Over The Edge Culture Night Open-Mic at Kenny’s

Over The Edge is holding two special Culture Night open-mics - one for fiction writers, the other for poets - with prizes for the best readers, at Kennys Bookshop and Gallery in Liosbán Retail Park on Friday, September 21st.

 

The open-mic for fiction writers starts at 3.30pm. Participants should bring along two pages of a story to read. The reading will include a guest appearance from Ed O’Dwyer who will be reading from his recently published debut short story collection Cheat Sheets – 108 Stories about Infidelity which is just published by U.K. based Truth Serum Press. 

The open-mic for poets starts at 5.45pm. Participants should bring along two poems to read. The reading will include guest appearances from visiting Canadian poet Chad Norman and Mayo born poet Terry McDonagh. 

The evening will be MC’d by Kevin Higgins and both open-mics will feature readings from their long-listed stories and poems by some of the writers on the long list for the 2018 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition, for which Kenny’s is one of the sponsors.

This reading is open to all. If you have a poem or story you want to share, come along. 

About our special guests: 

Edward O’Dwyer was born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1984, where he currently lives. To date, he has written two collections of poetry – The Rain on Cruise’s Street (Salmon Poetry, 2014) and Bad News, Good News, Bad News (Salmon Poetry, 2017). O’Dwyer’s work has featured in many journals and anthologies worldwide, including The Forward Book of Poetry, and has been nominated regularly for Forward, Pushcart and Best of the Web prizes. ‘The Whole History of Dancing’ won the ‘Best Single Poem’ award at the Eigse Michael Hartnett Festival Cheat Sheets, his first book of fiction, will be published by Truth Serum Press in August 2018. A third collection of poetry is due in 2020, again from Salmon Poetry.

Chad Norman

Chad Norman lives in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada.  His poems have appeared for the past 35 years in literary publications across Canada, as well as a number of other countries around the world. He hosts and organizes RiverWords: Poetry & Music Festival each year in Truro, NS., held at Riverfront Park , the 2^nd Saturday of each July. His most recent books are Selected & New Poems, from Mosaic Press, and Waking Up On The Wrong Side of The Sky, from Grant Block Press. His next book, Squall:Poems In The Voice Of Mary Shelley, is due out Spring 2020, from Guernica Editions.  His visit to Galway is part of a speaking/reading tour of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, as a celebration of literacy and Canadian Poetry.

Terry McDonagh

Widely travelled writer/poet and dramatist, Terry McDonagh, from Cill Aodáin, Kiltimagh, writes for adults and young people. His poetry for young people includes Boxes (Blaupause Books, 2006); and Echolocation (Blaupause Books, 2015. His books include The Road Out (Hamburg, Olaf Hille Verlag, 1993); At Home In My Shoes (Celtic Corner Verlag, Hamburg, 1997); A World Without Stone/New and Selected Poems (Hamburg, Blaupause-Verlag, 1998); A Song for Joanna, Hamburg-Melbourne A Journal in Verse (Hamburg, Blaupause Books, 2003);  The Truth in Mustard (Galway, Arlen House/New York, Syracuse University Press, 2010); Ripple Effect (Arlen House, 2014) and Lady Cassie Peregrina (Arlen House 2016). His latest collection, Fourth Floor Flat – 44 Cantos is published by Arlen House in September.

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

Final Over The Edge: Open Reading of 2014 with Marion Cox, Christine Murray, & Edward O’Dwyer PLUS launch of Galway-Lorient poetry initiative

The December ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, December 18^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Edward O’Dwyer, Christine Murray, & Marion Cox. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are especially welcome. The evening will also see the launch of ‘Poemes Galway – Lorient’ a web magazine featuring poems in both English and French by poets from Galway and its twin city Lorient in Brittany.  The Over The Edge Christmas celebration will take place afterwards.

Marion Cox lives in County Galway where she runs a HR and Management advisory service.  With a passion for words and literature, she found herself inexplicably rising in the ranks of international business and has worked at senior executive level in multinationals in the US and Europe.  Having somewhat recovered, she organises the Lady Gregory Autumn Gathering at Coole Park and takes poetry classes with Kevin Higgins.  Marion’s prose and poetry has been published in The Healing Pen, Writing for Wellbeing (Patricia McAdoo), The Citroen Quarterly (North America) and Irish Left Review.  This year, she was a featured reader with the Galway Girls at An Béal Binn, Erris Festival of Words, Belmullet.

Christine Murray

Christine Murray is a poet and poetry activist based in Dublin. Her poetry is published in Ropes Magazine, Crannóg Magazine, The Burning Bush Online Revival Meeting. Carty’s Poetry Journal, Caper Literary Journal , CanCan,  The Southword Journal (MLC),  A New Ulster and the Diversity Blog (PIWWC; PEN International Women Writer’s Committee). Her poem for three voices, Lament, was performed at the Béal festival in 2012. Chris writes a poetry blog called Poethead which is dedicated to the writing, editing and translation of women writers. 

Edward O'Dwyer

Edward O'Dwyer (b. Limerick, 1984) has poems published worldwide in journals, anthologies and e-zines. In 2010 he took part in the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series and edited the anthology, Sextet (Revival Press). He has since been shortlisted for various awards, including a Hennessy Award and the Desmond O'Grady Prize, as well as nominated for Pushcart, Forward and Best of the Web prizes. Recently, his work was Highly Commended by the Forward Prizes judges, and features now in the The Forward Book of Poetry 2015. He is on the Committee of Cuisle Limerick City International Poetry Festival. His first full collection of poems, The Rain on Cruise's Street, was published recently by Salmon Poetry (2014).

‘Poemes Galway – Lorient’ is a web magazine featuring poems in both English and French by poets from Galway and its twin city Lorient in Brittany. It is edited by Susan Millar DuMars, Patrick Argenté and Nadia Lhote; designed by Darrell Kavanagh and published with the support of Galway City Council’s Galway – Lorient Twinning committee. It will be launched at the reading.

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.