Thursday, March 30, 2006
John McGahern 1934-2006John McGahern author of “Amongst Women” and “The Dark” has died today in the Mater hospital. His last work “Memoir” was published last year.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
A little piece of heaven
Friday, March 24, 2006
Been hanging around the Hotel Chelsea too much of late, sure you never know who ya might bump into.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Here’s something we’ve just received from our Prague correspondent that those of you traveling to Praha just might be interested in ……………… Please join us for an evening of music and poetry with Lucien Zell, Bren Farrell, The Wavemen and Plastique, with poet Stephen Delbos on Friday March 24th at 8 o’clock in Vinny Sklipek, Ljezd 19, just down the road from the Bohemian Bagel. A great night guaranteed. See you there!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
The above photos are by Malian photographer Seydou Keita.
Born in Bomako Mali, in 1920, Seydou Keita began his career as a photographer in 1945. Working primarily in black and white Keita’s studio soon became famous throughout Mali. Wealthy visitors would frequently arrive from all over Mali in order to have their pictures taken. Included in Seydou Keita’s customers was Modibo Keita, Mali’s first president after independence.
Seydou Keita’s work captures both the creeping influence of Western society on Mali alongside the more traditional aspects of the native culture.
Keita was forced in 1962 into serving as official photographer for the Malian Security Services. Initially he was told that he cold keep his studio open but was later forced to close it down.
When he retired in 1977 Seydou Keita returned to his studio only to discover that it had been robbed, fortunately however over 10,000 photographic negatives remained intact. Keita however could not afford either a large camera or processing equipment in order to continue his work.
Seydou Keita’s work was re-discovered in 1994 when French photographer Françoise Huguier was working in Bamako. Her camera was in need of repair and so she visited local photographer Malick Sidibé studio for help. Here she noticed some pictures of Keita on Sidibé’s studio wall. At the time Huguier was organising the the 'First African Photography Festival' in Bamako where she included pictures by Seydou Keita.
Shortly before his death, in 2001, Seydou Keïta established the Seydou Keïta foundation in Bamako.
A selection of pictures by Seydou Keita are currently on exhibition in the Douglas Hyde Gallery in Trinity College Dublin.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Senryu poem number 1
Love lost.
Brokenhearted?
Next!
Love lost.
Brokenhearted?
Next!
Monday, March 13, 2006
Saturday night we found ourselves suffering from an unassailable assault as a result of contracting the common head cold. So we parked ourselves in front of the tv and decided to channel surf. Lo and behold we came across Tubridy Tonight and who was walking into the studio at the time only our latest literary hero, author of 18 novels and Galway’s finest…. Ken Bruen(pictured left).For fifteen minuets we listened enraptured to Ken Bruen. We hung onto and memorised every word. Santa had just been reincarnated and we were five years old and it was Christmas morning once more. All too soon though the interview was over and even though we were suffering Ken Bruen had lifted us toward a literary nirvana.
Ok now down to some serious business. As stated above Ken Bruen is the author of eighteen crime novels. His killing fields are London and his native Galway city. “Priest” the fifth in the Jack Taylor novels that are set in Galway city went on sale in January this year.
Jack Taylor is a former Garda who dismissed from the force for crossing a politician. He immigrated to London and has recently returned to Galway city. In the Taylor novels we observe the character move through Galway city bemoaning the social and structural changes going on about him.
Ken’s London novels centre around Chief Inspector Roberts and Detective Sergeant Brant, the R&B of the London Met. Three of the Roberts and Brant novels are collected in “The White Trilogy” though Roberts and Brant’s exploits continue in Vixen and Blitz.
The crime novels of Ken Bruen abound with literary references and it is not unusual for a man character to quote a line of Yeats or Rilke while in pursuit of a criminal. The character Jack Taylor frequently takes a time out to read a novel and sustain his soul. Jack frequently mentions the crime author Derek Raymond.
“The Guards” the first novel in the Jack Taylor series, which chronicles Jack’s return to his native Galway city, is apparently due to be adapted for film soon with David Soul, of Starsky and Hutch fame, playing the role of Jack Taylor.
You might have to search long and hard for Ken Bruen’s early novels but believe me when I say that search will be worth the effort. All hail Ken Bruen, literary hero par excellence.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Now here’s something we heard about through the grapevine…
The Ten Commandments were handed down to Moses over 3,000 years ago but how relevant are they to Ireland in the 21st century?
“The Ten Commandments Reloaded” is written by members of the Rathmines Writers Workshop. The play is Directed by Mark Nagle and produced by Fiasco Productions. The play runs from 13th to the 18th March in SS Michael and Johns Theatre, Essex Street West, Dublin. Tickets are €10 and €8 (students). The curtain rises at 8pm.
To see how the collaborative project came about goto www.tencommandmentsreloaded.blogspot.com
Thursday, March 09, 2006
A haiku for your amusement
Unpublished poems
A secret midnight romance
My mythologies.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
After reading a post by Sinead on The Sigla Blog we've decided to post the above. It's entitled "I like America and America likes me", by Joseph Beuys. The wolf in the above photograph used to live with Beuys apparently.
