It’s probably fair to say that few people outside Ireland and/or the literary world will have heard of the International Impac Dublin Literary Award. The prize is awarded annually by the Dublin City Council and a company called Impac (they’re a “productivity improvement company”, apparently) for the best novel published two years prior to the year of award, and this year it went to Irish novelist Colum McCann for his 2009 novel Let the Great World Spin. We’re betting McCann’s delighted to have won, because while it mightn’t have the prestige of, say, the Man Booker or the National Book Award, the International Impac Dublin Literary Award is nevertheless notable for one reason: it’s the world’s richest prize for a work of English-language fiction. The winner gets a whopping €100,000 (about US$140,000) – more than the Booker (£50,000, so about US$80,000) and the National Book Award ($10,000) put together. Nice work if you can get it, etc. [via ArtsBeat]
There are many ways we can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day: go on a bender, kiss everyone in sight, projectile vomit into some shrubbery, be the bastard who pinches someone for not wearing an appropriate amount of green, or all of the above. In addition to the general acts of vandalism and stupidity that will take place in a matter of hours, we suggest you pick up a copy of The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story, edited by Anne Enright. We’ve come up with a list of ten contemporary Irish authors you need to know, because they’re masters of their craft, and because you’re going to need a big book to hide under when you commute to work tomorrow.
As Enright writes in the introduction: “If Ireland loves you, then you must be doing something wrong.” Here’s to the dreamers, the misanthropes, and the lonely souls contained in this collection, and long live the short story.
Setting down the right words to describe the magic of sleeping under one cool sheet or making s’mores around a bonfire is easier said than done. In case this triple-digit hot spell isn’t enough of an initiation into the dog days of summer for you, here are our top picks for novels where the essence of the season was done justice. Leave a comment if your favorite summer read didn’t make our list.
New York-based singer Joe Hurley collaborated with National Book Award winner Colum McCann to write “The House that Horse Built” (Let the Great World Spin), a 12-minute track inspired by a chapter in McCann’s novel about 1970s New York, Let the Great World Spin. The limited edition EP was produced by Don Fleming (Sonic Youth, Pete Yorn, Nancy Sinatra, Hunter S. Thompson) and is currently available for download here.
While this song is told from the point of view of Tilly, a black prostitute who loses her daughter, rumor is that the pair is working on nine additional tracks inspired by other characters from the book for a full-length album that would coincide with the release of the paperback version in the UK.
If you live in New York, check out the album release party on December 8th at Joe’s Pub. Hurley will perform “The House that Horse Built” live for the first time with the full band, and McCann is scheduled to appear as well.
1. Colum McCann‘s Let the Great World Spin won the fiction prize last night at the 60th annual National Book Awards; T.J. Stiles’ biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, The First Tycoon, was the nonfiction winner. [via AP]
2. Shaquille O’Neal will curate an art show about scale called Size DOES Matter for New York’s nonprofit Flag Art Foundation come February. [via Bloomberg]
3. FOX News displayed doctored footage for the second time in a week. Is it time for heads to roll? [via The Daily Beast]
4. Andrew Lloyd Webber is back in the hospital after developing an infection following surgery for prostate cancer. [via Guardian]
5. Take a look at Vampire Weekend’s funny new video for “Cousins,” which is directed by Garth Jennings. [via Pitchfork]
1. For the first time in 27 years, an American — Meb Keflezighi — won the New York Marathon. [via NYT]
2. Two new Rihanna tracks from Rated R leaked over the weekend: “Bubble Pop” and Wait Your Turn. [via Pigeons and Planes]
3. The first review of the Nightmare on Elm Street remake doesn’t sound too good. [via Ain't It Cool]
4. Amazon’s blog has posted their top 100 books of 2009, which is topped by Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. [via Omnivoracious]
5. Robert Zemeckis, the director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, says that he’s commissioned a sequel from the original’s writers, Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman. [via MTV]
The National Book Award finalists have been announced, and we were happy to see that several Flavorpill favorites have been honored in the fiction category.
Bonnie Jo Campbell, American Salvage
Colum McCann, Let the Great World Spin
Daniyal Mueenuddin, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders
Jayne Anne Phillips, Lark and Termite
Marcel Theroux, Far North
Flavorpill scribe Elizabeth Williamson interviewed Phillips about the birth of Lark and Termite back in January of this year. Check it out here, and click through for the nominees in non-fiction and poetry.
1. Two new piano works found in his sister’s music notebook have been attributed to an elementary school-age Mozart. [via NYT]
2. Funny People topped the weekend box office with the smallest number-one draw of the summer causing many to wonder, is Apatow’s hot streak over? [via THR]
3. Steven Spielberg has signed on to direct an adaptation of the Mary Chase Pulitzer Prize-winning play Harvey, which follows a man’s relationship with a six-and-a-half foot invisible rabbit. [via Variety]
4. The Red Hot Chili Peppers will end their two-year hiatus by starting work on a new album come October. [via NME]
5. Random House is offering Colum McCann’s fantastic new novel, Let the Great World Spin, as a free download for 48 hours on Oprah.com. [via PW]
Bonus story: A Washington Post reporter feels ripped off by Gawker. [via WaPo]
