July Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering presents readings by Siobhan Campbell, Frankie Gaffney, Catherine Hunter, David E. Butler, Teresa Sweeney, & Lisa Frank

The July Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering presents an exciting variety of poetry, fiction, and drama by Siobhan Campbell, Frankie Gaffney, Catherine Hunter, David E. Butler, Teresa Sweeney, & Lisa Frank. The event will take place on Thursday, July 13th, 6.30pm at Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street. All are welcome. There is no cover charge.

Siobhán Campbell was born in Dublin, she is a graduate of University College, Dublin. She spent a number of years in New York and San Francisco and worked as Managing Editor of Wolfhound Press before joining Faculty at Kingston University in London. Widely published in the USA and UK, she has won awards in the National, Troubadour and Wigtown International competitions. Her most recent poetry collection Heat Signature was published by Seren earlier this year. 

Frankie Gaffney grew up in the Dublin's North Inner-City. His first novel, Dublin Seven, published by Liberties Press to critical acclaim, charts a young man's descent into the criminal underworld of the city. The Irish Times described it as “Ulysses meets Love/Hate”.

Catherine Hunter is a Canadian poet, novelist, editor and professor. She is the author of several collections of poetry, including Necessary Crimes and Latent Heat, which received the McNally Robinson Manitoba Book of the Year in 1997. She is also the author of three literary mysteries: Queen of Diamonds, The Dead of Midnight and Where Shadows Burn. She is a professor of English at the University of Winnipeg. 

David E Butler is a widely performed playwright, author, and retired congregational minister from Maine who is currently resident in County Clare. 

Teresa Sweeney is from county Galway. She was short listed in the 2014 Over the Edge New Writer of the Year competition. Her fiction has been published in Roadside Fiction, Number Eleven Magazine, Wordlegs, Boyne Berries and she was a runner up in the WOW! Awards 2011. She was a Featured Reader at the November 2014 Over The Edge: Open Reading and was selected to read at the 2015 Cúirt Over The Edge New Writers’ Showcase reading. 

Lisa Frank was born and raised in Los Angeles but lived in the Pacific Northwest for several years before moving to Ireland in 2007. She won second place in the 2016 Francis MacManus Award and was a joint-winner of the 2015 Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair competition. She received her MFA in Creative Writing at Eastern Washington University (where Paula Meehan also received her MFA) and is the editor of Galway Stories, featuring many of Ireland’s best fiction writers, including Kevin Barry, Mary Costello and Mike McCormack. Having taught creative writing in a variety of settings, including a mens’ prison, she now lives in Connemara with her partner and is co-director of Doire Press.

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing financial support of the Arts Council,

Poetry Ireland, and Galway City Council.

Over The Edge in association with the Cúirt Festival of International Literature presents the tenth 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 New Writing Showcase features three participants from the Over the Edge literary series in Galway – Alvy Carragher, Mary McGill, & Teresa Sweeney - Daniel Roy Connelly, the winner of the Cúirt New Writing Poetry Prize 2015, and Sonya Gildea, the winner of the 2015 Cúirt New Writing Fiction Prize. The MC for the event will be regular Over The Edge host Susan Millar DuMars. It takes place on Thursday, April 23^rd, 4pm, at The Town Hall Theatre. Entry is free of charge. All welcome.

Alvy Carragher recently completed the MA in Writing at NUI Galway. Her poetry has been commended in the Gregory O’Donoghue Award, the 2013 Over the Edge New Writer of the year competition and she came third in the 2013 Doire Press Poetry Competition. Alvy was 2014 Connaught Slam Poetry Champion and her blog “with all the finesse of a badger” won best humour blog in the Irish Blog Awards and was a finalist for blog of the year in the Samsung Digital Media Awards 2014. Alvy was a Featured Reader at the February 2014 Over The Edge: Open Reading. 

Mary McGill lives in Galway. Her fiction has appeared in The South Circular, The Bohemyth, Crannóg and Wordlegs. In 2013, she was shortlisted for the Penguin / RTÉ Guide short story competition and the Irish Times ‘Legends of the Fall’ competition. Mary was also long listed for the 2013 Over the Edge award and short listed for the 2014 RTÉ Radio One Francis MacManus Award. Mary was a Featured Reader at the August 2014 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Teresa Sweeney is from county Galway. She was short listed in the 2014 Over the Edge New Writer of the Year competition. Her fiction has been published in Roadside Fiction, Number Eleven Magazine, Wordlegs, Boyne Berries and she was a runner up in the WOW! Awards 2011. She was a Featured Reader at the November 2014 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Daniel Roy Connelly is a theatre director, writer and professor of English literature and creative writing at John Cabot University and The American University of Rome. He holds a PhD in Shakespeare's 'Othello' from The University of Saint Andrews and was the winner of the 2014 Fermoy International Poetry Festival Prize and a finalist in the 2015 Aesthetica Magazine Creative Writing Prize. He recently directed a sold-out 'Hedda Gabler' and returns to the stage next week at Rome's 'Teatro Arciliuto', where he will play 'Ralph Wantage' in Bryony Lavery's 'Frozen'. Daniel is the winner of the 2015 Cúirt New Writing Poetry Prize. 

Sonya Gildea was born in County Cork, Ireland. She lives and works in Dublin, and the east coast of Scotland. She is writing the poetry collection Apothecary; the short story collection, Heartscapes; and the debut novel, The Hours That God Sends. She has also received a number of awards for screenwriting. She is the winner of the 2015 Cúirt New Writing Fiction 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.