HERITAGE OF SECRETS:

The paperback is now out and for the next few weeks  is available direct from the publisher at the discounted price of only four pounds. Just click here –

http://www.flippedeye.net/store/product_info.php?products_id=65

Only a week left for voting on the People’s Book Prize.  I’m currently in second place so just need a few votes to win – please help!  Click here –

http://www.peoplesbookprize.com/book.php?id=90

All you have to do is register with your email then they send you a password and you can vote.  Thanks a million J

LONDON LIMING: where spoken word meets carnival

presenting poetry, fiction, song and a new poetry anthology

6 September 2009 at 5.15pm

KINGS PLACE, 90 York Way, London N1 9AG

Tickets £4.50                        Bookings via www.kingsplace.co.uk

LONDON LIMING mixes poetry, music and audience participation to bring a carnival flavour to London.

Featuring performances by MELLOW BAKU, CHARLIE DARK, JOHN HEGLEY, MICHAEL HOROVITZ and AOIFE MANNIX, plus a taster of a new POETRY Anthology (Poetry Olympics Enlightenment) of poets, fiction writers and wordsmiths, edited by Michael Horovitz, John Hegley, Melanie Abrahams and Adam Horovitz. Hosted by Melanie Abrahams.

LIT UP:  Aoife Mannix and Janie Armour present Different Words For Snow

Creating Live Literature Showcase & Conference

Thursday September 24th 2009 – The Albany, Deptford, London

Click here for more info http://www.litup.org/prog2009b.htm

The paperback of ‘Heritage of Secrets’ is now available on Amazon http://tr.im/rmlc.  More info on the book below.

BOOK CLUB BOUTIQUE FLIPPED EYE PARTY
Monday, July 27th, 7pm – 11:30pm FREE ENTRY
Dick’s Bar ‘The Green Fingernail’, 23 Romilly Street, Soho
featuring Aoife Mannix, Niall O’Sullivan, Niki Aguirre and Nii Ayikwei Parkes

LATITUDE  JULY 16TH -19TH
I’m performing at Latitude http://tr.im/rm4Z

STANDON CALLING JULY 31ST – AUGUST 2ND
I’m performing at Standing Calling with the Book Club Boutique http://tr.im/rmbO

BIG CHILL AUGUST 6TH – 9TH
I’m performing at the Big Chill http://tr.im/rm8K

HERITAGE OF SECRETS has echoes of Thomas Hardy’s Far from the Madding Crowd in more than just the name of the American sailor, Troy and spans the days of ‘The Troubles’ to the present, a time when marijuana has begun to filter into the bathrooms of convent schools in Ireland and issues of sexuality have come to the fore.

Order it on Amazon http://tr.im/rmlc or direct from the publisher http://tr.im/qLCh.

“Heritage of Secrets is unputdownable; the writing is beautiful, and the epic scale of the story is compelling. This is a novel that embraces love, loss and destiny with compassion and clarity. Aoife Mannix is a writer to watch.” Nick Drake, author of Nefertiti: The Book of the Dead and winner of the Forward prize for best first collection, The Man in the White Suit

‘Aoife Mannix has a poet’s way with words, and a natural gift for storytelling. ‘Heritage of Secrets’ is a hugely satisfying read’. Paul Burston, author of ‘The Gay Divorcee’

‘Aoife Mannix’s book is a real page-turner, and incredibly difficult to put down.  She has painted her characters with consumate skill, drawing on finely honed observational skills, with the true story teller’s ease. I found myself sympathising with the main characters even when they were doing appalling things with and to each other. A really great read.’  Agnes Meadows, author of This One Is For You

The paperback’s just been released so you can buy it on Amazon http://tr.im/nL5Y at a special discount for the next few weeks. We’re having a party to celebrate at the Book Club Boutique on July 27th – hope you can make it ☺

FICTIONS at the Book Club Boutique
Monday, July 27th, 7pm – 11:30pm FREE ENTRY
Dick’s Bar ‘The Green Fingernail’, 23 Romilly Street, Soho
featuring Aoife Mannix, Niall O’Sullivan, Niki Aguirre and Nii Ayikwei Parkes

The other good news is that the paperback of my novel ‘Heritage of Secrets’ is coming out in July.  If you pre-order it from Foyles the postage is free ☺   Here’s the link

http://www.foyles.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781905233243&sf_01=kword_index&st_01=heritage+of+secrets+Aoife+Mannix&sort=eh_nbd_rank%2Fd&x=0&y=0&m=2&dc=2

I’ll be reading from the novel on May 20th at the Royal Festival hall.  Here’s the link and further details are below.

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/literature-spoken-word/productions/f8-roger-robinson-niall-o-su-45708

F8: A LITERARY GALA EVENING AT THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

Wednesday, May 20, 2009
7:45pm – 10:45pm
Spirit Level, Royal Festival Hall
Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
Start time: 7.45pm
Door: £7.50
Complimentary refreshments available

To mark their eighth year of operation, flipped eye publishing is hosting a special gala night featuring, for the first time ever, their own live band, the l’8 quartet alongside some of their most celebrated writers, including Agnes Meadows, Charlotte Ansell, Inua Ellams, Jacob Sam-La Rose, Niall O’Sullivan, Nick Makoha, Niki Aguirre, Roger Robinson PLUS Aoife Mannix, Zena Edwards and Malika Booker.  There is an auction of special editions of their eight best-selling titles with covers illustrated by the authors in pen, and previously unreleased audio recordings as giveaways.

The event marks the launch of an eight-month long series of readings – the f8 tour – by flipped eye authors across the UK, including events at Borders and partner libraries such as the Westminster Reference Library

PHRASED AND CONFUSED TOUR
Phrased and Confused heads off on a national tour next week.  Check it out here: www.phrasedandconfused.co.uk.

On the tour bus will be gorgeous Canadian folk collective Woodpigeon, darkly funny satirist Murray Lachlan Young, poet Aoife Mannix, accordionist Janie Armour and The Dead Poets.

Below is a full list of all of our tour dates:

9 May, Phrased & Confused, Southill Park, BRACKNELL (Tickets: 01344 484
123 / http://www.southhillpark.org.uk)
10 May, Phrased & Confused, Cross Kings, LONDON (Tickets:

http://www.wegottickets.com/event/45343)

11 May, Phrased & Confused, Norwich Arts Centre, NORWICH (Tickets: 01603
660352 / htp://www.norwichartscentre.co.uk)
12 May, Phrased & Confused, Arc, STOCKTON ON TEES (Tickets: 01642
525199 / http://www.arconline.co.uk)
13 May, Phrased & Confused, Assembly Rooms, DERBY (Tickets: 01332
255800 / http://www.derbylive.co.uk)
14 May, Phrased & Confused, Exeter Phoenix, EXETER (Tickets: 01392
667080 / http://www.exeterphoenix.org.uk)

I also had a very good time performing at the launch of London’s newest literary salon The Book Club Boutique.  It was a packed house in an uber trendy Soho bar.  It’s on every Monday night and it’s free.  Find out more here -

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63881632812#/group.php?gid=55814894329&ref=ts

For any aspiring novelists out there, I’m hosting this novel pitching event for Spread The Word.  Come down and see how it’s done!  You can find out more about my novel ‘Heritage of Secrets’ here – http://tinyurl.com/c62wf3

Novel Pitch Live Final
Saturday 25 April
11am-4pm
Stratford Circus, Theatre Square, London E15 1BX
Tube: Stratford £7/£5 (concessions)
www.spreadtheword.org.uk

Come along to the live final if you’re interested in hearing top tips from the experts or would like to put your own key questions to the panel.  You could also try your luck at the open-mic slot and pitch your writing for quickfire advice.

I’m also performing at another literary salon in a couple of weeks and then at the Southbank Centre on April 20th.  Details below -

Polari Home & Abroad Night
Wednesday, April 15
6:30pm – 11:30pm
Freedom, 66 Wardour St, London W1
info@paulburston.com

Paul Burston’s gay literary salon returns to Freedom with authors Christopher Fowler (home boy), Nick Alexander (boy living abroad) and Aoife Mannix (Irish woman who’s lived all over the world).  Plus DJs Dom Agius and Paul Burston playing tailored sounds, louche lounge and dirty disco.

Foreign Trade
Monday, April 20
8:00pm – 9:30pm
Level Five Function Room, Royal Festival Hall
Belvedere Road, London
www.southbankcentre.co.uk

Why do queer people from all over the world make their home in London? What do they find when they get here – and what do they leave behind? We’ll hear from Nigeria, Ireland, Singapore, Russia and Brazil and many other countries in an event of testimony and performance.

Last night I was performing at City Hall with the lovely Zena Edwards as part of an International Women’s Day celebration.  Baroness Scotland gave an inspiring speech on how if she, one of twelve children, could become this country’s first black female attorney general after seven hundred years of white men, there’s hope for us all. Leah Chishugi talked very movingly about what is happening to women in Eastern Congo. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/05/rwanda-congo-genocide-rape

On March 16th, I’ve been asked to perform at the launch of Salena Godden’s Book Club Boutique.  I reckon this is a very exciting new night in the heart of Soho, so please do come along and get involved.  I’ve pasted the invite below.

Other interesting stuff worth checking out is the virtual writers’ residency that is My Place or Yours – www.myplaceoryours.org.  Also the publishers of my novel ‘Heritage of Secrets’ have impressively revamped their website – www.flippedeye.net.  My poetry publishers Tall Lighthouse have just set up a facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=50232479706.

And finally the sun has started to shine and spring is in the air!

xxAoife

Introducing

The Book Club Boutique

Your Invitation to Soho’s New Literary Salon
The Debut: Monday March 16th 2009 7-8.30pm
Every Monday at ‘Dick’s Bar’
The Green Fingernail, 23 Romilly Street, Soho, London
Free Entry

‘Dick’s Bar’ or The Green Fingernail, 23 Romilly Street, has become the hip, new members bar for those who loved the infamous Colony Rooms and I’ve been offered the space to host things of a bookish nature on Monday nights. This is a lovely opportunity to create a new platform and a central meeting place for wordy types. It’s the perfect venue: there is a warm and velvet vibe down there in the basement and it comes with a well-stocked bar and stage. And the bar stays open till midnight for the drinky and catch-up part.

Ideally each week will have a different event and theme. I am inviting editors, agents, writers and publications to get involved, including the likes of The London Magazine, Trespass, Rising, Granta and The Illustrated Ape, and publishers such as Harper Press, Serpents Tail or Waterways offering them the choice of regular evenings here or one-offs. So, one Monday there could be a book launch, the next week three poets and the following just one headline reader. Perhaps one night a month could be the regular launch for the new issue of a magazine. I’m convinced that once word of mouth gets around that this will be a wicked space for meeting like-minded groovers, launching new work and anthologies, and in case you didn’t read it the first time – it’s a central London bar for us to take over one night a week for FREE!

I’m putting together The Book Club Boutique dream team to help me host and programme it and am seeking assistance in marketing and PR. If you’d like to get involved – or have any ideas or feedback – please do not hesitate to contact me, or Rachel Rayner at HarperCollins, directly. Or simply pop down to our opening night at 7pm on 16th March to check out the space for yourself, and we can discuss things over a wee drinky.

Cheers, Salena Godden

salenagodden@btinternet.com

rachel.rayner@harpercollins.co.uk

Phrased and Confused is off on tour again in May 2009, taking our irresistibly playful offer of spoken word and lyrical music to venues in Bracknell, London, Norwich, Derby, Stockton and Exeter.

Vying for the best seat on the tour bus will be: Woodpigeon, Canada’s ‘most unjustly overlooked band’ according to The Guardian; the playfully satirical poet Murray Lachlan Young; the root-you-to-the-spot-because-her-words-are-so-honest poet, Aoife Mannix, and her equally spell-binding musical counterpart, Janie Armour, and – definitely claiming the back seat for their sheer exuberance and passion for all manner of spoken words – Mark Grist and MC Mixy.

http://www.phrasedandconfused.co.uk