Jon McGregor, The Letters Page & Four Postcards That Ended Up In Donegal..

All good things come to an end, and the last of Jon McGregor's letters in our hand-written, interview-by-post has reached destination Donegal. We've been highlighting his second novel, 'So Many Ways To Begin', because of its Donegal setting, and hopefully readers locally and afar will be inspired to read this rather wonderful novel: resonant with themes of emigration, identity and the changing nature of work, crammed with memorable characters and complex relationships, subtly conveyed and beautifully written.

There is good reason for conducting the interview by post, apart from giving me a break from bills and junk mail. In postcard number 4, I disingenuously asked Jon about his latest project, and he replied:

" 'The Letters Page' is a new literary journal in letters, published by the University of Nottingham, exploring the idea of letter writing as a literary practice and a personal writing form. Our first issue, including letters from Colum McCann, Magnus Mills and one Ann Hull...."

I'm stopping there because the link he gives to the brand-new web page doesn't seem to be up yet. I'll tell you instead that he prefaced the reply above with the phrase, "Ha! Funny you should ask..." thus exposing my artifice, as all good writers should.

If you look here there is information about the first issue and how to subscribe to the newsletter. It will also tell you how to submit a letter of your own, for publication in the next edition. I hear that Kevin Barry is doing so. Why don't you write to The Letters Page? I did, and look what happened.

Submissions have to be handwritten on A4 paper. If you think that's tough, look at the picture below and marvel at the amount of writing Jon fitted onto these post-it notes...

I would like to thank Jon McGregor for all his good-natured and courteous tolerance..

Jon McGregor takes a week to get from Nottingham to Donegal...

......I mean, of course, his letter, postmarked 3rd September, which has just been delivered. Although Jon has been here too, you know. He doesn't just pluck these novels out of the air. He researches. He couldn't have written 'So Many Ways To Begin' without travelling the highways and byways of Donegal, and a fine job he made of it.

It is a book with a strong sense of place. As well as Donegal, he skilfully portrays Coventry and Aberdeen. The book also has a wide historical and social sweep, but it is the characters who dominate. In postcard no.3, I asked Jon how he maintained the balance between characters and relationship, and the portrayal of historical and social change.

He responded by emphasising that this was always going to be a domestic novel. The main character, David, is adopted. He works as a museum curator. We track his life as son, husband, and father.
'The bigger, historical themes/concepts seemed to nudge in later,' he writes.
I love this phrase, for the heart of the book is never overwhelmed by the ambition of its themes. As Jon concludes, '..the personal is the political; the domestic is the grand narrative.'
In 'So Many Ways To Begin', he nudges us gently into acknowledging the truth and depth of this.

Sincere thanks to Jon McGregor for his cooperation with this interview by post. There is one more postcard to go. A full version of the interview will be printed in North West Words magazine.

Burning Bush 2 - poet interviews and praise for NWW

Burning Bush 2, the online poetry magazine, has a series of interviews with contributing poets on their website. The interviews are available here and you can also read the latest issues of the magazine online. So far they have questions and answers from Kevin Higgins, Susan Millar DuMars, Afric McGlinchey, Kimberly Campanello, Brian Kirk, Patrick Chapman, and Steven Murray. In each instance, they have asked the poet to recommend one regular poetry event, both Kevin and Susan have recommended North West Words at Cafe Blend, Letterkenny. So, well done Eamonn Bonner and the NWW team for the thumbs up - well deserved.

Poetry Project - Finale Competition Deadline

The Poetry Project has been running all year, sending out poetry and accompanying videos to inboxes. The project is almost over, but they have a competition to complete, deadline 16th September 2013. One poem from these competition entries will be chosen as the final poem of the project. See here for  details. The poem entered must be in response to one of the videos from the project, available now at the website here

Being open to criticism and the role of drafts

Something strikes me more and more, year on year, as a writer and a teacher and a student. That is, the importance of being open and positive about reader critique of your writing, and the role of drafting and proofreading in your own work. Both are vital to good writing, I think. Good writing takes time, work, and many drafts, it is not generated spontaneously. And, it is often enriched by accepting reader feedback of strengths and weaknesses from experienced readers.  

Here are two links that reminded me of this recently:

The Gathering Poem - a national call for poetry

This is a new one on me - kind of like the poetic equivalent of a conga dance! I'm working on a project at the minute that involves collaborative writing, so I find this interesting - a poem that is to be created by Irish poets in Ireland, or abroad. All Irish are welcome to submit. 

For Claire Messud fans who also write excellent short stories

The Indiana Review is currently running a fiction competition with Claire Messud as the final judge. Presumably that means she reads the selected shortlist. It's a short story competition with a generous word count of 8,000 words. Anyway, details are available here It costs $20 to enter, but that includes a one year subscription (I assume this means to the Indiana Review). The Indiana Review is a biannual literary review that usually costs $20 for the two issues, so the entry fee is good value.

Donegal poets: The inaugural Noelle Vial Tyrone Guthrie Centre Poetry Bursary.

Are you a poet from, or based, in Donegal? Then you may be interested in the opportunity that arises from an inaugural bursary offered by 13th Donegal Bay and Blue Stacks Festival (September 26 – October 6 2013).

Jon McGregor gives us one hundred and one percent!

When I wrote here last time that Jon McGregor was a busy man, I didn't know he would be judging the Davy Byrnes Short Story Award 2014 before the second postcard had arrived! But there you go...

Fiction course set to run in Ballyshannon soon

Monica Corish emailed this info to me today. I did two courses which I really enjoyed with Monica a few years ago in the Regional Cultural Centre. She has read at NWW, as has her co presenter on this 10 week course, Tom Sigafoos.

 Writing Fiction: a Ten Week Intensive Course

with Monica Corish and Tom Sigafoos.

Where: The Old Credit Union Building, Ballyshannon.

When: Tuesdays from October 8 to December 10, 7:30 – 10 pm.

Cost: €120, or €100 if payment received in full (by cheque, PO, PayPal) by October 1.

Places on the workshop are limited, so early booking is essential.

For info and to book, go to www.monicacorish.ie /phone Monica at 087-6414185 /email tomsigafoos@gmail.com.

The course is based on "The Writing Book: a Practical Guide for Fiction Writers," by the award-winning Australian novelist Kate Grenville.