Thursday, August 29, 2013

2013 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year LONGLIST




2013 OVER THE EDGE NEW WRITER OF THE YEAR
LONGLIST
Sheila Armstrong, Dublin
for her stories 'To Come Home' & 'Badhbh'
Bernie Ashe, Galway 
for 'Crow' & other poems
Eileen Bennett, Co, Galway
for her story 'John Byrne Rides Again'
Patricia Bennett, Fermanagh
for her story 'The Chapel of Ease'
Nora Brennan, Kilkenny
for 'Moon' & other poems 
Stephanie Brennan, Co. Galway
for 'Points West' & other poems
Marie Cadden, Co. Galway 
for 'Disturbing The Queen' & other poems
Margaret Cahill, Limerick
for her story 'Moving In'
Alvy Carragher, Galway
for her story 'What Sarah Knows' & 'Broken Symmetry' & other poems
Lesley Cassidy, Galway
for her stories 'Turquoise', ' & 'Sally' &; also for 'Diagnosis' & other poems
Miriam Clyne, Galway
for 'Where are the Voices?' & other poems
Brian Colgan, Galway 
for 'From Babi Yar to Bethlehem'
Teresa Coleman, Mayo
for her story 'Elizabeth'
Denis Collins, Wexford 
for 'Pete' & other poems
Stephanie Conn, Antrim 
from 'When you leave' & other poems
Chris Connolly, Dublin
for his story 'Fake Plastic Trees'
Rachel Coventry, Galway
for 'Like her Grandmother' & other poems
Bernie Crawford, Co. Galway
for 'Fear of Mothering' & other poems
Kate Dempsey, Kildare
for 'What Does Larry Do' & other poems
Maurice Devitt, Dublin 
for 'A Stranger in the House' & other poems
Cal Doyle 
for 'The Heist' & other poems
Kevin Doyle, Cork
for his story 'Whatever It Was About Men'
Dagmar Drabent, Galway 
for 'Time life' & other poems
Judy Drazin, Bristol, UK
for 'Odile's Song' & other poems
Paul Duffy, Wicklow
for his story 'The Vapour's Project'
Elizabeth Dulcie, Torquay, UK
for her story 'Crusing By Numbers'
Kate Ennals, Cavan
for 'What ever you say...say nothing' & other poems
Niall Foley, Edinburgh
for his story 'Phone call from the West of Ireland'
Erin Fornoff, Dublin
for 'On Planes' & other poems
Sean Glynn,  Co. Galway
for his story 'Hackett's Hole'
Sandra Harris, Dublin
for her stories 'The Miracle At Saint Mary's' & 'A Death'
Mary Healy, Kilkenny 
for her story 'What's Worth Keeping'
Meriel Heather, Dublin
for 'King' and other poems
Brian Hefferan, Mayo
for his story 'Adrift In Summer's Time'
Phyl Herbert, Dublin
for his story 'R-E-V-O-L-V-E'
Patrick Hewitt, Dublin
for 'Why?'
Aidan Hynes, Dublin
for his stories 'Confetti On The Moon' & 'Hair'
Anne Irwin, Galway
for 'The Stations of the Crossbar' & other poems
Katherine Janeczeck, Galway 
for 'Genesis' & other poems
Rupert Jenkins, Scotland
for his story 'Tender To The Shore'
Eileen Keane, Kildare
for her story 'Freezing Rasberries' 
Lorraine Kelly, Galway
for her story 'The Wait'
Susan Kelly, Mayo
for 'Mother Superior' & other poems
Gary King, Galway
for his story 'The Returned'
Brian Kirk, Dublin 
for his story 'The Creaseless Society'
Tom Lavelle, Galway 
for 'How I Talk To God' & other poems
Brian Leeson, Belfast
for his story 'Return To Benevenagh'
Philippa Maguire, Co. Galway
for 'Dinner' & other poems
Jennifer Matthews, Cork
for 'Planning Permission' & other poems
Mari Maxwell, Co. Galway
for her story 'Equal Commisson'
Anna McCarthy, New York
for her story 'An Inventory of Slights'
Deirdre McClay, Donegal
for her story 'Traps'
Pat McDonnell, Galway
for his story 'Three Sisters in the Sky'
Christopher Meehan, Co. Galway 
for 'The Ever Changing Definition of Youth in Revolt'
Sighle Meehan, Galway
for 'Gatsby Girl' & other poems
Mary McGill, Dublin 
for her story 'The Cat's Mother'
Jennifer McGowan, Oxfordshire, UK 
for 'Penelope' & other poems
Louis Mulcahy, Kerry 
for 'Good Deed' & other poems
Maeve Mulrennan, Galway
for her story 'Cradle'
Brendan Murphy, Co. Galway
for his story'The Loneliness of the Long Distance Sinner'
Catherine Myddleton-Evans, London, UK
for 'under the sea' & other poems
Eileen Ní Shuilleabháin, Galway
for 'Tribe' & other poems
Michael Naghten-Shanks, Dublin 
for 'Rape / Reaction / Result' & other poems
Katherine Noone, Galway
for 'Home' & other poems
Gerard O’Brien, Co. Galway
for his story 'Nissen Hut'
Kerrie O’Brien, Dublin
for 'Scar' & other poems'
Jessamine O’Connor, Sligo
for 'Adults' & other poems
Patrick G. O’Connor, Limerick
for his story 'Concrete and Tulips'
Anita Ouellette, Massachusetts, USA 
for 'Almost Afraid To Talk To God While Others Are Listening'
Clare O’Reilly, Kildare 
for her story 'Hey Presto!' and 'With Mercy' & other poems
Eleanor O’Reilly, Wicklow
for her story 'Classifieds, Fags And Coconut Creams'
Kevin O’Shea, Co. Galway
for his story 'Marked'
Micheál Ó’Síocháin, Cork
for his story 'The Last Days of The Pavilion'
Maeve O’Sullivan, Dublin 
for 'Agent of Confusion' & other poems
James O’Toole, Galway
for 'Bad Jobs' and other poems
Sarah O’Toole, Galway 
for 'After the world had ended' and other poems
Christine Painter, Galway 
for 'Remember' & other poems
Valerie Ryan, Kildare
for her story 'The Postman'
Breda Wall Ryan, Wicklow
for 'Inheritors' & other poems
Rejini Samuel, Galway
for her story 'The Alleyway'
Ashlie Schweitzer, Galway
for her story 'Prairie Lights'
Fiona Scoble, Galway
for her story 'What have you brought for us?'
Maresa Sheehan, Carlow
for 'second son' & other poems
Alan M. Shine, Galway
for his story 'The Grave of Charles W. Spencer'
Breda Spaight, Limerick
for 'Final Cut' & other poems
Ekaterina Tikhoniouk, Laois
for her story 'Katie'
Evelyn Walsh, Dublin
for her story 'The Rose of Tralee'
Bogusia Wardein, Cracow, Poland
for 'Ode to Dust' & other poems
Deborah Watkins, Co. Galway 
for 'The Proposal' & other poems
Alison Wells, Wicklow
for her stories 'The Memory-Jar' & 'The Spaceman has his tea'
Dimitra Xidous, Dublin
for 'The science of hands' & other poems

We would like to thank our competition sponsors: 
Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop,
ISupply Flood Street, Ward’s Hotel,
Kenny’s Bookshop & Derek Nolan T.D

Competition judge Sarah Clancy

 THE SHORTLIST WILL BE ANNOUNCED @
The Over The Edge open-mic event
@ Kenny’s  Bookshop & Art Gallery, Liosbán Retail Park, Tuam Road, Galway
Friday, September 20th, 7pm

THE WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED
@ the October Over The Edge: Open Reading
in Galway City Library,
Thurs October 31st, 6.30-8pm



Thursday, August 08, 2013

TAKING BOOKINGS NOW GMIT presents Creative Writing for Beginners with Susan Millar DuMars STARTING IN SEPTEMBER

In September GMIT is offering a course in Creative Writing for Beginners with Susan Millar DuMars. The course takes place at GMIT Dublin Road Campus one evening per week (Wednesday) for 7 weeks from 7–9p.m. It commences on Wednesday, September 25th, 2013. Advance booking is essential. The course fee is €95.

During the seven weeks Susan Millar DuMars will give support, instruction and feedback to students who are interested in writing either fiction (short stories, novels) or poetry. The class will work on techniques for forming ideas and getting started; engaging the reader’s senses; using figures of speech effectively; being alert to the importance of the sound of words, the rhythm of writing; how to manage the truth in a fictitious piece; the different forms of poetry; awareness of character and point of view in fiction; editing and polishing work. Whether the student seeks publication, self-expression, a rewarding hobby (or possibly all three), this course is a wonderful place to start.

For further details or to book a place contact GMIT, Dublin Road, Galway. Telephone 091 742145, email lifelonglearning@gmit.ie or see http://www.gmit.ie/lifelong-learning/lifelong-learning-programmes/humanities/creative-writing-for-beginners.html

Course Tutor:
Susan Millar DuMars’ debut poetry collection, Big Pink Umbrella, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2008.  Her next collection, Dreams for Breakfast, appeared in April 2010.  Her work features in Landing Places, Dedalus’ 2010 anthology of immigrant poetry written in Ireland; and also in The Best Of Irish Poetry 2010.  A fiction writer as well, she published a collection of short stories, American Girls, with Lapwing in 2007.  She published a book of short stories in 2010: Lights in the Distance, published by Doire Press. She has been the recipient of an Arts Council Literature Bursary. Susan's third collection of poetry, The God Thing, was published by Salmon Poetry in March. She lives in Galway, where she and her husband have run the Over the Edge readings series since 2003.

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

AUTUMN POETRY WORKSHOPS AT GALWAY ARTS CENTRE WITH KEVIN HIGGINS

Starting in September, 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, TimeGentlemen, 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 and his work also appears in the generation defining anthologyIdentity Parade –New British and Irish Poets (Ed. Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010). A collection of Kevin’s essays and book reviews, Mentioning The War, was published in 2012 by Salmon Poetry. His next collection of poetry, The Ghost in The Lobby, will be published in early 2014, also by Salmon. 

Kevin is a highly 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 forNew Irish Poetry, two have won the Cúirt New Writing Prize, one has been awarded an Arts Council Bursary and yet another won the Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam, while several have published collections of their poems. Kevin is also co-organiser of the successful Over The Edge reading series which specialises in promoting new writers. 

Each workshop will run for ten weeks, commencing the week of September 23rd. They will take place on Tuesday evenings, 7-8.30pm (first class September 24th), Thursday afternoons, 2-4pm (first class September 26th); and on Friday afternoons, 2-3.30pm (first class September 27th). 

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 €110, with a 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