Church of Ireland Priest reads at March 'Over The Edge: Open Reading'

Arkansas poet, Marck Beggs

The March ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, March 26th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Maureen Ryan, Dave Rock & Marck Beggs.

Maureen Ryan has lived most of her adult life in Galway. She has published two novels and over 400 academic papers, essays, sermons, meditations and reflections. She is a psychologist, a Priest in the Church of Ireland and a Canon in the National Cathedral of St. Patrick’s, Dublin. She recently gave up a well paid job as a religious columnist to make her fortune writing poetry. To that end she is taking classes with Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins. She is preparing a book for Columba Press and a collection of short stories titled 'Marchpane Smiles'.

Dave Rock is a Scottish-Lithuanian-Irish-English something or other. He has been writing since he was seven years old. His work has been published in journals such as The Shop, Revival, Faoiseach and The Old Yellow Lantern. He won the GYT/Bank of Ireland One Act Play Festival Best New Writing Award. He has been a featured reader at many different venues, the Whitehouse, the Electric Picnic and Dun Laoghaire Festival of World Cultures. He is a former auditor of the Writers Society of NUIG. His first collection of poetry is published soon by Maverick Press.

Marck Beggs is a professor and graduate dean at Henderson State University, Arkansas. When he is not writing poems or singing his quasi-folk songs, he can sometimes be found watching the weeds proliferate in his garden as he daydreams of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and butternut squash. Needless to say, he cites Whitman as a major influence. He is the author of Catastrophic Chords (Salmon, 2008), Libido Café (Salmon, 2004) and Godworm (1995). His folk-rock band, dog gods, released their debut CD in 2008 (www.cdbaby.com/doggodsmusic).

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always most welcome. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details phone 087-6431748.

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing generous financial support of Galway City Council & The Arts Council.