Fifteenth Annual Cúirt / Over The Edge New Writers' Showcase Reading

 

The annual Cúirt / Over The Edge showcase for emerging writers returns for 2021 via Zoom on Thursday, April 22^nd at 1pm. Now in its fifteenth year, this is one of Ireland’s premier platforms for emerging writers in Ireland. Tune in and discover the best of new writing talent. Presenting emerging voices in poetry and fiction, the Cúirt New Writing Showcase brings together writers involved in the Over the Edge Literary Series in Galway, the winners of the annual Cúirt New Writing Prize and Cúirt’s PENxCommon Currency Writer in Residence for a dynamic reading event. The event will be introduced by Over The Edge’s regular MC, fiction writer, poet and teacher Susan Millar DuMars.

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 Skylight 47.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. In 2019 she was awarded an MA in Writing from NUIG and is now working toward a first poetry collection. Bern was a Featured Reader at the December 2019 Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library.

Riona Mac Eoin is the co-owner and works at Briarhill Vet Clinic in Galway City. Her hobbies include travelling, reading ,writing and sport, especially cycling. She recently achieved third place in her debut cycling race. Riona is very interested in psychology, specifically the influence our childhood years have on the development of our adult selves. Riona also volunteers with Foróige helping young people navigate their adolescent years. Ríona took a break from work last year and spent 6 months in New York which is where she discovered her love of writing. She writes fiction. Riona was a Featured Reader at the November 2019 Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library.

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 of poems. Paul was a Featured Reader at the December 2019 Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library.

Suad Aldarra is a Syrian storyteller, data scientist, and software engineer based in Dublin, Ireland. Suad is the Common Currency Writer in Residence for the festival and is currently writing a book about home and identity after being long-listed for the Penguin Random House WriteNow 2020 programme. She began her writing career as a participant in the Creative Writing for Beginners class at Galway Technical Institute in 2011.

Bernadette Lynch is the winner of the 2021 Cúirt New Writing Prize for poetry. She writes poetry and prose and is currently experimenting with hybrid forms. She lives between England and Ireland, having connections with both, and her work reflects this duality. She enjoys sharing the written word and facilitates the Poetry and Prose in your Pocket group in Clun, Shropshire. She also reviews literary events in local newspapers and magazines. Her poetry won the International Section of the Hanna Greally Awards at the SiarScéal Poetry Festival in County Roscommon in 2012, 2016 and 2020, and was commended in the UK Poetry Society’s Stanza Competition in 2016. Recent work has appeared in the SiarScéal anthology, Centenary in Reflection (2016), in The Emma Press anthology, This is not Your Final Form (2017), in Onslaught Press anthologies Poems for Grenfell Tower (2018) and Poems for the NHS (2018), and the Birmingham City University anthology Other Worlds (2020). She is currently a postgraduate student there and is working on her first collection.    

David Morgan O’Connor is the winner of the 2021 Cúirt New Writing Prize for fiction. David is from a small Canadian village on Lake Huron. After many nomadic years, he's based in Dublin, where stories and poems progress daily. His writing has appeared in more than 50 print or online publications. He reviews, interviews and blogs monthly.

Bookings will be taken via Eventbrite, with a link to the Zoom event being emailed to participants near to the day of the event. Please email us at info@cuirt.ie if you have not received a link within 48 hours of the event date.

Book your ticket HERE https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/new-writing-showcase-tickets-144906283595

For further information contact 087-6431748.

 

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

2015 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year THE WINNERS!

The winner in the fiction category and 2015 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year is Paul Duffy from Wicklow for his short story 'Redolence'. Paul receives a cash prize of €700 and his short story manuscript will be read by Doire Press. Paul will be a Featured Reader at an Over The Edge: Open Reading during the first half of 2016. Paul also receives a basket of books from Kenny’s Bookshop.

The poetry winner is Bennett McNiff from Drogheda, for his poem 'Stavrogin in Iceland'. Bennett receives a cash prize of €300; his poetry manuscript will be read by Salmon Poetry.

Runners up and highly commended in Poetry:

2^nd place: Rachel Coventry from Galway for ‘What Did I Do To Deserve You’

3^rd place: Paul McCarrick from Athlone for ‘Thanks to the Internet’.

Runners up and highly commended in Fiction:

2^nd place: Dermot Duffy from Dublin for ‘Luke Kelly’s Bones’.

3^rd place: Michelle Coyne from Galway for ‘The Sniper’

You can read the shortlist here.

We thank our judge Dave Lordan and our sponsors: Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop; Dock No, 1, ISupply Quay Street; Ward’s Hotel; Derek  Nolan TD; Clare Daly TD; and Kenny’s Bookshop & Gallery.