Salmon Poetry invites you to the launch by Ailbhe Darcy of 'Naked: New and Selected' poems by Susan Millar DuMars at the House Hotel, Spanish Parade, Galway

Salmon Poetry invites you to the launch by Ailbhe Darcy of Naked: New and Selected poems by Susan Millar DuMars at the House Hotel, Spanish Parade, Galway on Sunday, April 14th at 2pm. All welcome.

These poems were written and published over twenty five years.  There are poems from each of DuMars’ four  previous collections – Big Pink Umbrella (2008), Dreams for Breakfast (2010), The God Thing (2013), and Bone Fire (2016) – along with a generous selection of new work.  Here is demonstrated the development of a poet born in twentieth century America and now dwelling in twenty first century Ireland; a voice all the more valuable for its hybrid nature.

When she writes of bodies (her own, the bodies of women, and the body of the nation), Millar DuMars uses plain and direct speech, ideally suited to the Galway of Savita Halappanavar and “The Lost Children of Tuam”...Millar DuMars draws from a deep technical well, and from rich observational and imaginative spaces. She is possessed of great empathy. Even when the voice rises in anger, it does so to clarify, record, and instruct. Naked: New and Selected is also a book of fables, stories, and magical convergences where public and buried lives are brought out into the light. – poet Eamonn Wall, author of Writing the Irish West: Ecologies and Traditions (Notre Dame Press, 2011)

Her poetry, influenced by the directness of the American tradition, comes as a breath of fresh air...  Jessica Traynor, Poetry Ireland Review

The poetry of DuMars is known for its sensuality, which comes across in the concentration on detail...imagery we can almost taste and feel...writing that lingers in the mind long after the book has been closed.  Adele Ward, Eyewear

Susan Millar DuMars treads her own tightrope with sureness and poise while avoiding showy gestures – all prayer and no pretension. John Hudson, Markings

Ailbhe Darcy reading at this year's TS Eliot Awards

Ailbhe Darcy was born in Dublin in 1981 and brought up there. She studied for her PhD and MFA at the University of Notre Dame in the US, and taught there and at the University of Münster in Germany. She is now a lecturer in creative writing at Cardiff University. She has published her poetry in Ireland, Britain and the US. Selections of her work are included in the Bloodaxe anthologies Identity Parade and Voice Recognition, and in her pamphlet A Fictional Dress (tall-lighthouse, 2009). Imaginary Menagerie (Bloodaxe Books, 2011), her first book-length collection, was shortlisted for Ireland's dlr Strong Award at Poetry Now / Mountains to Sea. A collaboration with S.J. Fowler, Subcritical Texts, was published by Gorse in 2017. Her second collection, Insistence, was published by Bloodaxe in 2018 and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize 2018 and is on the shortlist for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award 2019. Ailbhe is reading at this year's Cuirt International Festival of Literature at the Town Hall Theatre, Galway on Saturday, April 13th at 11.30am; she is also launching this year's Poem for Patience at University Hospital Galway on Friday, April 12th, 11am.

August Over The Edge: Open Reading with Bobbie Sparrow, Art Ó Súilleabháin, & Ailbhe Darcy

The first ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ after the summer break takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, August 31^st, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Ailbhe DArcy, Art Ó Súilleabháin, & Bobbie Sparrow. 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 2017 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition which received a large number of entries again this year.
 

Bobbie Sparrow is a poetry writing Psychotherapist living in Co. Galway.  She was long listed for the Over The Edge new writer's award 2015/16 and short listed for the Galway University Poetry Competition 2016. Her poems have been published in Orbis, Picaroon, and The Rose Magazine. Bobbie has taken part in many poetry workshops with Kevin Higgins and Jim Bennet of Poetry Kit. She is a member of the online poetry group, Poets Abroad.  Bobbie has found a good poem to be a good friend.

Art Ó Súilleabháin was born in Galway, spent a few years in Boston but now lives in Corr na Móna, in north Connemara. He has published a number of books for children as Gaeilge but is now working on poems and stories in English for adults. His work has been regularly broadcast on RTE Radio One’s Sunday Miscellany. He lives on the shores of Lough Corrib with his artist son Fiachra, one of his six children.

Ailbhe Darcy

Ailbhe Darcy grew up in Dublin, and has since lived in the United States, Germany and Wales, where she teaches creative writing at Cardiff University. Selections of her work are included in the Bloodaxe anthologies Identity Parade and Voice Recognition, and in the Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry, Vol 4. Her first full-length collection was ImaginaryMenagerie, published by Bloodaxe Books in 2011. A collaboration with S.J. Fowler,  Subcritical Tests, was published by Gorse in June 2017. Recent poems have appeared in POETRY, Poetry Ireland Review and Poetry Wales, and a second solo collection, Insistence, is forthcoming from Bloodaxe in 2018.

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 again received a very healthy number of entries this 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.