CloudNine

NOTE: SOME OF THE DETAILS OF THE READINGS HAVE BEEN CHANGED!! 1. October 21st – a rehearsed reading of THE MOTH-HOUR, Soho, London, 7.30pm DETAILS: THE MOTH HOUR by Jacqueline McCarrick Directed by Steve Hubbard Cast includes: Jennie Stoller, Drew Horner, Elizabeth Elvin, Nora Connolly and Isla Carter. Michael McDaid lives at home and works in the family grocery store in the borderland area of County Monaghan with his mother, Connie. When his old flame makes a surprise return to town the two renew their friendship, causing Connie to attempt to tear them apart. But changes are very much needed in the McDaid household. This is a play about how the repressed dreams and ambitions of one woman cause her to squash and shape her children, with devastating consequences. Wednesday 21st October : 7:30pm : Above the Blue Posts, Rupert Street, Soho. 2. Sunday October 25th, 4.30pm - a rehearsed reading of LEOPOLDVILLE, Galway Arts Centre, part of the Galway Theatre Festival Details: http://www.poe...

I recently won a short story competition. It was for an on-line 'dark fiction' journal based out of Northern Ireland. My story is a modern vampire tale (a funny tale too) called BLOOD, and is set on the Irish border. I don't like to think of this dark tale - one of many I've written for my forthcoming first collection of short stories - in terms of 'genre fiction' - because that's not what I'm writing. I'm very conscious of political and colonial tropes in these darker stories and very aware that by setting them on the Irish border where I live that I'm tuning into a a certain liminal state, a 'no-man's-land', that will hopefully compound the sense of unease in the material. A fracture in the psyche reflected in a fractured landscape. One of the stories in this collection, THE TRIBE, is set 75,000 B.C. - so I guess this one is close to 'magic realism' - but again the story explores at its core - modern ecological and politic...

By its closing date of 7 th August, the 2009 Manchester Fiction Prize had attracted more than 1,700 entries (almost four million words) from over 40 countries. Judges Sarah Hall, M. John Harrison and Nicholas Royle were thrilled by the scope and quality of submissions, and say that judging the competition was “exciting and ultimately very rewarding.” They have short-listed six finalists (details below) and the winners will be announced at a gala prize-giving ceremony at Manchester Town Hall on Friday 23 rd October 2009. ==================================================================== The Manchester Fiction Prize 2009 Short-listed Finalists: Peter Deadman Peter Deadman co-founded Infinity Foods – a natural and organic foods business in Brighton – in 1970, opening a restaurant, shop, bakery and warehouse distribution unit. In 1978 he completed training in acupuncture and later in Chinese herbal medicine, practising both until 2001. He is the founder, editor and pub...

By now you've heard that Hilary Mantel has won the Booker Prize. I have long since enjoyed Mantel's column for the Guardian. She is always full of perceptiveness and originality. Her long novel Wolf Hall , is about Henry VIII ’s minister Thomas Cromwell - which the judges, led by the broadcaster James Naughtie , describe as an "extraordinary piece of storytelling". I'm looking forward to reading it.

My play, Leopoldville , has won the runner-up slot - i.e. 2nd prize - in the 2009 Kings Cross Award for New Writing. The winner of this award, given every two years to a striking new play by an emerging writer, was hotly contested and the play has done well to earn this prize. It will be produced next year and production details will be posted here and elsewhere. Meanwhile, there is a possibility of a reading in Ireland later this year. Watch this space.