IASIL Japan Newsletter
2004-2
International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures
September 2004

1. Plan for IASIL Japan 2004 Conference
Please find the programme and other leaflets of the 2004 IASIL Japan Conference.
• October 9 and 10, 2004
• Shizuoka University of Art and Culture 1794-1 Noguchi-cho, Hamamatsu-shi,
Shizuoka-ken, 430-8533 Tel: 053-457-6111, fax: 053-457-6123,
http://www.suac.ac.jp/• Conference Theme: Crossways in Irish Literature
Guest Speakers
We are honoured to have two guest speakers at this year's Conference: the novelist
Timothy O'Grady, and Dr. Michelle P. Brown, Keeper of Manuscripts in the British
Library andTIMOTHY O'GRADY recently published a new novel, Light, of which James Buchan
said in the July 3 issue of The Guardian; "Timothy O'Grady weaves two love stories
together in his meditation on passion." At the Conference, he will give a reading andjoin the symposium 'Portrait of Contemporary Ireland', chaired by Andrew Fitzsimons.
Publications: Timothy O'Grady
Curious Journey (with Kenneth Griffiths), a series of interviews with early IRA menand veterans of the Civil War. This was originally an RTE film, but it was not broadcast
for some years, due to timidity on the part of RTE.
Motherland: this novel won a prestigious prize in Ireland.

I could read the sky a novel about an Irishman in old age in London, remembering hislife and the life of the people around him in Ireland. This was very well received inEurope and the US. (It is currently being translated into Japanese). It was made into afilm by the same name, directed by Nicola Bruce, starring Stephen Rea, and O'Grady ina cameo role.
On Golf: A short book about a lifelong passion.
DrMichelleP.brown will give two special lectures:• The Book of Durrow, the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells: aspects of theIrish contribution to manuscript production• Author and Image: Giraldus Cambrensis and the earliest illustrated manuscripts of the'Topography of Ireland'
During the Conference, eight papers will be presented, and two symposia will beorganized. The Symposia are:
• The Homesickness of Immigrants or Exiles in Irish Literatures: Its Identity andDifference• Portrait of Contemporary Ireland
To confirm your attendance, please send the enclosed postcard to the IASIL Japan
Office by September 30..
Short Profile of Michelle P. Brown (Written by Prof. Richard Kelly)
Dr. Michelle P. Brown, FSA, is Curator of Illuminated Manuscripts at the British
Library, London. (Robin Flower, an adopted son of Blasket Islands in Co. Kerry, was aprevious holder of this prestigious post; his translation from the Irish of Tomás O
Criomhthain The Islandman is an acclaimed work in its own right.) She has publishedand lectured as well as broadcasted widely on the themes of Anglo-Saxon and Celtic
books, material culture and history, and upon manuscript production and palaeography
throughout the Middle Ages.
Her publications include: Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts; The Book of Cerne:
Prayer,Patronage and Power in Anglo-Saxon England; A Guide to Western
manuscripts from Antiquity to 1600; The British Library Guild to Writing and Scripts;

Understanding illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms. She is also theco-editor of several other prestigious scholarly works.
In 2003, she designed and presented an exhibition called Painted Labyrinth: The Worldof the Lindisfarne Gospels. This has been one of the most acclaimed exhibitions everheld the British Library, and it included several treasures from the National Museum ofIreland. Dr. Brown is the world's leading authority on The Lindisfarne Gospels; amanuscript that was created some fifty years before The Book of Kells and with which it
has several interesting parallels. He recent book, The Lindisfarne Gospels: Society,Spirituality and Scribe (London, 2003) is a piece of superb scholarship and the productof an author that not only knows her subject but also communicates it brilliantly; this isby far the best book ever produced on Anglo-Saxon and Celtic illuminated manuscripts.
Other News• There will be a performance of " Takigi Noh（薪能）," (Noh Plays perfomed on thestage outside by the torch fire) on the campus of Shizuoka University of Art andCulture between 6 and 9 on the evening of Thursday 7 October. (NaohikoUmewaka is one of their faculty members.) If you have any further questions,please contact Professor Masaya Shimokusu.
The Office would like to express sincere gratitude to Professor Masaya
Shimokusu for his constant cooperation in the planning of holding our conferenceat Shizuoka University of Art and Culture.
2004 Membership Fee
The postal transfer sheet is enclosed. Please do not fail to send the 2004 membershipfee!
Regular membership-8,000 yen
Married couples--12,000yen

Student membership--5,000 yen. (Students who would like to receive IUR have to pay
8,000 yen.)
Institutional membership--2,000 yen
To cover international postage expenses, annual subscriptions for members andinstitutions based overseas is 500 yen higher than for those living in Japan; 8,500 yen
for individuals, 12,500 for married couples and 5,500 for students, and 2,500 forinstitutions.
For those who use the bank rather than the post office, please use the following bank:
Name of the Bank: UFJ Bank Name of the Branch: Kyoto Ekimae Branch no:
434 Account no: 4538506 Under the name of : IASIL-Japan Office	  Reiko Taniue
銀行名	  UFJ	  銀行	  京都駅前支店
口座番号	  4538506
名義	  	  	  イアシル・ジャパン事務局	  谷上れい子♧Please forgive us if our communication crossed on the way.♧
Looking forward to seeing you
atShizuoka University of Art and Culture.

IASIL Japan OFFICE
c/o Akiko Manabe
Shiga University,
Faculty of Economics
Banba, Hikone, Shiga 522-8522
Tel/fax: +81-(0)749-27-1111
e-mail: akiko-m@biwako.shiga-u.ac.jp