January Over The Edge: Open Reading with Tim Sniffen, Helena Kilty, & Vinny Steed

The January ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, January 19^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Vinny Steed, Helena Kilty, & Tim Sniffen. This reading marks the fourteenth anniversary of the first Over The Edge reading in Galway City Library.

Tim Sniffen

Vinny Steed has had work published abroad and at home.  His poems have featured in the Galway Review, Headstuff, Skylight 47, Crannóg, Into the Void, Tales from the Forest magazine and in the upcoming Ofi Press magazine in February.  He was long listed for the 2015 & 2016 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition and short listed for the 2016 Doolin poetry competition.  One of his poems was recently nominated by Into the Void for the Pushcart Prize.  He attends poetry workshops in the Galway Arts Centre.

Helena Kilty lives in Galway, where she divides her time between writing and working as a psychotherapist. She’s currently completing a collection of short stories. She also writes non-fiction and poetry. She’s a member of the Galway Writers’ Workshop and completed the MA in writing at NUI Galway in 2012. Her work has been published in Surge: New Writing From Ireland (O’Brien Press), Skylight47, Crannóg, Poems in profile and in the Abandoned Darlings anthology.

Tim Sniffen studied writing and animation at Hampshire College and began working with Chicago’s Second City theater in 2003: credits there include The Second City Guide To The Opera, Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf and the recent Longer! Louder! Wagner! -- The Second City Wagner Companion, because who doesn’t like taking a few jabs at Hitler’s favourite easy-listening music? Tim has written for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, National Public Radio and keeps his own Tumblr site for things that everyone else refuses to print. You can find him as MisterSniffen on Twitter for jokes and the occasional David Versus Goliath squabble with airlines and movie theaters.

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.

New Year Beginners & Intermediate Creative Writing Classes at Galway Technical Institute BOOK YOUR PLACE NOW

Susan Millar DuMars & Kevin Higgins

Creative Writing for Beginners with Kevin Higgins takes place one evening per week (Monday) from 7-9.30pm (8 weeks) with a mid-term break. It commences on Monday, January 16^th, 2017. Advance booking is essential. Places cost €120. Kevin Higgins will provide writing exercises for, and give gentle critical feedback to, those interested in trying their hand at writing stories, poems, or memoir.

To book a place, go to http://www.gti.ie/parttime/course/detail/t/75/c/201611-004758

 

Intermediate Creative Writing with Susan Millar DuMars takes place one evening per week (Tuesday) from 7-9.30pm (8 weeks) with a mid-term break. It commences on Tuesday, January 17th, 2017. Advance booking is essential. Places cost €120. This class is suitable for those who’ve participated in creative writing classes before or begun to have work published in magazines. Flexible exercises and work-shopping of assignments, together with the study of the works of published writers, will help each class member to find their own writing voice.

To book a place, go to http://www.gti.ie/parttime/course/detail/t/75/c/201611-004770

YOU CAN ALSO BOOK in person at Galway Technical Institute, Monday-Friday, (10am-4.30pm) before GTI closes for the Christmas break and also when it re-opens in early January.

For further information contact Galway Technical Institute, Father Griffin Road, Galway, phone 091-581342 or email gtiadulted@gretb.ie or see http://www.gti.ie

 

POETRY WORKSHOPS AT GALWAY ARTS CENTRE starting January

Starting in January, Galway Arts Centre is offering aspiring poets a choice of three poetry workshops, all facilitated by poet Kevin Higgins, whose best-selling first collection, The Boy With No Face, published by Salmon Poetry, was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award for Best First Collection by an Irish poet. Kevin’s second collection of poems, Time Gentlemen, Please, was published in 2008 by Salmon Poetry and his poetry is discussed in The Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry. His third collection Frightening New Furniture was published in 2010 by Salmon. His work also appears in the generation defining anthology Identity Parade –New British and Irish Poets (Ed. Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010) and The Hundred Years’ War: modern war poems (Ed Neil Astley, Bloodaxe April 2014).  A collection of Kevin’s essays and book reviews, Mentioning The War, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2012. Kevin’s poetry has been translated into Greek, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Japanese & Portuguese. His fourth collection of poetry, The Ghost in the Lobby, was published in 2014 by Salmon. Kevin's poetry was the subject of a paper 'The Case of Kevin Higgins, or, The Present State of Irish Poetic Satire' presented by David Wheatley at a Symposium on Satire at the University of Aberdeen. Kevin is satirist-in-residence with the alternative literature website The Bogman’s Cannon. 2016 – The Selected Satires of Kevin Higgins was published by NuaScéalta earlier this year; a pamphlet of his political poems The Minister For Poetry Has Decreed is published in December by the new Culture Matters imprint of U.K. based Manifesto Press. Song of Songs 2:0 – New & Selected Poems will be published by Salmon in Spring 2017. The Stinging Fly magazine recently described Kevin as “likely the most widely read living poet in Ireland”. 

Each week Kevin will give participants a poetry writing exercise for the following week and will offer each participant constructive suggestions as to how her or his poem can become the best possible poem it can be.

Kevin is an experienced workshop facilitator and several of his students have gone on to achieve publication success. One of his workshop participants at Galway Arts Centre won the prestigious Hennessy Award for New Irish Poetry, two have won the Cúirt New Writing Prize, and yet another the Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam, while several have published collections of their poems; two being shortlisted for the Shine-Strong Award for Best First Collection of poems. In 2013 a group of his students set up the poetry newspaper Skylight 47, which publishes new poems, reviews of poetry books and opinion pieces about poetry related matters. Kevin teaches poetry on the NUI Galway Summer School programme and on the NUIG BA Creative Writing Connect programme. Kevin is also co-organiser of the successful Over The Edge reading series which specialises in promoting new writers.

Each workshop will run for ten weeks, commencing the week of Monday January 16^th. They will take place on Tuesday evenings, 7-8.30pm (first class January 17th); on Thursday afternoons, 2-4pm (first class January 19th) and on Friday afternoons, 2-3.30pm (first class January 20th).

The Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon workshops are open to both complete beginners as well as those who’ve been writing for some time. The Thursday afternoon workshop is an Advanced Poetry Workshop, suitable for those who’ve participated in poetry workshops before or had poems published in magazines. The cost to participants is €110, with an €100 concession rate.

Places must be paid for in advance. To reserve a place contact reception at Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, phone 091 565886, email info@galwayartscentre.ie, or go to GalwayArtsCentre.ie

New Year Daytime Creative Writing Class with Susan Millar DuMars @ Galway Arts Centre BOOK NOW

Starting in January, Galway Arts Centre presents a daytime class for all those beginner and continuing creative writing students out there, facilitated by Susan Millar DuMars. Susan Millar DuMars writes both poetry and fiction. A collection of her stories, Lights In The Distance, was published in December 2010 by Doire Press; she has published three collections of poetry, Big Pink Umbrella (2008), Dreams For Breakfast (2010) & The God Thing (2013) all with Salmon Poetry. Susan was the Featured Fiction writer in a recent issue of the American online magazine The Atticus Review. Her latest book of poems, Bone Fire, published by Salmon Poetry, was launched at this year’s Cúirt Festival of International Literature. She is also co-organiser of the Over The Edge reading series which specifically promotes new writers. Susan edited the anthology Over the Edge – the first ten years, published by Salmon, which includes work by forty seven writers who have published a first book since they did a reading at an Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library.

The class is suitable for both beginning and continuing creative writing students, working in either poetry or fiction. Students will spend their weeks responding to writing exercises designed to inspire, rather than inhibit. In class, they will receive gentle feedback on their work from their classmates and from the teacher. The class takes place on Monday afternoons, 2.30-4pm, commencing on Monday, January 16th. It runs for 10 weeks. 


The cost to participants is 110 Euro with a 100 Euro concession price. Booking is essential as places are limited. There are no refunds once the class has started. For booking please contact Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, phone 091 565886, email info@galwayartscentre.ie, or go to Galway Arts Centre.ie