mac Liammóir

A Spot in the Sun T.C. Murray

A Sunset Touch Michael Mulvihill

A Tale After School James Douglas

A Thief of a Christmas Tom Murphy (1)

A Thin Red Line Seamus Moran

A Title for Buxey Cecil Cree

A Tree in the Crescent Maura Laverty

A Trinity of Two Ulick O'Connor

A Very Weird Manor Marie Jones (1)

A View From the Obelisk Hugh Leonard

A View on Vanessa Sybil Le Brocquy

A Vinegar Fog Malcolm Hamilton

A Walk on the Water Hugh Leonard

A Whistle in the Dark Tom Murphy (1)

A Wife, A Dog And A Maple Tree Sue Ashby

Aaron Thy Brother Conor Farrington

Abdication H.T. Lowe-Porter

Absent Comrades Bill Murphy

Aceldama Jimmy Murphy

Act Without Words 1 Samuel Beckett

Act Without Words 11 Samuel Beckett

Adrenalin Paul Walker

Affluence Wesley Burrowes

After Easter Anne Devlin

Aftermath T.C. Murray

Afterplay Brian Friel

Against the Wall Devised by David Byrne in collaboration with the actors.

Ages of the Moon Sam Shepard

Ah Well, It Won't Be Long Now! Mary Manning (1)

Aisling Maurice G. Meldon

Alarm Among the Clerks Mervyn Wall

Alice Trilogy Tom Murphy (1)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Paul Boyd

Aliens Rose MacKenna

All Being Well Damian Gorman

All Gods Die on Friday Michael McDonnell

All In Favour Said No! Bernard Farrell

All Over Town Phillip McMahon

All Soul's Night Joseph Tomelty

All the King's Horses John McDonnell

All The Way Back Bernard Farrell

All Those Trammelling Dreams Colin O'Connor

All You Need John Lynch(1)

All's Over, Then? Lennox Robinson

Alone It Stands John Breen

Alternative Future Gary Mitchell

Amazing Grace Michael Harding

Ambrose and the Gumblewhumps Roger Gregg

America '87 Eugene O'Brien

Amphibians Billy Roche

Amy the Vampire (& her Sister Martina) Gavin Quinn

An Apple A Day Elizabeth Connor

An Apple a Day John McDonnell

An Evening In Paul Shephard

An Imaginary Conversation Norreys Connell

And Him Stretched Patrick Galvin

And Then Came Jonathan Michael Judge

And they used to star in Movies Campbell Black

Andante Un Poco Mosso Jennifer Johnston

Angel/Babel Roger Doyle, Olwen Fouéré, Leon Ingulsrud

Ann Kavanagh Dorothy Macardle

Annabelle's Star Raymond Keane, Mary McNally

Anna's Ankle Mark O'Rowe

Another Day Tom O'Neill

Anti-Christ Frank J. Hugh O'Donnell

Anyone Could Rob A Bank Tom Coffey

Anything But the Truth Christine Longford

Apartments Fand O'Grady

Apocalypse, Then Ciaran Fitzpatrick, John McCarthy(1)

Apollo in Mourne Richard Rowley ..........

Books in the Media

noreply@blogger.com (Annette J Dunlea Irish Author) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:51:00 +0000

List
1. The Child Thief by Brom
http://astore.amazon.com/annduniriwri-20/detail/0061671339

2. My Revolutions by Hari Kunzru
http://astore.amazon.com/annduniriwri-20/detail/0452290023

3. The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubas
http://astore.amazon.com/annduniriwri-20/detail/0393335305

4. The Storm of War by Andrew Roberts
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Storm-War-History-Second-World/dp/0713999705/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258472711&sr=1-1

5. Tickling the English by Dara O' Briain
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tickling-English-Dara-O-Briain/dp/0718154371/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258472827&sr=1-1

6. Transition by Ian Banks
http://astore.amazon.com/annduniriwri-20/detail/0316071986

7. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelcho
http://astore.amazon.com/annduniriwri-20/detail/0061122416

8. The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan
http://astore.amazon.com/annduniriwri-20/detail/0765302306

9. Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling by Stephen J Levitt
http://astore.amazon.com/annduniriwri-20/detail/0060889578