Over The Edge Celebrates 20th Birthday at January 2023 Over The Edge: Open Reading featuring Ferdia Mac Anna, Terri Metcalfe, & Séan Gibbons PLUS open-mic including SHOWCASE of poets from the 2022/23 MA in Writing at University of Galway.
The January ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place at Galway City Library on Thursday, January 26th at the new usual Over The Edge time 6pm-7.30pm. The Featured Readers are Séan Gibbons, Terri Metcalfe, & Ferdia Mac Anna. There will, as usual, be an open-mic which this month will include a Showcase of some of the poets on this year’s MA in Writing at the University of Galway.
This reading celebrates a historic TWENTY YEARS since the first ever Over The Edge reading in Galway City Library, during which two decades Over The Edge has had a transformative effect on the literary scene in the West of Ireland and nationally. There will be a birthday cake to celebrate Over The Edge’s status as (easily) the longest running and most influential literary reading series in Ireland. There will be a bit of a party afterwards. But the entire evening will in a sense be a party. This is not one to miss. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars.
Ferdia Mac Anna was born in Dublin. He has worked as a television producer/director, journalist, magazine editor and novelist.At present, he lectures in Screenwriting and DCU and ACD and facilitates Creative Writing courses. He has directed feature Films, short films, documentaries and TV Dramas. Hisfeature film ‘DannyBoy’won Best Film at Birmingham Film Festival and has just been released worldwide on various online platforms.He was producer and script editor on the BAFTA winning children’s drama series, ‘Custer’s Last Stand-Up’ (BBC 2000-2002) and ‘Seacht’ (2007, TG4). For some years he toured Ireland as lead singer and songwriter with first Rocky De Valera and the Gravediggers (1977-79/2005-2008) and Rocky de Valera and The Rhythm Kings (1980-83). Now and then, he still rock and rolls. He has written three novels , ‘The Last of the High Kings’ (made into a Hollywood movie starring Gabriel Byrne, Jared Leto and Christina Ricci), ‘The Ship Inspector’and ‘Cartoon City’ as well as two memoirs, ‘Baldhead’(Raven Arts) and ‘The Rocky Years’ (Hodder Headline, 2006). He has written one poem.
Cumbria native Terri Metcalfe moved to Ireland with her Mayo born partner and two children in 2019. Considering herself from a down-to-earth, tools of the practical trade family, she only recently in her forties thought it acceptable that she might be a serious poet. She had an impressive total of eighteen poems published during 2022, her first year of sending her work out, in publications such as Abridged, A New Ulster, Skylight 47 and Green Ink Poetry.
Seán Gibbons, the father of three adult children, originally from Galway City, now lives with his partner in Wexford in the sunny South East of Ireland. He is a graduate of the National University of Ireland, Galway and Brunel University, London. After a career spent mostly in youth work and social care, Seán is at last able to indulge his lifelong passion for writing. In the early 2000’s he spent four years driving a taxi in Galway and it was from this experience that his unconventional, taxi-driving crime-solver, Ben Miller, gained life. Along with writing crime fiction and historical thrillers, Seán is also an award-winning playwright and film-maker. When not writing, Seán is a patient, often frustrated, and always passionate supporter of Galway United FC, his hometown League of Ireland club. There are four books so far in Sean’s ‘Ben Miller’ series, each dealing with gritty contemporary issues yet written with a darkly humorous touch. Each book sees taxi-driver Ben Miller become unwillingly involved in situations, including murder, people-trafficking, prostitution and the illegal drugs trade that blur the distinctions between good and evil, as well as dealing with his own issues, including possible autism. The character of corrupt Gárda Superintendent Martin Folan features prominently in the Galway-set stories, each one of which is based on experiences the author had whilst working as a taxi-driver in the city.
The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always particularly welcome. Those interested in reading at the open-mic should give their names to one of the Over The Edge volunteers at Galway City Library before the reading starts at 6pm.
The reading will also be broadcast live via Over The Edge’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070193895521
Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing generous financial support of Galway City Council, Poetry Ireland & The Arts Council.