Sinead Keegan

You all know I love to plug Irish literature and so today is a particularly exciting day. Eimear McBride has won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction for her novel, A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing . McBride is a true product of Irish history and immigration. She was born in Liverpool to Northern Irish parents, but spent much of her childhood on the west coast of Ireland. She now lives in the UK. A note to the aspiring writers, to my students and to myself on my down days: It took Eimear years to get someone to publish this. Years. As in, a decade. Hang in there and keep racking up the rejections. So, chalk another award up for Ireland and Irish immigrants. Again, I say, for a little country we sure can churn out an impressive number of impressive artists. Must be something in the rain. Congratulations, Eimear!

On this Mother's Day I thought I would devote a reading-y post to my mom. Mom and I are very different in some ways - she would hate to have to write creatively for a living and organisation is second nature to her - but we share one very important thing. One thing for which I owe her an eternal, capital lettered THANK YOU: We share a love, nay, a passion for reading and this is truly one of the greatest gifts I've ever received. I read in the neighbourhood of 40-60 novels, plays and collections of poetry and short stories every year. And that doesn't include the stories that I listen to on The New Yorker Fiction Podcast or the poems from the Poetry Foundation's Poem of the Day podcast or the work that I read in literary magazines, online and from my students and colleagues. That adds up to hundred s of new world, ideas, images, plays on and with language and hours of joy. Now I spend my days reading and writing and teaching writing. I cannot think of a bette...

Short one for now, as am knee deep in revisions of a section of what one day might be part of that elusive/illusive book. But, really, there's nothing like a little shameless self-promotion at 11am on a Wednesday morning. My short story, Hot Heat Love, is in print this morning in What the Dickens? literary magazine. You can get it for free online at wtd-magazine.com or spring for the e-reader edition on Amazon. The magazine is 100 pages of literary and artistic interpretation of the theme "sunflowers". My story is slightly less cheerful than some of the other interpretations, which must say something about me. Hope you enjoy and I'd love to hear your feedback! wtd-magazine.com - FREE! Amazon.com - $2.41 USD Amazon.co.uk - £1.53