Epiphanies

Heading off to Clare at the end of the week to take part in the launch of Frank Golden's new book of poetry, In Daily Accord. This will be a great launch, more like a New York 'happening' of the 50's-60's: a performance of three voices reading the three-line poems - Frank himself, me (under the name Valerie Whelan as Frank forgot to use my pen-name) and poet, John Doorty. While we are reading - interweaving and inverting the poems - images of Frank's paintings and sketches will be projected onto the walls around us, and there will be music composed by Andrew Collins. I'm really looking forward to this. If Frank is happy with how it goes, he may bring it to the Dublin Fringe Festival. (Watch this space.) The book's cover art is by Scottish painter Hazel Walker, who now lives in Clare.
Venue: The Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare. Date/Time: Saturday, February 23, at 7:30 p.m.
Maybe we'll see you there?
Here is a sample of one of the epiphanies (as I call them):
My ducks taken by the fox
My tomatoes diseased and dying
Only my potatoes growing like women.
And here's another one:
He says she has to apologize first
For breaking his windows and putting glue in the locks
She could have got off easy but not now.

Short-listed

It's official. Bookmark has made it to the short list for the Irish Blog Awards. In fact, I was surprised to see it has made two short lists, as I didn't realise it was up for Best Blog as well as Best Arts and Culture Blog. The first is sponsored by PutPlace (http://www.putplace.com/) and the second is sponsored by Poetry Ireland (http://www.poetryireland.ie/). Go see the lists, as there are many fascinating blogs of every kind there:

http://awards.ie/blogawards/. (I spent far too much time perusing them over the weekend when I had a gazillion other things to do, mais je ne regrette rien.)

Song of the Banshee

Found this on the Endicott Blog. (They are amazing. Go see: http://endicottstudio.typepad.com/.) I love Sheila Chandra. The way she weaves her own Celtic-Indian traditions reminds me of what I am trying to do in The Book of Dreams.

Light-Bearer Land

Here are two more pics from the hike last Sunday. Again, this is territory through which Dana wanders on her adventures in the Wicklow Mountains. For those of you who find the hardback of The Light-Bearer's Daughter too expensive (though it is truly gorgeous, all shining and golden), the paperback will be out in the Fall of this year and it glitters too. You know, I think this tree is truly Tolkien. (Photo credit: me)

Dealing with the Competition

Turns out I am competing with someone I know for the Irish Blog Awards, Arts and Culture Section. Here he is: http://theadorata.com/. He's more generous than me. You get to read some of his work. We're both on the long list. Things are heating up now. I'm figuring out ways he could meet with an accident. So, where's the short list?

Enchantment

Went hiking in the Wicklow Mountains today, Dana's territory in The Light-Bearer's Daughter. Can you see Mrs Sootie Woodhouse in the forest? Too late, she just scurried under a fallen branch! But surely you can see the sleeping giant, there in the distance behind Lugnaquillia? The light is spilling over the beautiful valley of Glenmalure. A funny aside: as we hiked into the valley, Dave and I were discussing Dawkin's book The God Delusion and I was arguing my usual point about materialism being as restrictive and fundamentalist a position as any right-wing religious stance. Suddenly we came upon this godspell. (Photos: Michael McGovern)

Top Ten List for the Environment

It's out in Booklist, the journal of the American Library Association. Go see: http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=2535768. I'm really thrilled that The Light-Bearer's Daughter is there beside Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Some people may be surprised to see a fairy tale in such company, but that is the truth behind this kind of story. It's not just that fairies are nature spirits and therefore ideal spokespeople against our destruction of nature. Fairy tales, like myths, have always been a magical looking glass that mirror the depths of our psyche and the universal facts of our existence and our reality. Indeed, they are ultimately morality tales. And, as Big Bob says in the book: It's no longer a matter of politics or economics. The ecological crisis is a moral issue. It's a battle between what's right or wrong for the Earth!