A question of taste: Danny Denton

Danny Denton is from Passage West, Co Cork. His first novel, The Earlie King & The Kid in Yellow, was published earlier this year with Granta Books. He is among the authors reading at Words by Water, the Kinsale literary festival, Oct 4-7, writes Des O’Driscoll

Thu, 04 Oct, 2018 - 01:00

Best recent book you’ve read:

Red Doc> by Anne Carson.

Best film you’ve seen recently:

Some Like It Hot.

Best recent exhibition or gig you’ve seen:

I Can Colour Between The Lines But I Choose Not To was an exhibition in a due-to-be-demolished house in Knocknaheeny as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival. What I loved about it was that it reimagined the home as a place that was capable of dream and memory, and so all these strange arrangements in the house seemed like the house’s memory of people.

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Best piece of music you’ve been listening to lately (new or old):

It’s getting cold again, and leaves are flipping round the streets now, so it’s time for Tom Waits (pictured) again. Rain Dogs is my favourite album of his and that’ll be on repeat for the next while.

First ever piece of music or literature that really moved you:

Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl. When I was a kid I read it on my own one night in bed, and couldn’t sleep until I’d finished it. I think I was nine, but I’m not sure. I just remember waking out of the last page, around midnight maybe, and thinking that I’d been in an alternate universe all evening. An incredible reading experience.

Favourite book of all time (if you had to pick one):

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban. I have two favourites, but this week Riddley is no. 1. It’s the post-apocalyptic kind of testament (a new mythology too) of a 12-year old boy who runs around Canterbury getting in all sorts of trouble. It’s also written in a made-up language, a sort of dialect, which you learn as you read.

Tell us about your TV viewing:

We don’t own a TV, so are reliant on things like Netflix, projected from the laptop. Twin Peaks is my all-time favourite show, and it is re-watched regularly. We always have some box set or other on the go, but 90% of my moving picture viewing is sports.

Radio listening and/or podcasts:

John Kelly’s ‘Mystery Train’ is on every night, no matter whose turn it is to cook.

You’re curating your dream literary festival — which three writers are on the bill, living or dead?

Mary Shelly, David Foster Wallace and Dermot Healy.

Your best celebrity encounter:

Buying a drink for a notoriously reclusive Ukrainian poet named Oleh Lysheha, at Cúirt in Galway about eleven years ago, and him giving me a Ukrainian postcard in return. His sister had persuaded him to come out of the Ukrainian woods where he lived for this reading and this reading only. Apparently. I don’t speak Ukrainian.

You can portal back to any period of human cultural history or music event – where, when, and why?

I’d shoot for pre-history. I’d want to be standing next to the first woman or man to do one of those cave paintings of animals, just to see the creative urge in its first human moments.

Do you have any interesting ancestors or family?

My cousin is Katie Kim, an incredible Irish musical artist. We’re all very very proud of her, and humbled by her talent.

Unsung hero – individual, organisation or group you think don’t get the profile/praise they deserve:

I’m in awe of people who work to support society’s most vulnerable. The Cork Traveller Women’s Network and the Traveller Visibility Group do brilliant work. Cork Penny Dinners are amazing, and Simon too.

You are queen/king for a day – what’s your first decree?

First decree in three parts: a) Everybody — no matter where they’re from — is to be treated equally, at all times; b) Open all borders; c) A home is a human right.