June Over The Edge Writer's Gathering with William Wall, Niamh Boyce, Paul Duffy, Michaeil J. Whelan, Susan Millar DuMars...

The June Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering presents by fiction writers and poets, Niamh Boyce, Paul Duffy, William Wall,  Michael J. Whelan, & Susan Millar DuMars. Paul Duffy is 2015 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year  and will read his winning story.  Niamh Boyce is the judge for 2016 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year.  

The event will take place at The Kitchen @ The Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway  on Thursday, June 30th, 8pm.  All are welcome. There is no cover charge.

Niamh Boyce

Niamh Boyce won the overall Hennessy XO New Writer of The Year and the Emerging Poet Category for her poem 'Kitty'. Her poetry has also been highly commended in The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award. Her first novel, The Herbalist (Penguin Ireland) won Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards 2013, and was long listed for the IMPAC Award. Her stories have been adapted for stage, broadcast, published in literary magazines and anthologized, most recently in 'The Long Gaze Back - Irish Women Writers' and 'The Hennessy Book of Irish Fiction.' Niamh was shortlisted for the Francis McManus Short Story Competition 2011, the Hennessy Literary Awards 2010, the Molly Keane Award 2010 and the WOW Award 2010, her stories can be found in magazines such as The Moth, Crannóg, Revival, Boyne Berries, Poetry Bus, The Stony Thursday Book and New Irish Writing Magazine. Originally from Athy, Co Kildare Niamh now lives with her family in Ballylinan, Co Laois. Niamh is the judge for 2016 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year, the deadline for which is August 3^rd  http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.ie/2014/10/2015-over-edge-new-writer-of-year-to-be.html .

Paul Duffy is a former Galway City resident now living in Wicklow. Paul is currently working on a collection of short stories. He is 2015 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year and will be reading his winning story ‘Redolence’.

Salmon Poetry recently published Susan Millar DuMars’ fourth collection of poems Bone Fire.

William Wall

William Wall is the author of four novels, including This is the Country (Sceptre), longlisted for the Man Booker Prize; three collections of poetry; and one volume of short stories. He has won the Virginia Faulkner Award, The Sean O’Faoláin Prize, several Writer’s Week prizes and The Patrick Kavanagh Award. He was shortlisted for the Young Minds Book Award, the Irish Book Awards, the Raymond Carver Award, the Hennessy Award and numerous others. His work has been translated into many languages, including Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Latvian, Serbian and Catalan. In 2014 William was part of the Italo-Irish Literature Exchange, organised through The Irish Writers’ Centre, which toured Italy with readings in Italian and English. In March 2010 he was Writer in Residence at The Princess Grace Irish Library, Monaco. He was a 2009 Fellow of The Liguria Centre for the Arts & Humanities. He lives in Cork. His short story collection Hearing Voices, Seeing Things was published this year by Doire Press.

Michael J. Whelan

Michael J. Whelan joined the Irish Defence Forces in 1990, serving on tours of duty as a United Nations Peacekeeper. He has received the General Officer Commanding Irish Air Corps Award, the Paul Tissandier Diploma and the Tallaght Person of the Year Award (Arts & Culture section). Michael’s poetry has been widely published, including in The Hundred Years’ War: Anthology of Modern War Poems (Bloodaxe) and his work was the subject of a centenary of the Great War exhibition entitled Landscapes Of War & Peace 1914-2014: War Poetry & Peacekeeping. He won 2nd Place in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Awards, 3rd Place in the Jonathan Swift Creative Writing Awards and a commendation in the Carousel Creates Creative Writing Awards, as well as having received an Arts Bursary from South Dublin Arts Office. In 2012 he was selected to read at the Poetry Ireland Introductions series. Michael’s debut poetry collection Peacekeeper is recently published by Doire Press.

There is no entrance fee.

For further information contact 087-6431748.

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing generous financial support ofthe Arts Council, Poetry Ireland, 

and Galway City Council. 

May Over The Edge Open Reading with Paul McVeigh, Una Mannion, & Sandra Coffey

Paul McVeigh

The May ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, May 26^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Paul McVeigh, Una Mannion, & Sandra Coffey. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are especially welcome. 

Sandra Coffey is a writer from Athenry, county Galway. She has been published in Crannóg, Honest Ulsterman, Incubator Journal, Silver Apples, Lampeter Review, Galway Review, ROPES and ‘Around the Farm Gate’ a collection of rural stories published by Ballpoint Press, RTE and the Farmer’s Journal. She was longlisted for the 2015 writing.ie Bord Gais Energy Irish Short Story of the Year. She works as a journalist for the Galway Independent. She tweets at @SandraCoffey 

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 is currently completing an MA in Writing at NUI Galway. She lives in Sligo with her husband and three children.  

Born in Belfast, Paul McVeigh is an award-winning writer whose work has been performed on stage and radio, published in print and been translated into French, German, Polish, Russian and Spanish. He began his career as a playwright before moving to London where he wrote comedy shows, which were performed at the Edinburgh Festival and in London’s West End. His short stories have been published in literary journals and anthologies, read on BBC Radio 5 and commissioned by BBC Radio 4. He is the Co-Founder of London Short Story Festival, of which, he was the Director and Curator for 2014 & ’15. He is Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s premier short story salon. The Good Son is his first novel and was shortlisted for The Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, nominated for The People’s Book Prize, and shortlisted for The Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker’ Prize 2015. It was published in France in April 2016 and is a major German release for Autumn 2016. Paul received The McCrea Literary Award in 2015.

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

SPRING POETRY WORKSHOPS AT GALWAY ARTS CENTRE

Starting in early May, Galway Arts Centre is offering aspiring poets a choice of three poetry workshops, all facilitated by poet Kevin Higgins, whose best-selling first collection, The Boy With No Face, published by Salmon Poetry, was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award for Best First Collection by an Irish poet. Kevin’s second collection of poems, Time Gentlemen, Please, was published in 2008 by Salmon Poetry and his poetry is discussed in The Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry. His third collection Frightening New Furniture was published in 2010 by Salmon. His work also appears in the generation defining anthology Identity Parade –New British and Irish Poets (Ed. Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010) and The Hundred Years’ War: modern war poems (Ed Neil Astley, Bloodaxe April 2014).  A collection of Kevin’s essays and book reviews, Mentioning The War, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2012. Kevin’s poetry has been translated into Greek, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Japanese & Portuguese. His fourth collection of poetry, The Ghost in the Lobby, was published in 2014 by Salmon. Kevin's poetry was the subject of a paper 'The Case of Kevin Higgins, or, The Present State of Irish Poetic Satire' presented by David Wheatley at a Symposium on Satire at the University of Aberdeen. Kevin is satirist-in-residence with the alternative literature website The Bogman’s Cannon. His most recent t book 2016 – The Selected Satires of Kevin Higgins was published by NuaScéalta earlier this year. Song of Songs 2:0 – New & Selected Poems will be published by Salmon in Spring 2017. The Stinging Fly magazine recently described Kevin as “likely the most widely read living poet in Ireland”. 
 
Each week Kevin will give participants a poetry writing exercise for the following week and will offer each participant constructive suggestions as to how her or his poem can become the best possible poem it can be.

Kevin is an experienced workshop facilitator and several of his students have gone on to achieve publication success. One of his workshop participants at Galway Arts Centre won the prestigious Hennessy Award for New Irish Poetry, two have won the Cúirt New Writing Prize, and yet another the Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam, while several have published collections of their poems; two being shortlisted for the Shine-Strong Award for Best First Collection of poems. In 2013 a group of his students set up the poetry newspaper Skylight 47, which publishes new poems, reviews of poetry books and opinion pieces about poetry related matters. Kevin teaches poetry on the NUI Galway Summer School programme and on the NUIG BA Creative Writing Connect programme. Kevin is also co-organiser of the successful Over The Edge reading series which specialises in promoting new writers.

Each workshop will run for eight weeks, commencing the week of May 9^th. They will take place on Tuesday evenings, 7-8.30pm (first class May 10^th); on Thursday afternoons, 2-4pm (first class May 12^th) and on Friday afternoons, 2-3.30pm (first class May 13^th).

The Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon workshops are open to both complete beginners as well as those who’ve been writing for some time. The Thursday afternoon workshop is an Advanced Poetry Workshop, suitable for those who’ve participated in poetry workshops before or had poems published in magazines. The cost to participants is €90, with an €80 concession rate.

Places must be paid for in advance. To reserve a place contact reception at Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, phone 091 565886 or email info@galwayartscentre.ie  

Spring Daytime Creative Writing with Susan Millar DuMars at Galway Arts Centre BOOK NOW

Starting in early May, Galway Arts Centre presents a daytime class for all those beginner and continuing creative writing students out there, facilitated by Susan Millar DuMars. Susan Millar DuMars writes both poetry and fiction. A collection of her stories, Lights In The Distance, was published in December 2010 by Doire Press; she has published three collections of poetry, Big Pink Umbrella (2008), Dreams For Breakfast (2010) & The God Thing (2013) all with Salmon Poetry. Susan was the Featured Fiction writer in a recent issue of the American online magazine The Atticus Review. Her latest book of poems Bone Fire, published by Salmon Poetry, is being launched at this year’s Cúirt Festival of International Literature. She is also co-organiser of the Over The Edge reading series which specifically promotes new writers. Susan edited the anthology Over the Edge – the first ten years, published by Salmon, which includes work by forty seven writers who have published a first book since they did a reading at an Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library

Susan Millar DuMars

The class is suitable for both beginning and continuing creative writing students, working in either poetry or fiction. Students will spend their weeks responding to writing exercises designed to inspire, rather than inhibit. In class, they will receive gentle feedback on their work from their classmates and from the teacher. The class takes place on Monday afternoons, 2.30-4pm, commencing on Monday, May 9th. It runs for 8 weeks.

The cost to participants is 90 Euro with an 80 Euro concession price. Booking is essential as places are limited. There are no refunds once the class has started. For booking please contact Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, phone 091 565886 or email info@galwayartscentre.ie