March 9th, 2008
The Arts Show: Diaz, Enright and Chequerboard
The Arts Show on RTE Radio 1 has been on a roll this past week. On Monday there was an interview with Junot Diaz about his new book The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao . I can’t remember the last time a book was so hyped in the US before hitting these shores, so am very curious about it. On Friday, it was announced Diaz had won The National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.
On Wednesday, I caught the tail end of Anne Enright talking about her new collection of short stories, Taking Pictures. After being blown away by her writing in The Gathering, this is one of the books I’ve been most looking forward to this year. Tuesday’s show featured Chequerboard, who has released one of the best Irish albums of the year. He was in studio for a chat and performed ‘Konichiwa’. (My flag-waving review is in last Friday’s Irish Times).
Also listen in on Tuesdays for the show’s ongoing European Writers series. So far, they’ve featured Ryszard Kapuscinski, Milan Kundera, Sandor Marai, Gunter Grass and Italo Calvino.
Of similar interest might be the Irish Writer’s Series. The first six writers featured are all women, including Edna O’Brien, Mary Lavin and Kate O’Brien.
March 10th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
“Tale end of Anne Enright.”
Typo or not?!
March 10th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Chancer, a literary typo too. Nice touch, if I say so myself.
Did you hear the interview in its full non-tail-end format?
March 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Very rarely listen to the radio to be honest Sinead. Does it play on that link? I’ll give it whirl when I’m not at work.
March 13th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I grabbed a copy of “Taking Pictures” while I was there and have it next on my list. Very excited about it.
Kate O’Brien and Mary Lavin are criminally overlooked.