Category: On Reading

Exhibitions, On Reading, Short story collection, Writing Festival, Writing Life

Out and About: ISLA Festival Instituto Cervantes

L-R Mary Costello, Catherine Dunne, Roger Mateos Miret, Katya Adaui (Photograph (c) Shauna Gilligan)

Portraying the Human was just one of the events of ISLA at the Instituto Cervantes in Dublin. ISLA brings together literary voices of Ireland, Latin America and Spain.

Portraying the Human was moderated by Irish writer Catherine Dunne who brought together the common threads and themes of works by Irish writer Mary Costello (A Beautiful Loan), Roger Mateos Miret (El Verano de los Inocentes) and Peruvian writer Katya Adaui (Aqui hay Icebergs/Here Be Icebergs).

One of the startling messages to emerge from the discussion and readings – and how great to hear the distinct work read aloud by each writer – was the importance of the life of the mind; how vital it is to write about what obsesses us or consumes us.

Writing – and reading – helps us make sense of our place in the world, like a pinning on a map, but it also shows us that growth is possible from suffering and gives sense to our observed world. Above all, as Catherine Dunne said, concluding the session: PAY ATTENTION!

Congratulations to all involved on such a wonderful event and ISLA Festival.

Contemplation, On Reading, Writers Read, Writing Life

Additional – personal and necessary – reading

While I occasionally post about some of my reading habits, there are, naturally, many books, articles and so on that I read without mentioning them in blogposts. I’ve noticed how many of these are personal writings that feel necessary reading right now.

Here are a few I’ve read this summer that use beautiful writing to explore personal experiences with societal/political/cultural structures which, though devastating at times, reflect something universal, shine a light, and speak truth to power.

Picture of “A Death in Malta” by Paul Caruana Galizia (Photo taken in Malta)
Picture of “Blunt Trauma” by Ivy Bannister
Picture of “Bequeath” by Melora Wolff

Contemplation, On Reading, Writers Read

And it’s reading and re-reading time…

Seven books on wooden stairs, list of books below this photograph.
  • Paul Maddern (ed) Queering The Green (poetry)
  • Mary O’Donnel Sweep the Cobwebs Off the Sky (novel)
  • Liz McManus Tiny Bruises (short stories)
  • John O’Donnell Mr Hoo and Other Stories (short stories)
  • John MacKenna The Lock-keeper’s Wife (novella)
  • Moyra Donaldson The Thirteenth Moon (poetry)
  • Katriona O’Sullivan Hungry (memoir)

The above photograph and list show some of my current reads and re-reads. I often re-read books that stay in my mind – whether it’s for beautiful writing, the love of a character, or to remind myself of how something was structured. I also return to anthologies, in particular, because it’s rare to read one cover-to-cover on first reading. Always (not almost always, but always) I will find a new treasure of a word, a line, a complete something that will give me a new perspective or feeling about what it means to be human.