During my reading in Bantry Bookshop, there was a lady who was sketching me throughout. I never spoke to her but she gave one of the sketches to Rozz for Emrys. I’ve never been sketched before except one of those cartoony ones you do when you’re drunk on a sun holiday. Whoever you are, thank […]
Author: simon
West Cork Literary Festival Reading
The West Cork Literary Festival is one of my favourite writing festivals of the year. Rozz and I first went four years ago and went again the following year for a full week of workshops. I didn’t think back then that I would be featuring in any way at the festival a few years later. It was […]
Shelfie Time
I know it’s probably stupid but I get such a kick out of seeing my books on the shelves. This photo is my books in Bantry Bookshop. As I was taking the photograph, two women were looking at the book and talking about the area of Jewtown. I couldn’t resist introducing myself and they told […]
Beautiful Bantry
It’s been 3 years since I was last in Bantry for the West Cork Literary Festival and I’m looking forward to reading on Wednesday in Bantry Bookshop, the first of 3 Cork readings. I’ve combined the event with a short family break and the weather has decided to act like July and it’s beautiful. Rozz […]
How lovely are Hay?
I have limited experience so far from reading at literary festivals so I’m not sure if this is the norm but I got a lovely email from the Hay Festival organisers to thank me for reading at their festival. It wasn’t a template, group or generic email, it was a real email to me with a […]
The closest I’ll get to Michael Longley
One of my dreams when I got my publishing deal for Jewtown was to see my book on the shelf of a proper bookshop. Over the weekend that dream came true. Here is my book in Books Upstairs.
Wexford Reading kicks off a Weekend of Crazy
I had the busiest weekend I think I’ve had for a long time. It kicked off in the Fusion Café in Wexford Town. The fantastic monthly poetry event run by Denis Collins has been going for a few years and every month, there’s an open mic and featured poet that reads their work. This month […]
Books Ireland Review
Not so much of a review but 3 sentences to describe me. I’ll take it!
I’ll Drop You a Line
I’ll Drop you a Line is a memoir about David Marcus, one of Cork’s most famous Jewish people with roots in Jewtown. The memoir is written by his wife Ita Daly and costs €14.99 from Londubh books.
The Level Crossing
I’ve been looking through Pat Boran’s first issue of The Level Crossing, which I bought a couple of weeks ago. I’m about a quarter way through it and finding it very interesting. I was amazed to see that over 900 people had submitted a poem to the first issue of the magazine (including myself). It’s surely […]