Latest News from Inkwell
Triple Success for Inkwell Writers!
I tried to start this post three times yesterday but the good news kept coming in, so I’ve decided to combine the whole lot…
This morning Helen Marie Clarke who lives currently in Santa Fe New Mexico, but who hails from New York, signed with literary agent Paul Feldstein of The Feldstein Literary Agency. I was thrilled to make the introduction as I have been working with her since October last year on her book ‘Over PJ’s Tales from Clarke’s Bar’. It’s the fabulous story of her Grand Uncle Paddy Clarke who founded PJ Clarke’s famous bar in New York, how it survived prohibition, the redevelopment of New York and how it came to be the regular haunt of stars like the Rat Pack and Marilyn Monroe. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working on the book, developing the key elements of the story with Helen and I’m thrilled to say there is already publisher interest for US and Canadian rights! It’s definitely ‘cheers’ to the ‘Little Bar that Could’. Watch this space for more news!
As Helen was talking to Paul, I heard from Patricia Byrne who I’m delighted to say has just signed with The Collins Press for her book ‘The Veiled Woman of Achill’ due out in April 2012. She says:
You may remember that you provided editorial input on early chapters to my nonfiction book about the Achill Valley House story. I also benefited from Patricia O’Reilly’s online Inkwell workshop on Historical Fiction. These inputs were important milestones as I worked through the development of the story into what eventually became a nonfiction book written in the narrative nonfiction style. Well, I am pleased to say that my book was accepted for publication by The Collins Press and is due out in April 2012. I was pleased that the book got a mention in last Saturday’s Irish Times in their review of books to look out for in 2012 (Social History category). Thanks for your support and inputs along the way in getting this story into print
The Veiled Woman of Achill is Irish True Crime/Non Fiction, the story of an atrocity on Achill Island in the west of Ireland in 1894. An English landowner, Agnes McDonnell, was brutally attacked and her home – Valley House – burnt. Agnes survived but was so disfigured she wore a veil in public for the rest of her life. The island’s wild man, James Lynchehaun, was convicted of the crime and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, he escaped twice and won a groundbreaking legal case in the United States successfully resisting extradition.
A Franciscan monk in Achill, Brother Paul Carney, had befriended and assisted Lynchehaun, and wrote up the fugitive’s story. Lynchehaun became a folk hero. John Millington Synge visited Mayo in 1904/1905 and decided to locate his drama, The Playboy of the Western World, in north Mayo. Lynchehaun was one of Synge’s influences in constructing the character of Christy Mahon. Agnes McDonnell lived on in Achill and in 1923 was found dead with a wine glass at her feet. James Lynchehaun became a destitute figure and died in Scotland in 1937. The crime, the trial and escapes, and the island tensions are unravelled in this gripping account.
I’m sure those of you on the mailing list remember Jaki McCarrick from previous Inkwell Newsletters – she heard about the Wasafiri Prize for New Fiction in a newsletter and went on to win the competition. Since then she has been moving from success to success, and emailed to say:
“This is just to let you know that from January 2012 I am on attachment to the National Theatre, London with my play, Belfast Girls. The play explores the emigration of young Irish women to Australia during the Great Famine and has a large all-female cast. The play won the Stage Write Playwriting Competition at the Galway Theatre Festival this year and will be directed by Svetlana Dimcovic.”
Jaki McCarrick is an award-winning playwright, poet and short story writer. She has been published in journals such as The Dublin Review, Irish Pages, Ambit, Wasafiri Magazine, Poetry Ireland Review, Southword, Stony Thursday Book, Cyphers, Brace (an anthology of short fiction published by Comma Press), The Frogmore Papers. In 2010 she won the Papatango Playwriting Award for her play, Leopoldville, which was staged at the Tristan Bates Theatre in London last year to much critical acclaim. Her short story, The Visit, won the 2010 Wasafiri Prize for New Fiction (judged by Romesh Guneskera) and is to appear in the 2012 Anthology of Best British Short Stories, edited by Nicholas Royle and published by Salt.
Anyone in London soon? Jaki McCarrick is a name to watch! Find out more about her on her blog http://jakiscloudnine.
