Slimming for the Beach

Two new books, out of thou­sands of oth­ers, are on the shelves today — The Wow Sig­nal, by Patrick Chap­man, and Redemp­tion Falls, by Joseph O’Connor

There are so many Irish books com­ing on stream that it’s not prac­ti­cal for me to men­tion them all, but I men­tion Patrick because he’s my col­league and co-founder over at Irish Lit­er­ary Revival, which is one year old today, May 1. Do have a look at the bright new WordPress-based site.

It’s a big year for Patrick. Bet­ter known as a poet and screen­writer, The Wow Sig­nal is his first col­lec­tion of Short Sto­ries, and a first novel is forth­com­ing. I haven’t read the sto­ries yet, but I look for­ward to them, and of course you can down­load his first poetry col­lec­tion, Jaz­ztown at Irish Lit­er­ary Revival.

And the rea­son for men­tion­ing Joseph O’Connor? Well, apart from the fact that he’s a gen­tle­man and scholar, I was at the launch in the Pavil­ion The­atre, Dun Laoghaire last night, with Prof Declan Kiberd doing the eru­dite and accu­rate hon­ours before a packed house.

I’ve just read the first chap­ter of Redemp­tion Falls so far, but if it isn’t writ­ing of the first rank I’ll eat my crutches. It is quite sim­ply daz­zling, star­tling and enthralling work.

All best to both writ­ers, this beau­ti­ful May Day 2007