Since its inception in 2006 the New Writing
Showcase has grown to become one of the most important
platforms for emerging writers in Ireland. This year’s Cúirt / Over The Edge New
Writing Showcase features three participants from the Over the Edge literary
series in Galway – Daniel McBrearty, Jessamine O’Connor, & John D. Kelly –
and Shannon Savvas and Jeremy Haworth, the winners of the Cúirt New
Writing Prize 2019. The MC for the event will be regular
Over The Edge host Susan Millar DuMars. It takes place on Wednesday, April 10th, 11 am, at The Town Hall Theatre. Entry is free of charge. All welcome.
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. John was a Featured Reader at the
February 2018 Over The Edge: Open Reading.
Jessamine O'Connor |
Jessamine O
Connor
facilitates The Hermit Collective
arts troupe, The Wrong Side Of The
Tracks Writers, and the Ballaghaderreen branch of Failte Isteach conversational English
classes. She won the iYeats,
the Francis Ledwidge, and the Poetry Ireland Butlers Café poetry
competitions, and was short-listed for the Hennessy, Over The Edge, Cuirt New Writing, Galway Hospital Poems For
Patience, Bradshaw Books, Leaf Books and Red Line Book Festival competitions. She is
currently promoting her fifth chapbook Pact, and her first full
collection of poems is coming out with Salmon in early 2020. Jessamine was a
Featured Reader at the May 2018 Over The Edge: Open Reading.
Daniel McBrearty |
Daniel McBrearty, or
Danny to his friends, is a writer of both poetry and prose. The Donegal
native's poetry has been published in A New Ulster, and his fiction was chosen
as the winner in the Ulster Male category in Hot Press' Write Here Write Now
Competition last May. A student of creative writing at NUI Galway, Danny’s
writing deals with being young in an irrational world. He has no idea what his
writing style is. That’s for other people to decide. Danny was a Featured
Reader at the December 2018 Over The Edge: Open Reading and he was a runner-up
in this year’s Poems for Patience competition.
Shannon
Savvas is a New Zealand writer who divides her life and
heart between New Zealand, England and Cyprus. Her flash fiction and short
stories have been published online in journals in New Zealand and the United
States and in a number of anthologies. Shannon describes herself as a “chronic
long and short lister in [writing] competitions.” She won the 2017 Reflex
Fiction Winter competition and is the winner of the fiction category in the
Cuirt New Writing Prize 2019.
Jeremy Haworth is a novelist
and poet. Originally from Bray, Co. Wicklow, he now resides in rural Co. Laois
with his wife, Claire, and two children. He divides his time between writing
and developing an organic market garden. He is currently working towards the
publication of his first book of poetry. Jeremy is the winner of the poetry
category in this year’s Cúirt New Writing Prize.
Over The Edge
acknowledges the ongoing financial support of The Arts Council, Galway City
Council, and Poetry Ireland, and our ongoing partnership with the Cúirt
Festival of International Literature.