February Over The Edge: Open Reading with Eamonn McCann, Ruth Elwood, & John D. Kelly

The February ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, February 22^nd, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Eamonn McCann, John D. Kelly, & Ruth Elwood. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always especially welcome at the open-mic.

Ruth Elwood is a Galway native and is a second year student of creative writing in the NUIG. Her poetry has been featured in the popular blog Poethead, The Rose online magazine and A New Ulster. Her work has also been featured internationally in NY literary magazine. She was also long listed for the Over the Edge new writer of the year poetry prize 2017.

John D. Kelly lives in Co. Fermanagh. Since he began writing creatively in 2011, his work has been commended in many competitions and published in various literary publications. He was Highly Commended in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award 2016, awarded joint ‘Silver’ in the International Dermot Healy Poetry Competition in both 2015 and 2014, and won first prize in Hungry Hill ‘Poets Meet Painters’ 2014, amongst other awards.

Eamonn McCann

Eamonn McCann has been campaigning for social justice in Derry for more than 40 years.  As a young man he was one of the original organisers of the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC), a radical campaign group focusing on access to social housing. DHAC organised, in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA), the second civil rights march in Northern Ireland. This march, which took place on 5 October 1968, is generally seen as the birth date of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement.  He currently writes for the Belfast Telegraph, The Irish Times and the Derry Journal. He has written a column for the Dublin based magazine, Hot Press, and is a frequent commentator on the BBC, RTÉ and other broadcast media. He worked as a journalist for the Sunday World newspaper and contributed to the original In Dublin magazine, among others.  His books include War and an Irish Town (1973), War and Peace in Northern Ireland (1999), and Dear God – The Price of Religion in Ireland (1999); and he has edited Bloody Sunday: What Really Happened (1992) and The Bloody Sunday Inquiry: The Families Speak Out (2005). He was elected a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Foyle constituency in 2016.

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always particularly 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, Poetry Ireland & The Arts Council.