Over The Edge in association with the Cúirt Festival of International Literature presents the fourteenth annual New Writing Showcase

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 10^th, 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.

Over The Edge in association with the Cúirt Festival of International Literature presents the thirteenth annual New Writing Showcase

Dara Ó Foghlú, Vinny Steed, & Paul Denby.

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 – Paul Denby, Dara Ó Foghlú, & Vinny Steed – and Eimear O’Callaghan and Eoin Hegarty,  the winners of the Cúirt New Writing Poetry Prize 2018. The MC for the event will be regular Over The Edge host Susan Millar DuMars. It takes place on Wednesday, April 25^th, 11 am, at The Town Hall Theatre. Entry is free of charge. All welcome.

Fiction writer Dara Ó Foghlú is a native of Galway. He graduated from the Writing MA in NUI Galway in 2008. He has published his fiction in Ropes as well as in three collections of short stories with The Atlantis Collective, which were launched as part of the Cúirt festival. He has been a freelance editor for seven years, and has recently returned from Vietnam where he was editing state propaganda for the Communists. Dara was a Featured Reader at the September 2017 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Poet Vinny Steed has had work published abroad and in Ireland.  His poems have featured in the Galway Review, Headstuff, Skylight 47, Crannóg, Into the Void, Tales from the Forest magazine and in Ofi Press magazine.  He has been long listed for the Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition and short listed for the 2016 Doolin poetry competition.  One of his poems was nominated by Into the Void for the Pushcart Prize.  He attends poetry workshops in the Galway Arts Centre. Vinny was a Featured Reader at the January 2017 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Paul Denby has been in Galway since 2005, having previously lived in England and Germany. He studied Mathematics and Economics, and works as a Software Engineer. Paul participates in poetry workshops at the Galway Arts Centre and was shortlisted for the 2017 ‘Over the Edge’ New Writer of the Year Competition. Paul was a Featured Reader at the September 2017 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

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.

Over The Edge in association with the Cúirt Festival of International Literature presents the twelfth annual New Writing Showcase

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 – Rena Garrett, Eileen P Keane, & Una Mannion – and Paul Bregazzi, the winner of the Cúirt NewWriting Poetry Prize 2017. The MC for the event will be regular Over The Edge host Susan Millar DuMars. It takes place on Wednesday, April 26^th, 3pm, at The Town Hall Theatre. Entry is free of charge. All welcome.

 

Rena Garrett

Rena Garrett is a graduate MA in Writing student in NUIG. She has also participated in poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre. Her poetry has been published in The Moth Magazine, and Spontaneity.org and was shortlisted for the Galway Rape Crisis Centre Short Story Competition 2016. Rena was a Featured Reader at the August 2016 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Eileen P Keane

Eileen P Keane is from North Connemara, Co. Galway. She last year completed an MA in Writing at NUI Galway.  Eileen has written and performed for theatre and stage and her CD Spaces was released in 2014. She writes Poetry, Memoir and non-fiction. She is also a Singer/Songwriter and has performed at the: Electric Picnic, Lunasa Festival Sligo, and at the Clifden Arts Festival. Her songs have featured on RTE Radio and Television. Her poems appear in the latest edition of the Galway Review and her Flash Fiction was shortlisted for Allingham Festival 2015. Eileen was a Featured Reader at the March 2016 Over The Edge: Open Reading. 

Una Mannion

Una Mannion teaches Performing Arts in IT Sligo. In March 2016, her poetry was published in the New Irish Writing page in The Irish Times and her fiction was shortlisted for the Cúirt New Writing Prize. She won the Yeats' Society's Seamus Heaney Prize and came second place in Dromineer Flash Fiction 2015. She has been shortlisted in the Listowel, Bridport, Fish Memoir and other competitions. She recently completed an MA in Writing at NUI Galway. She lives in Sligo with her husband and three children.  Una was a Featured Reader at the May 2016 Over The Edge: Open Reading. Una won the Emerging Poetry Award at this year’s Hennessy Literary Awards and is also the winner of the Fiction section in this year’s Cúirt New Writing Prize.

Paul Bregazzi

Paul Bregazzi is a Special Needs Teacher in West Dublin. His poetry has appeared widely and been anthologised on both sides of the Atlantic in Crannóg, The Stony Thursday Book, Skylight 47, Southword, The Stinging Fly, Magma (U.K),  Fields Magazine (Univ of Texas at Austin), The French Literary Review (Fr),  Thema (U.S.), The Ofi Press (Mexico). He has been shortlisted for the Bridport prize, the RSPB/Rialto Nature Poetry Competition and The Haiku Foundation U.S. Touchstone Awards. He won 2nd place in Magma (U.K.) Editors’ Short Poetry Prize and the Oliver Goldsmith International Poetry Competition. He is co-founder of the Dublin poetry group Listeners and was selected for Poetry Ireland’s Introduction Series 2015. Paul is the winner of the poetry section 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. 

Over The Edge in association with the Cúirt Festival of International Literature presents the tenth annual New Writing Showcase.

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 New Writing Showcase features three participants from the Over the Edge literary series in Galway – Alvy Carragher, Mary McGill, & Teresa Sweeney - Daniel Roy Connelly, the winner of the Cúirt New Writing Poetry Prize 2015, and Sonya Gildea, the winner of the 2015 Cúirt New Writing Fiction Prize. The MC for the event will be regular Over The Edge host Susan Millar DuMars. It takes place on Thursday, April 23^rd, 4pm, at The Town Hall Theatre. Entry is free of charge. All welcome.

Alvy Carragher recently completed the MA in Writing at NUI Galway. Her poetry has been commended in the Gregory O’Donoghue Award, the 2013 Over the Edge New Writer of the year competition and she came third in the 2013 Doire Press Poetry Competition. Alvy was 2014 Connaught Slam Poetry Champion and her blog “with all the finesse of a badger” won best humour blog in the Irish Blog Awards and was a finalist for blog of the year in the Samsung Digital Media Awards 2014. Alvy was a Featured Reader at the February 2014 Over The Edge: Open Reading. 

Mary McGill lives in Galway. Her fiction has appeared in The South Circular, The Bohemyth, Crannóg and Wordlegs. In 2013, she was shortlisted for the Penguin / RTÉ Guide short story competition and the Irish Times ‘Legends of the Fall’ competition. Mary was also long listed for the 2013 Over the Edge award and short listed for the 2014 RTÉ Radio One Francis MacManus Award. Mary was a Featured Reader at the August 2014 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Teresa Sweeney is from county Galway. She was short listed in the 2014 Over the Edge New Writer of the Year competition. Her fiction has been published in Roadside Fiction, Number Eleven Magazine, Wordlegs, Boyne Berries and she was a runner up in the WOW! Awards 2011. She was a Featured Reader at the November 2014 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Daniel Roy Connelly is a theatre director, writer and professor of English literature and creative writing at John Cabot University and The American University of Rome. He holds a PhD in Shakespeare's 'Othello' from The University of Saint Andrews and was the winner of the 2014 Fermoy International Poetry Festival Prize and a finalist in the 2015 Aesthetica Magazine Creative Writing Prize. He recently directed a sold-out 'Hedda Gabler' and returns to the stage next week at Rome's 'Teatro Arciliuto', where he will play 'Ralph Wantage' in Bryony Lavery's 'Frozen'. Daniel is the winner of the 2015 Cúirt New Writing Poetry Prize. 

Sonya Gildea was born in County Cork, Ireland. She lives and works in Dublin, and the east coast of Scotland. She is writing the poetry collection Apothecary; the short story collection, Heartscapes; and the debut novel, The Hours That God Sends. She has also received a number of awards for screenwriting. She is the winner of the 2015 Cúirt New Writing Fiction 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.