Reading: Claire-Louise Bennett & Sara Baume
Temple Bar Gallery + Studios presents a reading by Claire- Louise Bennett and Sara Baume. The reading will be introduced by gorse editor Susan Tomaselli.
Claire-Louise Bennett has received widespread critical acclaim for her startling and original first collection Pond, published by Stinging Fly Press, 2015. Described by the New Yorker as a work of fiction that will make you feel positively insane, its twenty stories are told by an unnamed narrator who lives mostly in solitude in the West of Ireland.
Sara Baume’s debut novel, Spill Simmer Falter Wither published by Tramp Press has equally received widespread critical acclaim and was the reader’s choice for the Guardian First Book Award, 2015. Described as “unbearably poignant and beautifully told” (Eimear McBride), Spill Simmer Falter Wither is about a misfit man who adopts a misfit dog.
These two outstanding writers have been commissioned by TBG+S in an experimental programme that aims to support different kinds of writing about art. In inviting Sara and Claire-Louise as authors we asked them to take their own tack, fictional or otherwise, in response to the gallery exhibitions. In 2015, Sara Baume was TBG+S’ commissioned writer and wrote five short pieces that were published on our website and read by her on RTE’s Arena. In 2016, Claire-Louise Bennett is our commissioned writer.
The Outside Press, a publishing project run by David Joyce, will publish the five essays by Sara Baume in a single collection. These will be available on the night of the reading.
In the development of this programme TBG+S has had the guidance and support of Susan Tomaselli and gorse journal – a print journal published in Dublin, featuring long-form narrative essays, original fiction, poetry and interviews. In its short life to date, gorse been widely praised as a ‘strange and innovative creature’ (tn2).
Claire-Louise Bennett grew up in Wiltshire in the southwest of England. After studying literature and drama at the University of Roehampton in London, she settled in Galway. Her short fiction and essays have been published in The Stinging Fly, The Penny Dreadful, The Moth, Colony, The Irish Times, The White Review and gorse. She was awarded the inaugural White Review Short Story Prize in 2013 and has received bursaries from the Arts Council and Galway City Council. Pond is her first collection of stories.
Sara Baume was born in Lancashire and grew up in County Cork where she still lives now. She studied fine art at IADT Dun Laoghaire before completing an MPhil in Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin. Her fiction has appeared in journals including The Moth, The Stinging Fly, The Dublin Review. She won the 2014 Davy Byrnes Short Story Award for ‘Solesearcher1′ and, the Hennessey New Irish Writing Award, 2015. Spill Simmer Falter Wither was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award (for which it won readers’ choice), and was short listed for the Costa First Novel Award, 2015.
Susan Tomaselli is an editor, writer and bookseller based in Dublin, Ireland. She is Founder & editor of gorse journal. Former co-editor of 3:AM Magazine, and editor at 3:AM Press. Past contributor to the Guardian, Bookmunch, CultureNI, Little Black Book of Books (Cassell 2007), The Beat Anthology (Blackheath Books 2010) and she was former editor of Dogmatika (2005-2009), voted 50 Least Influential People in Publishing (2006).
The Outside Press is a publishing project run by David Joyce. As an independent producer we publish self-initiated projects, promote lectures and workshops and collaborate with artists, designers and writers to make work that is playful, challenging and inspiring. This means thinking in new ways, focussing on manual and analogue methods and embracing unconventional ways to produce the work – emerging digital print processes, recycled materials, collage and handmade elements. The Outside Press is about Making Something Out of Nothing.
Wednesday 3rd August 2016, 6.30pm
Temple Bar Gallery + Studio,
Studio 6,
Free admission, booking is essential. Please book your free ticket here.