From The Republic of Conscience

To the National Library last night for the launch of FROM THE REPUBLIC OF CONSCIENCE, a collection of 30 short stories by leading Irish writers, each one exploring a different article in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The stories, which were commissioned by Amnesty Ireland, ran on a weekly basis in the Irish Times last year but this is the first time they’ve been collected together in book format and the book was launched by former Irish President Mary Robinson.

The collection features new work by – amongst others – Maeve Binchy, Dermot Bolger, Eoin Colfer, John Connolly, Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, Carlo Gebler, Hugo Hamilton, Seamus Heaney, Jennifer Johnston, Neil Jordan, Claire Kilroy, Colum McCann, Frank McCourt, Ross O’Carroll-Kelly, Joseph O’Connor, Glenn Patterson, Colm Toibin and myself. I wrote THE ROUND HALL, based on Article 10, which states that everyone is entitled to a fair trial.

It’s available now in bookshops, also from Liberties Press itself and on Amazon.

More Spanish Interviews

I’m leaving Barcelona today after a busy few days of press interviews to discuss THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE. If you speak Spanish or Catalan and want to see what was said you can read some of them online: Publico, ABC Newspaper, El Correo, La Vanguardia, and listen to a radio interview from Catalunya Radio.

Now – on to the airport.

Barcelona

I’m in Barcelona at the moment to promote THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE / LA CASA DEL PROPOSITO ESPECIAL which has just been published by my Spanish publisher Salamandra and my Catalan publisher Editorial Empuries. It’s my 3rd time in the city; I was here a couple of years ago when STRIPED PYJAMAS won the Que Leer Award for Novel of the year, and last year when MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY was published, although I haven’t seen as much of the city as I have Madrid. Last time I was here I pledged to learn Spanish by my next visit but I have been sadly remiss and remain monolingual, so interviews have to be conducted through translation. But you get used to that and off you go. Today was a full day of interviews, some of which are – rather mysteriously – already online: one for EFE, the other for Publico. More to come.

Dutch House

The Dutch edition of THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE has just been published in Holland by Arena with the title HET WINTERPALEIS.

October Reading

One of the benefits of a busy month of travelling is the opportunity it affords for a lot of reading, and with trips to Russia, England and Singapore during October, I seem to have got through a lot of books.

Of these, the best ones included JM Coetzee’s SUMMERTIME. I’m a great admirer of Coetzee’s fiction, the manner in which he can blend pure fiction and fictionalised autobiography, also the methodical manner in which he deconstructs a writer’s psyche. This latest work is a powerful piece of self-analysation, told after ‘his death’ by a number of people who knew him.

Completely different was Nick Hornby’s latest novel JULIET, NAKED, a very funny and clever story about a couple and their relationship to an obscure and reclusive American songwriter. It’s a terrific read, full of unexpected twists; I loved it. Lorrie Moore’s  A GATE AT THE STAIRS is receiving a lot of praise, and rightly so. Told in a cold and almost clinical manner, it’s the story of a young student who falls in with a middle-aged couple when she is hired to babysit their adopted daughter. It’s an intriguing and fascinating tale.

Alistair Morgan’s debut novel SLEEPER’S WAKE is a powerful work of fiction, the story of a man who is attempting to recover from the death of his wife and daughter in an automobile accident. It’s a strong piece of work although there are perhaps too many unresolved strands left in the air at the end. William Boyd’s ORDINARY THUNDERSTORMS is an intricately plotted thriller that asks serious questions about identity and examines how easy it is to abandon it in the 21^st century.

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that my favourite contemporary novelist is John Irving. It was reading THE CIDER HOUSE RULES when I was 17 that convinced me that I wanted to be a writer. So it was with great delight that I read his twelfth novel LAST NIGHT IN TWISTED RIVER, which ranks alongside his best work. The story of a writer and his father, a cook, set over 50 years it’s funny and moving, filled with stylistic flourishes that have set Irving set aside from his peers over the last quarter century. The credibility of the unexpected is one of the key features of Irving’s novels; the appearance of Lady Sky is a moment in fiction that I will not forget in a hurry. A masterful, masterful novel.

I hadn’t read Maurice Sendak’s WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE in many years and returned to it – and enjoyed it – before reading Dave Eggers’ THE WILD THINGS, a novel based on the picture book and screenplay of the movie. The novel is hugely entertaining and appropriately bizarre; life on the island with the beasts is alternately scary and funny. But the opening 60 pages or so, leading up to Max’s escape, is one of the best accounts of childhood loneliness, frustration and isolation that I’ve ever read.

I also read Pat Conroy’s SOUTH OF BROAD, Alan Glynn’s excellent Dublin thriller WINTERLAND (which I reviewed for The Irish Times), James Lever’s ME CHEETA, Penelope Lively’s FAMILY ALBUM, Audrey Niffenegger’s curious and interersting novel HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY, Taichi Yamada’s I HAVEN’T DREAMED OF FLYING FOR A WHILE and re-read Art Spiegelman’s powerful Holocaust graphic novel MAUS.

Pagina 2 and El Pais

The Spanish language edition of THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE, entitled La Casa del Propostio Especial, and the Catalan edition, (La Casa Del Proposit Especial) are published this week, by Salamandra and Empuries respectively.

To coincide with this, the books programme Pagina 2 broadcast the interview and video piece that we shot in St Petersburg earlier this month. It felt very good to be back in the city where I wrote so much of this novel – which is, I think, my favourite of my own books – and particularly to be allowed access to some parts of the Winter Palace that I had not been in during my writing trip there in 2007. The entire interview, including a reading from the section of the novel that takes place in Tsar Nicholas’ private library which I read in that same library can be viewed on the Pagina 2 website here.

Also, the Spanish newspaper El Pais published a long feature article on the book and interview with me which we also conducted in Russia a few weeks ago.

I’ll be back in Spain next week for publicity duties on the novel. I just got back from Singapore late last night so intend to catch up on as much rest between now and then as possible.

Spain

 

Catalan

Last Day In Singapore

Today was my last day in Singapore after a very enjoyable festival. I started the day out at Channel News Asia’s morning television programme where I was interviewed alongside fellow writers Edwin Thumboo and Philip Jeyaretnam about the importance of this once-every-2-years festival and how literature transcends geographical boundaries. It’s always interesting to see how television stations operate in different countries. In Ireland and the UK, one is always caked in make-up before being put in front of the cameras. In the States, you’re in and out without so much as glancing in a mirror. Here it was more like that, which suits me just fine.

Afterwards it was back to the Arts House, the festival centre, where I took part in my last event, a masterclass on writing novels. Then it was all over and time for a little shopping. Tomorrow, the 14 hour flight home…

Singapore Events

I took part in 2 events at The Arts House in Singapore yesterday as part of the festival. The first was a public interview and reading from THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE; the second the same but relating to THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS. I have a few more days here before I go home, some interviews, a TV appearance, and a talk on how to write novels on Monday. So I better figure out how to write them between now and then.

Sights of Singapore

The Arts House – location for the festival

Lim Bo Seng Memorial

Civilian War Memorial

Civilian War Memorial Fountain

Singapore Writers Festival

Singapore

I’ve arrived in Singapore to take part in this year’s Singapore Writers Festival. Having been to Australia and back only a couple of months ago, I didn’t feel too intimidated by the 13 hour flight – particularly since I had the new novel by my favourite writer to read along the way. (Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving).

I’m taking part in a few different events over the next few days; they’re listed on my website and on the festival website.

In contrast to last month’s publicity trip to Russia, where it was extremely cold, the weather in Singapore is unlike anything I’ve experienced before – a sort of dry heat that can take a little getting used to. I’m here until next Tuesday anyway, so there’s plenty of time.