Ursula K. Le Guin accepts the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the 65th National Book Awards on November 19, 2014. A Brief Riveting Speech by a Mistress of Letters about the difference between writing for a market and writing for art. A few days back a brilliant … Continue reading Ursula K Le Guin’s Cracking Speech at the National Book Foundation Awards
Artistic Life
Notes Scribbled in Dejection in JC’s Cake & Cafe Shop Newtownmountkennedy
When you are stuck in a Cafe in Newtownmountkennedy an hour or two before an appointment, one can become intolerably bored. Being a bit of a bore myself, I start talking to complete strangers, who for the most part have come in for a quiet time by themselves and don’t want a strange hairy talkative … Continue reading Notes Scribbled in Dejection in JC’s Cake & Cafe Shop Newtownmountkennedy
Publishing and not Being Damned
Getting work published and reducing the Tears Involved Archive Image of Thompson Reuters Publishing – see http://thomsonreuters.com/core-publishing-solutions/ The purpose of writing is to be read. No amount of false humility will ever sufficiently delude a writer into thinking she is destined to a kind of solipsistic world of simply writing for themselves. Writing is communication. … Continue reading Publishing and not Being Damned
POSTER POEM BY COLIN DARDIS
COLIN DARDIS’ EXCELLENT ADVENTURE So much of Irish contemporary poetry is to say the least disinteresting. It is tired, fearful of innovation, hopelessly swamped with a vast rich cultural and historical context that should give it a deep well of innovation to work from, a launching pad to new modes of self … Continue reading POSTER POEM BY COLIN DARDIS
The Ego has Landed
There are few sections of any society or culture more susceptible to the siren call of monstrous egotism and delusional self belief than that of the artist. Primarily (but not exclusively) a lone calling, the artist interprets and remakes the world in music, dance, writing, sculpting, film, or other materials present. At the highest levels … Continue reading The Ego has Landed
William Seward Burroughs (1914 – 1997)
With thanks to Scrawl Magazine, who originally published this piece. William Seward Burroughs – actually smiling… It's not all in the voice. But one gets inklings when one listens. The cracked sepulchral voice of William Seward Burroughs (1914 - 1997) adds a searing quality to countless recordings of his stories. Nowadays this is the … Continue reading William Seward Burroughs (1914 – 1997)
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