2012 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition to be judged by John Corless

This year's competition judge John Corless

Major Sponsor: Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop,
http://www.charliebyrne.com/

other sponsors to date:

Derek Nolan T.D.
http://www.labour.ie/dereknolan/
Senator Lorraine Higgins
http://www.lorrainehiggins.com/

Ward's Hotel, Salthill

http://www.hotels.com/ho316619/wards-galway-ireland/

ISupply, Quay Street,

The Creole Restaurant, Dominick Street

& Trevor Sherlock

IMPORTANT UPDATE : WRITERS WHO LIVE OUTSIDE THE EURO ZONE AREA 

CAN PAY THE ENTRY FEE BY SENDING US A CHEQUE [payable to Over The Edge]

 FOR THE EQUIVALENT AMOUNT IN THEIR COUNTRY'S CURRENCY 

i.e. U.S. Dollars, Sterling, Australian Dollars, Swiss Francs, Indian Rupee etc 

You can calculate the amount by using the currency converter here http://www.xe.com/ucc/  

In 2012 Over The Edge is continuing its exciting annual creative writing competition. The competition is open to both poets and fiction writers. The total prize money is €1,000. The best fiction entry will win €300. The best poetry entry will win €300. One of these will then be chosen as the overall winner and will receive an additional €400, giving the overall winner total prize money of €700 and the title Over The Edge New Writer of The Year 2012. The 2012 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year will be a Featured Reader at an Over The Edge: Open Reading to be scheduled in Galway City Library in Winter 2012/13. Salmon Poetry will read, without commitment to publish, a manuscript submitted to them by the winner in the poetry category. Doire Press will read, without commitment to publish a collection of short stories submitted to them by the winner in the fiction category. The winning poems and the winning story will both be published in a special Over The Edge Tenth Birthday anthology which will be published during 2013.

Entries should be sent to Over The Edge, New Writer of the Year competition, 3 Carbry Road, Newcastle, Galway, Ireland with an accompanying SAE. Entries will be judged anonymously, so do not put your name on your poem(s) or story. Put your contact details on a separate sheet.

Criteria: fiction of up to three thousand words, three poems of up to forty lines, or one poem of up to one hundred lines. Multiple entries are acceptable but each must be accompanied by a fee. The fee for one entry is €10. The fee for multiple entries is €7.50 per entry e.g. two entries will cost €15, three entries €22.50 and so on. Fee payable by cheque or money order to Over The Edge. To take part you must be at least sixteen years old by September 1st 2012 and not have a book published or accepted for publication in the genre in which you enter. Chapbooks excepted. Entries must not have been previously published or be currently entered in any other competition. The competition is open to writers worldwide.

The closing date is Wednesday, August 8th, 2012. A longlist will be announced at a special event in Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop at 6.30pm on Friday, August 24th, 2012. A shortlist will be announced at the Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library on Thursday, August 30th, 2012. The winners will be announced at the Over The Edge reading in Galway City Library on Thursday, September 27th, 2012.

This year’s competition judge is John Corless. John Corless lives near Claremorris, in County Mayo, and is a vastly experienced creative writing tutor. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Lancaster and is currently researching a PhD. Many satisfied students have taken John’s creative writing courses at GMIT Castlebar, over the past number of years. Some have gone on to win prizes and had their work published. John has also facilitated workshops with active retired groups in Ballindine and Ballinrobe also in County Mayo – both groups launching anthologies of their work. John has facilitated workshops as part of the Luisne project, and has mentored students in the UK, USA and Uganda. He has also given workshops at a number of festivals and summer schools and has worked in national and secondary schools, facilitating both creative writing and drama workshops. He has performed his work all over the country, including at the Electric Picnic, the Force 12 Festival, The Munster Literary Festival, Over The Edge, and The Whitehouse Poetry Revival. He regularly features on RTE and local radio stations. He writes poetry, drama and fiction. His work has been published internationally and he has won many prizes for his writing. John’s debut poetry collection, Are you ready? (Salmon Poetry) was published in 2009 and has sold out two print runs making it a poetry best seller. John’s poetry is a mix of political and satirical; one critic described it as Paul Durcan meets The Sawdoctors. Another said: "... he shines the tell tale torchlight of his killer wit into all the most embarrassing areas of contemporary Irish life. No-one is safe..."

N.B. ENTRIES POSTMARKED AUGUST 8TH

WILL BE ACCEPTEDFor further details contact Over The Edge on 087-6431748,

or e-mail over-the-edge-openreadings@hotmail.com

Crannóg magazine subscription drive

Crannóg
Our friends at Crannóg magazine have launched a subscription drive

"AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL OUR READERS

WE'RE THIRTY-ONE - BUT TEN YEARS OLD!

Crannóg magazine is ten years old this autumn. It is also the thirty-first issue.

It is now read and subscribed to on every continent.

VALUE

Our cover price is €6.00.* Each issue contains 8 or more short stories and

about 25 poems from Irish and International authors.

Good value? Well it's about 18 cent for each piece of work!

WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU

Those who appreciate good literature will love Crannóg.

We also recommend that writers be familiar with Crannóg to get a flavour

of its content before submitting.

We will give you an annual subscription to Crannóg, that's three issues,

- over 24 short stories and 75 poems each year delivered to your door! -

In return we ask for €19.50 * which you can easily pay through Paypal

(you don't even need a Paypal account).

And that's it for the year.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE

To take out a subscription just click here http://www.crannogmagazine.com/buy.htm 
and then click the SUBSCRIBE button.

Make sure to click the relevant button for your area.

Or send a cheque to Crannóg magazine, 6 San Antonio Park, Salthill, Galway, Ireland

With kind regards

Tony O'Dwyer

pp Crannóg Editorial Board

PS Thank you if you are already one of our valued subscribers.

We hope you will continue to subscribe and enjoy Crannóg.

* This translates as approximately £5.00 or $9.00.

* Outside Ireland €24.50 incl international postage."

PROBABLY THE BIGGEST OPEN-MIC EVENT OF THE YEAR Westside Arts Festival/Over The Edge Summer Open-mic

Over The Edge in association with Westside Arts Festival presents the 2012 Over The Edge Summer Open-mic at Westside Library, Seamus Quirke Road on Wednesday, July 18th, 7pm

Everyone who has a poem or story to share is most welcome to take part. So, if you have some writing you’d like to read to an audience. This is your opportunity to do so.

The MCs for the evening will be Kevin Higgins & Susan Millar DuMars. All are welcome to attend.

Over The Edge acknowledges the financial support of the Arts Council and Galway City Council.

Over The Edge funding maintained in annual Galway City Council Arts Grants

Over The Edge was delighted to learn earlier today that, at last night's meeting of Galway City Council (Monday, July 9th) we were awarded the same level of funding as we received last year. This means that our funding remains at 2008 levels, despite the four intervening years of global financial crisis and budget cutbacks. This represents a big vote of confidence by Galway City Council in the vibrant creative writing and poetry community which Over The Edge has worked to create. It puts us in an excellent position as we look forward to celebrating our tenth anniversary next year.

We would like to thank Galway City Council's Arts Officer James Harrold and all the members of Galway City Council for their ongoing support.

This good news come on foot of the positive mention Over The Edge got recently in a Dáil debate on the future of Ireland's cultural institutions. http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2012/06/27/00032.asp

Our next event takes place at Galway City Library on Thursday http://www.overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.ie/2012/06/july-over-edge-writers-gathering-doire.html

Over The Edge mentioned in Dáil debate

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2012/06/27/00032.asp

July Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering - Doire Press Showcase PLUS writers visiting from America Mark Conway & Maura Mulligan

The Over The Edge July Writers’ Gathering presents a special showcase reading by poets and fiction writers published by Galway county based Doire Press. Jacqueline Murray Loring, Celeste Augé, Kevin O’Shea and John Walsh will read their work at Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street on Thursday, July 12th, 6.30-8pm. The evening will also include readings by   writers visiting from America Mark Conway and Maura Mulligan. All are welcome. There is no cover charge.

Jacqueline Murray Loring is a screenwriter, playright and poet. She is the retired exectutive director of the Cape Cod Writers’ Center and is the president of the Cape Cod Chapter of the National League of American Pen Women. Her poetry has appeared in a variety of publications, incuding The Boston Poet, Prime Time Magazine, Re:verse, Cape Cod Voice, Summer Home Review – volume I and II, and From Both Sides Now: The Poetry of the Vietnam War and its Aftermath. She is the winner of the 2012 International Doire Press Poetry Chapbook Competition, and her chapbook, The History of Bearing Children, will be published by Doire Press in July.

Celeste Augé is an Irish-Canadian writer who has lived in Ireland since she was twelve. When she was in her twenties, she dropped out of art college; in her thirties she completed an MA in Writing; currently she teaches creative writing to adults and university undergraduates. Her fiction and poetry have been widely published in literary journals and anthologies. Her poetry has been short-listed for a Hennessy Literary Award and Salmon Poetry have published her first full-length poetry collection, The Essential Guide to Flight. The Arts Council of Ireland awarded her a Literature Bursary. Her short story ‘The Good Boat’ won the 2011 Cúirt New Writing Prize for fiction. Fireproof and Other Stories is just published by Doire Press.

Kevin O’Shea lives on the edge of Connemara, in Moycullen, still within earshot of the old Galway-Clifden railway. Having retreated from the world of technology to timidly confront the world of imagination he was short listed for Over The Edge New Writer of the Year in both 2009 and 2010. His poetry has been published in Irish Left Review, Ropes, Pen Tales, Behind the Masks, Mosaic, THE SHOp and Northern Liberties Review. He was the winner in the poetry section of this year’s Cúirt New Writing Prize and as part of his prize Kevin read at the Cúirt Over The Edge Showcase reading. His highly anticipated debut collection of poetry, The Art of Non-Fishing , will be published by Doire Press in the Autumn.

John Walsh was born in Derry in 1950. After sixteen years teaching English in Germany, in 1989 he returned to live in Connemara. His first poetry collection Johnny tell Them was published by Guildhall Press (Derry) in October 2006. In 2007 he received a Publication Award from Galway County Council to publish his second collection Love’s Enterprise Zone (Doire Press, Connemara). In 2010 Salmon Poetry published his latest collection Chopping Wood with T.S. Eliot. His poems have been published in Ireland, the UK and Austria and the USA. He has read and performed his poems at events in Ireland, the UK, Germany, Sweden and the USA. He received a Publication Award from Galway County Council for his debut short story collection Border Lines, which was published by Doire Press in April 2012 and has been very favourably received.

Mark Conway’s previous books are Dreaming Man, Face Down which won the 2009 American Poetry Journal Book Prize and Any Holy City, short-listed for the 2007 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry. Individual poems have appeared in such leading international journals as The Paris Review, Slate, Ploughshares, The Kenyon Review On-line, Agni, Harvard Review and Bomb. He is currently working on a manuscript called Fuse with poems forthcoming in The American Poetry Review and The Iowa Review.

Maura Mulligan’s memoir, Call of the Lark is just published by Greenpoint Press New York. It is the story of a woman who found the courage to change her life -- several times. As a young girl in Ireland, Maura Mulligan worked as a servant in "a grand house." At seventeen, she sailed to America and became a telephone operator. Answering a higher call, she entered a Franciscan convent and became a nun. Influenced by the changes following Vatican II, she made the decision to return to the world. Call of the Lark offers a vivid portrait of the author's childhood in rural Ireland of the forties and fifties. Behind the convent door, the reader shares her nun's life, and stands with her when she closes it behind her.
http://irishecho.com/?p=71769


There is no entrance fee.

After the reading we will be retiring for refreshments to the House Hotel.

For further information contact 087-6431748.

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

LEMON

The documentary film LEMON, Directed and Produced by Beth Levison, is playing as part of Galway Film Fleadh this Wednesday, July 11 at 14:30. Galway Film Fleadh is offering a 10% discount to arts, writing, and community groups of 10 or more that choose to see the film.

"Lemon" is a portrait of Lemon Andersen, a three-time felon turned poet who savored a brief moment of glory in winning a Tony Award for Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. But Lemon has landed back in the projects, living with thirteen family members in a close-fit Puerto Rican community, and is desperate for a way out. We followed Lemon's last-ditch effort to get out of poverty through his autobiographical one man-show, "County of Kings." Ultimately, our film is a story about artistic struggle and creative triumph. The film is executive produced by Russell Simmons and Impact Partners (The Cove, To Hell and Back, An Inconvenient Truth), features Spike Lee, and includes an incredible score with Hip-hop phenoms Kanye West, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Aloe Blacc

Lemon won the Special Jury Prize at the DOC NYC Festival, an Honorable Mention at the Zurich International Film Festival, and most recently, a Special Mention at the Documentary Edge Festival in New Zealand.

The film is showing on Wednesday, July 11 at 14:30 at the Omni 8. It's the one and only screening!

For tickets, please visit the Galway Film Fleadh website. http://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/programme.php?fest=6&ct=feature-documentary&cid=7&t=lemon&id=444

COLM KEEGAN at NORTH BEACH POETRY NIGHTS

COLM KEEGAN at NORTH BEACH POETRY NIGHTS

Monday 9th July,2012

in The Crane Bar, Sea Road, Galway

at the new time: 6.30 pm

Poets wishing to enter the Slam on the night need 2 max. three minutes poems.

The prize for the winner is a bottle of wine and entry

to the North Beach Grand Slam in December.

Door: 5/3 Euro

Win a FREE PLACE on the INISHBOFIN JAUNT writing holiday

chance of a FREE PLACE on the INISHBOFIN JAUNT writing holiday

at value of tuition fee of €280.

It's a lightning strike of a competition, IE, won't happen again for a long time, on this course, and secondly, it will all be over by Thursday lunchtime! If you think you have a minute to put it out to your constituency via the blog, that would be fantastic.

ENTER THE COMPETITION ON FACEBOOK

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=382519595136123&id=102278509826901

COMPETITION ENTRY FOR NON-FACEBOOK MEMBERS:

http://yvonnecullen.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/one-free-place-on-forthcoming-inishbofin-jaunt-with-writing-train/ 

A BLOG POST FROM YVONNE CULLEN ON ACCOMMODATION AND TRAVEL COSTS OF GETTING TO THE INISHBOFIN JAUNT.

http://yvonnecullen.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/850/

If you need anything else from me, let me know. I'm pasting in the full facebook status update below here, in case you just want to use a bit of that.

Winner will be announced Thursday lunchtime.

WRITING TRAIN GIVEAWAY! One place at NO TUITION COST on July 19 – 24 Inishbofin Jaunt Writing Holiday lead by writing teacher Yvonne Cullen (that's me!)

Just pay your travel, food and accommodation costs! Tuition worth €280 is on offer as the prize in this competition! Full entry details at end of this post!

A small number of places still remain on the Inishbofin Jaunt Creative Writing Holiday for July 19 -24, at beginner and developing writer levels. Booking cut-off date is 6th July. The Creative Writing Jaunt for September 13 – 18 is now booking also. BOOKING DEADLINE FOR SEPTEMBER JAUNT IS 31 JULY. More info, testimonials and slideshow of recent Jaunts can be viewed at

http://www.yvonnecullen.com , under Inishbofin Jaunt tab.

Participant feedback on the JAUNTS to INISHBOFIN and on my teaching style:

“What an inspiring place, and what an inspiring teacher!” Katie Martin, Inishbofin Jaunt, August 2010.

“Best creative writing teacher in Dublin” – Dubliner Magazine.

“Writes beautifully and can pass on the skill” – Grace Garvey, The Irish Times, Sept 2009.

“If you are thinking of going, just go!” Debbie Gilbert, May 2012 Jaunt.

“Deep listening that makes the sayer say it better!” Kevin Conroy, May 2012 Jaunt.

“Life-changing!” Breda Cashe, August Jaunt 2010.

Other courses coming up soon at WRITING TRAIN: Literary Café writing classes and workshops at the NATIONAL LIBRARY CAFÉ (9 weeks) start on Saturday July 7th (small number of spaces remaining). START TO WRITE TUESDAY NIGHTS (8 weeks) kick off on July 17th at United Arts Club. MONDAY NIGHT DEVELOPING WRITERS (8 weeks) starts July 16th CityArts, D1. Wednesday daytime Writing Train writing workshop starts south city centre Sept 5th. Thursday Night Advanced Writing Train starts autumn term on October 12th. NLI Saturdays, Monday and Tuesday evening classes restart early October also. All are bookable immediately.

I love what I do, in Writing Train workshops and with the Inishbofin writing holidays. I want to reach as wide as possible an audience with it. I would also be delighted to be talking to a larger group on facebook, when I write about what we’re learning in these creative writing classrooms and events. I’ve put together this competition to aid me in reaching that wider audience.

TO ENTER THIS COMPETITION:

(1)SHARE this particular post with your full network of friends on facebook.

(2) LIKE Yvonne Cullen’s Writing Train if you haven’t already done so.

(3)Email me at writingtrain@gmail.com with (A) the headline of one recent post on my wordpress blog-site.www.yvonnecullen.wordpress.com (B) 40 words or less on why you’d like to come on the Writing Train Inishbofin Jaunt. Please do mention also whether you are a beginner or a developing writer. Add a daytime contact phone number, landline and mobile.

I will email the winner by mid-morning on THURSDAY 5th July. I’ll follow up with a call so we can sort out your accommodation.

This competition is run subject to ongoing availability of accommodation on Bofin for our events dates of 18 – 24 on the competition results date of 5th July, and to your being available to firm up a booking for same, with my help, between this date and Friday 6th July. Details of accommodation options plus costings on the trip in re travel, food and lodgings can be found in a new post on www.yvonnecullen.wordpress .com. A place won on the July Inishbofin Jaunt cannot be transferred to another Writing Train course or trip, unless the Jaunt is cancelled due to bad weather. If this happens you will be entitled to a place in next or later Inishbofin Jaunt of your choice.

Launch of 'Fireproof And Other Stories': Celeste Auge's debut short story collection published by Doire Press

2012 Galway Kavanagh Day

The Kavanagh Day is an annual event which was inaugurated in 2004, as part of the Patrick Kavanagh Centenary Celebrations.

 The objective is to expand Kavanagh’s reputation, both nationally and internationally through a public celebration of his work

at a waterside location.

In recent years Galway has consistently honoured Patrick Kavanagh in mid-July and the Galway Kavanagh Day festival has gone from strength-to-strength since its establishment in 2008. It acknowledges the special place Kavanagh holds in the hearts of Irish people.

The festival is a mixed-media event and is an open platform for artists, Kavanagh enthusiasts and members of the public to give voice to his words. The structure has expanded in recent years to incorporate readings, music recitals, theatre re-enactments, multi-media presentations, short-film and storytelling in order to enhance the overall experience. The participatory aspect of the Kavanagh Day makes it unique in terms of audience engagement.

The 2012 event takes place at the waterside venue of the Galway Rowing Club, Woodquay on Sunday 1^st July, 2pm and reruns in the Columbian Hall on Sat. 21^st July as part of the Galway Fringe Festival.  For more details see http://kavanaghdaygalway.wordpress.com/

June 'Over The Edge Writers' Gathering' with Eleanor Hooker, Eamonn Wall, Donna Potts, Deirdre Kearney & Dave Rock

Eleanor Hooker

The June Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering presents readings by Wexford-born poet Eamonn Wall, Tipperary-based poet Eleanor Hooker, visiting American poet Donna Potts, local poets Deirdre Kearney, Dave Rock and much more. The evening will include the Galway Launch of Donna Potts’ debut poetry collection Waking Dreams (Salmon Poetry) and Eamonn Wall's latest poetry collection, Sailing Lake Mareotis (Salmon Poetry).  The event will take place at Galway City Library, Augustine Street, Galway on Thursday, June 28th, 6.30-8pm. All are welcome. There is no cover charge.


Eleanor Hooker lives in North Tipperary. She has an MPhil in Creative Writing (Distinction) from Trinity College, Dublin. She is a founding member and Vice-Chairperson of the Dromineer Literary Festival. She is a helm and Press Officer for the Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat. In 2011: she was selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series. In February 2012, her debut collection of poetry, The Shadow Owner’s Companion was launched by The Dedalus Press.


Donna Potts grew up in Joplin, Missouri and is a professor at Kansas State University. In 1994 her book length study of the poetry of Howard Nemerov was published by University of Missouri Press. Her book on contemporary Irish poetry is forthcoming also from University of Missouri press. Her own debut collection of poetry, Waking Dreams, is just published by Salmon Poetry. This is the book’s Galway launch.


A native of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, Eamonn Wall lives in Missouri, where he teaches at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. His poetry has been included in anthologies in Ireland and the United States including The Book of Irish-American Poetry from the 18th Century to the Present & Irish Writing in the Twentieth Century: a Reader. Eamonn’s essays, articles, and reviews in The Irish Times, New Hibernia Review, The Washington Post & Chicago Tribune. Through his involvement in the Launchpad and Scallta Media initiatives, which he helped set up to encourage the development of young writers and artists in Co. Wexford, he has continued to play a role in the artistic life of Co. Wexford. Sailing Lake Mareotis, Eamonn’s fifth collection of poems, was published by Salmon Poetry last November.


Deirdre Kearney is originally from Omagh, Co Tyrone and has lived in Galway since 1983. Her grandfather Felix Kearney, a well-known poet and songsmith, was the author of the Hills above Drumquin. She is a cousin of the world-renowned guitarist Arty McGlynn. Her poetry has been published in: The Shop, ROPES, Cúirt New Writing, The Ulster Herald, Crannóg, and Treóir - the magazine of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. Her work was included in Dogs Singing published by Salmon, and various collections published by Skylight Poets group of poets in Galway. Her first collection of poetry Spiddal Pier was published in 2009 by Lapwing Press. She is currently working on her next collection.


Dave Rock is a Galway based poet. His work has been published in a number of major journals. He has placed in the top three or four in several major poetry slams. He teaches creative writing, storytelling, and Beautiful Free Speech in Ireland and the UK. Last year he quit a PhD in social theory in order to pursue a life full time in poetry. So far it seems to be working out well. Dave is the director of the InkStorm Poetry Depot, a project which sees both established and up-and-coming poets sitting down one to one with members of the public to create poetry from their lives. The Poetry Depot has of late been a successful feature of literary and culture festivals across Ireland, most recently at Cúirt. Dave’s poetry is often weighted between praising and puzzling over life, with perhaps slightly more praise.

Sextet is an anthology of six poets with Limerick connections published by Revival Press in 2010. The six poets are Louis Mulcahy, John Pinschmidt, Sheila Fitzpatrick O’ Donnell, Bridget Wallace, Joe Healy and Evelyn Casey. Three of them - Sheila Fitzpatrick O’ Donnell, Bridget Wallace & Joe Healy – will each read one of their poems from Sextet, which will be on sale at the reading.

Yvonne T Madden won various awards for speech, debate and story telling in her early years. Yvonne's most compelling memory of her late grandmother is of listening to stories of the elders of their Indian tribe. In 1996 Yvonne was the youngest receiver of the Martin Luther King Jr "I have a Dream" story contest. In 1998 she won the Bank Street Memorial Baptist Church "Imagination" contest for Christian poetry. In 2000 she picked up the award of which she is proudest award, for her short shory "In the dim of Night", from young readers of America. Yvonne has just published her first novel Because of You and will read a short extract from it on it.

There is no entrance fee.

After the reading we will be retiring for refreshements to the House Hotel.

For further information 087-6431748.

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

Clare Daly T.D. to launch 'Mentioning The War' by Kevin Higgins at the Irish Writers' Centre

Clare Daly T.D.

YOU ARE INVITED

to

The Dublin Launch

of

Mentioning the War - Essays and Reviews

(1999 -2011)

by Kevin Higgins

published by Salmon Publishing

http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=255&a=108

The book will be launched by Clare Daly T.D.

@ the Irish Writers’ Centre, 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1

on Wednesday, June 6th

LAUNCH STARTS: 7pm

ALL WELCOME

CLARE DALY is a Socialist Party & United Left Alliance TD for Dublin North. Formerly a Councillor for the Swords Local Electoral Area, Clare was first elected to Fingal County Council in 1999, and was subsequently re-elected in 2004 and 2009 decisively topping the poll each time before being elected to the Dáil in February 2011. Clare is to the forefront of the campaign against the Household Tax. In conjunction with Deputies Mick Wallace and Joan Collins she has recently brought before the Dáil the Medical Treatment (Termination Of Pregnancy In Case Of Risk To Life Of Pregnant Woman) Bill 2012 in order to provide a legislative basis for the legal termination of a pregnancy in the very limited circumstances where such treatment is deemed necessary to prevent a woman’s death, including the threat of suicide. This was the outcome of the Supreme Court judement in Attorney General v. X in 1992.

Best known for his dark, satirical poems; KEVIN HIGGINS published his first book review in The Galway Advertiser in June 1999. Reading Mentioning the War, it becomes obvious that Higgins is not like other critics. An enthusiastic advocate for the work of the new generation of poets who have emerged from Ireland’s thriving live poetry scene; he is also a merciless opponent of hypocrisy and pretentiousness wherever he finds it. His writing is overtly political in a way that draws comparison with George Orwell – the subject of two extended essays here. It would be impossible to agree with everything in this book; it is a book which often disagrees with itself. But on subjects as diverse as socialist poetry and neoconservatism, funding for the arts and the anti-war movement, Higgins informs, infuriates and entertains, as any good critic should.

“The importance of Higgins, in particular, in spearheading a whole new poetry reading/performance movement in Ireland over the last decade cannot be overstated…he is important not just to readers who might agree with his political or ideological critiques but also to practitioners and students of poetry itself regardless of their ideological inclinations.” Philip Coleman

“There’s an arresting phrase, a new angle on a writer or a political position you thought you already knew about, in just about every piece here…The insights range from the literary to the existential to the seriously amusing…one of the things Mentioning the War offers, almost incidentally, is an insider’s account of how to learn to write.” John Goodby

KEVIN HIGGINS facilitates poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre; teaches creative writing at Galway Technical Institute and on the Brothers of Charity Away With Words programme. He is also Writer-in-Residence at Merlin Park Hospital and the poetry critic of the Galway Advertiser. He was a founding co-editor of The Burning Bush literary magazine. His first collection of poems The Boy With No Face was published by Salmon in February 2005 and was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award. His second collection, Time Gentlemen, Please, was published in March 2008 by Salmon. One of the poems from Time Gentlemen, Please, ‘My Militant Tendency’, featured in the Forward Book of Poetry 2009. His work also features in the anthology Identity Parade – New British and Irish Poets (Ed Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010). Frightening New Furniture is his third collection of poems and was published in 2010 by Salmon Poetry. Kevin has read his work at most of the major literary festivals in Ireland and at Arts Council and Culture Ireland supported poetry events in Kansas City, USA (2006), Los Angeles, USA (2007), London, UK (2007), New York, USA (2008), Athens, Greece (2008); St. Louis, USA (2008), Chicago, USA (2009), Denver, USA (2010), Washington D.C (2011), Huntington, West Virginia, USA (2011), Geelong, Australia (2011) & Canberra, Australia (2011). As part of his Culture Ireland supported trip to Chicago in February 2009 he participated in and took first place in a specially arranged poetry slam at the Chicago’s Green Mill Bar and Lounge, the birthplace of slam poetry. Kevin’s fourth collection of poetry, The Ghost In The Lobby, will be published by Salmon Poetry in 2013. Kevin is co-organiser of Over The Edge literary events.

For further information about the Dublin launch

Tel: +353 1 8721302

Email: info@writerscentre.ie

North Beach Poetry Nights with Afric McGlinchey & Paul Casey

Afric McGlinchey

North Beach Poetry Nights with Salmon poets Afric McGlinchey and Paul Casey. Monday 18th June in The Crane Bar, Sea Road, Galway at the very

NEW TIME NEW TIME NEW TIME NEW TIME

6.30 pm 6.30 pm 6.30 pm 6.30 pm 6.30 pm 6.30 pm 6.30 pm

Afric McGlinchey’s début collection is The Lucky Star of Hidden Things, published by Salmon Poetry in May 2012. Afric was nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has been commended in several poetry prizes, including the Magma poetry award (2012) and the Dromineer poetry award (2011). She won the Hennessy Emerging Poetry Award in 2011. Afric lives in West Cork.

Cork poet Paul Casey has lived over thirty years abroad, working in multimedia, teaching and film. He taught screenwriting at the Nelson Mandela University, and convened the greater Port Elizabeth Poetry Competition in three languages. His poems are published widely in journals and anthologies. His chapbook It’s Not all Bad (Heaventree) was published in 2009.  In October 2010 his poetry-film The Lammas Hireling, after the poem by Ian Duhig, premiered in Berlin. His debut collection Home More or Less was published by Salmon Poetry in May 2012. He is the founder and organiser of the Ó Bhéal reading series in Cork city.

Poets wishing to enter the Slam on the night need 2 max. three minutes poems.

The prize for the winner is a bottle of wine and entry to the North Beach Grand Slam in December.

Door: 5/3 Euro

Info: 091/593290

North Beach Poetry Nights is happy to acknowledge the continuing support of

Galway City Council.

Launch of 'What's Not Said', short-story collection by James Martyn Joyce

 You are invited to a showcase reading by

James Martyn Joyce

WHAT’S NOT SAID

Colette Nic Aodha

IN CASTLEWOOD : AN GHAOTH ADUAIDH

Eileen Casey

SNOW SHOES

IMAGE ABOVE: ‘Wearing Memoirs’ by Dagmar Drabent (http://www.dagmardrabent.com/)

Saturday 9 June @ 3 pm

 bar EIGHT and restaurant,

Dock Road,

Galway

New Writer of The Year Eimear Ryan for May Over The Edge: Open Reading

Eimear Ryan is 2011 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year 

and also the winner of a Hennessy Award in 2009 for her fiction

The May ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, May 31st, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Eimear Ryan, Adam White & Bernie Ashe. Eimear Ryan was the over-all winner of the 2011 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year and this reading is part of her prize. This is the final Over The Edge: Open Reading before the summer break.

Bernie Ashe was born in Galway city and, apart from some years in the UK and America, has lived her life there. She took a couple of creative writing classes with Celeste Augé and Susan Millar DuMars some years ago, but it wasn’t until she attended poetry classes with Kevin Higgins over the past couple of years that her interest in writing poetry arose. Since then she has contributed to Open Mic readings at Over The Edge readings in Galway City Library and was short-listed in the Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition in 2011. Her poetry draws on themes of relationships and nature.

Adam White is from Youghal in east Cork. He began reading and writing poetry in earnest three years ago, having taken part in the North Beach Nights poetry slam in Galway. Teaching English at present, he has worked in a variety of jobs at home and abroad, including six years as a carpenter/joiner. It is mainly the experiences and love of doing a job well that inspire his poems. He was among the prize winners at the 2011 Cúirt Festival Poetry Grand Slam and has read his poems at The Electric Picnic.  Adam’s debut collection of poems is forthcoming from Doire Press.

Eimear Ryan’s fiction has appeared in The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly, New Irish Writing, Necessary Fiction and Horizon Review. She was the winner of the Sean Dunne Young Writers' Award 2011 and the Hennessy Award for First Fiction 2009. She is currently studying creative writing at Trinity College and is writing a novel. She is the 2011 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year.

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 & The Arts Council.

Congratulations to Cristina Galvin: winner of the Powers Short Story Competition

Cristina Galvin is the winner of the €10,000 prize for first place in the Powers Short Story Competition. For more and to hear Cristina reading her winning story, Aprés-Match, see here http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/magazine/2012/0526/1224316639540.html

Cristina was a Featured Reader at the May 2009 Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library and was also chosen to read at the 2010 Cúirt Festival / Over The Edge Showcase reading.

http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2010/03/2010-cuirt-over-edge-showcase-reading.html

She is a graduate of the MA in Writing at NUI Galway, having previously taken creative writing classes at Galway Technical Institute with Susan Millar DuMars.

CRISTINA WILL BE READING HER WINNING STORY, APRÉS-MATCH, AT THE OPEN-MIC AT THE MAY OVER THE EDGE: OPEN READING IN GALWAY CITY LIBRARY THIS THURSDAY, MAY 31ST (6.30-8pm). 

Esther Murbach & Kevin Higgins read and take questions at Charlie Byrne's Bookshop

Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop invite you to join them on Friday the 1st of June at 6pm for an evening with Esther Murbach and Kevin Higgins. Esther & Kevin will read from their recently published books The Turtle Woman and Mentioning The War: Essays & Reviews (1999-2011). After the reading they will take questions from members of the audience.

After a long career as a journalist and translator, Esther Murbach decided to do what she had always wanted, to become a novelist. Since 2009 she has published three books in German. The Turtle Woman is her first book written in English.

ABOUT The Turtle Woman: Emily is a Swiss woman with a unique disfigurement: a shell covers her body. Successful as a writer but privately resigned to a life without love, she undertakes a trip to Ireland to explore her partly Irish roots. This proves to be a turning point in her life. She discovers a spiritual bond with the Emerald Isle and meets a man who is her counterpart. Niall, an Irish patriot, guesses what her condition is and where it comes from, because he had once experienced it himself. He offers her his understanding and help. They open up to each other, disclosing their dark secrets. In a difficult and painful process Emily overcomes her physical and emotional boundaries with Niall's assistance. Together they start on an emotional and spiritual journey as soul mates. Niall takes Emily to the Aran Island of Inishmore, where she meets her Irish grandmother for the first time. A few obstacles have to be overcome before Emily and Niall finally understand where their happiness lies.

Best known for his dark, satirical poems, Kevin Higgins published his first book review in The Galway Advertiser in June 1999. Reading Mentioning the War, it becomes obvious that Higgins is not like other critics. An enthusiastic advocate for the work of the new generation of poets who have emerged from Ireland’s thriving live poetry scene; he is also a merciless opponent of hypocrisy and pretentiousness wherever he finds it. His writing is overtly political in a way that draws comparison with George Orwell – the subject of two extended essays here. It would be impossible to agree with everything in this book; it is a book which often disagrees with itself. But on subjects as diverse as socialist poetry and neoconservatism, funding for the arts and the anti-war movement, Higgins informs, infuriates and entertains, as any good critic should. http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=255&a=108

NEW GALWAY POETRY MAGAZINE SEEKS SUBMISSIONS

Skylight Poets are a group of poets who meet with poet and facilitatior Kevin Higgins to workshop their writing in Galway Arts Centre on Thursday afternoons. The room they use is at the top of no. 47 Dominick St., the attic with skylight windows, hence the name of the group.

Skylight Poets are seeking submissions for a new poetry magazine to be launched on January 24 2013 at the 10th Anniversary Over The Edge: Open Reading at Galway City Library.  Please send no more than six poems, along with a short biographical note to skylightpoets47@gmail.com

Poems are to be sent as an attachment (.doc, .docx, .txt or .rft) AND in the body of the email. Work should be unpublished. Closing date for submissions is September 1st 2012.

The editors would also be interested to receive ideas for reviews, particularly of recent debut poetry collections. Contributors will recieve one copy of the magazine, plus an invitation at a special Over the Edge reading in Galway City.

NEWS FLASH! from North Beach Poetry Nights

MONDAY, MAY 21ST at 6.30pm in the Crane Bar, Sea Road, Galway - North Beach Poetry Nights with music from MY FELLOW SPONGES and TWO Galway shortlisted authors for the Powers Short Story Competition CRISTINA GALVIN and JIM MULLARKEY there to read their 500 word stories. Now where would you get an evening like that? And the SLAM! If you miss it, you have only yourself to blame.