Irish PEN

Committee News

The Irish PEN committee is chaired by Joe Armstrong; Carol Robinson Tweed is Correspondence Secretary, Kay Boland, Award Dinner Co-ordinator, Vanessa O'Loughlin - PR & Newsletter, Emer Liston - Membership Secretary,Timmy Conway -Treasurer, Chris Murray - Social Media and Webmaster,  Father Tony Gaughan is a long standing committee member and we welcome Ruth Long who has taken over as Email manager.

We are much in need of a minutes secretary who can attend our monthly meetings (first Thursday of every month) - if you feel you can help, please contact us!

We have some great events planned for the Autumn - on Thursday 13th October we will look at Writing for children and young people with a superb panel including leading agent Julia Churchill, publisher Paddy O'Doherty, author & illustrator Oisin McGann and authors Sarah Webb and Anna Carey. Venue: Please note that this Irish PEN event is being held at 8 p.m. at the Irish Writers Centre, 19 Parnell Square North, Dublin 1. Book here: http://irishpenwritingforchildren.eventbrite.com

Economist, broadcaster and author David McWilliams speaks us at 8 p.m. on Thursday 10th November about writing and the boom and bust. Venue: United Arts Club.Book here:  http://irishpendavidmcw.eventbrite.com

We hope you will join us on Tuesday, 15 November, at Smock Alley Theatre for a special theatrical event to celebrate PEN's International Day of the Imprisoned Writer. 'Tyranny on Beckett' runs from November 15 to 20, with the OPENING night on Tuesday, 15 November, commemorating PEN's International Day of the Imprisoned Writer. It starts at 8p.m. and runs for about 50 minutes. The programme comprises Beckett's Catastrophe, Rough for Radio ll and What Where, which explore themes related to the imprisonment and torture of writers or were dedicated to imprisoned writers. Venue: Smock Alley Theatre, Exchange Street Lower, Temple Bar, Dublin 8.Matinee on Sunday

Smock Alley was the first Theatre Royal established in Dublin and was opened in 1662 to coincide with the Restoration of the British Monarchy. It was the first of its kind built specifically for theatrical performances and has been preserved more or less unchanged. It is therefore one of the most significant theatrical sites in Europe.

 Tickets for 'Tyranny on Beckett' at The Boys School cost only e12, (or e10 for concessions). You can book through or enquire through www.smockalley.com Exchange Street Lower, Temple Bar, Dublin 8 Telephone: + 353 (0)1 679 9277/+353 (0)86 6000974 email: niamh@smockalley.com

On Thursday 8th December Irish PEN is holding an event on Crime Writing (fiction and true crime), with leading authors including Abigail Rieley, Sandra Mara and Arlene Hunt. Venue: United Arts Club. Book here: http://irishpencrimewriting.eventbrite.com

Book early to avoid  disappointment. You can reserve you place for all events at our eventbrite page. Cost: 3 euro for members, non-members 5 euro Booking is essential! Go to our eventbrite link or call  087 9660770

Update on Irish PEN blasphemy campaign:

The Committee thanks those of you have have supported our campaign to remove blasphemy from the Irish Constitution and abolish our blasphemy laws. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice have responded to us, saying that the issue of blasphemy will be addressed in the promised constitutional referendum. We ask you to write to your TD asking him to address this issue without delay and, if you have not yet done so, to sign our online petition on www.irishpen.com

Vanessa O'Loughlin, Newsletter Editor

Arts Council News

Irish PEN Chair Joe Armstrong paid tribute to Mary Cloake, outgoing director of the Arts Council. 'We will miss Mary Cloake as director of the Arts Council. She has been a great friend to Irish PEN and we were privileged only last February that she presented the Irish PEN Award to Colm Tóibín at our annual dinner. Her superb speech, delivered that day, can be read on our website. We will miss her and wish her well in the future.'

The Arts Council celebrates its 60^th birthday this year. Established in 1951, to stimulate public interest in and promote the knowledge, appreciation and practice of the arts, the Arts Council is an autonomous body, which is under the aegis of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. The Arts Council is a voluntary body of 12 members and a chair, appointed by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism for a term of five years.

The Arts Council has asked Irish PEN for permission to upload some of the correspondence the two bodies have shared for its forthcoming artscouncil@sixty website. We were delighted to grant permission. Some of the documents are intriguing. For instance, one gives the programme of the PEN international congress held in Ireland in 1953. Keep an eye out for the website, whenever it goes live!

PEN was originally founded by novelist Catherine Amy Dawson Scott who envisaged a dinner club where well-known writers could meet socially. The first dinner was held at the prestigious Café Royal in London in October 1921 with 41 writers in attendance, including Joseph Conrad, John Galsworthy and D.H. Lawrence.

Galsworthy became PEN's first president and persuaded a reluctant George Bernard Shaw to join. Shaw complained about the irritation of the guinea a year fee and told him to take twenty guineas and make him a life member.

Lady Augusta Gregory, the dramatist, folklorist and translator, set up the first branch of Irish PEN. However Irish writers of the time proved solitary and wary of discussing their work and it wasn't until 1934, under the auspices of Lord Longford, Sean O'Faolain and Bulmer Hobson that it began to thrive.

Irish PEN is affiliated to International PEN, a worldwide association of writers with over 140 branches in 90 countries. PEN stands for poets,

playwrights, editors, essayists and novelists. The organisation exists to promote friendship, freedom of expression, international goodwill and intellectual co-operation between writers from a variety of mediums.

Each year Irish PEN nominates an Irish writer for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Following his Nobel Award in 1995, Seamus Heaney was conferred with life membership of Irish PEN.

Irish PEN Social Media

Irish PEN is affiliated to PEN centres from West-Bengal to Washington, from Melbourne to the Ukraine and to many other countries in between. International PEN has experienced a renaissance and re-invigoration through the usage of social-media.

The Committee of Irish PEN decided to begin using social-media in a more proactive form

in April 2011, at the same time Mr Antonio Della Rocca (PEN Trieste) initiated a core group  of International PEN writers, bloggers and activists on Facebook. 150 PEN centres are  now represented, including Irish PEN members.

The idea to connect active writers and advocates on social-media was experimental and raised some interesting issues. We watched and talked with PEN members in Egypt,  Oslo and Ukraine as events unfolded which made global news.  

A second social-group entitled 'PEN  International members sharing opinions and texts '  was set up with the idea of sharing ideas on translation, on media and on transmission of texts. It was also a flying success.

Irish PEN has a Facebook identity with over 1,090 members, this is growing daily. Writers

of all types drop in and introduce themselves and help each other with links and advertising.

We have members within the two PEN international social groups who can discuss items such as The Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee, or the Writers In Prisons Committee on a daily or weekly basis.

We have started a Twitter account for Irish PEN. This is slower , as only a handful of the PENs have a Twitter presence. We compensate by sharing their links as much as we can across the small group of affiliates on Twitter.

The most interesting result of bringing Irish PEN into active use of social media has

been a renewal of strong contacts with all our sister organisations , and for us to enjoy

a strong online presence in search-engines and in active discussions on current issues

of freedom of speech and use of social-media.

This is a brief note regarding Irish PLR (the monies earned by authors when their books are borrowed in libraries)

Irish titles registered at the UK PLR do not automatically register to the Irish PLR. It is best to check independently whilst registering in the UK that your most current titles are registered here in Ireland. Advices for Irish authors who wish to check that their books are registered under PLR include printing out the full list and sending it on to the Irish PLR office, which can be used to update the Irish list - there is a requirement to register title separately with the Irish PLR.

Please check both UK and Irish lists in order that both are kept up to date.

Annual registration for PLR is in early September. I am including here the Irish PLR home-page and a contact for Irish PEN .
You can contact the PLR office by post, telephone, fax or email.

Public Lending Remuneration Office
An Chomhairle Leabharlanna (The Library Council)
53/54 Upper Mount Street
Dublin 2
Tel: 00 353 1 6761167/6761963
Fax: 00 353 1 6766721
E-mail: plr@librarycouncil.ie
Website: www.plr.ie

Royal Irish Academy Literatures in English Symposium Friday 7 October, 9.30 am - 4.30 pm

Can it be taught? Teaching and learning creative writing in Ireland. Creative writing is a new but rapidly growing discipline in Irish universities. Since it was introduced in the form of the M.Phil in Creative Writing in Trinity College twelve years ago, the subject has become popular and is now taught in at least six third level colleges. So far, however, there has been little opportunity for formal discussion or debate about the subject among its practitioners. This seminar gives teachers of creative writing an opportunity to share information on the structure, content, and philosophy of their courses, and to discuss how best to develop and advance their subject.

The programme for the event is available on the Literatures in English webpageshttp://www.ria.ie/Events/Events-Listing/Irish-Literatures-in-English-Symposium.aspx

Call for Applications:  Writer/Storyteller-in-Residence

 A professional writer and/or storyteller is sought for the position of Writer/Storyteller in Residence at the University of Manitoba's Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture.  The residency, from about September 5 to December 14, 2012, will require the successful candidate to spend approximately 16 hours per week providing mentorship and practical artistic advice to developing writers and storytellers at the University of Manitoba, to give a limited number of readings and/or performances on campus, and to lead an informal non-credit workshop.  The remaining time is to be devoted to the writer or storyteller's own artistic projects. The successful candidate will receive a salary of $20,000.00 CAD, accommodation and return transportation to Winnipeg. To learn more about the Centre, visit http://umanitoba.ca/centres/ccwoc/

Applicants should provide a covering letter summarizing their qualifications for the position and describing the artistic and mentoring work they would undertake during the residency.  Applications must also include a CV or résumé of career achievements (publications, performances, awards, residencies), a writing sample of no more than 20 pages (double-spaced and typed in a standard 12-point font) and two letters of reference discussing the applicant's skills as an artist and a mentor.

The application deadline is October 24, 2011.

Electronic submissions of application materials are accepted at the Centre's email address, but attachments must be in Microsoft Word, PDF, RTF or DocX only.  Please direct inquiries and electronic application materials to ccwoc@cc.umanitoba.ca. Applicants may also submit hardcopy applications to: Dr. Warren Cariou, Director

Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture, University of Manitoba

391 University College, 220 Dysart Road

Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2M8 CANADA

 Books and other materials sent in support of applications will not be returned.

PEN affirms that:

1. Literature knows no frontiers and must remain common currency among people in spite of political or international upheavals.

2. In all circumstances, and particularly in time of war, works of art, the patrimony of humanity at large, should be left untouched by national or political passion.

3. Members of PEN should at all times use what influence they have in favour of good understanding and mutual respect between nations; they pledge themselves to do their utmost to dispel race, class and national hatreds, and to champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace in one world.

4. PEN stands for the principle of unhampered transmission of thought within each nation and between all nations, and members pledge themselves to oppose any form of suppression of freedom of expression in the country and community to which they belong, as well as throughout the world wherever this is possible.

PEN declares for a free press and opposes arbitrary censorship in time of peace. It believes that the necessary advance of the world towards a more highly organised political and economic order renders a free criticism of governments, administrations and institutions imperative. And since freedom implies voluntary restraint, members pledge themselves to oppose such evils of a free press as mendacious publication, deliberate falsehood and distortion of facts for political and personal ends.

As a member of Irish PEN, you are a member a PEN International, to agree to their charter visit the Irish PEN website or follow this link: https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dG5sOXVVYU1IY1RITnRPb08wZnBnTmc6MQ

Inkwell Start Writing Sept 17^th with best selling authors Sarah Webb and Julie Parsons

www.inkwellstartwriting.eventbrite.com

http://writing.ie/com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=348&Itemid=214

Monday 12th September 6pm: Next Stop New York - tales of emigration and loss on board the Jeannie Johnson, moored on Custom House Quay, Dublin 1 with Marita Conlon McKenna, Kate Kerrigan and Martina Devlin.

Wednesday 21^st September 6pm: Inspiring Lives - stories of courage and determination at Deanery House of St Patrick's Cathedral, 40 Upper Kevin Street, Dublin 8. Amazing stories of courage and determination in the home of Jonathan Swift with Brian Keenan, John Lonergan and Dave Kenny

Wednesday 5^th October 6pm: Getting to the Heart of It - tales of romance in the resting place of St. Valentine - Whitefriars Street Church, 56 Aungier Street, Dublin, with best selling authors Colette Caddle, Michelle Jackson, Claire AllanChair: Vanessa O'Loughlin

Tuesday 18th October 6pm: Dublin on a Plate - Food and food writing at its best at Fallon and Byrne, 11-17 Exchequer Street. An evening for foodies as writers Hugo Arnold, Georgina Campbell, Catherine Cleary and Catherine Fulvio discuss the art of food writing. Enjoy food specially created by executive head chef Tom Meenaghan.

Admission: €20. Booking ESSENTIAL on  01 222 222 before 12 noon Monday 17th October.

A Tale of Terror in the Crypt - Eithne Massey's medieval tale of ghosts and witchcraft 'Where the Stones Sing' told in the scary, spooky surrounds of the crypt.  1st November 2.30pm. Recommended for children aged 10+

Wednesday 2nd Nov 7:30pm: Matters of Grave Importance - Tales from the Tombs at Glasnevin Museum, Glasnevin Cemetary, (Gate 1) Finglas Road, Dublin 11. Historian Catriona Crowe and actor Fergus Cronin bring to life the work of some of the writers burried in Glasnevin in an evening of readings and song.

Wednesday 16^th November 6pm: The Scales of Justice: Four Courts, Inn's Quay, Dublin 7Parking with crime writers Declan Hughes, Stuart Neville, Niamh O'Connor and Arlene Hunt in the unique atmosphere of The Four Courts...

Saturday 19^th November 11am: So Much More Than Shopping - Cafe treats with a topping of literary cream at Lost Society, First floor, Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, 59 South William Street, Dublin 2 Enjoy a morning treat from the Lost Society Cafe menu with international best selling authors Sheila O'Flanaghan, Sinead Moriarty and Claudia Carroll.

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