The following is the incredible address that Damian Smyth* gave to launch Maeve O'Sullivan's latest book of poetry, Vocal Chords**. Maeve lives in Dublin and has led a number of haiku workshop retreats at Anam Cara with Kim Richardson.
I want to thank Kim [Richardson***] and Alba Publishing for the hospitality this evening and, of course, for the events to unfold a little later. I want to thank Maeve and Kim for inviting me to say a few words to launch this significant volume of poetry. It’s an honour and it is a pleasure and, in return, my gift to you is my intention not to delay you long.
But sometimes it's hard to keep faith with poetry. All that archness and posture, the rune and the chant, averted head and evil eye that John Montague talked about. Stiff and mannered and off-putting and a bit fusty and a bit full of yourself and more than a bit fey and more than a bit difficult.
All my life I think there's hardly been a waking hour when some version of poetry hasn't preoccupied me and sometimes I think it's like fly fishing or embroidery or an obsession with bus timetables from services that no longer run; imaginary journeys through fanciful landscapes ushered in by a language of odd syntax and odder grammar.
And it appears as counter-intuitive like being able to remember people's names but not their faces. Some peculiar ailment.
It's not fanciful. This disquiet, this unease, this assumption that it somehow matters that such a peculiar register of the voice is reached and sustained. Does it matter? Can we account for all the hours of reflection on this little thing, our life? And the lives of others?
And then, out of nowhere, when you least expect it, something is overheard on a bus or stumbled across in a letter or newspaper or something falls out of a book that looks like a book of poems, which has exactly that ease and grace and poise which makes the heart secretly inflate ...
‘Our round window looks out
onto the lush garden.
The place is warm, and well-run
But it’s not my home.’
…
How simple is that? How much love and commitment and companionship and how much abandonment? Suddenly, all the toil and bother and interrogation vanishes and is replaced by that unique power and quality of poetry to deliver what only it can, simply, directly, but not without magic.
‘All week herons have been appearing:
on the page, on water, in the air’;
…
'This is how I would like my three sisters to be:
close, relaxed, hanging out happily'
…
'She takes a notion to defrost the fridge-freezer:
attacking the ice with steam and a blunt scissors';
…
'And I thought I knew something
about rhythm, and the west';
…
'He is from County Leitrim, and proud of it.
'Lowest birth rate in the country', he says,
'but I'm going to change all that'.
…
That drop into poetry is exhilarating to me, so clearly effective in setting up mood for a change of tone or emphasis, such a self-confidence in the strength of the poetic voice which is already on its way. For me, that is a mark of real poetry at work. Unforced, relaxed, self-assured, engaging, lulling. This poetry has a lovely character.
…
Though not quite overheard on a bus or stumbled across in a letter or newspaper, Maeve O’Sullivan’s poetry arrived with me through the shorter form of poems in a few journals and magazines and then, in full volume, through the miracle of social media. Or, rather, the miracle of my engagement with social media, Twitter to be precise, a medium I fought against and resisted for years but was finally forced into by my employers. Happily, unexpectedly, through the simple confluence of interest and comment, I grew more familiar with Maeve’s work, her thinking, her writing, her – if I may use this word, and I think I may – her art. Now in two volumes, first Initial Response, her exquisite haikus; and in Vocal Chords, she has come in and come out as a writer, as a poet, as an artist.
Too often, writers shy away from that word. It is left to the visual artists – who carry the word in their very degree – and often the classical musician. Writers can talk about the artform or the artistry of certain passages; but describing themselves as ‘artists’ can seem an uncomfortable category, one at odds with the fake democracy of writers and with the apparent ubiquity of words themselves. Art might make us look and sound as if we thought ourselves prophets of old, Magi of a kind, a priesthood.
Writers aren’t that, of course. But they are artists; in the sense that the effects aspired to are best achieved through the deployment of artistic skills, hard won, honed, practiced and polished.
This isn’t about formal trickery.
Because poetry is about itself. It declares itself in the first words, in rhythm and perspective and insight; it is engaging and friendly and subtle and full of mischief. Something nerveless also; something candid and merciless:
And when at last I’m put into the ground,
Or else cremated, ashes back to Gaia,
Book by book, my library will burn down,
Consuming, then, my memory, my sensorium.
All of which is, quite honestly, simply to say that all the form in the world does not make a poem. The poem is elsewhere than in the form though it is invisible and inaudible without the form. This is a very long winded way of saying that the poems in Maeve O’Sullivan’s collection which employ certain forms, especially the villanelles, are true, true, true poems. Their character is lifted, amplified, shaped, moulded, delivered uniquely by the form chosen, elegantly executed, beautifully apt.
Sweet as a nut - exact, perfect, full to its particular edges, from the inside out. There is a satisfaction to be derived from poems as ‘New Time Waltz’ and ‘Snowdonian’ which cannot be achieved in any other way than formal dexterity embracing genuine delicacy and precision of thought.
Of course, the sections define themselves. Gorgeous attention to colour and water and stone and the resonances of 'human hurt'. (The poems engage, in their moods and challenges, some of which are quite vexing and difficult to tolerate.) There are poems which just work and move profoundly because they work. The set-piece sojourns in the care home are strenuous ethically. Extremely difficult matter, calling for extremely cautious judgements delivered again and again, line by line, clear-eyed, cool, restrained, measured, loaded, but charming in the best sense.
The poems are beyond balladry - though there is a ballade mood; it is beyond song as such, though songs and music are threaded through the book; it is beyond minstrelsy, though a fugitive soul is alive in the poems and in the work as a whole.
The whole collection drifts through a life and exposes quietly the life of the poet, in diverse detail in a variety of locations through the poetry, poem by poem, and this particular poem evokes and pro-vokes poems to come.
Song is the legacy certainly but the poems are vigorous and confrontational (in that they face in to big themes, especially loss and erasure and death and the dramatic poses those things strike in a life.)
Hits? As I go through the book there is so much that is good and in different varieties of good. Everyone wants hits - Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair; Objet d'Art, Snowdonian, Your Shangri La, New Drumbeat, Fathomless, Ruffled (extraordinary, memorable), every item in the third section (its nail ready to scratch), Heartwood (my word!), Drumshanbo, Vocal Chords itself ... among others.
I haven't said everything I want to say about these poems and this book, but I think I might have said everything you all want me to say! (But how clever some of the poems are, not just in formal terms though that too.)
Anyway, Maeve, enjoy the evening. The rest of us will attend to the readings, enjoy the music, savour the moods and, in our time, read and live with the book itself.
*Damian Smyth’s first collection, Downpatrick Races, was published by Lagan Press in 2000, and this was followed by his remarkable epic poem, "The Down Recorder." In 2010, Lagan Press published another collection by Damian, Market Street, and ‘Lamentations’, a sequence of seventy brief elegies. his next collection, Mesopotamia, is forthcoming this year by Templar Poetry.
**Vocal Chords is available: via the Alba website (www.albapublishing.com), in Books Upstairs in Dublin or directly from Maeve (@maeveos on Twitter or writefromwithin@gmail.com).
***Kim is leading his second silent retreat -- "Loosening the Bonds" -- at Anam Cara from 16-22 August 2014.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Writer-in-Residence Publishes Another Novel!
Sue Guiney’s latest novel, Out of the Ruins, is being published and is now available in paperback and ebooks.
This is the second in her series of novels set in modern day Cambodia. It imagines a clinic founded by Khmer and Westerners working together to battle the very real issues of women's health care among the poor living within Siem Reap, a city steeped in a glorious past and hurtling towards an unsure future. It also takes a hard look at the sex trade and asks the question, how can good and evil reside together within the same heart.
Although this isn’t a sequel to her first Cambodian novel, A Clash of Innocents, it does have some overlapping characters and concerns. It’s more of a companion piece to the first book, although reading both books makes it an even better experience. Of A Clash of Innocents, Anam Cara alumna and much-published author Tania Hershman said: "This is a story that will grip you, with its very real and flawed protagonists and fascinating setting. I read the book straight through, I was utterly absorbed."
In the UK, the book can be found or ordered in all good bookshops. In the rest of the world, as well as the UK, you can find it on Amazon, or The Book Depository http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Out-Ruins-Sue-Guiney/9781908742438
Or you can buy it directly from the publisher http://www.wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-sue-guiney-out-of-the-ruins.htm.
This is the second in her series of novels set in modern day Cambodia. It imagines a clinic founded by Khmer and Westerners working together to battle the very real issues of women's health care among the poor living within Siem Reap, a city steeped in a glorious past and hurtling towards an unsure future. It also takes a hard look at the sex trade and asks the question, how can good and evil reside together within the same heart.
Although this isn’t a sequel to her first Cambodian novel, A Clash of Innocents, it does have some overlapping characters and concerns. It’s more of a companion piece to the first book, although reading both books makes it an even better experience. Of A Clash of Innocents, Anam Cara alumna and much-published author Tania Hershman said: "This is a story that will grip you, with its very real and flawed protagonists and fascinating setting. I read the book straight through, I was utterly absorbed."
In the UK, the book can be found or ordered in all good bookshops. In the rest of the world, as well as the UK, you can find it on Amazon, or The Book Depository http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Out-Ruins-Sue-Guiney/9781908742438
Or you can buy it directly from the publisher http://www.wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-sue-guiney-out-of-the-ruins.htm.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
The Stinging Fly Announces Short Story Competition for 2014
We are delighted to announce the return of Ireland's biggest short story competition: the Davy Byrnes Short Story Award 2014
€15,000 for the best short story plus five runner-up prizes of €1,000
Competition Judges: Anne Enright (right), Yiyun Li and Jon McGregor
Sponsored by Davy Byrnes and organised by The Stinging Fly in association with Dublin UNESCO City of Literature
—The competition is open to Irish citizens and to writers who are resident or were born in the thirty-two counties. Entries must consist of a previously unpublished short story written in English. The maximum word count is 15,000 words, no minimum. Only one story per entrant.
—We will be accepting entries from December 1st 2013. No online entries. Entries must be posted/delivered to Davy Byrnes Short Story Award, c/o Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, Dublin City Libraries, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
—The deadline for receipt of entries is Monday Feb 3rd 2014. There is a €10 entry fee, payable online or by cheque/postal order.
—The six short-listed writers will be announced in late May/early June 2014 and the overall winner announced in June 2014.
We are very grateful to Redmond Doran of Davy Byrnes for the generous sponsorship, and to the office of Dublin UNESCO City of Literature for their support.
€15,000 for the best short story plus five runner-up prizes of €1,000
Competition Judges: Anne Enright (right), Yiyun Li and Jon McGregor
Sponsored by Davy Byrnes and organised by The Stinging Fly in association with Dublin UNESCO City of Literature
—The competition is open to Irish citizens and to writers who are resident or were born in the thirty-two counties. Entries must consist of a previously unpublished short story written in English. The maximum word count is 15,000 words, no minimum. Only one story per entrant.
—We will be accepting entries from December 1st 2013. No online entries. Entries must be posted/delivered to Davy Byrnes Short Story Award, c/o Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, Dublin City Libraries, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
—The deadline for receipt of entries is Monday Feb 3rd 2014. There is a €10 entry fee, payable online or by cheque/postal order.
—The six short-listed writers will be announced in late May/early June 2014 and the overall winner announced in June 2014.
We are very grateful to Redmond Doran of Davy Byrnes for the generous sponsorship, and to the office of Dublin UNESCO City of Literature for their support.
Two Commissions Available for Artists
Ballinamore Community School
Per Cent for Art Scheme
Ballinamore Community School, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim.
071-9644049 office@ballinamorecs.ie
Under the Per Cent for Art Scheme Ballinamore Community School wishes to commission new visual artwork to celebrate and coincide with the construction and opening of Ballinamore Community School.
The aim of the commission is to provide an opportunity for artists to develop new work influenced by the history, context, and aspirations of the students, teachers, parents and community of Ballinamore and the surrounding region.
Projects financed under this scheme should maintain the highest level of artistic excellence, be innovative in nature and display a high level of understanding of the context of the commission.
The project is divided into two separate commissions.
COMMISSION 1 - The first commission is for a collaborative art programme to be explored, developed and completed in conjunction with the students and staff of the school which will result in finished work to be installed internally in the new building (most likely wall mounted). Applicants for Commission 1 should have undertaken a HSE approved Keeping Safe programme or equivalent. The successful applicant will undertake a garda vetting procedure before commencing the commission.
COMMISSION 2 - The second commission is for a piece of fixed permanent public sculpture of resilient and weather resistant material with minimal maintenance requirements. The work is to be situated in a preselected location to the front of the school which is clearly visible from the adjacent public road as well as to all school users.
THE BUDGET
The maximum budget for both commissions is €45,000 inclusive of all artists’ fees, costs, expenses, VAT, insurance and any other charges. It is expected that Commission 1 will have an estimated budget of between €3,000 - €10,000 while Commission 2 will have an estimated budget of between €35,000 - €42,000.
REGISTRATION OF INTEREST
To register your interest in either or both projects, email mailto:office@ballinamorecs.ie or write to Padraig Leyden, Art Commission Coordinator, Community School, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim expressing your interest in the project before 4.00 pm on Friday Feb 7th, 2014 and providing your name, address, telephone number and email address. When registering, please indicate if you intend to attend the project site visit.
Per Cent for Art Scheme
Ballinamore Community School, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim.
071-9644049 office@ballinamorecs.ie
Under the Per Cent for Art Scheme Ballinamore Community School wishes to commission new visual artwork to celebrate and coincide with the construction and opening of Ballinamore Community School.
The aim of the commission is to provide an opportunity for artists to develop new work influenced by the history, context, and aspirations of the students, teachers, parents and community of Ballinamore and the surrounding region.
Projects financed under this scheme should maintain the highest level of artistic excellence, be innovative in nature and display a high level of understanding of the context of the commission.
The project is divided into two separate commissions.
COMMISSION 1 - The first commission is for a collaborative art programme to be explored, developed and completed in conjunction with the students and staff of the school which will result in finished work to be installed internally in the new building (most likely wall mounted). Applicants for Commission 1 should have undertaken a HSE approved Keeping Safe programme or equivalent. The successful applicant will undertake a garda vetting procedure before commencing the commission.
COMMISSION 2 - The second commission is for a piece of fixed permanent public sculpture of resilient and weather resistant material with minimal maintenance requirements. The work is to be situated in a preselected location to the front of the school which is clearly visible from the adjacent public road as well as to all school users.
THE BUDGET
The maximum budget for both commissions is €45,000 inclusive of all artists’ fees, costs, expenses, VAT, insurance and any other charges. It is expected that Commission 1 will have an estimated budget of between €3,000 - €10,000 while Commission 2 will have an estimated budget of between €35,000 - €42,000.
REGISTRATION OF INTEREST
To register your interest in either or both projects, email mailto:office@ballinamorecs.ie or write to Padraig Leyden, Art Commission Coordinator, Community School, Ballinamore, Co Leitrim expressing your interest in the project before 4.00 pm on Friday Feb 7th, 2014 and providing your name, address, telephone number and email address. When registering, please indicate if you intend to attend the project site visit.
Irish Arts Council Announces Fiction Award
The Arts Council has announced that it has established a new award which will honour an outstanding Irish fiction writer, and encourage the next generation of Irish fiction writers.
The Laureate for Irish Fiction has been developed by the Arts Council and is supported by University College Dublin (UCD) and New York University (NYU). The Irish Times is media partner for the Laureate.
The Laureate will be awarded by the Arts Council to an Irish writer of national and international distinction. The honour will be used to promote Irish literature nationally and internationally and to encourage the public to engage with high quality Irish fiction.
The Laureate will have a three-year term. Over the period, he or she will teach creative writing to students at University College Dublin and New York University, will spend time developing his or her own work, and will participate in a number of major, public events and promotions. The Laureate will receive €150,000 over the three years.
The Arts Council will coordinate the nomination process which will begin immediately and include key members of the literary community as well as a spread of national organisations.
The judging panel for the final selection will include a high profile Irish writer, a high profile US writer and representatives from the Arts Council, UCD, NYU and The Irish Times.
Following the announcement in December, Pat Moylan, Chairman of the Arts Council, said: "I am very proud that the Laureate for Irish Fiction has been created by the Arts Council. The Laureate represents a milestone for Irish literature and will place Irish writing at the forefront of global public thought."
The Laureate for Irish Fiction has been developed by the Arts Council and is supported by University College Dublin (UCD) and New York University (NYU). The Irish Times is media partner for the Laureate.
The Laureate will be awarded by the Arts Council to an Irish writer of national and international distinction. The honour will be used to promote Irish literature nationally and internationally and to encourage the public to engage with high quality Irish fiction.
The Laureate will have a three-year term. Over the period, he or she will teach creative writing to students at University College Dublin and New York University, will spend time developing his or her own work, and will participate in a number of major, public events and promotions. The Laureate will receive €150,000 over the three years.
The Arts Council will coordinate the nomination process which will begin immediately and include key members of the literary community as well as a spread of national organisations.
The judging panel for the final selection will include a high profile Irish writer, a high profile US writer and representatives from the Arts Council, UCD, NYU and The Irish Times.
Following the announcement in December, Pat Moylan, Chairman of the Arts Council, said: "I am very proud that the Laureate for Irish Fiction has been created by the Arts Council. The Laureate represents a milestone for Irish literature and will place Irish writing at the forefront of global public thought."
Friday, September 20, 2013
Fish Short Story Prize Deadline Approaching!
Fish Short Story First Prize is €3,000, Second Prize is a Week's Residency at Anam Cara plus €300, and the Ten Best Stories are published in the annual anthology.
From Fish Publishing:
Claire Kilroy is the judge. We are honoured that she will select the best ten stories for publication in the 2014 Fish Anthology. She is the acclaimed author of 4 novels including All Summer, (recipient of the 2004 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and was short-listed for the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award), Tenderwire (shortlisted for the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel Award), All Names Have Been Changed and The Devil I Know.
In 2002 she received an Arts Council Literature Award.
Closing Date: 30 November 2013.
Word limit is 5,000. There is no restriction on theme or style, and the prize is open to writers from all countries who are writing in English.
First Prize: €3,000, of which €1,000 is for travel to the launch of the Fish Anthology in July 2014 at the West Cork Literary Festival.
Second Prize: a week at Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat in West Cork, plus €300.
Third prize: €300.
Entry fee: €20 (€10 subsequent entries). Online Entry. Once you register and enter online, you can login and check your entry(ies) at any time. Results will be announced on 17 March on the Fish website, and sent out in the newsletter.
Enter Online
Stories must not have been published previously and must be eligible for publication in the 2014 Fish Anthology.
Stories cannot be altered or changed after they have been entered. Judging at all stages is anonymous. Names or addresses must not appear on the stories, but on a separate sheet if entering by post, or in the appropriate place if entering online.
Postal entries: €22 (€12 subsequent entries)
Address: Fish Publishing, Durrus, Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland.
Honorary patrons of the Fish Short Story Prize are Roddy Doyle, Dermot Healy and Colum McCann
Online Short Story Writing Course Announced
After the success of both the Online Flash Fiction and Memoir Writing Courses, Fish is proud to announce the launch of the Fish Short Story Writing Course. This tailored online program will not only develop your general writing skills but will explore in depth the potential of the short story genre.
The course offers both new and experienced writers an extensive range of creative ideas and activities to help develop their craft. Course tutor Mary-Jane Holmes will be on hand to offer advice on mastering technique and developing personal style. Each module concentrates on a key aspect of the form, such as shape and structure, narrative perspective and characterization and by the end of the program you will have completed a polished work of short fiction that will be submitted for the Fish Short Story Prize.
For further information please go to Short Story Writing Course
or email: shortstorycourse@fishpublishing.com.
Student Testimonials from Fish Online Courses
Mary Jane’s astute commentaries, her helpful suggestions, her clear understanding of the technicalities of language and its use were placed in informal emails, which were friendly and supportive throughout. Avril Leigh
I enjoyed this course so much and I’m now in possession of a body of my own work complete with superb feedback on all aspects. If I hadn’t taken the course I probably wouldn’t have written much at all over this period. So... thanks! Lucho Payne
My good news is that the story Hummingbird, written as part of the Compression Module, has been shortlisted for NZs National Flash Fiction Day competition :)) pretty thrilling ... thank you so much for everything with this story ... and ALL the stories that have emerged during the past couple months. Leanne Radojkovich
From Fish Publishing:
Claire Kilroy is the judge. We are honoured that she will select the best ten stories for publication in the 2014 Fish Anthology. She is the acclaimed author of 4 novels including All Summer, (recipient of the 2004 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and was short-listed for the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award), Tenderwire (shortlisted for the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel Award), All Names Have Been Changed and The Devil I Know.
In 2002 she received an Arts Council Literature Award.
Closing Date: 30 November 2013.
Word limit is 5,000. There is no restriction on theme or style, and the prize is open to writers from all countries who are writing in English.
First Prize: €3,000, of which €1,000 is for travel to the launch of the Fish Anthology in July 2014 at the West Cork Literary Festival.
Second Prize: a week at Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat in West Cork, plus €300.
Third prize: €300.
Entry fee: €20 (€10 subsequent entries). Online Entry. Once you register and enter online, you can login and check your entry(ies) at any time. Results will be announced on 17 March on the Fish website, and sent out in the newsletter.
Enter Online
Stories must not have been published previously and must be eligible for publication in the 2014 Fish Anthology.
Stories cannot be altered or changed after they have been entered. Judging at all stages is anonymous. Names or addresses must not appear on the stories, but on a separate sheet if entering by post, or in the appropriate place if entering online.
Postal entries: €22 (€12 subsequent entries)
Address: Fish Publishing, Durrus, Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland.
Honorary patrons of the Fish Short Story Prize are Roddy Doyle, Dermot Healy and Colum McCann
Online Short Story Writing Course Announced
After the success of both the Online Flash Fiction and Memoir Writing Courses, Fish is proud to announce the launch of the Fish Short Story Writing Course. This tailored online program will not only develop your general writing skills but will explore in depth the potential of the short story genre.
The course offers both new and experienced writers an extensive range of creative ideas and activities to help develop their craft. Course tutor Mary-Jane Holmes will be on hand to offer advice on mastering technique and developing personal style. Each module concentrates on a key aspect of the form, such as shape and structure, narrative perspective and characterization and by the end of the program you will have completed a polished work of short fiction that will be submitted for the Fish Short Story Prize.
For further information please go to Short Story Writing Course
or email: shortstorycourse@fishpublishing.com.
Student Testimonials from Fish Online Courses
Mary Jane’s astute commentaries, her helpful suggestions, her clear understanding of the technicalities of language and its use were placed in informal emails, which were friendly and supportive throughout. Avril Leigh
I enjoyed this course so much and I’m now in possession of a body of my own work complete with superb feedback on all aspects. If I hadn’t taken the course I probably wouldn’t have written much at all over this period. So... thanks! Lucho Payne
My good news is that the story Hummingbird, written as part of the Compression Module, has been shortlisted for NZs National Flash Fiction Day competition :)) pretty thrilling ... thank you so much for everything with this story ... and ALL the stories that have emerged during the past couple months. Leanne Radojkovich
Monday, September 9, 2013
Alumni Poet Susan Rich on New Anthology
From Susan Rich (Seattle, Washington, USA):
A while ago you asked me to send you more information about The Strangest of Theatres: Poets Crossing Borders published by the Poetry Foundation and McSweeny’s this past spring. Here is the book cover image and a recent review that was in the Chicago Tribune. The book seems to be selling well --- and there is also a free download at the Poetry Foundation if people want a pdf — here is the link http://www.poetryfoundation.org/downloads/strangestoftheatres_ebook.pdf
Also, my fourth book of poems Cloud Pharmacy comes out in early 2014 from White Pine Press. There are several poems about Ireland including “your” poem, “Faraway.” It’s dedicated to you and all the writers of Anam Cara.
Here is the review from the Chicago Tribune:
For the wanderlusty, it's difficult to believe that anyone would hesitate to pack her suitcase and zip off to, well, anywhere. But travel requires strategy and persistence. And for writers — or worse, for poets — international travel requires a relative fortune. Or good fortune.
In the spirit of easing dislocation, earlier this year, McSweeney's and the Poetry Foundation released "The Strangest of Theatres: Poets Writing Across Borders." Part travelogue, essay, verse, roundtable transcription and reference text, the volume is an introduction to the opportunities for international poetic work: fellowships, residencies, translations, festivals, English instruction jobs and volunteer postings.
The editors — Jared Hawkley, Susan Rich and Brian Turner — explained that the dearth of foreign literature being translated into English motivated them to create the book.
"We would like to jumpstart a discussion and encourage younger writers to find ways to go abroad and see the larger world and bring the news of that larger world back into the United States," said Ilya Kaminsky, series editor for the "Poets in the World" series, part of the Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, via email. "We give various (metaphysical and practical) perspectives on the situation of a writer living abroad (outside of their native language), and also provide very detail-oriented, step-by-step guides for young writers to achieve the goal of living abroad."
At its strongest, the work probes identity — what it means to be other, in flux, cross-pollinating. In her essay on translation, Jane Hirshfield examines the initial skepticism and later acceptance of intercultural appropriation, by which "certain exotic trees have come to be treasured in their new countries." Although "(m)istrust of translation is part of the immune reaction by which every community attempts to preserve its particular heritage and flavor," Hirshfield asks, "what English speaker today would call iambic pentameter an imported meter, or think of the sonnet as an Italian form?"
Carolyn Forché explains how she learned to manipulate her identity. She and her husband, a journalist, roamed South Africa in order to document apartheid. "Officially, my husband would work at the Time bureau, and I would accompany him as wife and expectant mother," she writes with the wry confidence of a woman underestimated. Eventually Forché learned that her pregnancy eased the couple's passage through the country's roadblocks: "(A)s my womb swelled, I also grew invisible, no longer attracting police who would not wish to involve themselves with so pregnant a white woman."
Another writer struggles with the patronship that power earned her abroad. On her Fulbright year in South Africa, Susan Rich "carried with [her] a basket of ever-shifting questions." In her discussion of whether to hire servants, Rich wonders: "Was it better to hire someone to scrub my two rooms and help alleviate the high unemployment rate, or was it best not to participate in a corrupt vestige from the past regime?"
At its weakest, "The Strangest of Theatres" approaches the details of international living so broadly, readers may chuckle at the sweep: "Be aware that culture shock, exploring a new place, and being away from friends and family can make it more difficult to accomplish work at the pace you are used to" and "that volunteer work in developing countries can be psychologically and emotionally challenging."
Also, my fourth book of poems Cloud Pharmacy comes out in early 2014 from White Pine Press. There are several poems about Ireland including “your” poem, “Faraway.” It’s dedicated to you and all the writers of Anam Cara.
Here is the review from the Chicago Tribune:
For the wanderlusty, it's difficult to believe that anyone would hesitate to pack her suitcase and zip off to, well, anywhere. But travel requires strategy and persistence. And for writers — or worse, for poets — international travel requires a relative fortune. Or good fortune.
In the spirit of easing dislocation, earlier this year, McSweeney's and the Poetry Foundation released "The Strangest of Theatres: Poets Writing Across Borders." Part travelogue, essay, verse, roundtable transcription and reference text, the volume is an introduction to the opportunities for international poetic work: fellowships, residencies, translations, festivals, English instruction jobs and volunteer postings.
The editors — Jared Hawkley, Susan Rich and Brian Turner — explained that the dearth of foreign literature being translated into English motivated them to create the book.
"We would like to jumpstart a discussion and encourage younger writers to find ways to go abroad and see the larger world and bring the news of that larger world back into the United States," said Ilya Kaminsky, series editor for the "Poets in the World" series, part of the Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute, via email. "We give various (metaphysical and practical) perspectives on the situation of a writer living abroad (outside of their native language), and also provide very detail-oriented, step-by-step guides for young writers to achieve the goal of living abroad."
At its strongest, the work probes identity — what it means to be other, in flux, cross-pollinating. In her essay on translation, Jane Hirshfield examines the initial skepticism and later acceptance of intercultural appropriation, by which "certain exotic trees have come to be treasured in their new countries." Although "(m)istrust of translation is part of the immune reaction by which every community attempts to preserve its particular heritage and flavor," Hirshfield asks, "what English speaker today would call iambic pentameter an imported meter, or think of the sonnet as an Italian form?"
Carolyn Forché explains how she learned to manipulate her identity. She and her husband, a journalist, roamed South Africa in order to document apartheid. "Officially, my husband would work at the Time bureau, and I would accompany him as wife and expectant mother," she writes with the wry confidence of a woman underestimated. Eventually Forché learned that her pregnancy eased the couple's passage through the country's roadblocks: "(A)s my womb swelled, I also grew invisible, no longer attracting police who would not wish to involve themselves with so pregnant a white woman."
Another writer struggles with the patronship that power earned her abroad. On her Fulbright year in South Africa, Susan Rich "carried with [her] a basket of ever-shifting questions." In her discussion of whether to hire servants, Rich wonders: "Was it better to hire someone to scrub my two rooms and help alleviate the high unemployment rate, or was it best not to participate in a corrupt vestige from the past regime?"
At its weakest, "The Strangest of Theatres" approaches the details of international living so broadly, readers may chuckle at the sweep: "Be aware that culture shock, exploring a new place, and being away from friends and family can make it more difficult to accomplish work at the pace you are used to" and "that volunteer work in developing countries can be psychologically and emotionally challenging."
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