Loads of time lately devoted to organising and publicising and sending out invites for the book-launch in Drogheda of my new poetry collection from Lapwing Publications of Belfast - probably the only poetry publisher around would take on my long poems (some here up to 5 and 7 pages).
It's called GREYBELL WOOD AND BEYOND.
55 pages of quirky and idiosyncratic stuff offering snapshots and mini-dramas from my life experiences and observations and my first solo run at poetry. I now have copies - looks good. On the cover is the black-and-white photo taken by my dad long years ago of my mum, sister and me sitting on a fallen tree in a bluebell wood.
It's what prompted the title poem "Greybell Wood", which started as a fairly short nostalgia piece but grew over successive revises into a study of the way memory works and the power of photographs to trigger emotions and other cogitations. Strange where the creative process takes you.
The same could be said of other poems including "Reunion" which follows my year at college through their lives and careers over 50 years - now there's ambitious for you!
The book-launch is on 21st September followed by one in Dublin on October 5th. Otherwise, nail-biting time waiting to hear if I'm on a panel at Bouchercon 2010, the big crime fiction convention in San Francisco I'm going to in October.
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Friday, September 10, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
CLASSICS, CRIME AND LOADS OF CHAT
I attended the excellent Summer School of the Classical Association of Ireland at Trinity College this weekend. Two really fascinating talks by Andrew Wallace-Hadrill about how the ruins of Herculaneum (the other Roman town buried by Vesuvius at the same time as Pompeii) were discovered and at least partially unearthed over succeeding centuries and about how the parts so far exposed are being restored and preserved.
The problems here are that the volcanic material that overtook the town and flowed into all spaces solidified into rock which is difficult to drill out plus that a modern town was built on top, which doesn’t make the archaeologists’ work easy.
Some beautiful and revealing photographs and interesting old newsreel material of archaeological teams at work in the first half of the 20th. century. Useful titbits garnered as well from other talks about ancient Greek houses and temples. Individuals among this gathering of very friendly people – teachers, academics and enthusiasts - showed interest in my novel and there was much congenial conversation.
Launch of my new collection of poems Bluebell Wood and Beyond comes next in late September and early October in Drogheda and Dublin and then, in mid-November, the big adventure of attending Bouchercon in San Francisco, perhaps the most heavily attended of all the crime fiction conventions.
It sounds very exciting.
With luck I get to meet my heroes – Steven Saylor and Lindsey Davis whose series of novels in their different styles about Ancient Roman detectives Gordianus and Falco defined the genre and laid down the high standard to be aimed for.
The problems here are that the volcanic material that overtook the town and flowed into all spaces solidified into rock which is difficult to drill out plus that a modern town was built on top, which doesn’t make the archaeologists’ work easy.
Some beautiful and revealing photographs and interesting old newsreel material of archaeological teams at work in the first half of the 20th. century. Useful titbits garnered as well from other talks about ancient Greek houses and temples. Individuals among this gathering of very friendly people – teachers, academics and enthusiasts - showed interest in my novel and there was much congenial conversation.
Launch of my new collection of poems Bluebell Wood and Beyond comes next in late September and early October in Drogheda and Dublin and then, in mid-November, the big adventure of attending Bouchercon in San Francisco, perhaps the most heavily attended of all the crime fiction conventions.
It sounds very exciting.
With luck I get to meet my heroes – Steven Saylor and Lindsey Davis whose series of novels in their different styles about Ancient Roman detectives Gordianus and Falco defined the genre and laid down the high standard to be aimed for.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
NEWS FROM THE HOME FRONT
NEWS FROM THE HOME FRONT
Today I’m going to exploit the opportunity to be a bit more personal if only because of the recent good happenings on that front. First the news that Lapwing Publications of Belfast are to publish soon a collection of my poems called Greybell Wood and Beyond. Sorry if poetry’s not your cup of tea but it’s my first solo run, so I’m excited about it, quite apart from the rush of having to tidy the poems up and polish them. I also found it great fun hosting various literary events and readings at Boyne Books in Drogheda in the second half of last year, a really atmospheric new resource for the artistic community in the town.
Even more exciting is the arrival of grandson Oisin Alexander nearly three months ago to Simon and Teresa in Dublin to join two-year-old sister Alana. He was just in time for family gathering we had at Christmas when younger son Brian and granddaughter Tara (9 years) came over from the UK - a rare occurrence. Plus a niece and her brood joined us. All highly enjoyable. The pantomime was fun too.
I’m finally getting myself organised to take to the road (metaphorically, of course). There’s the blogging here for one. Then, I’ll be talking about ‘Classics into Fiction’ and how various historical research findings turned into story ideas that became my novel Death Comes by Amphora on Thursday 25 February, 6.30pm, at University College Dublin for the UCD Classics Society – all welcome. Then on March 5th I’m guest-blogging on Julie Lomoe's Musings Mysterioso with a piece called ‘In Pursuit of Plausibility’ which asks how important plausibility is for reader involvement in historical crime fiction and whether, conversely, being too accurate could turn readers off. You’ll have to read it to find out what I mean. I’m hoping to be guest-blogging more over the next few months – I’ll keep you informed. Oh, and I’ve been contributing reviews to Alan Bishop’s Criminal History ezine.
Next time, something more closely related to the thrills and spills of historical crime writing.
Today I’m going to exploit the opportunity to be a bit more personal if only because of the recent good happenings on that front. First the news that Lapwing Publications of Belfast are to publish soon a collection of my poems called Greybell Wood and Beyond. Sorry if poetry’s not your cup of tea but it’s my first solo run, so I’m excited about it, quite apart from the rush of having to tidy the poems up and polish them. I also found it great fun hosting various literary events and readings at Boyne Books in Drogheda in the second half of last year, a really atmospheric new resource for the artistic community in the town.
Even more exciting is the arrival of grandson Oisin Alexander nearly three months ago to Simon and Teresa in Dublin to join two-year-old sister Alana. He was just in time for family gathering we had at Christmas when younger son Brian and granddaughter Tara (9 years) came over from the UK - a rare occurrence. Plus a niece and her brood joined us. All highly enjoyable. The pantomime was fun too.
I’m finally getting myself organised to take to the road (metaphorically, of course). There’s the blogging here for one. Then, I’ll be talking about ‘Classics into Fiction’ and how various historical research findings turned into story ideas that became my novel Death Comes by Amphora on Thursday 25 February, 6.30pm, at University College Dublin for the UCD Classics Society – all welcome. Then on March 5th I’m guest-blogging on Julie Lomoe's Musings Mysterioso with a piece called ‘In Pursuit of Plausibility’ which asks how important plausibility is for reader involvement in historical crime fiction and whether, conversely, being too accurate could turn readers off. You’ll have to read it to find out what I mean. I’m hoping to be guest-blogging more over the next few months – I’ll keep you informed. Oh, and I’ve been contributing reviews to Alan Bishop’s Criminal History ezine.
Next time, something more closely related to the thrills and spills of historical crime writing.
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