Penguin’s Great Ideas has come to an end with 100 books. Series editor Simon Winder writes about it in the Guardian.
Archive for the 'From the Editor' Category
Please join us this evening, Friday, August 27, at 7 p.m. at the Cobalt Café on N Great George’s Street, Dublin 1, to hear author and critic Carlo Gébler wrap up the Some Blind Alleys Summer Reading Series on autobiography with a discussion on death. Entry is €5.
A second Creative Writing 1 course has been added to the autumn course list. It starts Monday, September 27 and runs tens weeks. Five spaces out of twelve remain.
I’ll be reading and taking part in a conversation about something-or-other at the Arts Council’s Electric Picnic Literary Stage on Sunday, September 5, at 5pm.
On December 1, I’ll be discussing some of my favorite literary autobiography at the National Library. And reading and talking about A Preparation for Death.
There’s no point pretending. I’ve heard what he’s got to say. This is going to be legendary.
The Creative Writing 1 course that starts Thursday, September 2 is now full. Thanks to everybody who registered.
If you’d like to express an interest in a second CW1 course that may start in late September, running on Monday nights, please email workshops at someblindalleys dot com.
The Creative Writing 2 course that starts on Tuesday, September 14 has filled, and two spots remain on the Creative Writing 1 course that starts on Thursday, September 2. You can book online here or contact Some Blind Alleys with any questions here.
Some updates from past and present participants in the SBA creative writing workshops.
Cathy Sweeney will publish a short story, “Gravity,” in the 10th Anniversary Issue of the Dublin Review (Issue 40).
A story by Elaine Walsh has been accepted by Joseph O’Connor for the Faber and Faber Anthology of Irish Short Stories which he is editing and is coming out next April. It’ll be alongside stories from Colum McCann, Joseph O’Neill, Richard Ford, William Trevor, and Roddy Doyle.
Maya Derrington’s documentary Pyjama Girls will run at the IFI from Friday, August 20 to Thursday, August 26. Read an interview with Maya.
How the mighty have fallen, a visual art exhibition by Adrian Duncan, runs at the Joinery from 19 – 24 August. Adrian is assistant editor at the online journal Paper Visual Art.
I’m pleased to announce the two authors selected to read at the final SBA Summer Reading Series event, Death, with Carlo Gébler. The winners are Ryan Van Runkle and Ross Weldon. Congratulations to them, and thanks to everyone who submitted.
Excerpts
From Ross Weldon’s “Walking a Dog in Vancouver”:
A pug greeted us at the door yapping. It had a face like a fat bat. On the right was Chris’s bedroom, which he seemed to use as a depository for used condoms and damp towels. I followed a trail of malteaser-sized pieces of dog shit into the living room/kitchen where a Hispanic girl wearing a nightgown was passed out on the couch. There was graffiti on the walls. The room smelled like an ashtray on fire. I thought I had woken up in an episode of NYPD Blue.
From Ryan Van Runkle’s “Three Days in Madrid”:
“What’s your story?” asked John, a guy in our group who was six foot nine.
“I live in Ireland,” I said.
“Yeah,” he said, “Yeah.” He took a big swig of Coors Light. “Are you working?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I work with horses.” I was telling everyone I worked with horses. I figured it would make me sound masculine and earthy. It was true I did work with horses, but I was telling all sorts of lies about training them and breeding them when all I did was shovel horse shit.
“Yeah,” John said, “Yeah, Cowboy.”
“I know it brother,” I said.
Hope to see you all on the 27th.
"Greg Baxter is an essayist and fiction writer with a mission: to get Dubliners reading good literature." 
