I don't know about you but September has been zooming by extremely quickly. October will be upon us faster than Kate Moss on coke. I'm sorry, I know that was a cheap shot but I couldn't resist.

There are a number of fun literary things coming up this week such as the CASE Open Mic at The Old Dublin Pub on Thursday, September 22nd. I have a pretty nasty cold but hopefully I'll be better by then so I can do a reading otherwise I'll be just as happy to listen to my fellow writers and poets.

Also coming up this Friday, September 23rd, Sebastian Barry will be the first speaker in the Writers Read at Concordia series. Barry's novel, A Long, Long Way was recently shortlisted for this year's Booker Prize along with Julian Barnes (I'm currently reading his incredibly entertaining novel, Flaubert's Parrot) who will also be visiting Concordia later on in October.

It's a very exciting time to be a literature lover in Montreal.

Here's some information about Sebastian Barry:



Writers Read at Concordia presents:

SEBASTIAN BARRY

Friday, 23 September

7:30 reading (de Seve Cinema, J.W. McConnell Building)
Presented in collaboration with the Centre for Canadian Irish Studies

Irish playwright Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin and educated there at Trinity College. His plays include Boss Grady's Boys (1988), which won the BBC Stewart Parker Award, the acclaimed Stewards of Christendom (1995), which won several awards, including the Ireland/America Literary Prize and the Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play, Our Lady of Sligo (1998), and Hinterland (2002) . His latest play is Whistling Psyche (2004). He has also published four collections of poetry, most recently the Pinkening Boy (2004) . As a novelist, his works include The Engine of Owl-Light (1987), The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998), and Annie Dunne (2002). His most recent novel, A Long, Long Way (2005) tells the story of Willie Dunne, an Irish soldier in the first World War.