Adrian Duncan shares some of his favourite poets and writers …
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Adrian Duncan’s debut novel, Love Notes from a German Building Site, won the John McGahern Book Prize. His second, A Sabbatical in Leipzig, was shortlisted for the Kerry Novel of the Year. His collection of short stories, Midfield Dynamo, was longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. His third novel, The Geometer Lobachevsky, was published in 2022 and his latest, The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth, is out now.
Poet Keith Payne’s new book Savage Acres, due out with Dedalus Press this spring, focuses on the materials, upkeep and details of the domestic, of home. If ever an architect’s office needs a resident poet, Payne would be the person to turn to. Each work here is by turn surprising and strange in its everyday-ness. The senses after reading these poems are left bristling and alive. The last two lines of “We made a fist of it” – essentially a poem about trowelling – will give you an idea: Your knuckles catch on the pebbledash / And the bloodstain blooms gentian violet.
“I’ve been an enthusiast of Wendy Erskine’s writing for years. Her first two short story collections, Sweet Home and Dance Move, were memorable, brilliant. Her writing has that rare mix of depth, humour, acuity and swagger. Her new novel The Benefactors tells the story of three Belfast women who are brought together after their sons are accused of assaulting a young woman whom they consider to be of a social standing below their own. The dialogue and the descriptive prose, showing the inner and outer worlds of the novel, are extraordinary. I think it will be one of the most admired and talked-about books this year.”
“Swiss writer Robert Walser has fascinated me for years. Just recently I came across a translation of his last novel The Robber, written in 1925, but unpublished until 1972. Its opening lines are: Edith loves him. More on this later. And on it goes from there, breathlessly, for another 140 pages or so, telling the story of a dreamer embarking on an intense love affair laced with great tragedy and humour. Walser was one of Kafka’s favourite writers. And it’s possible to understand why, what with the style with which he at once faced up to and floundered in the extremes and absurdities of early 20thcentury modernity.” @adrian__duncan__
The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth, published by Tuskar Rock, is available at www.dubraybooks.ie
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