Over The Edge in association with the Cúirt Festival of International Literature presents the fourteenth annual New Writing Showcase

Since its inception in 2006 the New Writing Showcase has grown to become one of the most important platforms for emerging writers in Ireland. This year’s Cúirt / Over The Edge New Writing Showcase features three participants from the Over the Edge literary series in Galway – Daniel McBrearty, Jessamine O’Connor, & John D. Kelly – and Shannon Savvas and Jeremy Haworth,  the winners of the Cúirt New Writing Prize 2019. The MC for the event will be regular Over The Edge host Susan Millar DuMars. It takes place on Wednesday, April 10^th, 11 am, at The Town Hall Theatre. Entry is free of charge. All welcome.

John D. Kelly lives in Co. Fermanagh. Since he began writing creatively in 2011, his work has been commended in many competitions and published in various literary publications. He was Highly Commended in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award 2016, awarded joint ‘Silver’ in the International Dermot Healy Poetry Competition in both 2015 and 2014, and won first prize in Hungry Hill ‘Poets Meet Painters’ 2014, amongst other awards. John was a Featured Reader at the February 2018 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Jessamine O'Connor

Jessamine O Connor facilitates The Hermit Collective arts troupe, The Wrong Side Of The Tracks Writers, and the Ballaghaderreen branch of Failte Isteach conversational English classes. She won the iYeats, the Francis Ledwidge, and the Poetry Ireland Butlers Café poetry competitions, and was short-listed for the Hennessy, Over The Edge, Cuirt New Writing, Galway Hospital Poems For Patience, Bradshaw Books, Leaf Books and Red Line Book Festival competitions. She is currently promoting her fifth chapbook Pact, and her first full collection of poems is coming out with Salmon in early 2020. Jessamine was a Featured Reader at the May 2018 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Daniel McBrearty

Daniel McBrearty, or Danny to his friends, is a writer of both poetry and prose. The Donegal native's poetry has been published in A New Ulster, and his fiction was chosen as the winner in the Ulster Male category in Hot Press' Write Here Write Now Competition last May. A student of creative writing at NUI Galway, Danny’s writing deals with being young in an irrational world. He has no idea what his writing style is. That’s for other people to decide. Danny was a Featured Reader at the December 2018 Over The Edge: Open Reading and he was a runner-up in this year’s Poems for Patience competition.

Shannon Savvas is a New Zealand writer who divides her life and heart between New Zealand, England and Cyprus. Her flash fiction and short stories have been published online in journals in New Zealand and the United States and in a number of anthologies. Shannon describes herself as a “chronic long and short lister in [writing] competitions.” She won the 2017 Reflex Fiction Winter competition and is the winner of the fiction category in the Cuirt New Writing Prize 2019.

Jeremy Haworth is a novelist and poet. Originally from Bray, Co. Wicklow, he now resides in rural Co. Laois with his wife, Claire, and two children. He divides his time between writing and developing an organic market garden. He is currently working towards the publication of his first book of poetry. Jeremy is the winner of the poetry category in this year’s Cúirt New Writing Prize.

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing financial support of The Arts Council, Galway City Council, and Poetry Ireland, and our ongoing partnership with the Cúirt Festival of International Literature.

Over The Edge: Open Reading of 2018 with Daniel McBrearty, Evan Costigan, Declan Varley PLUS open-mic

The December ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, December 13^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Declan Varley, Evan Costigan, & Daniel McBrearty. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished which this month will feature, among others, poets studying on the MA in Writing at NUI Galway. New readers are especially welcome. The Over The Edge Christmas celebration will take place afterwards. 

Daniel McBrearty, or Danny to his friends, is a writer of both poetry and prose. The Donegal native's poetry has been published in A New Ulster, and his fiction was chosen as the winner in the Ulster Male category in Hot Press' Write Here Write Now Competition last May. A student of creative writing at NUI Galway, Danny’s writing deals with being young in an irrational world. He has no idea what his writing style is. That’s for other people to decide.

                                                     

Evan Costigan’s poems have been published in Poetry Ireland Review, The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times, The Moth, The Stony Thursday Book, Abridged, Cyphers and elsewhere. Selected for the 216 Poetry Ireland Introductions Series, he is a past winner of the Boyle Arts Festival Poetry Competition and the Francis Ledwidge International Poetry Award. In 2017 he won the Red Line Book Festival Poetry Competition and the Oliver Goldsmith Literary Festival Poetry Competition. His work has been shortlisted for a Hennessy Literary Award and selected for the Best New British and Irish Poets Anthology 2018 from Eyewear Publishing. The recipient of several bursaries and residencies, Evan has been a featured reader at festivals and events, including: Electric Picnic; International Literature Festival Dublin; the Art Bar Series, Toronto. Born in Dublin and raised in county Kildare, he has lived abroad most of his adult life. He now divides his time between the west coast of Ireland and Dublin where he works as a creative writing facilitator. His website is www.evancostigan.com.

Declan Varley is a striking new voice in the great tradition of Irish literary fiction. Born in 1965, he grew up in the small town of Ballinrobe in County Mayo, Ireland. In his teens, Declan began his career in writing when he established a weekly magazine with a group of friends. That publication gave Declan the motivation he needed to use words as his trade, writing the college subculture novel Kittyland in 1992, followed by Sure It Could Happen (1993) The Elephant’s Graveyard, (1994) and Nightmusic (2001). A successful career in journalism followed, writing award winning stories for regional, national, and international newspapers. He is currently Group Editor of Galway Advertiser Newspapers. Declan lives in Galway with his wife, Galway Bay fm Head of News Bernadette Prendergast and their daughter, Giselle. His latest novel, The Confession of Peadar Gibbons, was published earlier this year.

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always most 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.