March Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering launches poetry collections by Katherine Noone & Jean Folan

MC for evening Kevin Higgins

The March Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering presents an exciting variety of poetry, including the Galway launch of new poetry collections by Katherine Noone and Jean Folan.  There will also be readings by prominent British performance poet and literary activist Steve Pottinger and renowned Mayo poet and short story writer Ger Reidy. The event will take place at The Kitchen @ The Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway on Friday, March 10^th, 8pm. All are welcome. There is no cover charge.

Katherine Noon pictured centre

Katherine Noone’s poems  have  appeared  in  Boyne  Berries, Crannóg, The  Galway Review, Linnets Wings, Orbis , Skylight 47. She was shortlisted  for the Vallum (Canada) poetry competition in 2012 and Poem  for  Patience 2015. She attends Kevin Higgins advanced poetry workshop in Galway. Katherine’s debut poetry collection, Keeping Watch, is just published by Lapwing Publications and will be launched on the evening. 

Jean Folan was born in Galway in 1951. She lives in Inishcrone, Co Sligo and is a graduate of the MA in Writing at NUI Galway.  Her first collection of poems Between Time was published by Lapwing in 2013. Jean Folan was shortlisted for the Cúirt New Writing Prize 2007, and the Over the Edge Cúirt Showcase 2008, and was a featured reader at Over the Edge in 2007. She was the winner of the Impromptu Haiku, Culture Night 2010, Ballina Arts Centre, Co. Mayo and runner-up at Culture Night 2012, Kenny’s Bookshop, Galway. Confluence of Wakes, Jean’s second collection of poetry, was recently published by Lapwing Publications and will have its Galway launch on the evening.

Steve Pottinger is a British performance poet and author based in Wolverhampton. He has gigged all over the UK in pubs, clubs, and at festivals. He wrote a letter to Cafè Nero about their tax avoidance which went viral, and has co-written the autobiographies of two punk legends. His volume of poems 'more bees, bigger bonnets' was chosen by campaigning economist Richard Murphy as one of his books of the year in the TES. He’s currently collaborating with two other West Midlands poets on some exciting projects, plotting his fifth volume of poetry, working on another punk biography, and being inspired by the imagination, resilience, and determination of people in the face of greed and injustice.

Ger Reidy was born near Westport, Co. Mayo. He has won several national poetry competitions and has been the recipient of a number of bursaries and residencies sponsored by the Arts Council and Mayo County Council. Dedalus Press published his debut collection, Pictures from a Reservation, in 1998 and his second collection, Drifting Under the Moon, in 2010. His third collection, Before Rain, was published by Arlen House in 2015 and was shortlisted for the Pigott Poetry Prize at Listowel Writers' Week. His poetry has been published in many literary journals, both at home and abroad and he has read at numerous literary festivals. Since 2012 Ger has judged the Westport Arts Festival poetry competition. His debut short fiction collection. Jobs for a Wet Day, was published in 2015 and was long listed for the Edge Hill Prize 2016.

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing financial support of the Arts Council,

Poetry Ireland, and Galway City Council.

February Over The Edge: Open Reading with Jaki McCarrick, Ciaran Ferriter, & Paul Lewis

The February ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, February 23^rd, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Jaki McCarrick, Ciaran Ferriter, & Paul Lewis. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always especially welcome at the open-mic. 

Jaki McCarrick

Paul Lewis was born in Cork and lived there for many years, enamoured of the city's many charms. He now lives in Galway where he continues to work as a cook. Daily preparing vegetables for hours allows Paul time to "write in his head". Some of this makes it onto the page. Paul is very much looking forward to his first reading outside of writing workshops. He has participated in writing workshops with both Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins and, so far, lived to tell the tale.  

Ciaran Ferriter works in catering in a top secret location in Galway. He lives in rural Mayo, where the peace cajoles him to write every evening without fail. His first ever submission was published by the Mayo Advertiser called the 'Passing Storm' which has proved very popular online. Currently he is working with Susan Millar DuMars, in her Advanced Fiction class, on a major project which is a very complicated work, entwining biblical history, treachery, espionage and a Pope who has been earmarked by extremists to join his creator. Ciaran has only been writing seriously for two years and intends to add another twenty two to that if life permits.

Jaki McCarrick lives in Dundalk and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, gaining a Master of Philosophy Degree, Creative Writing – Distinction. Jaki is a playwright and short story writer who is also working on a novel. Her critically acclaimed short story collection The Scattering was published in 2013 by Seren and shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. She has won many awards for her work including: Winner of the 2005 SCDA National Playwriting Competition for The Mushroom Pickers; Shortlisted for the Sphinx Playwriting Award 2006, Bruntwood Prize 2006, Kings Cross Award 2007 for The Moth-Hour; Shortlisted for the 2009 Adrienne Benham Award for Leopoldville and the 2009 Asham Award for short fiction for The Congo. Jaki was also the first ever winner of the Liverpool Lennon Paper Poetry competition, which she was awarded by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. Jaki McCarrick's blog is jakiscloudnine.blogspot.ie

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.

Are You Free Wednesday mornings?

2017 Over The Edge Poetry Book Showcase at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop

The 2017 Over The Edge Poetry Book Showcase featuring Alvy Carragher, Breda Joyce, Miceál Kearney, Mary Lee, Pete Mullineaux, Luke Morgan, Susan Millar DuMars, Marie Cadden, Kevin Higgins, James O’Toole, Gerry Hanberry, Liz Quirke, Nicki Griffin, Sighle Meehan, Mary Madec, Ger Reidy and the anthologies Even The Daybreak - 35 Years of Salmon Poetry (Salmon), The Poet’s Quest For God (Eyewear Publishing), Fermata – Writings Inspired By Music (Artisan House) & Poems For Jeremy Corbyn (Shoestring Press) will take place at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop on Friday, February, 10^th  at 6.30pm. 

In this annual retrospective of the year just past, Galway-based poets, who published a new collection of poems during 2016, are invited to read three poems from the collection in question. There will also be short readings from the anthologies Poems For Jeremy Corbyn (Shoestring Press, Ed. Merryn Williams), Fermata – Writings Inspired By Music  (Artisan House, Ed. Eva Bourke & Vincent Woods), Even The Daybreak - 35 Years of Salmon Poetry (Salmon, Ed. Jessie Lendennie), & The Poet’s Quest For God (Eyewear Publishing, Ed. Fr. Oliver Brennan, & Todd Swift with Kelly Davio & Cate Myddleton-Evans), all of which include poems by Galway-based writers.

All welcome. There is no cover charge. For further details phone 087-6431748.

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

January Over The Edge: Open Reading with Tim Sniffen, Helena Kilty, & Vinny Steed

The January ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, January 19^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Vinny Steed, Helena Kilty, & Tim Sniffen. This reading marks the fourteenth anniversary of the first Over The Edge reading in Galway City Library.

Tim Sniffen

Vinny Steed has had work published abroad and at home.  His poems have featured in the Galway Review, Headstuff, Skylight 47, Crannóg, Into the Void, Tales from the Forest magazine and in the upcoming Ofi Press magazine in February.  He was long listed for the 2015 & 2016 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition and short listed for the 2016 Doolin poetry competition.  One of his poems was recently nominated by Into the Void for the Pushcart Prize.  He attends poetry workshops in the Galway Arts Centre.

Helena Kilty lives in Galway, where she divides her time between writing and working as a psychotherapist. She’s currently completing a collection of short stories. She also writes non-fiction and poetry. She’s a member of the Galway Writers’ Workshop and completed the MA in writing at NUI Galway in 2012. Her work has been published in Surge: New Writing From Ireland (O’Brien Press), Skylight47, Crannóg, Poems in profile and in the Abandoned Darlings anthology.

Tim Sniffen studied writing and animation at Hampshire College and began working with Chicago’s Second City theater in 2003: credits there include The Second City Guide To The Opera, Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf and the recent Longer! Louder! Wagner! -- The Second City Wagner Companion, because who doesn’t like taking a few jabs at Hitler’s favourite easy-listening music? Tim has written for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, National Public Radio and keeps his own Tumblr site for things that everyone else refuses to print. You can find him as MisterSniffen on Twitter for jokes and the occasional David Versus Goliath squabble with airlines and movie theaters.

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always most 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.