September Over The Edge: Open Reading Caitriona O’Reilly, Colin Dardis, James Anthony & Skylight 47 launch

Caitríona Ó'Reilly

The September ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, September 29th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Caitriona O’Reilly, Colin Dardis, & James Anthony. The centre piece of the evening will be the launch of issue seven of Skylight 47, the exciting bi-annual poetry paper from the Skylight Poets, which will be on sale on the evening. The publication will be launched by Caitriona O’Reilly. Skylight 47 is based in Galway and publishes poems by poets from all around the globe; all poets are welcome to submit poems for consideration for future issues. For details on how to take out a subscription to Skylight 47 see https://skylight47poetry.wordpress.com/buy-skylight-47/. The evening will also see the announcement of the shortlist for this year’s Over The Edge New Writer of the Year competition, judged by fiction writer and poet Niamh Boyce. 

James Anthony is a native of Athlone. He has worked in catering for most of his life and has always enjoyed writing in his spare time. In January 2015, he took the train to Galway to attend Kevin Higgins's creative writing class at G.T.I. and has been a regular participant in Kevin’s poetry workshops ever since. This year he has published work in Skylight47, the Athlone Advertiser and a poetry anthology, Open Your Eyes edited by Kevin Watts.

Colin Dardis is a poet, editor, freelance arts facilitator, creative writing tutor and mental health advocate, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. His work has been published widely throughout Ireland, the UK and USA. He is one of Eyewear Publishing’s Best New British and Irish Poets 2016, and is currently an ACES (Artists Career Enhancement Scheme) 2015-16 recipient from Arts Council Northern Ireland. Colin is also online editor for Lagan Press.

Catríona O'Reilly was born Dublin in 1973, grew up in Wicklow and Dublin, and now lives in Lincoln. She studied archaeology and English at Trinity College Dublin, where she wrote a doctoral thesis on American literature; she has also held the Harper-Wood Studentship from St John's College, Cambridge. Her first collection The Nowhere Birds was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2001, and won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2002 (given to the best new book by any Irish writer). Her second collection, The Sea Cabinet (Bloodaxe Books, 2006), was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award in 2007. Her third collection, Geis (Bloodaxe Books, UK; Wake Forest University Press, USA, 2015), won the Irish Times Poetry Now Award 2016 and was also a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She is a freelance writer and critic, has written for BBC Radio 4, translated from the Galician of María do Cebreiro, and published some fiction. She has collaborated with artist Isabel Nolan, edited several issues of Poetry Ireland Review, and was a contributing editor of the Irish poetry journal Metre.

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.

Over The Edge Culture Night Open-Mic at Kenny’s

Over The Edge is holding two special Culture Night open-mics - one for fiction writers, the other for poets - with prizes for the best readers, at Kennys Bookshop and Gallery in Liosbán Retail Park on Friday, September 16th.

The open-mic for fiction writers starts at 4pm. Participants should bring along two pages of a story to read. The reading will include guest appearances from Elizabeth Reapy, and Karl Parkinson, both of whom will be reading from their recently published novels. 
 

The open-mic for poets starts at 6pm. Participants poets should bring along two poems to read. The reading will include guest appearances from poets Simon Lewis, who will be reading from his recently published poetry collection, and Dani Gill, who will be reading from her first collection-in-progress ‘After Love’. 

The evening will be MC'd by Kevin Higgins and both open-mics will feature reading from their long-listed stories and poems by some of the writers on the long list for the 2016 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition, for which Kenny’s is one of the sponsors.

This reading is open to all. If you have a poem or story you want to share, come along.

IMPORTANT UPDATE for everyone who entered 2016 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year

Over The Edge is holding two special Culture Night open-mics - one for fiction writers, the other for poets - with prizes for the best readers, at Kennys Bookshop and Gallery in Liosbán Retail Park on Friday, September 16th.

The open-mic for fiction writers starts at 4pm. Participants should bring along two pages of a story to read. The reading will include guest appearances from Elizabeth Reapy, and Karl Parkinson, both of whom will be reading from their recently published novels.

The open-mic for poets starts at 6pm. Participants poets should bring along two poems to read. The reading will include guest appearances from poets Simon Lewis, who will be reading from his recently published poetry collection, and Dani Gill, who will be reading from her first collection-in-progress ‘After Love’.

The evening will be MC'd by Kevin Higgins and both open-mics will feature reading from their long-listed stories and poems by some of the writers on the long list for the 2016 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition, for which Kenny’s is one of the sponsors.

All long-listed writers, who can make it to Kenny’s on the day, are invited to come and read.

The long-list will be announced at this Thursday's Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library. (6.30-8pm).

August Over The Edge: Open Reading with Rena Garrett, Fergus Deffely, & Sonja Tiernan

The first ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ after the summer break takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, August 25^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Sonja Tiernan, Fergus Deffely, & Rena Garrett. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. The evening will also see the announcement of the long list for this year’s Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition which received an increased number of entries this year.

Rena Garrett is an MA in Writing student in NUIG. 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.

Fergus Deffely lives and works in Galway. After serving almost 15 years in the software industry, these days he hacks prose and poetry. He finds inspiration in music, magic, and society's negative spaces. He is currently working on a novella set in a small town in the West of Ireland.Fergus will be reading some of his poetry and a short story about politics. 

Sonja Tiernan is Lecturer in Modern History at Liverpool Hope University. She will be reading from her acclaimed biography Eva Gore-Booth – An Image of Such Politics (Manchester University Press, 2012), the first ever book length biography of the famous suffragist, labour activist, and writer. Sonja also edited The Political Writings of Eva Gore-Booth (Manchester University Press, 2015). 

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always most welcome. The evening will also see the announcement of the long list for this year’s Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition, which has again received a very healthy number of entries this year.

The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details phone 087-6431748. 

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