Pollard poetry prize shortlist revealed

Books newsletter: Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award; Ballyscullion Park Book Festival; Irish Writers Centre events; ACIS award for Arlen House; Cló Iar-Chonnacht and Cúirt turn 40; Seachtain na Gaeilge

Belfast poet Scott McKendry
Belfast poet Scott McKendry

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In The Irish Times tomorrow, Colum McCann tells me about his new novel, Twist, and several other projects; Robert Plunket talks to John Self about the reissue by Penguin Classics of his hilarious1983 novel, My Search for Warren Harding. Former Irish Times journalist Patrick Smyth write about his mother, the distinguished writer Jennifer Johnston, who died this week, and her troubled relationship with her father, the playwright Denis Johnston. Patrick Holloway, whose debut novel The Language Of Remembering is just out, writes about the violent incident in Brazil that made him come home. And there is a Q&A with Carmel Harrington about her latest novel, The Stolen Child.

Reviews are Kevin Power on Minority Rule: Adventures in the Culture War by Ash Sarkar; Ian Hughes on Indulging Kleptocracy: British Service Providers, Postcommunist Elites, and the Enabling of Corruption by John Heathershaw, Tena Prelec, and Tom Mayne; Lucy Sweeney-Byrne on Theory & Practice by Michelle de Kretser; Catherine Taylor on the best new translations; Naoise Dolan on Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis; Barry O’Halloran on Aerdogs by Tom Lyons; Doreen Cunningham on Mother Animal by Helen Jukes; Henrietta McKervey on The Woman in the Wallpaper by Lora Jones; NJ McGarrigle on Picnic on Craggy Island: The Surreal Joys of Producing Father Ted by Lissa Evans; Eilis Ní Dhuibhne on The Language of Remembering by Patrick Holloway; John Boyne on Dark Like Under by Alice Chadwick; Philippa Conlon on The Artist by Lucy Steeds; and Adam Coleman on Liberty as Independence by Quentin Skinner.

This weekend’s Irish Times reader offer is Night Swimmers by Roisin Maguire, just €5.99, a €6 saving.

Eason offer
Eason offer

The shortlist for the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize 2025 has been announced by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre. This is the seventh year of the prize, awarded annually for an outstanding debut collection of poetry in the English language.

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Valued at €10,000, the prize is sponsored by the John Pollard Foundation, and administered by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre in the School of English at Trinity College Dublin.

The patron is Stephen Vernon, who named the foundation in memory of his grandfather, John Pollard. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Trinity in April.

The shortlisted publications are: Christine Roseeta Walker’s Coco Island (Carcanet Press); Gboyega Odubanjo’s Adam (Faber & Faber); Gustav Parker Hibbett’s High Jump as Icarus Story (Banshee Press); Scott McKendry’s Gub (Corsair Poetry); and Erin Marie Lynch’s Removal Acts (Graywolf Press)

Announcing the shortlist, chair of the judging panel, Prof Eoin McNamee, director of the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre, said: “As always it is a privilege for myself and fellow judges Tom Walker and Una Mannion to read and debate the work of these poets in their first collections. There is a rigour, political alertness and attention to beauty to this year’s shortlist, a necessary sense of worlds being made anew. The future isn’t assured but sometimes it is in better hands than we think.”

Previous winners were Hannah Sullivan (2019); Isabel Galleymore (2020); Diane Louie (2021); Gail McConnell (2022); Victoria Adukwei Bulley (2023); Patrick James Errington (2024)

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Colin Barrett and Ferdia Lennon have been longlisted for the annual Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, now in its 71st year.

The longlisted titles are Wild Houses by Colin Barrett; All My Precious Madness by Mark Bowles; The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley; The Painter’s Daughters by Emily Howes; Going Home by Tom Lamont; Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon; Dominoes by Phoebe McIntosh; Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands; The Borrowed Hills by Scott Preston; Manny and the Baby by Varaidzo; Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili; and Tiananmen Square by Lai Wen.

The shortlist will be announced on March 24th and the winner on May 21st.

The winning novel will be selected by novelist Tracy Chevalier, from a shortlist drawn up by a panel of Authors’ Club members, chaired by Popescu, who said: “We are delighted to announce our longlist of twelve brilliant debuts. The novels cover complex family dynamics, state repression, slavery, identity, prejudice and survival, ADHD, masculinity, loss and bereavement. These diverse and compelling narratives are utterly original and written with real flair and compassion.”

The £2,500 prize is open to any debut novel written in English and published in the UK in 2024. The prize of £2500 exists to support UK-based authors, publishers and agents, so the novel must originate in the UK and not have been published anywhere else in the world before its UK publication. Now in its 71st year, it is the longest-running UK prize for debut fiction and – except for the James Tait Black and the Hawthornden – the oldest literary prize in Britain.

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Ballyscullion Park Book Festival, which runs from Saturday to Sunday, May 10th and 11th, in the heart of Seamus Heaney country, has announced its programme. Highlights include internationally renowned author Louis de Bernières, artist and 2023 Sky Portrait Artist of the Decade Gareth Reid, award-winning novelist and journalist Martina Devlin, Dr Sophia Hillan, author of May, Lou and Cass: Jane Austen’s Nieces in Ireland; Dr Roy Foster Emeritus Professor of History at Oxford; and cultural commentator Carlo Gébler ; Owen O’Neill award-winning writer of stage and screen and stand-up comedian; Dr Caroline Campbell Director of the National Gallery of Ireland. There will also be panel discussions on topical issues, in association with the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, and the Irrawaddy Literary Festival.

Festival Director Rosalind Mulholland said: “We are delighted to reveal the programme for this year’s festival. It is a privilege to host such a wide range of incredibly gifted writers across the festival weekend. From internationally renowned authors, playwrights and artists, it is shaping up to be an unforgettable 2 days. We also hope the festival will attract visitors from near and far as well as showcase our beautiful region as a must visit NI destination.”

Details here.

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The Irish Writers Centre has announced two new events taking place in its Dublin residence in Parnell Square this March and April. At the centre’s biannual Publishing Day (Saturday, March 29th, 10am – 4.30pm, tickets cost: €55/€50. Details here), get acquainted with Ireland’s publishing scene and gain some valuable insights into this constantly changing industry. The line-up of speakers includes award-winning writer, Nuala O’Connor and representatives from Hachette Ireland, Sandycove, The Dublin Review and New Island Books. The centre will also hold a special spoken word showcase, Words in the Air on Parnell Square (Saturday, April 5th, 7.30-9pm, tickets cost: €30/€27 More details here) hosted by Ireland Professor of Poetry and Pulitzer Prize winner, Paul Muldoon.

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Arlen House, currently celebrating its 50th year, has this week been awarded an international book prize from ACIS, the world’s biggest organisation promoting Irish studies. At their annual conference held in Savannah, Georgia, a groundbreaking book on gay Irish writing, Teanga don Tost, written by Sean Mac Risteaird, won a literary criticism award. At the conference, publisher Alan Hayes ran a showcase of contemporary Irish publishing and writing. He is now donating over 200 books from Ireland’s finest presses, including Salmon, Dedalus, Gallery, Tramp, New Island, Lilliput, Banshee, Attic and Arlen House, to build an Irish library at the Centre for Irish Studies at Georgia Southern University. Savannah has a thriving Irish population and holds the second biggest St Patrick’s Day parade in the US with over 1 million attendees.

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Cló Iar-Chonnacht and Cúirt International Festival of Literature both turn 40 in 2025, celebrating with a series of special events showcasing Irish-language literature, music, and poetry.

Since 1985, Cló Iar-Chonnacht has been a driving force in Irish-language publishing, producing over 400 books and 200 albums spanning fiction, nonfiction and traditional music.

Festival highlights include a poetry reading in association with Arts in Action, with Áine Ní Ghlinn and Moya Roddy at the University of Galway on Thursday, April 10th, and a full day of events at An Taibhdhearc Theatre on Sunday, April 13th featuring:

Dinnseanchas – Tír Chonaill, which explores place lore with Donegal Gaeltacht writers Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair and Michelle Nic Pháidín.

Ar Thóir Bhríd Ní Mháille blends song, prose, and the traditional art of keening in a performance featuring Bridie Ní Churraoin, Caitlín Ní Chualáin, Eoghan Ó Riada, and Micheál Ó Conghaile.

Ceiliúradh ceoil agus filíochta, inspired by Leabhar Mór na nAmhrán and Gearr Gonta: Céad Dán le Céad File, featuring poetry and live music from Lillis Ó Laoire, Caitlín Ní Chualáin, Máirtín Tom Sheáinín, Nóirín Ní Ghrádaigh, Colm Ó Dubháin, and special guests. cuirt.ie/whats-on/

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Laureate na nÓg, Patricia Forde, will encourage adults who want to pass on the Irish language to the next generation, to read as Gaeilge with the children and young people in their lives.

In advance of Seachtain na Gaeilge, Forde will launch a new Irish language reading guide, Treoirleabhar Léitheoireachta 2025, today. The guide is a collaboration between Foras na Gaeilge and Children’s Books Ireland, with the support of Love Leabhar Gaeilge.

Forde said: “Our language and culture is steeped in the traditions of storytelling, so what better way to keep Irish alive in our homes, or to find a way into the language as a learner, than through children’s books.

Treoirleabhar Léitheoireachta 2025 from Children’s Books Ireland, is filled with 100 brilliant recommendations, encouraging young readers aged 0–18 to pick up a book as Gaeilge. I believe that one of the best places to start with language learning is to pick up a book, exploring new words together with the help of illustrations, rhyming text and the excitement of a brand-new story.”

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