Wednesday, July 18, 2012

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
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,

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

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."

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

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