Final Over The Edge: Open Reading of 2022 with Bill Heaney, Abby Oliveira, Marc Gregg PLUS open-mic

The December ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, December 15^th, 6.00pm-7.30pm. The Featured Readers are Marc Gregg, Abby Oliveira, & Bill Heaney. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers. New readers are especially welcome. The Over The Edge end of year celebration will take place afterwards. There will, we understand, be mince pies. You are invited to come and mark the end of the strange year that has been 2022 with Over The Edge. There will be a surprise or two. 

Bill Heaney grew up in the heart of Galway. His family had a pub in the dock area of the city. He worked in Dublin and London for many years before returning to Galway. He had a variety of work situations from pubs to prisons to homeless services.  He cites these experiences as inspiration for some of his writing. Bill started  attending writing classes with Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins about five years ago. He writes both poetry and short stories.  He has had some of his poems published in Vox Galvia. Bill’s poetry is mainly inspired by the injustices in society.

Abby Oliveira is a writer and performer based in Derry.  Her work is often cross-discipline and collaborative; comprising poetry, storytelling, music, prose, playwriting, and/or physical performance.  Her work has been most recently published in The 32: An anthology of Irish Working Class voices (Unbound, 2021), The New Frontier: reflections from the Irish border (New Island Books, 2021), and Empty House: poetry & prose on the climate crisis (Doire Press, 2021).  She has been commissioned as a writer by organisations such as The MAC in Belfast, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Foyle, RTÉ Radio, and more. 

Marc Gregg is a writer and classical vocalist from Lisburn, Northern Ireland. Previously, he was the host and co-producer of a show called Soap Opera on BBC Radio Ulster that examined the stories we tell through the voice. He also founded "Button Mash", Northern Ireland's largest video game tournament series for the Tekken franchise. Currently, he is working as an Assistant Producer with Outburst Arts in Belfast producing their queer literature magazine "Catflap" among other pieces of theatre, opera, gallery shows, concerts and artist development work. His current work focuses around queerness, class and technology and the hazy boundaries between the three. An essay of his recently featured in The 32 – An Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices (edited by Paul McVeigh).

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.

Denise Commins, Odhrán Reidy, & Sue Pace for Final Over The Edge: Open Reading of 2021

The December ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place on Zoom on Thursday, December 16th at the usual Over The Edge time 6.30-8.00pm (local Galway time). The Featured Readers are Sue Pace, Odhrán Reidy, & Denise Commins. There will, as always at Over The Edge: Open Readings, be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always especially welcome at the open-mic. Anyone interested in taking part in the open-mic should text Kevin Higgins on 087-6431748 or message the Over The Edge Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Over-The-Edge-Literary-Events-712507866206899 between 6pm and 6.30pm on the evening of the reading. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars.  The Over The Edge end of year celebration will take place in the House Hotel, Galway afterwards.

Denise Commins is Galway born and bred. She is a retired National school teacher . She has enjoyed attending Susan Millar DuMars creative writing classes at Galway Arts Centre and, recently, via Galway Technical Institute. Denise mostly writes poems based on memoir. She has previously read her work at the Over The Edge open-mic in Galway City Library. An active participant in a number of book groups over the years, writing is a hobby for Denise. 

Odhrán Reidy lives in Co. Galway where he works with medical devices during the day and plot devices in his spare time. He is a recovering cynic who finds himself occasionally prone to debilitating fits of optimism. He writes fiction and takes creative writing classes in Galway Technical Institute.

 

Sue Pace is a fiction writer living in Washington State, USA. Her stories have been widely published in literary magazines and anthologies, including The Raven Chronicles, Skive, Stringtown, Other Voices, & More Raw Material – an anthology inspired by Alan Sillitoe (Lucifer Press, 2015). Brett Evans, editor of Prole Magazine (UK), said of Sue’s 2017 short story collection Driving Sharon Crazy: “The characters here...are so flawed that they are perfect. Humanity is what pumps blood through these stories, and these stories are what make Sue Pace one of the most human and exciting writers today.”

Over The Edge is inviting you to the December Over The Edge: Open Reading on Zoom. Thursday, December 16^th, 6.30-8pm

Join The Over The Edge Zoom Meeting at

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7389013549

Meeting ID: 738 901 3549

 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.

 

Final Over The Edge: Open Reading of 2020 with Nina Oram, Coirle Mooney, & Paul Jeffcutt PLUS open-mic

 The December ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place on Zoom on Thursday, December 17th at the usual Over The Edge time 6.30-8.00pm (local Galway time). The Featured Readers are Paul Jeffcutt, Coirle Mooney, & Nina Oram. There will, as always at Over The Edge: Open Readings, be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always especially welcome at the open-mic. Anyone interested in taking part in the open-mic should text Kevin Higgins on 087-6431748 or email over-the-edge-openreadings@hotmail.com between 6pm and 6.30pm on the evening of the reading. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars.  As this is our Christmas reading, we invite everyone to enjoy a mince pie, chocolates and/or a holiday beverage at home while watching.  We will begin and end the evening with a festive toast.  

Nina Oram

Originally from the UK, Nina Oram llives in County Roscommon with her partner. Having fallen in love with County Sligo, she writes Dark Fantasy inspired by mythology, ancient history, and the natural world. Her YA Fantasy Trilogy, “The Carrowkeel Series” is published by Luna Press Publishing, Edinburgh, with the third book released on the 8^th December. She is currently shortlisted to the last five in the British Fantasy Awards 2019, Best Newcomer, for the first book in the trilogy, “The Joining”, awaiting the judges’ decision. Having won the Luna Press Publishing (UK) short story competition in 2016, her story was included in the resulting anthology, “Beyond Realities II”.She has also had stories published in “The Ogham Stone”, Metamorphose in the US, and “Horla”, an online horror magazine in the UK. She was longlisted in the Novella Award in the US, with special mention, and twice shortlisted in the Aeon Award, Ireland’s main fantasy competition, as well as for the Over The Edge New Writer of the Year award. Having finished a short story collection and novella, Nina is currently working on an adult fantasy novel. https://ninaoram.wixsite.com/website

Coirle Mooney

Coirle Mooney grew up in the Burren Perfumery in a house full of fragrant books and now lives in Kinvara, Co. Galway. After completing her MA and PhD in Medieval and Early Modern literature, she began working on a series of historical novels set in Medieval France. Her debut novel, Keepers of the Dead, is soon to be published by Sapere Books, followed by The Secret Language of Birds. She wrote her first murder mystery, Donald Duck is Dead, at ten years old, which she read in instalments to her captivated (or captured) classmates. She has worked as a Shakespeare and verse-speaking tutor in Malta and Limerick and as an old and middle English tutor in UCC. Her focus in on storytelling and creating characters with emotional depth. 

Paul Jeffcutt

Paul Jeffcutt lives in the Brontë Country of County Down. His new collection, The Skylark’s Call, is just published by Dempsey & Windle (2020); his first collection, Latch, was with Lagan Press (2010). Recently his poems have appeared in Agenda, The Honest Ulsterman, Ink, Sweat & Tears, The Interpreter’s House, Magma, Orbis, Oxford Poetry, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Salzburg Review and Vallum. He lives in Northern Ireland. www.pauljeffcutt.net

 

Over The Edge is inviting you to the December Over The Edge: Open Reading on Zoom. Thursday, December 17^th, 6.30-8pm

 

Join The Over The Edge Zoom Meeting at

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7389013549

Meeting ID: 738 901 3549

 

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.

Final Over The Edge: Open Reading of 2019 with Rachael Hegarty, Paul McCarrick, & Bern Butler

The December ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, December 19^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Rachael Hegarty, Paul McCarrick, & Bern Butler. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished which this month will include, among others, poets from the MA in Writing at NUI Galway.  New readers are especially welcome. The Over The Edge end of year celebration will take place afterwards. 

Bern Butler was born and raised in Shantalla in Galway city. She is a writer of prose and poetry, has been short and long-listed in the Fish, Over the Edge and Listowel writing competitions and published in Force 10, The Grey Castle, ROPES and The Galway Review. She has an extensive background in adult education, specifically Prison Education where she co-edited the first ever Irish Anthology of Prison Writing, Another Place. She was the Co-ordinator of the Writers in Prisons Scheme for ten years, wrote, directed and produced prison dramatic productions, liaised with the Cuirt Festival of Literature, and the Arts Council of Ireland to bring writers into prisons, and was lucky enough to have worked on several major drama and publishing projects in Castlerea prison with the writer, Dermot Healy. She facilitated writing workshops in Corrundulla Community Library for several consecutive years and edited a collection of participants’ writings, Burning to Tell. In 2019 she was awarded an MA in Writing from NUIG and is now working toward a first poetry collection.

Paul McCarrick’s poetry has been published in The Blue Nib, Crannóg, Skylight 47, The Stinging Fly, Poetry Ireland Review, and elsewhere. He was selected by Martina Evans to take part in the 2019 Poetry Ireland Introductions Series. He has also received an Arts Bursary Grant from the Westmeath County Council Arts Office in 2019. He lives in Athlone, Co. Westmeath, where he is completing his first collection.

Rachael Hegarty

Rachael Hegarty is a Dubliner. She is 7^th child of a 7^th child.  She was educated by Holy Faith nuns in Finglas, the U. Mass. Bostonians, the Trinity MPhil in Creative Writing and the PhD poetry magicians at  Queens University Belfast. Her poetry is widely published and broadcast. Her kids say she uses the 3 F- words too much: Finglas, feminism and feckin’ poetry. Her debut collection, Flight Paths Over Finglas won the Shine Strong Award in 2018. Her second collection, May Day 1974, has received critical acclaim for the unique representation of 33 docu-sonnets and 33 ballads for the people who died on the single worst day the Troubles. Her next collection, Dancing on the Dementia Ward explores the adverse, and sometimes bizarrely liberating, effects of dementia on an individual and a family.

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