“Declan Burke is his own genre. The Lammisters dazzles, beguiles and transcends. Virtuoso from start to finish.” – Eoin McNamee “This bourbon-smooth riot of jazz-age excess, high satire and Wodehouse flamboyance is a pitch-perfect bullseye of comic brilliance.” – Irish Independent Books of the Year 2019 “This rapid-fire novel deserves a place on any bookshelf that grants asylum to PG Wodehouse, Flann O’Brien or Kyril Bonfiglioli.” – Eoin Colfer, Guardian Best Books of the Year 2019 “The funniest book of the year.” – Sunday Independent “Declan Burke is one funny bastard. The Lammisters ... conducts a forensic analysis on the anatomy of a story.” – Liz Nugent “Burke’s exuberant prose takes centre stage … He plays with language like a jazz soloist stretching the boundaries of musical theory.” – Totally Dublin “A mega-meta smorgasbord of inventive language ... linguistic verve not just on every page but every line.” – Irish Times “Above all, The Lammisters gives the impression of a writer enjoying himself. And so, dear reader, should you.” – Sunday Times “A triumph of absurdity, which burlesques the literary canon from Shakespeare, Pope and Austen to Flann O’Brien … The Lammisters is very clever indeed.” – The Guardian

Thursday, February 14, 2008

In Siobhan We Trust

The news arrived last week, via Notes From The Slushpile, that Siobhan Dowd’s legacy is to be commemorated with the Siobhan Dowd Trust. Siobhan (right), tipped as a future ‘literary lion’ by the Sunday Times last year, passed away in August. Details of the trust can be found here, with the gist running thusly:
A trust has been set up to manage all the proceeds from [Siobhan’s] literary work. The aim of the trust will be to help disadvantaged children improve their reading skills and experience the joy of reading. It will offer financial support to: public libraries; state school libraries (especially in economically challenged areas); children in care; asylum seekers; young offenders and children with special needs. Cheques to be made payable to The Siobhan Dowd Trust and addressed to The Siobhan Dowd Trust, c/o Polly Nolan, Flat 10 Hendred House, Hendred Street, Oxford OX4 2ED, United Kingdom.
To give you some idea of the potential talent that was lost, Siobhan has in the last week or so been picked by The Independent as one of the authors of their ‘Ten Best Books for Teenagers’, for BOG CHILD, while she’s also been nominated, for THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY, in the Red House Children’s Books Awards. It’d break your heart, wouldn’t it?
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