Over The Edge New Writer of the Year - WINNERS!

The winner in the Fiction category, and 2019 Over The Edge New Writer of the Year, is Molly Harris from St. Louis, Missouri for her story 'The Last Long River Sigh'. Molly  studied creative writing at the 2019 NUI Galway Irish Studies International Summer School.

Molly Harris - 2019 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year

Molly receives €700 in prize money, a hamper of books from Kenny's Bookshop, Galway, and will be a Featured Reader at an Over The Edge: Open Reading in the first half of 2020. Turas Press will read, without prior commitment to publish, a collection of short stories submitted to them by Molly. 

The runner-up in the Fiction category is Helena Farrell from Cork for her story 'The Journey of A Breath'. 

In third place is Eamon McGuinness from Dublin for his story 'Our Names Into The Sea'. 

The winner in the Poetry category is Stephen DeBúrca from Galway for his poem 'Scoping'. Stephen is currently studying creative writing in Florida. 

Stephen De Búrca - 2019 poetry winner

Stephen receives prize money of €300 and Salmon Poetry will now read, without prior commitment to publish, a collection of poems submitted to them by Stephen. Stephen will also read his work at an Over The Edge event during 2020. Stephen's winning poem will appear in the next issue of Skylight 47. 

The runner-up in the poetry section is Kathryn Burke from Dublin, for her poem 'Sherbrooke Street Pantoum'.

In third place is Evan Costigan from Galway for his poem ‘The Trouble with Snow’.

The shortlist from which the winners were chosen is available here.


A huge thank you is due to our competition judge this year Liz McSkeane.

Over The Edge would also like to warmly thank Charlie Byrne's Bookshop, Kenny's Bookshop & Gallery, Ward's Hotel, and Clare Daly MEP. for again sponsoring our competition this year.

January Over The Edge: Open Reading with Vona Groarke, Nuala Keher, Stephen De Burca PLUS the launch of new issue of Skylight 47

Over The Edge Celebrates Thirteenth Birthday with Readings by Stephen De Burca, Nuala Keher, Vona Groarke who will Launch issue six of Skylight 47 (possibly Ireland’s most interesting poetry publication)

Vona Groarke

Over The Edge  presents the first ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ of 2016 at Galway City Library on Thursday, January 21^st, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Vona Groarke, Nuala Keher, & Stephen DeDurca. The centre piece of the evening will be the launch of issue number six of Skylight 47, the exciting bi-annual poetry paper from the Skylight Poets, which will be on sale on the evening. The publication will be launched on the evening by Vona Groarke. Skylight 47 is based in Galway and publishes poems by poets from all around the globe; all poets are welcome to submit poems for consideration for future issues. For details on how to take out a subscription to Skylight 47 see here 

Stephen De Burca is a 24 year old writer from Galway City. Currently a philosophy and English student at NUI Galway, Stephen was highly commended in the Over The Edge New Writer of the Year competition 2015. His writing has taken him to an art residency in Iceland in the summer of 2015 and he will be attending art residencies in France as well as the Netherlands this summer.  

Nuala Keher is a native of Galway and works as Academic Director of EQUAL Ireland, a not-for-profit charitable trust. Nuala is a strong advocate for social change both in Ireland and abroad. She has been a key member of the SIPTU trade union movement and spent a year in South Sudan with the Ministry for Education. She is joint author with Eddie Higgins of the non-fiction book ‘Your Rights at Work’ (1998) published by the Institute of Public Administration, Dublin. Nuala also writes fiction and is a participant in Susan Millar DuMars’ Advanced Fiction Writing class. She has been published in Ireland’s Own and was long listed in the 2015 Over the Edge New Writer of The Year competition.

Vona Groarke was born in the Irish Midlands in 1964. She attended Trinity College, Dublin and University College, Cork. She has lived in Dublin, Cork and Dundalk and has been writer-in-residence at NUI Galway and Maynooth. Her collections published by The Gallery Press include Shale (1994), Other People’s Houses (1999), Flight (2002), shortlisted for the Forward Prize (UK) in 2002 and winner of the Michael Hartnett Award in 2003, Juniper Street (2006) and Spindrift (2009) and X (2014), both Poetry Book Society Recommendations. Her poetry prizes include the Hennessy Award, the Brendan Behan Memorial Prize, the Michael Hartnett Award, Strokestown International Poetry Award, the Stand Magazine Poetry Prize, and runner-up in the Times Literary Supplement Poetry Competition (2003). In 2008, her version of Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill’s eighteenth-century Irish poem was published as Lament for Art O’Leary. She has been Writer-in-Residence with the National University at Galway and at Maynooth, and was co-holder of the Heimbold Chair in Irish Studies at Villanova University (Spring 2004). She now lives in Manchester where she teaches in the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester. Vona Groarke is a member of Aosdána and is currently editor of Poetry Ireland Review. As well as reading her own work, Vona Groarke will launch the new issue of Skylight 47.

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. Contributors to the new issue of Skylight 47 are particularly welcome to read their Skylight 47 poems at the open-mic; those wishing to take part should get to Galway City Library by 6.20pm, at the latest, and give their names to Kevin Higgins, who 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.