NEWS
Winner of Le Prix Des Lecteurs Escpades, France
Cloud of Think
It was a pleasure to visit the impressive Cloud Of Think lads in Coláiste an Spioraid Naoimh, Bishopstown, Cork. Cloud of Think is a great initiative. Well worth checking out the excellent writing on their site. Here's the really well-written piece they did about my visit: Cloud Of Think -C
Great reviews for Charlie Le Simple in France!
France 2 TV's Télématin
"Sublime... awesome... original"
Témoignage Chrétien
"A wonderful novel..."
Le Monde
"...brilliant and irresistibly funny first novel from the Irishman [...] in exceeding itself, the crude and truculent text becomes a form of poetry."
Le Figaro"Outstandingly susscessful...Ciarán Collins has an amazing sense of accents and language of the every day -so clever...served by a translation which captures the jubilant, imaginative, playful language."
Sens Critique
"A magnificent novel about difference, jealousy and friendship."
Charlie Le Simple
Here's the beautiful cover of Charlie Le Simple, the translation of The Gamal which is hitting the shelves in France this week. It is published by the wonderful Éditions Joëlle Losfeld, an imprint of Gallimard.
Leaving Cert 2017
It has been announced that The Gamal will be on the Leaving Certificate English Course in 2017. In 2013 Bloomsbury in the USA produced a Reading Group Guide for the book's publication, which people may find useful. It does include some spoilers though, so be sure to have read the book before having a look. It's available here.
Praise in Germany & Austria
Tausend Worte (the German edition of The Gamal) has been garnering some high praise in Germany. Der Spiegel called it a "poignant and immensely charming story." Bayerischer Rundfink (Bavarian Broadcasting) said "you will devour this mysterious, original and darkly funny novel." Buecherrezension's verdict is that Tausend Worte is a "thrilling debut." Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung said it's "A complex, funny, captivating tale of love, friendship and guilt."
The Gamal Pop-up Library
"I recently struck up a conversation with Ciarán’s agent on Twitter. Unsurprisingly, he shares my belief that The Gamal deserves a wider audience. We batted around a few ideas and, once we’d decided that standing in city centres waving copies of the book above my head and shouting wouldn’t work, we came up with The Gamal’s Pop-up Library"
-Fran Slater
Here's the beautiful cover for the German edition of The Gamal with its clever new title, Tausend Worte (A Thousand Words). The German edition will be out on April 14th, translated by Gabriele Haefs.
Ciarán Collins and his wife Sandra at the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards (Photo courtesy of IBA)
"A big thank you to all who voted and congratulaions to the nominees and the winners. We'd a great night." -Ciarán Collins
GREAT NEWS!
"I've been shortlisted for the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year award at the Irish Book Awards for The Gamal!
There's a public element to the vote, so if you're willing to give me the nod, just click on the link below and tick the box. And thank you!"
-Ciarán Collins
Here's the beautiful cover that Greg Heinimann at Bloomsbury UK has created for the UK & Ireland mass-market paperback edition of The Gamal, which is due out next year (10/4/2014).
Here's Ciarán with Dr Dan Rooney and his wife Patricia at a reception in the Provost's House, Trinity College Dublin, October 1st 2013 (Image courtesy of TCD). Previous winners include Neil Jordan, Frank McGuinness, Anne Enright and Colum McCann.
You can meet Ciarán and hear him read from and discuss The Gamal at the following literary events:
Dublin Book Festival Book Club Gathering, Smock Alley Theatre, Temple Bar, Dublin. Saturday, November 16th at 1:30pm, with Ireland AM's Sinéad Desmond, Caroline Grace-Cassidy (The Other Side of Wonderful) and Mark O'Sullivan (Crocodile Tears).
Engage Arts Festival, Bandon Town Hall, September 26th 2013 7pm, with Peter Murphy, journalist and author of Shall We Gather at the River
- The Gamal's been bought by French publisher Gallimard for their amazing Éditions Joëlle Losfeld imprint.
- Gabriele Haefs has completed the German translation of The Gamal, due for publication in August 2014.
- The Gamal's been included in the Irish Examiner's list of Best Summer Reads
For the latest press reviews see here
Launch Night! Ciarán Collins with friends Brian and Verona Fenton (courtesy of John Allen, The Southern Star)
Ciarán Collins with his wife Sandra (left), Peter McIntyre of Repforce and Ceri Chaney of Bookstór (courtesy of John Allen, The Southern Star)
- The Gamal is listed on Booktrust's Recommended Reads for May
- The Gamal is Ryan Tubridy's recommendation on his 2FM radio show
- Hot Press hits the shelves and includes Paul Nolan's interview with Ciarán Collins. It's available in shops now or subscribe online here.
- The Gamal is reviewed on Today With Pat Kenny (RTÉ Radio 1). "An outstanding book [...] incredibly funny [...] full of wonderful asides [...] and genuine tragedy at the heart of it." John Boland
- Listen here (it's about 4 minutes in)
- The Works RTE1 Ciarán meets John Kelly to speak about The Gamal. Watch here (it's about 19 minutes in, Apirl 11th episode)
- Official launch of The Gamal at Bookstór in Kinsale, Co. Cork 7pm
- SUMMER 2014, Publication of the German translation
