Friday, August 16, 2019

August Over The Edge: Open Reading with Maeve Mulrennan, Nollaig O’Donnell, & Jo Burns


The first ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ after the summer break takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, August 29th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Maeve Mulrennan, Nollaig O’Donnell, & Jo Burns. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. The evening will also see the announcement of the long list for the 2019 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year for which the competition judge this year is poet, fiction writer, and publisher Liz McSkeane.
Maeve Mulrennan
Maeve Mulrennan is a curator and writer based in Galway. She is the Head of Visual Art + Education in Galway Arts Centre, where she has worked since 2006. She has also worked with EVA International and Dublin City Council Culture Company this year. She is the co-curator of the youth programme for Cúirt International Festival of Literature. Maeve is also on the Board of Directors of Galway Community Circus.  Maeve is a short story writer, with fiction published in several online journals, The Doire Press 2013 Anthology, The Honest Ulsterman, for whom she also interviews writers, and The Galway Review. She holds an MA in Visual Arts Practices (Curating) from IADT Dun Laoghaire, h.Dip in Arts Administration from NUI Galway, BA (hons) in Fine Art (Painting) from Limerick School of Art and Design and  a BA(hons) in English Literature from NUI Galway. Maeve's story 'Blood Cure' won the 2018 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition and can be read here https://humag.co/prose/blood-cure

Nollaig O’Donnell lives in Galway with her husband, Richard. A teacher of Piano, French and English, Nollaig has attended Susan Millar DuMar’s Advanced Writing Class and is currently a member of Galway Write-on Group. As well as writing, Nollaig also enjoys sketching and silk painting. Nollaig O’Donnell’s first book, Something Within, was published by Veritas in 2016.  It is a compilation of some of her poetry, reflections, vignettes, sketches and paintings. Her short story, In the Pink, appeared in Write-on Anthology 2019.  More of her short stories and poems will be published in the forthcoming Write-on Anthology 2020. Nollaig has recently completed her memoir, Smiling Within, which will be published later this year.  She is currently working on her first novel. 
Jo Burns

Born in Northern Ireland, Jo Burns lives in Germany. Jo's poetry has been published in Oxford Poetry, Poetry Ireland Review, Southword, The Stinging Fly, Skylight 47 and Magma, among many others. Jo has been shortlisted for the Over The Edge Prize, Bridport Prize, Strokestown International Prize and nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net. Jo won the Shirley McClure Poetry Prize 2017 at the Irish Writers Festival, CA, the Magma Poetry Competition 2018 and the New Irish Writing in Germany Poetry Award 2018. Her pamphlet Circling for Gods was published by Eyewear Publishing. Her first full collection White Horses was published by Turas Press in November 2018; Kevin Higgins’s Galway Advertiser review of White Horses can be read here https://www.advertiser.ie/Galway/article/105512/love-death-shergar-and-arlene-foster   

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always most welcome. The evening will also see the announcement of the long list for this year’s Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition, which has seen a 20% increase in the number of entries compared to last year.  The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details phone 087-6431748.

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