Well ,Hello again

Haven't been here much. In fact it's the first time this year. The day job and Uni have kept me busy. Lame excuse, I know. Of course it is. Passed a professional exam in the New Year. That was a pleasant surprise. Now doing Playwriting module in Birkbeck. Great tutor - a northsider. Reading O'Casey's 'Juno and the Paycock'. Wonderful stuff: dialogue rich and as a Dub I feel it is a part of the heritage. I've even got hooked on Samuel Beckett. Sublime. So much brilliant Irish writing around. New stuff too. I haven't forgotten the rest of the world either...

Claire Keegan

I've picked up Claire Keegan's two books of short stories, 'Antarctica' and 'Walk the Blue Fields'. The first won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and the Los Angeles Times Book of the Year. Treat yourself.

A Gender Thing

All six finanlists in this year's National Short Story Competition are female. I will never have a story published in MSLexiaMagazine and I will never be allowed enter for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Why does having a penis bar me from all these literary endeavours?

Perhaps I do a literary 'Tootsie'.

Zadie Smith

I've ordered Zadie's new book of essays Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays from Amazon. I'm sure I've read them all before, although her mum insists I couldn't have. Anyway, it'll be nice to have them all in the one volume.

Cormac McCarthy

I took another look at that Oprah interview with Cormac McCarthy. He is a great role model for a writer but I think I'd prefer Mark Lawson doing the interviewing. His interview with Alan Bennett on Front Row last week was a cracker.

The Loop

Great play on BBC Radio 4 today. Should be of interest to writers. Pick it up on the iPlayer.

Kevin Barry

I'm reading the Limerick writer's collection of short stories, There are Kingdoms on the advice of my tutor.

Mighty!