No. 1 Rue Auber, 75009 Paris: Entracte Opera opposite the Academie Nationale de Paris. There’s some kind of commotion, a congregation of youths on the steps. I spot a Chinese tourist with one of those awful selfie-sticks, a boy with wide-brimmed black hat, a performing hat, takes it and attempts a photo with the facade behind. Locals walk by and look down at our table and see a breadbasket, a beer, a glass of wine and the little dish of butter and me, writing this, in my little black notebook. A black guy with a silk scarf and blue headphones wears cool sunglasses and saunters past; a mother and daughter hold hands, trailed by their husband, father respectively at a distance of ten feet. A moustachioed man rubs his jaw at the bus stop to our left; a rickshaw pursued by a bicycle; talk of how delicious the bread is; three Asian women cackle in the corner behind us as the food arrives. An old guy comes along to talk with our waiter. The hair on his head is erect, deliberately so – bouffant? – like he’d just come from a bungee jump or maybe he jumped off a high wall and passed through a bucket of hair gel on the way down. A girl passes with tissue shoved up each nostril; another man who looks a lot like Ho Chi Minh passes two Asians who smile at his appearance. One of them has a duck packpack, trying to stand on her boyfriend’s heels as a joke. Because of the tables, pedestrians have to slow as they bunch up in front of us and they take a moment to look at us looking at them. There’s a pink 81 and black 95 bus stop...

In my opinion, this should most certainly have won the Booker Prize. As it most certainly did. That’s not to say everyone should most certainly read it. Nota bene – in my opinion. “The Finkler Question” is quite simply a book about what it means to be Jewish in modern London. It follows Julian Treslove – morbid, hopelessly idealistic and powerfully miserable pseudo-widower who spends his days mourning for the lost love he never achieved in the first place – as he sets out on a subconscious quest, in the aftermath of a strangely philosophical mugging, to find a side to himself that he never knew he might have had. Influenced along the way by his two friends Libor Sevcik and Samuel Finkler, and his own gilded notions of a mysterious culture, Treslove turns his world upside down to strive to become someone and something else – regardless of whether or not there was a good reason for having his world the right way up. Alright, let’s get the bad bits over with. Firstly, this is a niche book. An extremely niche book. Howard Jacobson writes for a very specific audience. That is, Howard Jacobson writes almost exclusively for Jews; well, for those who are interested in Jews and Jewish culture. I, for example, am not a Jew. I’m barely a Christian. Nevertheless, I am fortunate in that I am one of the few non-Jewish people who would enjoy this book. But I can understand perfectly well why the vast majority of people would not. The book doesn’t make much of an effort to be accessible to all. Prior knowledge is needed going into this or else a hell of a lot of time; concentration and perhaps extra research is needed in the middle...

Competition is open to second-level students from the 32 counties of Ireland. Each student can enter one poem of any length. The poem must be the pupil’s own work. There are two sections to the competiton: Section A: under 15s Section B: 15 years and over. Themes can include (but are not exclusive to): (a) Childhood ; memories; growing up; (b) Seasons; Environment; Nature; (c) Home; Family; Friendship; (d) Celebrity; Fashion; Pop culture; Politics; (e) Happiness; Hope; Laughter; (f) Warmth; Smiles; Fun; Entries will be professionally adjudicated. The closing date for receipt of entries is Friday, 27th May 2016 at 4 pm Winners will receive the following prizes: Section A: 1st prize – €75; 2nd prize – €50; 3rd prize – €35 Section B: 1st prize – €100; 2nd prize – €75; 3rd prize – €50 Each entry must be accompanied by an entry form by the student and countersigned by his or her English teacher. No personal details should appear on the same page as the poem. Winning schools and students will be notified of results by Friday, 9th September, 2016 Presentation of this year’s certificates and prizes will be held on the afternoon on Sunday, 2nd October, 2016 in the Patrick Kavanagh Centre, Inniskean. Winning schools will be given notice of same. (The annual Patrick Kavanagh Weekend takes place as usual in Inniskean from Friday 30th September to Sunday 2nd October 2016. entry and enquiries to: Student poetry competition, Patrick Kavanagh Centre, Inniskean, Co. Monaghan....