Salmon Poetry invites you to the launch by Ailbhe Darcy of 'Naked: New and Selected' poems by Susan Millar DuMars at the House Hotel, Spanish Parade, Galway

Salmon Poetry invites you to the launch by Ailbhe Darcy of Naked: New and Selected poems by Susan Millar DuMars at the House Hotel, Spanish Parade, Galway on Sunday, April 14th at 2pm. All welcome.

These poems were written and published over twenty five years.  There are poems from each of DuMars’ four  previous collections – Big Pink Umbrella (2008), Dreams for Breakfast (2010), The God Thing (2013), and Bone Fire (2016) – along with a generous selection of new work.  Here is demonstrated the development of a poet born in twentieth century America and now dwelling in twenty first century Ireland; a voice all the more valuable for its hybrid nature.

When she writes of bodies (her own, the bodies of women, and the body of the nation), Millar DuMars uses plain and direct speech, ideally suited to the Galway of Savita Halappanavar and “The Lost Children of Tuam”...Millar DuMars draws from a deep technical well, and from rich observational and imaginative spaces. She is possessed of great empathy. Even when the voice rises in anger, it does so to clarify, record, and instruct. Naked: New and Selected is also a book of fables, stories, and magical convergences where public and buried lives are brought out into the light. – poet Eamonn Wall, author of Writing the Irish West: Ecologies and Traditions (Notre Dame Press, 2011)

Her poetry, influenced by the directness of the American tradition, comes as a breath of fresh air...  Jessica Traynor, Poetry Ireland Review

The poetry of DuMars is known for its sensuality, which comes across in the concentration on detail...imagery we can almost taste and feel...writing that lingers in the mind long after the book has been closed.  Adele Ward, Eyewear

Susan Millar DuMars treads her own tightrope with sureness and poise while avoiding showy gestures – all prayer and no pretension. John Hudson, Markings

Ailbhe Darcy reading at this year's TS Eliot Awards

Ailbhe Darcy was born in Dublin in 1981 and brought up there. She studied for her PhD and MFA at the University of Notre Dame in the US, and taught there and at the University of Münster in Germany. She is now a lecturer in creative writing at Cardiff University. She has published her poetry in Ireland, Britain and the US. Selections of her work are included in the Bloodaxe anthologies Identity Parade and Voice Recognition, and in her pamphlet A Fictional Dress (tall-lighthouse, 2009). Imaginary Menagerie (Bloodaxe Books, 2011), her first book-length collection, was shortlisted for Ireland's dlr Strong Award at Poetry Now / Mountains to Sea. A collaboration with S.J. Fowler, Subcritical Texts, was published by Gorse in 2017. Her second collection, Insistence, was published by Bloodaxe in 2018 and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2018 and is on the shortlist for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award 2019. Ailbhe is reading at this year's Cuirt International Festival of Literature at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway on Saturday, April 13th at 11.30am; she is also launching this year's Poem for Patience at University Hospital Galway on Friday, April 12th, 11am.

Spring Beginners & Intermediate Creative Writing Classes at Galway Technical Institute BOOK YOUR PLACE NOW

Creative Writing for Beginners with Kevin Higgins takes place one evening per week (Monday) from 7-9.30pm (8 weeks). It commences on Monday, April 1st, 2019. Advance booking is essential. Places cost €120. Kevin Higgins will provide writing exercises for, and give gentle critical feedback to, those interested in trying their hand at writing stories, poems, or memoir.

To book a place, go to https://www.gti.ie/parttime/courses/detail/4429

 

Intermediate Creative Writing with Susan Millar DuMars takes place one evening per week (Tuesday) from 7-9.30pm (8 weeks) with a mid-term break. It commences on Tuesday, April 9th, 2019. Advance booking is essential. Places cost €120. This class is suitable for those who’ve participated in creative writing classes before or begun to have work published in magazines. Flexible exercises and work-shopping of assignments, together with the study of the works of published writers, will help each class member to find their own writing voice.

To book a place, go to https://www.gti.ie/parttime/courses/detail/4448
 

YOU CAN ALSO BOOK in person at Galway Technical Institute, Monday-Friday, (10am-4.30pm).

For further information contact Galway Technical Institute, Father Griffin Road, Galway, phone 091-581342 or email gtiadulted@gretb.ie or see http://www.gti.ie

February Over The Edge Open Reading with Claire Hennessy, Aisling Keogh, & Pauline McNamee

Claire Hennessy

The February ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, February 28^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Claire Hennessy, Aisling Keogh, & Pauline McNamee. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always especially welcome at the open-mic. 

Pauline McNamee is a writer, teacher and writing workshop facilitator. She lives near the village of Rhode, County Offaly. She recently completed an MA in Writing from NUIG. Her poetry is published in the Bay Area Writing Project’s Digital Paper. She will have an essay and poem published in the spring 2019 series of the UK publication English in Education. Pauline was a finalist in the 2018 Cúirt Spoken Word Platform, highly commended in the fiction category of the 2018 Over The Edge New Writer of the Year, shortlisted for the Fish short story prize and longlisted for the Fish poetry prize. She is completing her first novel and working on her first collection of poetry.

Aisling Keogh is a psychotherapist and a stay at home mother to three young children. Her short stories have been published with The Irish Independent, Crannog Magazine, Wordlegs, Ropes, Bangor Literary Journal and A New Ulster. Her first published short story, "How to Save a Life," was shortlisted for the Hennessy Irish Literary Awards in 2011. She finished writing her first novel in 2018, was recently shortlisted for the Doolin Writers’ Weekend short story prize, and is currently submitting her novel to agents and publishers. In her free time Aisling likes to sing and play the guitar badly.

Claire Hennessy lives in Dublin and is the author of several YA (young adult) novels, most recently Nothing Tastes As Good & Like Other Girls (Hot Key Books). She co-edits BANSHEE literary journal, which appears twice a year.

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.

2019 Over The Edge Poetry Book Showcase at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop

The 2019 Over The Edge Poetry Book Showcase, featuring Trevor Conway, Rachel Coventry, Maureen Curran, Kate Ennals, Jessamine O’Connor, Moya Roddy, Eileen Sheehan, Denis Mockler, Bernie Crawford, John W. Sexton, Ruth Quinlan, Anne Bevan, Susan Lindsay, Lindy Newns, James O'Toole, André Rostant, Liz Quirke, The Blue Nib chapbook III and the anthology Poems for Grenfell Tower  (Onslaught Press), will take place at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop on Friday, February, 8^th at 6pm. 

In this annual retrospective of the year just past, poets based in the West of Ireland, who published a new collection of poems during 2018, are invited to read three poems from the collection in question. There will also be readings from the Blue Nib chapbook III and the anthology Poems for Grenfell Tower (Onslaught Press).  

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 Tim Cumming, Jonathan Harper, & Sarah Padden PLUS launch of issue 11 of Skylight 47

The January ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, January 24^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Sarah Padden, Jonathan Harper, & Tim Cumming. The evening will also see the launch, by Tim Cumming, of issue eleven of perhaps Ireland’s most exciting, informative, and accessible poetry magazine Skylight 47. There will be readings by contributors. All welcome. This reading marks the sixteenth anniversary of the first Over The Edge reading in Galway City Library. 

Sarah Padden is of Irish descent and was raised in West Yorkshire. She returned to live in her dad’s county of Mayo over a decade ago and moved to Galway, to attend NUIG. Since living in Galway, she has attended Kevin Higgins’s poetry workshop and many Over The Edge events. Her poetry has been published in the 2017 anthology Washing Windows? Irish Women Write Poetry (Arlen House). She has also had poems published in Skylight 47, ROPES, A New Ulster, & Freehand. She won the June 2017 Galway Poetry Slam and was shortlisted for both the Over The Edge New Writer of the Year 2017 competition and the Poems for Patience Competition 2018.

Jonathan Harper has participated in creative writing classes with Susan Millar DuMars at Galway Technical Institute and is currently a participant in Susan’s Advanced Fiction Writing class. He arrived in Galway from the UK via a short stay of a few years in Australia. Having held many jobs since leaving school he is currently an engineer. Writing influences are varied, from J.K Rowling (non Harry Potter) to Jim Crace. He aims to finish his first novel this year.

Tim Cumming

Tim Cumming’s first collection, The Miniature Estate was published in 1991, and subsequent books include Apocalypso (1992, 1999, 2004), Contact Print (2002), The Rumour (2004), The Rapture (2011), Etruscan Miniatures (2012) and Rebel Angels in the Mind Shop (2015). He has made a series of acclaimed film poems and exhibited poems and paintings at Sladers Yard gallery in Dorset, and wrote and narrated the acclaimed Hawkwind: Do Not Panic BBC documentary. His work has appeared in three editions of The Forward Book of Poetry, its 2004 Best of the Decade anthology, and Bloodaxe Books’ 2010 anthology, Identity Parade. He lives in London.

There will be a limited open-mic after the Featured Readers and Skylight 47 contributors have finished. New readers are always especially welcome. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details phone 087-6431748. Afterwards we will celebrate Over The Edge’s sixteenth birthday.

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