Lisbon

I’m on holidays in Lisbon at the moment. Which is why the blog’s so quiet. Home soon!

Zafon reading

Last night, I hot-footed it down to my local bookshop, Hughes & Hughes Dundrum, to hear Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafon speak about his writing and particularly his two most recent novels, The Shadow of The Wind and The Angel’s Game.

I was a big fan of The Shadow of the Wind and have been looking forward to the new novel, which is a prequel to the early book.

Carlos did not in fact give his talk in the shop but in the nearby cinema, which was just as well as hundreds of people showed up to hear him; we all went back to the shop afterwards for the signing. I don’t think I’ve seen such a long queue for a book-signing session since the last time I was at an event with Jacqueline Wilson!

It was very interesting to hear Carlos talk about Barcelona and how it has influenced him both as a person and as a writer; I’ve been there a couple of times myself but always on promotional trips and would like to take a little time to explore the city next time I get a chance to visit.

The Best Way To See Ireland

 

        … is from a hot air balloon.

 

Some interested observers

Norwich

Anyone who’s ever read anything about me will know that I was a student on the Creative Writing course at the University of East Anglia during 1994/95 and returned there a decade later as Writing Fellow in 2004/05, which was where I made a great friend in the poet Nathan Hamilton.

So it was very nice to receive this photo from Nathan, standing in front of the library in Norwich city centre, reading not one but two of my books. What a talented fellow. Perhaps Nathan could be a good compromise candidate for Professor of Poetry at Oxford now it’s up for grabs again.

Be nice to go back to Norwich again sometime. Good memories.

Waterstone’s Offer

My novels are the subject of this week’s Waterstone’s special half-price offer.

The new hardback edition of THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE, the new paperback edition of MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY and the paperback edition of THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS are all half-price until Wednesday 27th May.

You can find out more by clicking on their website.

Nice Morning…

The Boys From Siam

I was on hand in my old workplace, Waterstone’s in Dublin – where I worked between 1996 and 2003 – to help launch the publication of a new play, THE BOYS FROM SIAM by John Austin Connolly.

The play was the winner of the Yale Drama Series award, judged by Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Albee and is an extraordinary telling of the story of two conjoined twins, based on the lives of Chang and Eng Bunker, the original so-called Siamese twins. There was a huge turnout to hear John read two monologues from the play. It’s available to buy from Amazon or Waterstone’s.

Irish Writers Centre Funding

Disastrous news recently that the Arts Council in Ireland have decided to scrap all funding for the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin. Literature is a major part of Ireland’s social and cultural history.  The Irish Writers’ Centre was a space that writers could call their own. It is the only centre in Dublin devoted to literature that can provide an in-house space for readings, literary events, festivals, creative writing courses, developmental works and was the home to a number of writers groups and National organisations such as the Irish Writers’ Union and the Irish Translators and Interpreters Association. With the termination of funding access to these resources will be lost, leaving the next generation of Irish authors in a vacuum and having to look elsewhere for guidance and development. 

BUT – you can help save the Irish Writers Centre by making a donation to keep the facilities alive. Just click on the centre’s website and scroll down to the “donate now” button. Thank you.

End of Year Report

Publishing Trends magazine has published the end of year charts for 2008 and THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS, in its various editions and languages, comes in at no.6 on the Top 10 bestselling novels in the world for 2008.

I’m pleased that the book continues to sell after 3 years, but now that ‘08 is drawing to an end and ‘09 is beginning, and now that the movie release is winding now, I’m looking forward to starting the new year with a new novel on the horizon in May.

I’m also starting to write my 8th novel, which (all going well) will appear 2 years after THE HOUSE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE… sometime in 2011.

Happy New Year to visitors to the website!

Writing Course

I’ll be teaching a creative writing course at the Irish Writers’ Centre in Dublin from mid-January. The course – Writing Short Stories – will take place every Monday evening over 10 weeks, beginning January 19th and is aimed at aspiring writers who already have some experience of writing stories and would welcome the opportunity to have their stories workshopped. It’s been a couple of years since I did any teaching so hopefully I won’t be too rusty…

Needless to say, places are limited but anyone who is interested in signing up should contact the Centre at info@writerscentre.ie or phone 01-8721302.

More details can be found on the Irish Writers Centre website. Form an orderly queue now.