The Michael Murphy Memorial Prize

I have been meaning to update the blog recently, but here's a short entry with some good news! Yesterday my book 'Melanchrini' was shortlisted for the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize. I'm really excited to be on a list with some incredible poets and also really happy for my publisher Nine Arches Press who also have Alistair Noon on the list as well. They have been wonderfully supportive. Also honoured to have been shorlisted for an award in memory of the poet Michael Murphy, who died in 2009.

The official website is here

Here are all the shortlisted poets:

• James Brookes, SINS OF THE LEOPARD (Salt)
• Oli Hazzard, BETWEEN TWO WINDOWS (Carcanet)
• Judith Jedamus, THE SWERVE (Carcanet)
• William Letford, BEVEL (Carcanet)
• Alistair Noon, EARTH RECORDS (Nine Arches)
• Michelle O'Sullivan, THE BLUE END OF THE STARS (Gallery)
• Maria Taylor, MELANCHRINI (Nine Arches)
• Ahren Warner, CONFER (Bloodaxe)

I'm Pregnant!

No, that's a lie. It's only true in a metaphorical sense, and you know how writers like that sort of thing. Ok, I'd like to announce that my debut collection Melanchrini is scheduled for publication in Summer 2012 with Nine Arches Press! I'm part of the debut series which features first collections from Andrew Frolish, Alistair Noon, Daniel Sluman. Phil Brown's Il Avilit was recently launched in London and I've heard tell it was a great event. I'll be looking forward to getting a copy very soon. Why Melanchrini? It's a Greek word meaning 'dark featured' for women, the masculine is Melanchrino.I was called Melanchrini when I was growing up, by my family. So it's personal choice, but it also rhymes with Martini, and I think that's a good thing. I like the chime with melancholy too. You can read about the debut series here: http://www.ninearchespress.com/debut.html

For the record, when I was pregnant, four whole years ago, I wrote a blog entry on how I thought I'd never write a word again. I had morning sickness from hell and it interfered with everything creative. The creativity was obviously being diverted to the twins, who were at that point floating around in the womb.The website is falling apart due to neglect, but it's still out there in Internet la la land for the time being: http://jonnyandmaria.blogspot.com/2007/12/on-not-writing-great-novel.html