Four New Poetry Collections

ARLEN HOUSE

warmly invites you to the launch

of four new poetry collections

Shedding Skin

JAMES MARTYN

imram ¦ odyssey

CELIA DE FRÉINE

Red Riding Hood’s Dilemma

ÓRFHLAITH FOYLE

The Truth in Mustard

TERRY MCDONAGH

Wednesday 9 December @ 6 pm

Galway City Library
Augustine Street

Galway

Launch by Geraldine Mills

‘The Tribes of Galway’ by Pádraic Reaney

RSVP: Phone 086 8207617; Email: arlenhouse@gmail.com

ROPES 2010 Call For Submissions

ROPES is the annual literary journal produced by the MA in Literature and Publishing at N.U.I. Galway. It features all forms of modern fiction, poetry, drama, screenplays, photography, and illustrations.

We are now accepting submissions for ROPES 2010.

While all themes and subjects are welcome, we are particularly interested in any ideas and responses relating to the first decade of the 21st century.

So be inspired and submit your work!

Submissions should not exceed 2,500 words, with a maximum of three works per author.

Send your material to: ropesgalway@gmail.com

Deadline for submissions: 4 January 2010.

THE POET'S VOICE - The Mythic Journey Readings, Music & Reception

Poets: Yiorgos CHOULIARAS, Christine HEATH, Susan LINDSAY, Rosemarie ROWLEY

Music and Song by Niamh O'BRIEN RHIANNON and Tommy VAUGHAN

THE POET'S VOICE - The Mythic Journey Readings, Music & Reception

Themes include Odysseus & Theseus, Brendan Voyage, Battle of Moytura, Midir & Etain

A Social Evening celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of Mythic Links
VENUE: United Arts Club, 3 Upper Fitzwilliam St. Dublin 2
Register at 7.15 pm; Starts 7.30pm. Admission €10 ( Free Street Parking after 7pm)
Thurs 3rd December

Yiorgos CHOULIARAS Greek poet and essayist who works at the Embassy of Greece. Author of six poetry volumes and essays on literature, cultural history, international relations MORE INTERVIEW :http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=56228 ; POEMS: http://www.poeticanet.com/en/poets.php?show_cat=30 and http://www.mediterranean.nu/?p=509

Christine HEATH was short-listed for the Hennessy Literary Award, and completed a Masters in Creative Writing in Trinity College Dublin. in 2009. She has has been writing poetry for some time. She sails extensively and enjoys hill walking, and it is from these activities that she has drawn inspiration for the particular poems she will read on December 3rd.

Susan LINDSAY is a co-editor of Lady Gregory's Townhouse (2009), showcase Chapbook of the Galway Arts Centre 's Advanced Poetry Class. She will speak on 'Shifting Narratives:- do we live within a story of Shifting narrative that in-forms our perspectives and lives? She will invite you to explore the relevance of poetry and myth for today.

Rosemarie ROWLEY has published five books of poetry, and has won the Epic Award in the Scottish International Poetry Competition on four occasions. She will read from 'The Wooing of Etain', (published in 'Transverse ' p.91 at http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/complit/Transverse7.pdf ) Rosemarie's website is http://www.rosemarierowley.ie/

Niamh O'BRIEN RHIANNON and Tommy VAUGHAN are acclaimed performers and teachers of singing, tango and musical instruments. Rhiannon will sing ballads and Tommy will play slow airs for low flute, from their repertoire of traditional Irish music. Rhiannon's CD album 'Heartsong of the Phoenix' will be available on the night - her website is http://www.rhiannon.ie/

LINKS : http://www.mythiclinks.com/mythic-links.php?id=37 for Info on Poets (Each Poet will read for 10 minutes)

WEBSITE: http://www.mythiclinks.com

FICTION SLAM AND MUCH MORE at iad-T in the Park

iad-T in the Park

Starting on Saturday November 28th, IADT and dlr Arts Office are pleased to announce iad-T in the Park, a series of literary happenings taking place once a month at the Tea Rooms in the People’s Park, Dun Laoire.

Writers, readers and booklovers of all ages (and genres!) are invited to drop in and join Mia Gallagher, writer-in-residence at the IADT, for an exciting mix of literature, cakes and super-strength espresso. Tea-drinkers are also catered for!

Whether it’s poetry that takes your fancy or crime fiction that keeps you turning those pages, iad-T in the Park offers you the chance to share your work in public, chat with other writers, meet some of Ireland’s brightest literary talents – or just talk about the books you love reading.

The events are free of charge, open to all and will run from midday to 4pm.

Saturday 28th November Opening Lines

12noon: Open Mic. Poetry, fiction, spoken word, music, comedy all welcome, with a 3-minute time limit per act! Time is tight so turn up early if you want your slot guaranteed.

2pm: Readings & discussion by writers-in-residence Mia Gallagher and Paul Perry

Saturday 30th January: Murder on the Bookshelves (crime fiction)

12noon: Writing the Dark Side (workshop). A fun workshop exploring how to get the most out of your dark side, structure suspense and play with horror and thriller motifs.

2pm: Readings & discussion by crime writers Declan Hughes and Arlene Hunt.

Saturday 27th February Exquisite Fictions (literary fiction)

12noon: Fiction Slam. Calling all fiction writers! You are challenged to go head-to head in an epic battle of literary performance. Numbers for this will be restricted. Contact arts@dlrcoco.ie for details.

2pm: Readings/discussion by two of Ireland’s most exciting young writers, Claire Kilroy and Kevin Barry

Saturday 20th March Stranger than Fiction (non-fiction & poetry)

12noon: Poetry Coffee Morning. What better way to get ready for the Poetry Now festival than to share your favourite poems with other lovers of the artform? Poems can be by yourself or another. Max two poems per person.

2pm: Readings & discussion by memoirist Lia Mills and historical writer Neil Hegarty.

Saturday 24th April Play 4 Today (drama)

12noon: Improvisation and Storytelling (workshop). A playful workshop exploring ways to create, build and improve your stories.

2pm: Presentation by Annie Ryan and Michael West of The Corn Exchange, the ground-breaking theatre company behind Dublin Theatre Festival hit ‘Freefall’.

Emerging writers can also set up a one-to-one session with Mia to talk about their work. Space for these is limited to two per month and will need to be booked in advance.

iad-T in the Park is funded by IADT and dlr Arts Office, with the generous support of the Arts Council.

For further information about any of the events contact dlr Arts Office by emailing arts@dlrcoco.ie

'Reaftairí i gCeartlár a Dhaoine san Aonú Aois is Fiche' le Colette Nic Aodha

Ba mhór ag an gcomhlacht foilsitheorachta

COISCÉIM

Tú a bheith i láthair i gClub Arus na nGael

45 Sráid Dominic, Gaillimh, Co. na Gaillimhe,

ag 8.00in. Dé Sathairn 5ú Nollaig 2009 nuair a sheolfaidh

Máirtín Tom Sheáinín

An leabhar nua-fhoilsithe

Reaftairí i gCeartlár a Dhaoine san Aonú Aois is Fiche

le

Colette Nic Aodha

Beidh Deochanna agus Sóláistí ar fáil don ócáid

Fáilte Uí Cheallaigh roimh chách !

Beidh an t-údar ar láthair leis na leabhair a shínhiú

Acclaimed novelist Claire Kilroy for November Over The Edge: Open Reading

Claire Kilroy

The November Over The Edge: Open Reading takes place in Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street, Galway on Thursday, November 19th, 6.30-8pm. The Featured Readers are Jimi McDonnell, James Marshall & Claire Kilroy.

Jimi McDonnell is a native of Tuam, Co.Galway. He cites his family, playwright Tom Murphy and footballer Ja Fallon as pivotal influences. Since 2007, Jimi has been the music correspondent for the Connacht Tribune. Last year he took Susan Millar DuMars’ Creative Writing course at GTI and is now enrolled in the MA in Writing programme at NUI, Galway. Jimi is currently working on poetry and fiction projects.

James Marshall was born on the west coast of Scotland sometime in the nineteen sixties to a Swedish mother and Scottish father. He grew up in and around London. James landed in Galway in 1999 and never took off again. A mid life crisis resulted in his musical tastes broadening towards the extreme end of the spectrum; the more bizarre and challenging the better. He has attended creative writing classes with both Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins at Galway Technical Institute and is currently working on his first novel, but not as much as he should be.

Claire Kilroy is the author of three novels which loosely form a trilogy about the obsessions and exhilarations of art. Her debut, All Summer, a literary thriller about a stolen painting, was awarded the 2004 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Her second novel, Tenderwire, a love story between a violinist and a masterpiece violin, was published to great acclaim in 2006, and was shortlisted for the 2007 Irish Novel of the Year as well as the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. Her latest novel, All Names Have Been Changed, set in 1980s Dublin and centring around a great Irish writer and his Trinity writing class, was published this May. Educated at Trinity College, she lives in Dublin.

There will be an open-mic when the Featured Readers have finished. This is open to anyone who has a poem or story to share. New readers are always especially welcome. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details phone 087-6431748.

Praise for Claire Kilroy’s All Names Have Been Changed:

"This impressive novel shows Kilroy perfectly at home in the literary firmament that she describes." The Independent

‘Consistently compelling … Kilroy’s descriptions are in places strikingly original and very funny … [in] a novel that effectively explores the exhilarations and a dangers of a powerful imagination, and the lasting influence literature can exert.’ Catherine Morris, Time Literary Supplement

"Written with swagger, this is a gripping study of group dynamics and an exploration of what it means to follow in a literary tradition." Financial Times

“All Names Have Been Changed marks out Claire Kilroy as a novelist growing in confidence and hitting her artistic stride – gifted, original and more than capable of stepping up to the plate of literary tradition she so brilliantly portrays.” The Irish Times

'Writing from the top class...All Names Have Been Changed is truly remarkable”. Irish Independent

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing generous financial support of Galway City Council and The Arts Council

Launch of 'An Urgency of Stars' by Geraldine Mills

ARLEN HOUSE
warmly invites you to the launch of the new poetry collection
by Geraldine Mills

AN URGENCY OF STARS

Thursday 26 November @ 6pm

Galway City Library

Augustine Street

Launch by Josephine Vahey

RSVP: Alan Hayes, Publisher, Arlen House, PO Box 222, Galway. Phone 086 8207617; Email: arlenhouse@gmail.com

Aon Chathair, Aon Leabhar - One Book, One City: Lig Sinn i gCathú - A Galway Classic?

Aon Chathair, Aon Leabhar One Book, One City

Lig Sinn i gCathú - A Galway Classic?

A discussion of Breandán Ó hEithir's famous novel of Galway

with

Alan Titley

Professor of Modern Irish, UCC

Introduced by Michael O'Loughlin

Galway City & County Writer in Residence

4.00pm, Saturday December 5th

Galway City Museum

Flood St., Galway

All welcome

Admission free

Organised by Michael O'Loughlin, Galway Writer in Residence

Funded by Galway City Council and The Arts Council

Evening of Poetry To Celebrate New Charlie Byrne's Bookshop in Oranmore

On THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5th, from 6pm Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop in association with Over The Edge presents an evening of poetry to celebrate their new shop in Oranmore

at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Oranmore Village (near the filling station!)

Local poets, including John Walsh, Mary Mullen, Jarlath Fahy, Miceal Kearney, Edward Lee, Connie Masterson, and Bernie Crawford will read their work in our new Oranmore bookshop.

Come along and enjoy refreshments and a browse through our selection of new and remaindered books. If you haven't gotten the chance to visit our Oranmore shop yet, this is the perfect opportunity!

http://www.charliebyrne.com/

Launch of 'Pluto's Noon Sky' by Gary King

Pluto's Noon Sky - Gary King launches his debut collection at 12 Noon on Saturday, 31st October in Galway City Museum.

North Beach Publications and Doire Press are pleased to announce the launch of 2008 North Beach Poetry Nights Grand Slam winner, Gary King's debut collection, which includes his winning poem, 'After Disco Lights'.

Susan DuMars, poet, fiction writer and co-organizer of Over the Edge will launch Gary's collection.
All are welcome.

Gary King won the 2008 North Beach Poetry Nights Grand Slam. He was also the runner-up in the 2007 Cuirt Festival Poetry Grand Slam. He has read his poems at the White House reading series in Limerick, the Over The Edge series in Galway and O’Bhéal in Cork. He was short-listed for the 2006 Cuirt Festival/Over The Edge showcase reading. Gary’s poems have been published widely in magazines such as Poetry Nottingham, Criterion, West 47 & The Burning Bush. A chapbook of his poems, Ambiguous Lights, was published by Over The Edge in 2004.

North Beach Poetry Nights announces November Slam with Tobias Manderson-Galvin

North Beach Poetry Nights announces the November Slam, the last qualifying 2-round slam before the December Grand Slam in The Crane Bar, Sea Road, Galway on Monday 9th November at 9pm with Guest Poet from Limerick via Canberra, Australia

Tobias Manderson-Galvin
"Munster Slam Champion 2009"

Playwright, poet, plastic artist, librettist, composer, Tobias Manderson-Galvin was born in Canberra, Australia.

“unstoppable” the Age - Melbourne;

“sweaty” the Adelaide Advertiser;

"ought to be locked up" bNews - Melbourne,

"relentlessly funny at times and soiled-underpants-scary at others"
Rip It Up Magazine - Adelaide

Tobias is a student of Politics and Philosophy at Limerick University. He converses in English, Dance and the language of the meadow.

http://www.samplecreative.com/ for more on his theatre company...

Poets wishing to take part in this last qualifying slam should bring 2 x 3 minute max memorized poems.

The prize for the Grand Slam winner is publication.

Door: 5 / 3 Euro

info: John Walsh @091-593290

North Beach Poetry Nights gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Galway City Council and the Arts Council.

Romanian Poet Denisa Mirena Pişcu for October Over The Edge: Open Reading

Denisa Mirena Pişcu

The October Over The Edge: Open Reading takes place in Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street, Galway on Thursday, October 29th, 6.30-8pm. The Featured Readers are Connie Masterson, Trevor Conway & Denisa Mirena Pişcu.

Connie Masterson is originally from Co. Fermanagh. She moved to Galway twenty five years ago. She has been attending workshops with Kevin Higgins at Galway Arts Centre for the last four years. Connie’s poetry has been published in Crannóg and she is currently a member of the Advanced Poetry Workshop at Galway Arts Centre whose recent publication Lady Gregory's Townhouse has been a rare poetry sell out. She has read her work at Clifden Arts Week. Connie was long-listed in this year’s Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition.

Trevor Conway is from Sligo and is studying the MA in Writing at NUI Galway. He writes fiction, poetry and music, dabbling in drama and script-writing. Currently, he is working on his first collection of poetry. His work has been published in magazines such as Poetry Salzburg Review, Flash Magazine, Decanto and Inclement. He has also been included in the anthology 'Poetic Expressions', published by Forward Press. He has attended classes with Kevin Higgins, Dermot Healy and DBC Pierre. Trevor promises never to write a poem about the recession, unless it refers to his hairline.

Denisa Mirena Pişcu hails from Bucharest, Romania. Her debut collection, Fluffy and Mechanical, was published in 2003 by Vinea Publishing House and was awarded the prize for best debut by the Association of Writers in Bucharest. Her poems are included in many anthologies, including Generation 2000 in Romanian Poetry, edited by Ştefania Mincu, (Pontica,2007). During 2007-2008, she was involved in the international project Overcoming Dictatorships – the Encounter of Artists, Poets and Writers, sponsored by the EU, gathering artists and writers from the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Romania and Poland. This tour of Ireland sees Denisa launch her second full collection, Disposable People, published by Galway Print, which will be available at the reading.

There will be an open-mic when the Featured Readers have finished. This is open to anyone who has a poem or story to share. New readers are always especially 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 and The Arts Council

John Arden launches 'GALLOWS AND OTHER TALES OF SUSPICION AND OBSESSION'

Margaretta D’Arcy

cordially invites you to the launch of

GALLOWS

AND OTHER TALES OF SUSPICION AND OBSESSION

by John Arden her life long partner

A celebration of his entry into his 80th year

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7th, at 3pm, GALWAY CITY MUSEUM.

The book will be launched by The Irish Times columnist and writer

FINTAN O'TOOLE

There will be an exhibition of the author's paintings based on his stories, and

a video documentary. He will give a reading at the museum each Saturday at 3pm until
the exhibition ends, Saturday November 25th.

Book includes DVD by Finn Arden - John Arden in his Own Words

www.margarettadarcy.com/johnarden

Reading at Charlie Byrne's Bookshop for Irish Great Book Week

The Great Irish Book Week takes place from Saturday the 24th to Saturday the 31st October 2009. Poetry: Reading it, Writing it, Publishing it, edited and compiled by Salmon Poetry managing editor Jessie Lendennie and published by Salmon earlier this year, has been selected as one of the 30 Great Irish Books featured during Great Irish Book Week.

A Reading from  Poetry: Reading it, Writing it, Publishing it Edited by Jessie Lendennie

One of 30 books selected for promotion during Publishing Ireland’s Great Irish Book Week, 24th - 31st October
Readers: Susan Millar DuMars, Kevin Higgins, Caroline Lynch, Joan McBreen, James C. Harrold, Gerry Hanberry, Celeste Augé
Introduction by Jessie Lendennie
Venue: Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle St., Galway
Date/Time: Saturday, 24th October, 6.30pm
http://www.salmonpoetry.com/poetry.html

North Beach Poetry Nights host All-Ireland Poetry Slam Championship

North Beach Poetry Nights announces its hosting of The All-Ireland Poetry Slam Championship 2009 in The Crane Bar, Sea Road, Galway on next Monday 26th October at 9pm.

8 poets, two chosen at regional heats in each province, compete for the title:
All-Ireland Poetry Slam Champion 2009
with Guest Poet from Cornwall Linda Cleary
Guest MC: Brendan Murphy (2007 All-Ireland Poetry Slam Champion)
and The Reverend Reynolds with his not so reverent songs.

Linda Cleary is a poet-writer-performer-artist, seen as being in the vanguard of young female performance poets and emerging as a radical nouvelle vague Romantic Poet. She works across disciplines; creating non-traditional, diverse work of spoken & written word. Her work often carries an urban and contemporary thrust. Her performance poetry and style has been seen as unique, strong, raw and challenging.

'Powerful, uncompromising, rhythmic verse. Tough, lyrical beauty. Packs poetic punches with aching sensitivity. A unique new voice. If you need a comparison, think; a young Joolz Denby, laced with Patti Smith overtones.' (Apples&Snakes)

http://www.lindacleary.co.uk/

http://www.facebook.com/linda.cleary

http://www.myspace.com/lindacleary

http://www.youtube.com/lindawildfire


The winner will be chosen by a panel of three judges.

See YOU there!

North Beach Poetry Nights gratefully acknowledges the welcome support of the Arts Council and Galway City Council.

Info: John Walsh @ 091-593290

INTRODUCTION TO SCREENWRITING WORKSHOP

Are you interested in writing for the screen?


Have you ever considered turning some of your written work into a screenplay?

Two UCLA Screenwriting Graduates guide you through the first steps of developing a feature length screenplay in an easy going supportive environment.

This workshop will concentrate on basic format and structure but will also include discussion on potential commercial avenues and industry secrets. You will be taken through the fundamentals to ensure your work is in a form which will give it its best chance of consideration.

Contact: baywriters@gmail.com or 086 3643925
Early booking essential as places are limited.
Saturday. November 7th. 11am-4pm
Special Introductory Price €75.
Venue: The Forster Court Hotel, Forster St, Galway

Poetry at the Literary & Debating Society at NUI Galway

NUI Galway

The Literary and Debating Society is delighted to host a panel of distinguished poets to discuss the topic of "Peripheral Vision: Poetry and writing in the West of Ireland” at 7pm on Thursday, 22nd October 2009 in the Kirwan Theatre on the main concourse of the Arts Concourse in NUI Galway.

The Land of Saints and Scholars, or the tomb of the now-defunct Celtic Tiger? It would be easy to romanticise the life of a west of Ireland poet as being all wind-swept cottages and tortured silences, but what is the reality of day-to-day life when you are pursuing your passion for verse? This panel discussion will explore how life in modern Ireland constrains and influences the writing that is defining a generation both at home and abroad, through a series of questions put forward by an interviewer alternated with readings of the authors' own work.

Confirmed panellists include Terry McDonagh, Susan Millar DuMars, and Kevin Higgins.

Terry McDonagh is a teacher, poet and dramatist of international acclaim. He has published several collections of poetry, a book of letters, a novel for young people and, in 2006, a collection of poetry for young people, BOXES. He has been writer in residence in Australia, Asia, several European countries and Ireland where he was resident writer in Coole Park, County Galway 2006. His work has been translated into German and Indonesian, grant aided by Ireland Literature Exchange. He was runner-up in the Fish Poetry Prize 2006.

Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins organise the highly successful ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ series in Galway City Library as well as the popular literary Friday evenings at Sheridan's Wine Bar. They also facilitate a wide range of creative writing workshops, both poetry and fiction. ‘Over The Edge’ works closely with the Galway Arts Centre and the Galway-based North Beach Poetry Nights. Susan Millar DuMars has published collections of both poetry and fiction, including Big Pink Umbrella (Salmon Poetry, 2008). Poet Kevin Higgins’ 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 third collection of poetry is due to be published next year.

--
163rd Session

Literary and Debating Society
National University of Ireland, Galway
http://www.literaryanddebating.com/

Over The Edge welcomes Galway City Council funding announcement

In a joint statement Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins said:

“We are delighted that Over The Edge is to receive the same level of funding from Galway City Council for the year to come as we did for the year just past. In the current atmosphere of general economic unpleasantness, this is a very good result indeed. Over The Edge organises a large number of well attended, quality literary events on a very tight budget.

                 This grant will go a long way to ensuring that we will be in a position to continue developing Over The Edge in 2010. We acknowledge the support of the City Council’s Arts Officer, James Harrold, and the members of Galway City Council, the overwhelming majority of whom have been warmly supportive of the work Over The Edge does.
                We are also delighted to see that North Beach Poetry Nights, with whom we work very closely, has received a similarly good result in the latest funding round. All things considered, Galway has without doubt the most vibrant literary scene in the country at the moment. We will do everything we can to ensure that this continues to be the case in the challenging times ahead.”

Ireland's First Ever Fiction Slam with Mia Gallagher

Mia Gallagher

Over The Edge presents Ireland’s first ever fiction slam with Featured Reader, Mia Gallagher, at Sheridan’s Wine Bar, 14-16 Church Yard Street, Galway on Friday, October 16th, 8pm.

Mia Gallagher is a writer and performer based in Dublin. Her debut novel HellFire (described as ‘a novel of many pleasures’ by Joe O’Connor and ‘a grand achievement’ by the Guardian) received international critical acclaim and the Literature Award in Irish Tatler’s Women of the Year 2007. Her short stories have been published in Ireland and abroad and have won the START short fiction award as well as being nominated for a Hennessy Award. She has also received Arts Council of Ireland funding for both literature and drama. Mia regularly gives workshops in creative writing, storytelling and performance as well as mentoring other writers on a one-to-one basis. She is currently Writer-in-Residence with the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology and Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.

Poetry slams have grown in popularity during the past few years, but now it’s the fiction writers’ turn. If you want take be part you need to register by e-mailing kphiggins@hotmail.com or texting your name to 087-6431748. The first nine fiction writers to do so will be guaranteed a place in the slam. Three additional places will be available on the night of the reading to the first three fiction writers to make it to Sheridan’s Wine Bar and give their names to MC Kevin Higgins. All participating writers should bring two pieces of their own fiction, as there are two rounds. The time limit in both rounds is five minutes. Extracts from longer stories are admissible. Stories do not have to be memorised. The Fiction Slam will be judged by a jury of audience members. Three writers will go through to the second round and the prize for the winner is a bottle of wine.

There is no entrance fee. All welcome. For further information contact 087-6431748.

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing generous financial support of the Arts Council and Galway City Council.

David Mohan & Orla Higgins winners in 2009 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year

David Mohan, winner in the poetry category for his poems Nursing a Star, Come to Light & The Samurai Lovers and 2009 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year. David will receive a cash prize of €700 and will be a Featured Reader at an Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library.

David Mohan lives and works in Dublin and writes poetry. He is a member of Lucan Writers. He has had poems featured in the 2008 and 2009 Oxfam calendars, and his poems have appeared in various publications including The Sunday Tribune, Revival and the 2008 poetry anthology Night and Day. He won the 2008 Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Poetry Award, as well as the overall New Irish Writing Award.

Orla Higgins winner in the fiction category for her story Thin Blue Line. Orla will receive a cash prize of €300.

Orla Higgins lives in Galway city. After taking a number of creative writing classes with Susan Millar DuMars at Galway Technical Institute, she recently completed the MA in Writing programme at NUIG and is working on her first novel. She also lectures part-time at the University with the Department of Marketing and the Huston School of Film. Orla was a Featured Reader at the September 2008 Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library and was also selected by the Cúirt Festival panel to read at the 2009 Cúirt Festival Over The Edge showcase.

The competition judge was Patrick Chapman. He had this to say about the winning entries:

“while there were many fine pieces on the shortlist, the winners stood out. They sustained their individual visions to the end with clarity, style and imagination; and their work was a pleasure to discover. I am glad to congratulate David Mohan and Orla Higgins, and I look forward to seeing much more of their work in the future.”

The shortlisted writers were
Graham Allen, Cork
Lisa Allen, Galway
Elizabeth Brennan, Dublin
Brendan Carey Kinane, Dublin
Mike Casey, Dublin
Paul Conway, Galway
Evan Costigan, Kildare
Madeleine Darcy, Cork
Ursula Deane, Dublin
Vincent Flannery, Galway
Andrew Fox, Dublin
Cristina Galvin, Galway
Richard Gibney, Dublin
Paul Jeffcutt, Down
Brian Kirk, Dublin
Tom Lavelle, Galway
Seán Leonard, Galway
Gemma Marren, Mayo
Patricia McAdoo, Galway
Marcella Morgan, Galway
David O'Dwyer, Dublin
Lani O'Hanlon, Waterford
Shane Ó Maoildhia, Galway
Kevin O'Shea, Galway
Brendan Murphy, Galway
Elizabeth Reapy, Mayo
Maureen Ryan, Galway – two entries on the long-list
Suzanne Walsh, Tipperary

This year's competition attracted 324 entries.

The 2009 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition was sponsored by Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Kelly Office Supplies, Mary Higgins & a generous individual donor who wishes to remain anonymous.