CloudNine

Bless me, blog, but it's been months since my last posting. This is simply because I have not had the time to update. Apart from preparing and rehearsing for a CHOICE gig at the Dundalk Jail (photo at the end of this post) I was also editing the final draft of my short story manuscript, The Scattering . I am still tweaking a couple of these stories and will soon be looking at proofs. I also managed to seriously sprain my ankle (while jogging all of two yards in my own garden) and this meant everything I did subsequently was soooo slllloooowwww. At least I was able to apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair quite successfully as I had no other option to do so. And I got a hell of a lot of book reading done, too. The DT Max biography of David Foster Wallace, being the highlight of said reading. However, the persistently farcical Irish government does seem to have drawn my attention away from my work - on a rather consistent basis - as I feel I have to protest or comm...

My review for the TLS of the wonderful new novel from Enrique Vila-Matas. 

Very nice FOUR STAR review for the 2012 Best British Short Story Anthology from Salt, which includes my short story, The Visit . This one comes from Shelley Marsden, Arts Editor at the Irish World. Shelley singles my story out for the attention of London-Irish readers.

Where is the summer going? I am trying to find the time to finalise the manuscript for my first short story collection to be published by Seren Books next year. Between work, everyday living and cats that suddenly go AWOL - the summer months are just zooming past. So I have to buckle down now and crack out this very final draft. I have completed a first draft of my first novel already - and am very eager to get this typed up so I can do the next layer of editing and rewriting. I really can't wait to get to that work, which I hope is a good sign about the novel itself. Meanwhile, as it's International Short Story Day today, here is the link to a new short story from me featured in the current issue of The Warwick Review : http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/writingprog/warwickreview/

We had a marvellous reading of Belfast Girls in Drogheda this week. The cast flew in from London as did our director, Svetlana Dimcovic, and all created a great show in a really great venue. We couldn't have been treated better. Drogheda is blessed with the Droichead Arts Centre. So that's a big THANK YOU to Brian Harten and Marcella Bannon and the board for the National Commemoration for the Famine. Thank you so much for inviting us to read. There may be more news soon on this front of an international nature... Also in the pipeline is the forthcoming release of Strange Passion , a compilation of Irish 80s electronica. My old band, CHOICE, has a track on this new album which will be released in July and launched at the Project Arts Centre in Dublin. I intend to party hard that night. Here's a link to a recent HOTPRESS feature on the album: http://www.hotpress.com/news/8901333.html Some poetry readings in London are in the offing around the launch of the new Ambit...

Belfast Girls 10 May 2012 at Droichead Arts Centre, Stockwell Street, Drogheda, Ireland Jaki McCarrick’s latest play about five young women travelling to Australia in 1850 draws a chilling parallel between the Irish Famine and today’s continuing banking crisis. The story of the so-called ‘orphan girls’ on board, for whom the voyage provides a fresh start – as well as time to come to terms with the disaster they have left behind – is a savage attack on the policy (then and now) of ‘laissez-faire’. Written by award-winning Irish playwright Jaki McCarrick and directed by fellow National Theatre Studio graduate and long-term collaborator, Svetlana Dimcovic, Belfast Girls was staged in August 2011 as part of the Without Décor season of new plays at the King’s Head Theatre, London. It immediately attracted a lot of interest and was developed further at the National Theatre in London in January 2012. The King’s Head nominate...

Next Thursday (May 10th) in Drogheda, as part of the 2012 National Commemoration for the Famine, there will be a reading of my play, Belfast Girls, starring most of the original King's Head cast - though with the wonderful Emma O'Grady reading for Molly. I have yet to do some PR for this so look out for more details.

I'm happy to say that a couple of weeks ago I signed the contract for the publication of my debut story collection, title to be announced soon. This will be published by Seren Books next year. See more about Seren here: http://www.serenbooks.com/ The day I received the Seren contract was a particularly surreal one. For also in post that day arrived a copy of a record contract (no less) for the inclusion of a song I had co-written in the 80s (when I was all of fifteen-years old) on a soon-to-be-released album of Irish Electronica. Back in the day, I was in a band called Choice who had some success and also a bit of a cult following. At the time we were very influenced by British and German electronica. That song, called Always in Danger , will now be released (after all this time!) on Finders Keepers Records in July. I'll put it on You Tube round about then.

According to Bloomsbury, 2012 is the 'Year of the Short Story'. I hope so - as a story of mine is included in this new short story anthology out in April. This year's Best British Short Stories is published by Salt and edited by the brilliant Nicholas Royle. I can't tell you what a blast it is to be listed beside Will Self in the contents list. In fact there are many wonderful writers included here so I am feeling incredibly privileged to have had a story selected for this year's anthology. Contents: Emma Unsworth H.P. Tinker Michael Marshall Smith ... Dan Powell Julian Gough Stuart Evers Stella Duffy Socrates Adams-Florou Jonathan Trigell Will Self Jaki McCarrick Robert Shearman Alison MacLeod Jo Lloyd Neil Campbell Joel Lane Ramsey Campbell Jeanette Winterson Jon McGregor A.K. Benedict

Very good news for Belfast Girls . The play has been shortlisted for the 2012 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. This award goes to the very best plays (in the world) written by women: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118049594 I am so happy for the play. Not bad at all for a work that wasn't commissioned and had a non-existent budget. Nonetheless, London's Kings Head Theatre nominated it and it is now a finalist for this prestigious award. It's a real triumph for a small theatre like the Kings Head as well as for the play. The director Svetlana Dimcovic and I have just completed a three-week attachment at the National Theatre where we developed Belfast Girls. We had a remarkable reading of the play at the NT Studio last week. Some some press about the play's shortlisting for this award: http://theaterofoneworld.org/2012/02/01/worlds-most-prestigious-prize-given-to-the-best-english-language-play-written-by-a-woman-goes-to/ http://theandygram.com/Broadway-Press-R...

  Interviewed by Marie Louise Muir today (6.35pm) for BBC Northern Ireland's Arts Extra programme about Belfast Girls. Catch it here:   http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b0195fl5