What I'm Doing In 2010. (Books, Mostly.)

In 2010, I plan to make lots of paper aeroplanes

Allan Cavanagh (or @AllanCavanagh, as I fondly know him) just tweeted to ask me, "have you got a poetry collection coming out?" Which is one of those embarrassingly intimate questions about shameful practices best unmentioned. Apparently he had heard the magnificent Jessie Lendennie mention it earlier tonight on Lyric FM.

But the question reminded my that I haven't actually talked about, you know, books. The things I write. And what state they are in. For a long time. So let's deal with that distasteful stuff, category by category.

1.) Poems. Yes, I do have a poetry collection coming out. Salmon Poetry will publish my first collection in February 2010, God willing. It will contain all the poetry I've ever written that I'm not utterly ashamed of (which means, mostly, the recent poetry written in Berlin, and a mutilated fistful of older pieces), and all the Toasted Heretic lyrics that are fit to print. Working title is Free Sex Chocolate (collected songs and poems). And if anyone has a suitable cover image for such a book, with such a title, I'd be very interested to see it. It's poetry, so there's not much of a budget, but the glory! The glory! (You can contact me through the Mail Me button, off down there to the right.)

2.) Novels. Yes, Jude: Level 2 will finally emerge into the harsh global spotlight in June 2010, blinking, eating roadkill, and shagging anything that moves. It's set largely in London, and indeed may well get called Jude in London. You can read a piece from it here.

3.) Short Stories. I am very happy to be the official representative of the Republic of Ireland in the Dalkey Archive's scarily ambitious anthology, Best European Fiction 2010. If I were capable of humility, I'd be humbled. Here's a description I nicked off Amazon:

"Best European Fiction 2010 is the inaugural installment of what will become an annual anthology of stories from across Europe. Edited by acclaimed Bosnian novelist and MacArthur “Genius-Award” winner Aleksandar Hemon, and with dozens of editorial, media, and programming partners in the U.S., UK, and Europe, the Best European Fiction series will be a window onto what’s happening right now in literary scenes throughout Europe, where the next Kafka, Flaubert, or Mann is waiting to be discovered."

They've chosen "The Orphan and the Mob", which a lot of you will know already.

My exciting adventures in the categories of:

4.) Children's Books

5.) Feature Films

6.) Animated Films

7.) Theatre

8.) Computer Games, and

9.) Opera

...will all have to wait till I've had a good night's sleep.

(I'm afraid I lied about Opera. I have no plans to write an opera for 2010. Although 2011, now, is another matter...)