Even at a time of much cross-fertilisation between the literary and journalistic worlds, it was a brave and radical idea to run a regular creative-writing page in a daily newspaper. In pursuing this, David Marcus nurtured many young talents
Even at a time of much cross-fertilisation between literary and journalistic worlds, it was still a brave and radical idea to run a regular creative-writing page in a daily newspaper. In pursuing this, David Marcus nurtured many young talents
Having been a schoolboy reader of the page through the summer of 1968 – the summer I first “dabbled in verse” – I decided, with the bravado and naivety of youth, to submit some of my apprentice efforts to the New Irish Writing editor that October. A cautiously worded response came from David in November, saying he wished to see more “before coming to any kind of decision”. The request was for 10 or 12 poems – he was not taking any chances on a novice.
When he called in to The Irish Times “unannounced”, as he writes in his memoir, to sell the idea of a new-writing section, it seems he was doing so at a time of day when no one with the authority to hear his proposal was available to meet him. A stroke of good luck for a competitor, the Irish Press, and, I believe, a lost opportunity for the newspaper that was to become my habitat for the next 40 years.
The stone and caseroom as well as the creed room, a kind of nerve centre with machines dispensing news from around the world, were each subdivisions of that bygone newspaper office, each domain a law unto itself in those highly unionised days. Those of us from the editorial side had to watch our step, yet there was a bond of pride, as David discovered, in the nightly miracle.
Meanwhile, at The Irish Times, “that warm, indescribably dusty burrow”, as another office Bohemian, Elgy Gillespie, so accurately described it, I was beginning to understand Gageby’s comment that the last thing the paper needed was another poet. His legendary and unconventional predecessor,, FR Higgins and Austin Clarke. In ensuring a literary presence in a newspaper setting, Smyllie and Marcus were kindred spirits.
My chief mentor, who taught me the subeditor’s craft, was Peter Tynan-O’Mahony, a nephew of the poet Katharine Tynan and proud custodian of her literary legacy. Although the young poetwas not on staff, she was a regular contributor and presence, brilliantly combining the dual occupations of poet and literary journalist., who turned memoirist and novelist, and the poet Katie Donovan. Probably the most significant addition to the paper’s literary ranks was Caroline Walsh, who began as a reporter.
Maeve-Binchy Wb-Yeats Patrick-Kavanagh Dermot-Bolger Eavan-Boland John-Banville Roddy-Doyle Brendan-Behan
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