October Over The Edge: Open Reading with Kitty Holland, & Mike Gibbons PLUS the announcement of the winners of the 2015 Over The Edge New Writer of the Year

The October ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, October 29th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Mike Gibbons,  & Kitty Holland. This is a special Over The Edge event in that both featured writers primarily write non-fiction. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished.  This month’s open-mic will showcase, among others, some of the poetry students from this year’s MA in Writing at NUI Galway.  The evening will also see the announcement of the winners in this year’s Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition, which received a large number of entries again this year. This year’s competition judge is Dave Lordan. The shortlist can be read here.

Kitty Holland

Kitty Holland is social affairs correspondent of The Irish Times. She has reported widely on such issues as homelessness, drug addiction, poverty, women’s rights, Travellers, immigrants’ rights, asylum seekers, domestic violence and gay, lesbian and transgender rights. In November 2012 she broke the story on the death of Savita Halappanavar, on October 28th 2012, at Galway University Hospital. She has been with The Irish Times since 1998, and has won a number of awards for her work including Journalist of the Year in 2013. She studied History and Politics at Trinity College, Dublin, and completed a Masters in Journalism in Dublin City University. She lives in Dublin with her two children. She is the author of Savita: The Tragedy That Shook A Nation (Transworld Ireland, 2013). 

Mike Gibbons lives in Galway and is the author of Survivor. It was the heyday of the Celtic Tiger. Money was no problem and three successful young businessmen, Damian, Mark and Michael, chartered a helicopter to travel from their homes in Galway to the Tall Ships race in Waterford in July 2005. But on their way back to the west the pilot lost his way because of fog and the helicopter crashed in a forested area on the northern slopes of Slieve Aughty.  Against all the odds one man survived the impact. The injuries to Michael Gibbons’s head, limbs and body were horrific and he will never completely recover, but he did survive.  In Survivor Mike tells his story.

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. This month’s open-mic will feature, among others, some of the poetry students from the MA in Writing at NUI Galway.  New readers are always especially 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.