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Big Book Club at the Coach House

Big Book Club at the Coach House

March 21st 10-7.30pm - Irish Writers Day

Sept 5th 10-7.30pm - Poetry day
Final writers list to follow 10am to 7.30pm €110 inc buffet lunch and wine reception
  This is an opportunity for book groups and readers to come together and discuss a selection of works by contemporary Irish writers (March) and poets (Sept). For the March event, the titles of two selected books have already been issued, while the September event will be posted during Spring 2009. The day will include facilitated discussions in small groups for each of the chosen books. After lunch, there will be an interactive session considering book groups – how to run one; what works and what doesn’t – a general ‘pooling’ of ideas, followed by a talk entitled The Books Page: the Reviewer's Perspective" by Alannah Hopkin.

Schedule for March 21st

 
11.45-12.30pm “The Books Page: The Reviewer’s Perspective” Alannah Hopkin
12.30-2.00pm Lunch
2.00 - 3.00pm Facilitated discussion in small groups for the chosen books
3.15 - 4.00pm Interactive session considering book groups – how to run one; what works and what doesn’t – a general ‘pooling’ of ideas.
Break
5.30-7.30pm  
9.45am Coffee and registration.
10.15am Introductions
10.30-11.30am Facilitated discussion in small groups for the chosen books. /td>
Readings by, and opportunity for discussion with the chosen authors over a glass of wine.

March 21st Event Authors and books
Authors for September 2009 have yet to be confirmed, but the March 21st line-up is very exciting.

Books for March 21st

‘Overnight to Innsbruck’ Denyse Woods’ (Lilliput)
 
"Denyse Woods, who also writes as Denyse Devlin, was born in Boston in 1958 and is the daughter of an Irish diplomat. She studied Arabic and English at University College, Dublin, and subsequently worked in Iraq. She has travelled extensively in the Middle East, and also lived in the USA, Belgium, Australia, Italy and the UK before settling in Cork with her English husband. They have two daughters."

‘Tenderwire’ Claire Kilroy
Claire Kilroy was born Dublin in 1973 and studied English in Trinity College. She worked for a number of years in television editing before publishing her first novel, All Summer, (Faber & Faber) in 2003, which won the 2004 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Her second novel, Tenderwire, a love story between a young Irish violinist and an old Italian violin, was short listed for the 2007 Irish Novel of the Year Award, and the 2007 Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. Her third novel, All Names Have Been Changed, will be published in May, and Claire has offered to read from this book in March.

‘Dazzling ... stunningly confident and full of magnificent prose.’ Joseph O’Connor, Mail on Sunday

‘Kilroy is a quirky and excitingly original writer.’ Anne Fogarty, Irish Times

‘It’s a beautifully written story of a young musician ... Kilroy is easily one of the best young writers around; the novel is filled with memorable characters and sentences as elegantly composed as the music that Eva plays.’ John Boyne, Evening Herald

‘Black Swan Green’ David Mitchell (Sceptre)
David Mitchell’s first novel, Ghostwritten (1999), won the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His second novel, number9dream (2001), was shortlisted for the 2002 Man Booker Prize for fiction. In 2003 David Mitchell was named by Granta magazine as one of twenty 'Best of Young British Novelists'. His third novel, Cloud Atlas (2004), was shortlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. David Mitchell lives in Ireland. His latest novel is Black Swan Green (2006)
 
Alannah Hopkin, Claire Kilroy and Denyse Woods are already confirmed to read, talk about their work and sign their books.

Alannah Hopkin has published two novels, A Joke Goes A Long Way in the Country (Hamish Hamilton, London 1982, Atheneum, New York 1983), The Out-Haul (Hamish Hamilton, 1985), a non-fiction book, The Living Legend of St. Patrick (Grafton Books, London 1989, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1991) and Inside Cork (the Collins Press, Cork, 1992), a book-length guide to County Cork. Eating Scenery, West Cork, the People and the Place, a travel book for The Collins Press, Cork was published in April, 2008.

 
Her stories have appeared various publications including the London Magazine and the Cork Review. Born in Singapore, and educated at Queen Mary, College, London and Essex University, she has lived in County Cork since 1982. She writes mainly about art, literature and travel, and her work appears regularly in Ireland of the Welcomes, the Irish Examiner, and the Irish Times. She is a contributor to Fodor's Ireland Guide, author of the Insight Guide to Cork and Southwest Ireland, consulting editor on Insight's 2008 Ireland guide, and a consultant to Tourism Ireland. She is a member of the National Union of Journalists and the International Association of Art Critics (AICA). She is represented by the Jonathan Williams Literary Agency, Dublin.