June Over The Edge Writer's Gathering with William Wall, Niamh Boyce, Paul Duffy, Michaeil J. Whelan, Susan Millar DuMars...

The June Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering presents by fiction writers and poets, Niamh Boyce, Paul Duffy, William Wall,  Michael J. Whelan, & Susan Millar DuMars. Paul Duffy is 2015 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year  and will read his winning story.  Niamh Boyce is the judge for 2016 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year.  

The event will take place at The Kitchen @ The Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway  on Thursday, June 30th, 8pm.  All are welcome. There is no cover charge.

Niamh Boyce

Niamh Boyce won the overall Hennessy XO New Writer of The Year and the Emerging Poet Category for her poem 'Kitty'. Her poetry has also been highly commended in The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award. Her first novel, The Herbalist (Penguin Ireland) won Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards 2013, and was long listed for the IMPAC Award. Her stories have been adapted for stage, broadcast, published in literary magazines and anthologized, most recently in 'The Long Gaze Back - Irish Women Writers' and 'The Hennessy Book of Irish Fiction.' Niamh was shortlisted for the Francis McManus Short Story Competition 2011, the Hennessy Literary Awards 2010, the Molly Keane Award 2010 and the WOW Award 2010, her stories can be found in magazines such as The Moth, Crannóg, Revival, Boyne Berries, Poetry Bus, The Stony Thursday Book and New Irish Writing Magazine. Originally from Athy, Co Kildare Niamh now lives with her family in Ballylinan, Co Laois. Niamh is the judge for 2016 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year, the deadline for which is August 3^rd  http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.ie/2014/10/2015-over-edge-new-writer-of-year-to-be.html .

Paul Duffy is a former Galway City resident now living in Wicklow. Paul is currently working on a collection of short stories. He is 2015 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year and will be reading his winning story ‘Redolence’.

Salmon Poetry recently published Susan Millar DuMars’ fourth collection of poems Bone Fire.

William Wall

William Wall is the author of four novels, including This is the Country (Sceptre), longlisted for the Man Booker Prize; three collections of poetry; and one volume of short stories. He has won the Virginia Faulkner Award, The Sean O’Faoláin Prize, several Writer’s Week prizes and The Patrick Kavanagh Award. He was shortlisted for the Young Minds Book Award, the Irish Book Awards, the Raymond Carver Award, the Hennessy Award and numerous others. His work has been translated into many languages, including Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Latvian, Serbian and Catalan. In 2014 William was part of the Italo-Irish Literature Exchange, organised through The Irish Writers’ Centre, which toured Italy with readings in Italian and English. In March 2010 he was Writer in Residence at The Princess Grace Irish Library, Monaco. He was a 2009 Fellow of The Liguria Centre for the Arts & Humanities. He lives in Cork. His short story collection Hearing Voices, Seeing Things was published this year by Doire Press.

Michael J. Whelan

Michael J. Whelan joined the Irish Defence Forces in 1990, serving on tours of duty as a United Nations Peacekeeper. He has received the General Officer Commanding Irish Air Corps Award, the Paul Tissandier Diploma and the Tallaght Person of the Year Award (Arts & Culture section). Michael’s poetry has been widely published, including in The Hundred Years’ War: Anthology of Modern War Poems (Bloodaxe) and his work was the subject of a centenary of the Great War exhibition entitled Landscapes Of War & Peace 1914-2014: War Poetry & Peacekeeping. He won 2nd Place in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Awards, 3rd Place in the Jonathan Swift Creative Writing Awards and a commendation in the Carousel Creates Creative Writing Awards, as well as having received an Arts Bursary from South Dublin Arts Office. In 2012 he was selected to read at the Poetry Ireland Introductions series. Michael’s debut poetry collection Peacekeeper is recently published by Doire Press.

There is no entrance fee.

For further information contact 087-6431748.

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing generous financial support ofthe Arts Council, Poetry Ireland, 

and Galway City Council. 

2015 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year THE WINNERS!

The winner in the fiction category and 2015 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year is Paul Duffy from Wicklow for his short story 'Redolence'. Paul receives a cash prize of €700 and his short story manuscript will be read by Doire Press. Paul will be a Featured Reader at an Over The Edge: Open Reading during the first half of 2016. Paul also receives a basket of books from Kenny’s Bookshop.

The poetry winner is Bennett McNiff from Drogheda, for his poem 'Stavrogin in Iceland'. Bennett receives a cash prize of €300; his poetry manuscript will be read by Salmon Poetry.

Runners up and highly commended in Poetry:

2^nd place: Rachel Coventry from Galway for ‘What Did I Do To Deserve You’

3^rd place: Paul McCarrick from Athlone for ‘Thanks to the Internet’.

Runners up and highly commended in Fiction:

2^nd place: Dermot Duffy from Dublin for ‘Luke Kelly’s Bones’.

3^rd place: Michelle Coyne from Galway for ‘The Sniper’

You can read the shortlist here.

We thank our judge Dave Lordan and our sponsors: Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop; Dock No, 1, ISupply Quay Street; Ward’s Hotel; Derek  Nolan TD; Clare Daly TD; and Kenny’s Bookshop & Gallery.

2015 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year SHORTLIST!

FICTION

Michelle Coyne

Paul Duffy

Selina Oram

Aidan Hynes

Lauren Foley

Chris Connolly

Niall Bourke

Dermot Duffy

Adam Trodd

Brian Leeson

Mark Stevenson Curry

Paul Anthony Corbett

Maeve Galvin 

POETRY

Breda Spaight

Niall Bourke

Jessamine O’Connor

Stephen De Burca

Majella Kelly

Rachel Coventry

Wilma Kenny

Paul McCarrick

Jayne Brogan

Lisa Allen

Bennet McNiff

Bernie Ashe

We would like to thank our competition sponsors: 

Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop,  

Dock No. 1, ISupply Flood Street, Ward’s Hotel, 

Clare Daly TD,  Kenny’s Bookshop 

& Derek Nolan TD

We also thank our competition judge Dave Lordan 

for his ongoing work on the competition. 

THE WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED

@ the October Over The Edge: Open Reading

in Galway City Library,

 Thursday October 29^th 

The longlist can be viewed here.  

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.

September Over The Edge: Open Reading with Katherine Noone, Andrea Lutz, & Rafiq Kathwari

Katherine Noone & Andrea Lutz to read with Patrick Kavanagh Award winner Rafiq Kathwari

The September ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, September 24^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Rafiq Kathwari, Andrea Lutz, & Katherine Noone. The evening will also see the announcement of the shortlist for this year’s Over The Edge New Writer of the Year competition, judged by poet, fiction writer, and literary activist Dave Lordan. 

Katherine Noone’s poems  have  appeared  in  Boyne  Berries, Crannóg, The  Galway Review, Linnets Wings, Orbis , Skylight 47. She was shortlisted  for the Vallum (Canada) poetry competition in 2012 and Poem  for  Patience 2015. She attends Kevin Higgins advanced poetry workshop in Galway.

Andrea Lutz was born in Germany, where she worked as a teacher before moving to Ireland in 2012. She has published articles and short stories in the online magazine thecheers.org. One of these articles was selected for publication in a Danish school book. Andrea founded the writing group Galway International Writers, which is now in the process of compiling an ebook. Andrea’s short fiction has been published in The Galway Review; her first published poem appeared early this summer in Silver Apples Magazine. 

Rafiq Kathwari is the first non-Irish recipient of the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award, in the 44-year history of the award. He lives in Ballyoonan, County Louth. He has lived most of his adult life in New York, but was born, as he puts it, “a Scorpio at midnight” in the disputed Kashmir Valley, where he has been working for many years as a social entrepreneur, empowering women artisans. Rafiq has translated from the original Urdu selected poems of Sir Mohammed Iqbal, one of the handful of great South Asian poets of the 20th century writing in Urdu. He divides his time between New York, Dublin and Kashmir. Rafiq’s debut poetry collection, In Another Country, is just published by Doire Press.

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.