The
October ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on the
politically significant, and potentially calamitous, date of Thursday, October 31st,
6.30-8.00pm. To mark the occasion Over The Edge presents a non-fiction and
poetry Brexit special; however, crucially, poems and stories on any subject
under the sun are still totally welcome at the open-mic. And Over The Edge is
always specially welcoming to new readers who have never done our open-mic
before. The Featured Readers are Martin
Hayes, Jerry Fitzpatrick, &
Eoin Ó Murchú. There will as usual be
an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. 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 Liz McSkeane. The shortlist can be
read here.
Martin Hayes was born in London and has
lived along the Edgware Road area, near Grenfell Tower, all his life. He has
worked in the courier industry for over 30 years and is the author of four
books of poetry: Letting Loose The Hounds,
(Redbeck Press, 2001), When We Were Almost
Like Men, (Smokestack, 2015). The
Things Our Hands Once Stood For, (Culture Matters, 2018) and Roar! (Smokestack, 2018). He is currently a little more depressed
than usual as his place of work has just moved from a 15 minute stroll up the
road from his home to Whitechapel - an hour away – each fucking way! – on the
stinking packed £2.90 each way tube!
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| Jerry Fitzpatrick explaining the reality of the situation |
Jerry Fitzpatrick was born in the UK to Irish parents and now lives in
County Cavan where he is married to poet, fiction writer, and literary events
organiser Kate Ennals. In the 1970s Jerry was National Secretary of the
Anti-Nazi League and an initiator of the hugely successful, and iconic, Rock
Against Racism, for which he was Carnivals Organiser. He was organiser of the
Anti-Nazi League’s Lewisham demo that stopped the nazi National Front marching
through the area in August 1977. Beating
Time magazine said “Jerry could organise everything from a riot to
refreshments for 100,000”. Later, he took Rock Against Racism bands to Belfast
during the hunger strikes to Rock the H Blocks. A former trade union official
and one time Parliamentary Officer for now Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP,
Jerry is close to the thinking of the UK Labour leadership.
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| Eoin Ó Murchú |
Eoin Ó Murchú was the political editor of Raidió na Gaeltachta for
nearly 20 years and, more recently, was a regular – and always entertaining –
panellist on Tonight With Vincent Browne.
Currently a columnist with Tuairisc, Ó Murchú challenges the group think of the
Irish Establishment and argues for a nationally independent Left politics. For
many years an activist in first the Republican Movement and then the Communist
Party, Eoin has been a strong advocate of socialism and of opposition to the
neoliberal European Union.
Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing generous financial support of Galway City Council, Poetry Ireland, & The Arts Council.