Caoilinn Hughes
@CaoilinnHughes
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Irish writer of THE ALTERNATIVES ( @riverheadbooks @oneworldnews ), THE WILD LAUGHTER, ORCHID & THE WASP + stories about the place. Cullman Fellow @NYPL . she/her
Joined November 2012
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I won an O. Henry Award for my short story 'Prime', first published by
@GrantaMag
! 😱 With huge thanks to
@lukeneima
+
@eleanorchandler
for believing in + improving my writing. I'm very honoured to be among these O. Henry Prize 2019 recipients. 🙏
@lithub
!
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A fairly phenomenal thing has happened, which is that I’ve won both 1st and 3rd prize in The Moth International Short Story Prize, judged by Kevin Barry. It is not a scam. It is so flippin good. Links below. THANK YOU
@themothmagazine
@irishtimes
@RebeccaMoth
@MartinDoyleIT
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I’m so excited to share this *dream cover* for my novel, THE ALTERNATIVES, which comes out in the US and UK on April 16!
More info here!
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I’m on this prize longlist with some of my literary heroes and it’s a fine thing of a Sunday morning. 🙏
@ST_Culture
@audibleuk
@GrantaMag
We are delighted to announce our astonishing
@ShortStoryAward
longlist.
It is our longest since 2015 and very possibly our strongest ever.
Find out more here: …
#IHeartShortStories
#shortstories
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I'm on the
@writing_ie
Short Story of the Year longlist! 🤓 I'm in a café doing some editing and was trying to decide whether or not to have cake. 🍰🥮🥞 Kudos to the cracking list of longlistees, ye beauts. Cake all round.
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Bloody lucky to have
@OneworldNews
and
@riverheadbooks
as a publishing family for this book.
Bring on April! I would LOVE to get to a few festivals next summer and autumn🤞🏻🙏🏻🕺🏻
?
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SOME MORE NEWS 😭
(I will have no news for years now, promise)
I’m so grateful to the team involved.
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The first review, and it’s a Kirkus Starred review. 😭😭🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
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Very cool to be reviewed in New Zealand's Dominion Post weekend edition. I can be very cranky about very positive reviews, so I thought you might like to see why. 👹💩👩⚖️
I mean ... he thinks 'my Vesuvius is erupting' is referring to a head-cold.
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Procrastinating on twitter only to see
#OrchidandtheWasp
on the International Dublin Literary Award Longlist 😍
#DubLitAward
Nobel and Booker Prize winners on 2020 International Dublin Literary Award longlist via
@IrishTimesCultr
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UK proofs are in, and they’re a bit nice! 🥹
For event/festival programmers and reviewers/ book coverage folks who need a long lead-time …
@margotbookpr
can hook you up.🙏🏻
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Subway reading these days is Colm Tóibín’s forthcoming novel, Long Island (
@ScribnerBooks
) - a sequel to Brooklyn - courtesy of
#aidanflaxclark
@nypl
🦁 Amazing and wonderful to see the dedication to Irish publicist and gentleman
@CormacKinsella
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In which The Alternatives is described as ‘brilliant, brainy … best novel yet’ and compared to Anne Enright and Brian Friel.
💀
Thank you
@RuthGilligan
for this gorgeous reading of the book for
@GuardianBooks
@OneworldNews
@riverheadbooks
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Before this story won the Moth Prize, it was rejected by a bucketlist of places.
Rejections mean you have the will to make something.
That will is precious. Don't let them near it. 👊
Here's a Friday treat for you!
@CaoilinnHughes
'Psychobabble', winner of last year's Moth Short Story Prize: . And the brilliant 'Nurses with Wine' by Alex Kanevsky, which appeared alongside the story ...
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My next novel, THE WILD LAUGHTER comes out in May! 🙏 to Bill Clegg
@TheCleggAgency
@AEEWebber
@Jule9
+
@OneworldNews
. Proofs are a month or so off but if you're a bookseller/reviewer/programmer who'd like one let me/
@margotbookpr
/
@CormacKinsella
know. The
@ben_summers
cover!
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Getting this book post
@nypl
@CullmanNYPL
has to be one of the very best moments. Surreal. Lucky as fuck. Memory-making. Booze-pre-5pm-worthy.🥹
For now I have 5 galleys!!! 👀
I’m told now’s the moment for sending to reviewers/media/event people who need a long lead time. That u?
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GOOD DAY
@edbookfest
!! 🙏🏻🙏🏻
What an honour to interview Anne Enright with
@NicolaSturgeon
in the crowd.
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The Alternatives publishes in the UK + IRL on Thursday. I’m grateful to
@NiamhDonnelly
for this gracious, thoughtful interview in
@IrishTimesMag
. Print interviews do give me the heebie-jeebies, so it makes a difference when there’s a kind reader on board.
?
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It was an honour to interview Colm Tóibín for Live at NYPL
@nypl
@NYPLEvents
. Thanks to director of the series
@flaxclark
and to photographer
@sarahstacke
for the great photos.
The conversation is now online:
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It’s UK pub day 🐑🍻 so you’re nearly free of my DREADFUL self promo, TY for putting up with it! Last book came out in May 2020 when bookshops were shut, which makes bookshop sightings now extra sweet. Eg
@Hodges_Figgis
a bookshop for the gods. Also fab mention in
@GHmagazine
🙌🏻
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Find a publisher who looks at you like
@OneworldNews
.
Watch the moment Prophet Song by
@paullynchwriter
was announced as the winner of the
#BookerPrize2023
.
Discover the book:
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I had me photo taken. 🤓 Here’s the incredible 1850s-style wet plate collodion process used by
@adriancookphoto
, who has taken portraits of some literary legends. Very honoured to add my freckleface to the collection. Thanks to Adrian and
@SydWritersFest
for arranging.
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Very very happy to say that ORCHID is longlisted for the
@AuthorsClub
' Best First Novel Award.
#BFNA
🙏🙏
Some fantastic Friday news -
@CaoilinnHughes
's
#OrchidandtheWasp
has been longlisted for the
@AuthorsClub
Best First Novel Award! 🎉🎉🎉
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I’m interviewing
@fotoole
about this epic work of social history
@edbookfest
tomorrow. The in-person tickets have sold out 😵💫 but lots of the events at the fest have online options, pay what you can.
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The proofs are printed 😱😱
'A writer of immense ability and vitality' Kevin Barry
#TheWildLaughter
is an exhilarating, anarchic look at contemporary Ireland by
@CaoilinnHughes
, one of the country’s most exciting new voices.
Bold and beautiful proofs will be making their way around the world shortly 📫
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Very happy to say that ORCHID & THE WASP has made the shortlist for the Big Book Prize. Thanks to
@Cosmopolitan
/
@CosmopolitanUK
for nominating it, and to
@goodhousemag
and
@Hearst
/
@HearstUK
for facilitating the prize. 🙏
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Some news!! 😭😭
👋 Meet the new
@CullmanNYPL
Fellows:
@SethAnziska
, Deborah Lutz,
@smccurry3
, Sara McDougall, Suleiman Osman,
@CaoilinnHughes
,
@amitavakumar
,
@_catherinelacey
,
@jessbruder
,
@mollycrabapple
,
@lancerichardson
, Brenda Wineapple,
@Nic_Sealey
&
@yasmineseale
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This is a bit nice. 🥹
This novel deserves to do really well. Building on the success of Encore Award winning The Wild Laughter, which I also really liked, The Alternatives (Oneworld, April) by Caoilinn Hughes teems with ideas and glitters with intelligence. Plot framework reminiscent of The Green Road
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When the shortlist was announced with one of my favorite short story writers of all time on the list, I felt as if I’d won the thing. Now that she’s won it, we’ve all gone and won the thing. Go Danielle McLaughlin. Sublime.
Danielle McLaughlin announced as the tenth winner of The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award for her story A Partial List Of The Saved
#shortstoryaward10
#IHeartShortStories
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Just found out I'm a finalist in the Sunday Business Post / Penguin Ireland Short Story Prize!! To celebrate, here's a story I wrote earlier - a
#MothersDay
read. (
@PenguinRandomIE
@sundaybusiness
)
I am downright thrilled to have a story up on
@GrantaMag
. Reading material for rotten weather ❄️🌨️☕️📚
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Is it fair to be a tiny bit ecstatic about my UK paperback cover?? 😍🤩🤓
Coming March 2019. Designed by
@OneworldNews
’s
@ben_summers
.
@UA_Books
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US EVENTS Ahhhh!!! Will you come? Will you lend me your friends for a minute/life?!! 🫠🥃 Hoping to make the most of being in North America till late May & am so grateful to the beauteous bookshops & writers collaborating. Here’s a linktree to event pages:
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Am writing a story in which a man passes out. I didn't believe my own scene. Had to put it aside to go to the dentist where I passed out in the hall, post procedure. Came to in the arms of 3 nurses. First thing I said: Don't call an ambulance.I know how to fix it.
#faintingforart
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I won’t be in the UK to celebrate the book being out there until early June, but it is so, so lovely to be sent this pub week sighting in the wild at
@Foyles
🥹 🐑
Alongside fab Irish writing by
@ColinBarrett82
@sineadgleeson
and
#niamhmulvey
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Emmmmmm.... i’m on this.
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One of those books that should've been here all along, but wasn't, till now. There isn't so much as an author's coffee ring in the way of this story. It's authentic, immediate, open, deadly observant, a wee gift. 👏🏻
@michaelmagee__
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Fairly special to be going through these pages
@MacDowell1907
surrounded by woods and brilliant artists and storied walls and whitetailed deer. Now I did swallow a fly last night … but the lump in my throat is from seeing the
@riverheadbooks
subheading for the first time.🥺🙏🏻💚
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My favourite novels are those that have no comps (comparable titles).
When there's not a single novel that they're like.
MILKMAN is one of those books.
Those books are rare.
Reviewers often fall short ... or downright fail ... when confronted with something they don't recognise.
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I am downright thrilled to have a story up on
@GrantaMag
. Reading material for rotten weather ❄️🌨️☕️📚
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The US hardback has arrived … all the more surreal for the words of support flanking it from
@Rumaan
#LouiseKennedy
@JosephONeillx
@dianecookbot
+
#HernanDiaz
. I’ll try not to drive you nuts but it’s ONE MONTH to publication, so🙏🏻🫠🥜
Pre-order linktree:
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In other literary award news ..... ORCHID & THE WASP has been shortlisted for the Butler Literary Award 🥳🍾 judged by
@fotoole
@NadineORegan
& Eibhear Walshe! Honoured to be on the shortlist with
@emiliepine
and
@arnoldtfanning
.
Congrats to
@CaoilinnHughes
@arnoldtfanning
&
@emiliepine
- shortlisted for the newly revived Butler Literary Award. Judged by
@NadineORegan
@fotoole
& Eibhear Walshe. Announcement on 15th Oct
@BooksUpstairs
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Ecstatic to say ORCHID & THE WASP will by pubd by
@HogarthBooks
with editor-in-chief
@LindsaySagnette
. Huge thanks to Bill &
@TheCleggAgency
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Two weeks to US publication and
@riverheadbooks
made this!! Featuring
@KirkusReviews
@ALA_Booklist
⭐️ reviews 🫠🫠🫠🐑🐑🐑🐑
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Here's a thing I've never said before: The Daily Mail is right!
It says that if you loved
@sallyrooney
's NORMAL PEOPLE, you should try Kushner's THE MARS ROOM, Sakaya Murata's CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN,
@rokwon
's THE INCENDIARIES + .... ORCHID & THE WASP 🤓
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The International Dublin Literature Festival
@ILFDublin
programme is live, and it's a good'n. Am honoured to be doing an event with the phenomenal
@JuliaArmfield
. With huge thanks to
@sashadebuyl
for the invite.
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Have you read Mary Ruefle's 2015 short essay on the menopause? Granta says it's a 4 minute read. I put it at a hundred minute read, and counting.
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Look what happens when an indie gets behind a debut.
#2
bestseller at
@DubrayBooks
. Dubray read the proof months ago. They took the time to read it. As did
@LRBbookshop
@NOALIBISBOOKS
@Hodges_Figgis
@bsb_savoy
. It means the world to debut authors when booksellers read proofs! 🙏
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This absolute beauty arrived today!! I’m so grateful to
@SteidlVerlag
for doing such a dream job, to Hans-Christian Oeser and
@SarahHickeyINT
for translating it, to
#LiteratureIreland
for supporting the translation, to
#PalomaAlvesTarr
ío for this utterly gorgeous cloth cover[1/3]
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Cutting onions.
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
@mialevitin
, and Kevin Barry + Olivia Smith for the miraculously deliberate work that goes into
@WinterPapers
.
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My book's HOT in the
@IrishTimes
today. 🔥
First (and probably last) time in my life for such a sentence - I'll take it!
Thanks
@UnaMullally
(+
@hellobanter
/
@byjimcarroll
for intro'ing Una to ORCHID)
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My office in Monaco, as writer-in-residence at the Princess Grace Irish Library. In a past life, I was either a mosquito net, a can of air freshener, or a comfy pair of insoles.
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The
@TriciaLockwood
essay on meeting the Pope from the November 2023 issue of the
@LRB
is the funniest essay I’ve read in my life. Some highlights …
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In preparation for interviewing Anne Enright
@edbookfest
, I’ve been rereading her backlist, and am reminded of her ICONIC sex scenes.
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Great initiative. If you're in Ireland, you know what to do.
BELFAST, CORK, DUBLIN, GALWAY
4 cities, 4 massive literary events
20+ Irish writers, reading, standing in solidarity with Palestine
Tickets on sale Monday 13th November, 10am
More details here:
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1K
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I went through the few dozen
@NewYorker
magazines on my shelf to find a good poem - one of those days when one needs a good poem - and ‘The Pond’ by Charles Rafferty is just that. From the July 2018 issue.
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Consider pre-ordering from Bookculture because they are wonderful??!
and hey this future literature we love [and you will, too] is ready for preorder out this april
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Within the below article is a special announcement (!) and also this link to my acceptance speech in which I thank philanthrocapitalism for stepping in as the UK government has thrown culture under the lie-inscribed bus.
The Collyer Bristow Prize for Debut Fiction 2019, now in its second year, has been awarded to
@CaoilinnHughes
for her novel Orchid & the Wasp (
@OneworldNews
).
For more on Hughes, her prize-winning book and for photos of the event, read the article below:
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In the wee hours of the morning, I finished a story I've been working on for 4 months. There are 99 bottles of beers on the wall + I'm having more than 1. 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
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The latest
@stingingfly
podcast is absolutely *brilliant*. The chat between
@JessicaTraynor6
+
@sallyrooney
is peak literary chat. Jessica’s reading of
@WednesdayErskin
’s story - and Erskin’s writing itself - is so damn good. Can I please have 10 more hours of this to listen to?
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Picked this book out of
@LRBbookshop
window (bc the other copies were sold) as am a fan of
@seanehewitt
’s poetry. If it’s half as good as it looks…
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Hard at work in Red Apple Studios recording the
#audiobook
of
#OrchidAndTheWasp
! Coming to your ears this summer via
@PRHAudio
and
@audibleuk
! 😎🤓📕☀️
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It may be the fifth mini croissant talking, but it seems to me the Irish writing community is one hell of a friendly, fun-loving and supportive bunch. Congrats to all the
@AnPostIBAS
winners and their publishers. Pain au chocolates all round.
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This thing launches in the US today, held in the wordy jacket embrace of some lifelong literary heroes (incl.
@Writerer
@DanniLmc
@grayamelia
). The biggest joy and surprise of the publishing journey has been this love by authors. 🙏❤️
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Hallo proofs of the German edition of
#OrchidandtheWasp
, out in September with the uber-cool
@SteidlVerlag
! 😍📚🍻🇩🇪🤓
#OrchideeundWespe
wird im September veröffentlicht und der Beweis ist da! Ein großes Dankeschön an Steidl, die Übersetzer, Hans-Christian Oeser +
@SarahHickeyINT
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If anyone wants to gift ORCHID & THE WASP to friends/ loved ones for xmas, I will mail you a postcard dedication with a short (silly) poem for them, for you to insert into the book. Just DM me an addy, name for the dedication + tidbit to personalize the poem. 🤓🎄🔖
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Look what I came home to!!! 😍😍 The glorious paperback edition of
#OrchidandtheWasp
ingeniously designed by
@ben_summers
. It launches next week but, rumour has it, it’s already in bookshops. 🤓 Huge thanks to Ben,
@Jule9
,
@OneworldNews
&
#booksellers
who chimed in on the cover!
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Thanks friends for the pics of the NYC launch of ORCHID & THE WASP
@booksaremagicbk
😍It was a blast!! 🚀 Huge thanks to all who turned up, and of course to the brilliant book shop, Michael (events manager extraordinaire) and Dean and Alissa.
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In general, I won't share reviews, as my ideal reader is one who hasn't read any reviews. 🙏 But it is cool to have been covered in The Times (my favourite crossword paper) in advance of pub. I took out the spoilery stuff.
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These stories are getting under my skin. I feel a blurb a-blistering.
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Oh hello
@OneworldNews
bookplates! 😍 I am going to have SUCH a delightful few hours signing these guys while sipping negroni and listening to an audiobook - an activity than makes it into the top 5 aspects of being a writer/alive 💁🏻♀️🥃
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Weekend plans in Dublin? This brilliant festival starts on Friday and runs for 10 days.
I’ll be celebrating my Dublin launch in an event with
@JuliaArmfield
on May 25, chaired by
@nphegarty
… if you’re in town and feeling literary 💁🏻♀️ Tickets here:
#ILFD
Dublin is keeping it Lit! From 17 - 26 May,
#ILFD2024
welcomes literary legends like Naomi Alderman, Richard E. Grant, Marian Keyes, David Nicholls & more to Merrion Square Park. Tickets at !
Brought to you by
@DubCityCouncil
supported by
@artscouncil_ie
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I adore Janet Frame’s writing. OWLS DO CRY esp, but I found one I’ve not yet read thanks to
@Dauntbooks
’ table display. Only spotted the faces in the cover after taking the photo.👌design
@ViragoBooks
. If you haven’t read her work, a single sentence’ll convince you she’s a master
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Hungary! Librarians! You beauties, you. 🇭🇺🤓📚
#DubLitAward
#DUBLITAWARD
Katona József Library of Bács-Kiskun County, Hungary nominated Orchid and the Wasp by Irish author Caoilinn Hughes noting: “The book is the girl’s coming of age story across different places and in circumstances of economic collapse and family dynamics."
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Pre-orders for THE WILD LAUGHTER are open ..... so ... cue mum's bankruptcy. Huge thanks to bookseller extraordinaire
@fionamsharp
for the 5⭐️review. 🖤
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We call up the names of short story greats to describe
@jamelbrinkley
’s work but his stories are lucidly, assuredly his own. His evocation of character + place is second-to-none. There’s all the involvedness +complexity of a novel in each story, making WITNESS so abundant + wise.
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I’m in Waterford for
@Wwritersweekend
#imagine2018
. I remembered my own bewk & my co-panellists’ bewks (for autographs). Here they are posing with a majestic animal. If you’re near
#waterford
, come to the literature events! That’s how we *really* keep the poet in the house.
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Finished these stories this weekend. Such a fresh + brilliantly off-kilter sensibility, coupled with new—yet timeless—observations that will make you sigh in sympathy, shake your head in affinity + slap your own thigh + someone else’s at its Beckettian-cum-MirandaJulyian humour.
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By some miracle, I chatted with
@NPR
’s
@AndrewLimbong
on ‘All Things Considered’ 🥹
@nprbooks
@riverheadbooks
@OneworldNews
@TheCleggAgency
@UA_Books
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Nice surprise to discover via a tweet that I'm on this longlist! 🤓
Alongside some champs, I might add.
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London launch party - in 2 hours' time!! Do come! 🚀🍷📚
I approve this message, as Banville didn't use the phrase 'fiesty female'. 👊
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🔊
@michaelmagee__
’s brilliant novel CLOSE TO HOME launches next week in the US. Come one come all to celebrate its publication on May 16th - next Tuesday - online at noon Chicago time/ 1pm NYC/ 6pm Belfast/London. We’d love to see your faces/avatars! 🍻 ?
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Ahead of
@AklWritersFest
, Radio New Zealand
@radionz
kindly had me on. The bookseller I refer to is
@mxbialostocki
@UnityBooks
and there are shout-outs to
@VicUniWgtn
@VUPBooks
&
@HelenClarkNZ
because she's the first & best protagonist I ever voted for. 👊
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What a cool literary event!! Someone reads fiction to you while you knit! 😍
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On May 16, I’m interviewing Colm Tóibín for the Live at NYPL series.
@NYPLEvents
Join if you’re in NYC!
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If you’re looking for the perfect gift for a bookish young adult (or adult who loves fairytales, reimagined/beautiful design books),
@AnPostIBAS
Irish Book Award Winner TANGLEWEED & BRINE by
@propermiss
is as rich inside as if is out:
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Turned up to
@Shakespeare_Co
in
#Paris
to find my book on their shelves! Might've scared customers with small scream.
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Looking forward to interviewing these wonders alongside brilliant historian
@smccurry3
at
@Columbia
on Nov 27th. Kudos to Eileen Gillooly,
@IrelandinNY
@DartCenter
@GIHNYU
@sofheyman
@NI_Bureau
and many others for bringing these authors together.
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And thank you to the book-world gent Rick O’Shea for this in the
@ReviewIndo
🥹 Rick makes the whole business feel more human and communal, and I am one of a great many people who owe him a pint.
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