Special Over The Edge: Open Reading At Gort Library For ‘I Will Arise And Go Now’ Festival

The Over The Edge: Open Readings in Galway City Library are known for their large, supportive audiences. Over the past decade many now established poets and fiction writers have taken their first steps at these legendary readings. As part of the ‘I Will Arise and Go Now’ Festival, which is taking place in Gort to commemorate the 150^th anniversary of the birth of W.B. Yeats, Gort Library is facilitating a special Yeats Commemorative Over The Edge: Open Reading. The event takes place at Gort Public Library on Wednesday, March 18th 6.30-8pm. 

The Featured Readers are Susan Lindsay, Christopher Meehan & Marion Cox; each of the Featured Readers will begin by reading their favourite W.B. Yeats poem. The MC for the event, Kevin Higgins, will also read his favourite Yeats poem. There will, as is usual at Over The Edge events, be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. Everyone who has a poem, or page or two of a story, they’d like to try out on an audience is most welcome to come along and participate.

Gort Public Library

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.  Last year, she was a featured reader with the Galway Girls at An Béal Binn, Erris Festival of Words, Belmullet. Marion was a Featured Reader at the December 2014 Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library.

Christopher Meehan hails from Kilkee in County Clare.  In 2012 he was shortlisted for the Fish International Poetry Prize while in 2013 he was placed 3^rd in the Over-The Edge New Writer of the Year Competition.  His poems have been published in Skylight 47, Boyne Berries, Crannog, ROPES 2014 and online in The Galway Review.      

Susan Lindsay second collection of poetry Fear Knot was published by Doire Press in 2013. She was a founding co-editor of Skylight 47, ‘possibly Ireland’s most interesting poetry publication’ and has been member of Skylight Poets writers’ workshop and the poetry reading group at Oranmore library. She facilitates conversations mediated by poetry and she read for the 2011 Poetry Ireland Introductions Series. Susan was a Featured Reader at the March 2006 Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library.

There will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished, which is open to everyone. The MC for the evening will be Kevin Higgins. For further details phone 087-6431748.

Over The Edge acknowledges the financial support of Galway City Council, Poetry Ireland, The I Will Arise And Go Now Festival, & The Arts Council. 

Special Over The Edge: Open Reading At This Year’s Lady Gregory Autumn Gathering

The Over The Edge: Open Readings in Galway City Library are famed for their large, supportive audiences. During the past decade many now established writers have taken their first early steps at these legendary readings. The venue for these readings since their inception in 2003 has always been Galway City Library. This year’s Lady Gregory Autumn Gathering will include a special Over The Edge: Open Reading which will take place at Gort Public Library on Thursday, October 3^rd, 7pm. The Featured Readers are Bernie Crawford, Anthony O’Brien & Marie Cadden. There will as is usual at Over The Edge events be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. Everyone who has a poem or page or two of a story they’d like to try out on an audience is most welcome to come along and participate.

Bernie Crawford lives near Oranmore, Co Galway.  She won first prize in The Dead Good Poetry Competition in 2013. She was long-listed for Over the Edge Poetry Competition in 2011 and again this year 2013. She was also long listed this year for Doire Press Annual International Poetry Chapbook Competition. In 2012 she was long-listed for the Powers Irish Whiskey Short Story Competition and was also a finalist in the Baffle poetry festival in Loughrea. She has been invited to read at a number of venues and her poems have appeared in the poetry anthology Behind The Masks and in a number of publications including Irish Left Review and Skylight 47.

Anthony O’Brien was born in Limerick and has been involved in Creative Writing since his schooldays in CBS Sextons Street. As well as his chapbook 21 Poems Anthony’s poems have been published in The Old Limerick Journal, The Limerick Poetry Broadsheet and The Stony Thursday Book and many other magazines. He has translated the poetry of the 19^th century poet French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine two of these translations were published in The Gorey Detail. In the 1990s he was a member of Fourfront poets with fellow Limerick poets Ciaran O Driscoll, Jo Slade and Mark Whelan. They wrote poetic drama pieces for the stage which they performed themselves at venues nationally. Since moving to live in Oranmore he has contributed to many Galway poetry workshops and recently been published in the NUIG creative writing chapbook Sourcings edited by Moya Cannon. Anthony is a member of the Oranmore Library Poetry Reading group and The Weir writing group and was shortlisted for the 2013 Cúirt New Writing prize

Marie Cadden lives in Spiddal, Co. Galway.  Winner of the Cuirt 2011 New Writing Prize for Poetry,  Runner-Up 2012 Westport Arts Festival Poetry Prize,  Third Prize 2012 Francis Ledwidge Poetry Competition.   Shortlisted for Desmond O'Grady Poetry Competition 2012, Bradshaw Books/Cork Literary Review Manuscript Competition 2011, Over the Edge New Writer of the Year Award 2010. Poems published in The Recorder (USA), THE SHOp, ROPES, Revival, Boyne Berries, Skylight 47 and anthologies Mosaic (2011), Behind the Masks (2010 - as co-editor) and Lady Gregory's Townhouse (2009).                    

There will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished, which is open to everyone. 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 & The Arts Council.