Dedalus and Pat Boran are on a roll at the moment, what with the Glen Dimplex Poetry Award won by Dedalus poet Iggy McGovern for his debut collection The King of Suburbia; and now this evening, three books launched; and then a Dedalus anthology coming on Monday November 20, to mark 21 years of the Dedalus Press, most of them under founder John F Deane.
It was gratifying to see such a big crowd for a poetry book launch in the Damer Hall in St Stephen’s Green, Dublin. It was also gratifying that it was such a cosmopolitan group of poets – Paul Perry from Dublin, with his second book, The Orchid Keeper; Gerry Murphy, up from the Republic of Cork with his New and Selected Poems, End of Part One; and not least, A Night in the Nabakov Hotel, 20 Contemporary Poets from Russia, translated and edited by Dublin-based, part Irish, part Polish, part Russian Anatoly Kudryavitsky.
It takes energy, it takes vision, it takes courage, particularly to publish poetry in translation, as Dedalus has done for many years. And yet A Night in the Nabakov Hotel sold every available copy this evening.
Pat assures me you can get copies of A Night in the Nabakov Hotel on http://www.dedaluspress.com and even in Books Upstairs in College Green, Dublin (and other ‘good bookshops’). What I meant was that the stock on the night was sold out. But I believe it’s selling like hot cakes, so get in there quick!
Oh for crying out loud. I just wrote to Pat Boran saying I was really looking forward to that Russian collection! You mean I can’t buy it now! Well, I suppose that is a very good state of foreign affairs. Well done to all .