Salmon Poetry presents Galway launch of 'Witness Trees' by Lorna Shaughnessy

Salmon Poetry

invites you to celebrate the publication of a new

collection of poetry

Witness Trees by LORNA SHAUGHNESSY

Launch introduction

by

Des Kavanagh

VENUE:

The Space Invaders Gallery, The Cornstore, Middle Street, Galway

DATE/TIME:

Saturday 25th June, 2pm

All welcome!

Visit the Salmon website for further details:

http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=232&a=45

Salmon Poetry, Knockeven, Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare

Tel: 065 -7081941

email: info@salmonpoetry.com

NEWSFLASH Salmon Poetry To Publish Over The Edge Competition Winner

Nicola Griffin

Nicola Griffin won the poetry section in the 2010 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. Part of Nicola's prize was that Salmon Poetry would read a manuscript submitted to them by her. We are delighted to announce that Salmon Poetry has now accepted for publication Nicola's first collection of poems. The publication of her or his first book of poems is a huge moment in any poet's writing life. We are delighted that Nicola's entry into our competition has led directly to this major breakthrough for her as a poet.

Salmon Poetry will read, with no commitment to publish, a manuscript submitted to them by the winner of the poetry section in the 2011 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. For details on how to enter this year's competition see http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2011/02/2011-over-edge-new-writer-of-year.html

LAUNCH of North Beach Nights Grand Slam Anthology PLUS June Poetry Slam

North Beach Publications and Doire Press invites you to the launch of North Beach Nights: Anthology One, featuring Sarah Clancy, Mark James & Mikey McCrory, with a forward by Billy Ramsell.

Monday, June 20th, 7.30pm in The Crane Bar

Launch by Billy Ramsell
-----------------
After the North Beach Nights 'Anthology One' launch on Monday June 20th

North Beach Poetry Nights' Slam

with guest poet Billy Ramsell, Cork.

Billy Ramsell was born in Cork in 1977 and educated at the North Monastery and UCC. Complicated Pleasures, his first collection, was published by the Dedalus Press, Dublin, in 2007. He has been shortlisted for a Hennessy award and a Strong award. He has been invited to read his work at many festivals around the world; most recently in Shanghai and in San Francisco. He lives in Cork where he co-runs an educational publishing company

Poets wishing to enter the June Slam should have 2 max. 3 minute poems. The poem for the 2nd round must be performed without a script.

Info: John@ 091-593290

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

Galway Night of Eco Poetry

You are invited to join the Galway Night of Eco Poetry - to be held at Ard Bia at Nimmos, 8 p.m. on Saturday 11th of June. There will be two featured poets, Tom Duddy and Sabine Lenore Mueller, reading a selection of their works, followed by an open mike session to share and enjoy poetry with nature at heart. Join in and let your voice be heard!

With this night of poetry we will celebrate the closing of our conference "From Ego to Eco - Imagining Ecocentrism in Literature, Film, and Philosophy" hosted by the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at NUIG – All are welcome!

If you are interested in taking part, please sent an email to ecopoetrygalway@hotmail.com and let us know how many/which pieces you would like to perform!

May 'Over The Edge: Open Reading' with Rita Ann Higgins, Angela Carr & 2010 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year, Seamus Scanlon

The May Over The Edge: Open Reading takes place in Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street, Galway on Thursday, May 26th, 6.30-8pm. The Featured Readers are Seamus Scanlon, Angela Carr & Rita Ann Higgins. The reading is also one of series of events which will mark Galway for Japan Day. Galway for Japan Day gives the people of Galway an opportunity to express their solidarity with the victims of the recent earthquake in the Tohuku province of Japan. Yoshimi Hayakawa of The Wa Café will read a poem at the open-mic on the evening to mark the day.

Seamus Scanlon is a native of Galway and currently living in New York. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from City College New York where he won numerous awards for fiction and drama. He was a runner up in 2010 Fish Publishing One Page competition and the winner in 2011 and was short-listed for the 2009 New Irish Writing Awards. He also won a prestigious Carnegie Corporation/New York Times award for librarianship in Dec 2009 with prize money of $5,000. His first ever reading was at the Over The Edge open-mic in Galway City Library in early 2004. Last September, Seamus was chosen by competition judge, James Martyn, as 2010 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year for his story ‘The Butterfly Love Song’. This reading is part of Seamus’s prize for winning the Over The Edge competition. He also received a cash prize of €700.

Angela T Carr hails from Glasgow, via Donegal, and has lived and worked in Dublin since 1999. She began writing poetry in 2007 and since then her work has been short-listed for the Single Poem award at Listowel Writers Week 2008, published in the Fish Anthology 2009, Commended in the Francis Ledwidge International Poetry Award 2010 and Highly Commended in the Over the Edge - New Writer of the Year 2010. She is a member of the Words on the Wind poetry group, at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin, and excerpts from her poems were published on the streets of Dublin, as part of the Upstart initiative during the General Election campaign.

Rita Ann Higgins was born in 1955 in Galway, Ireland. She divides her time between Galway City and Spiddal, County Galway. Her first five collections of poetry were published by Salmon: Goddess on the Mervue Bus (1986); Witch In The Bushes 1988); Goddess and Witch (1990); Philomena’s Revenge (1992); and, Higher Purchase (1996). Bloodaxe Books published her next three collections: Sunny Side Plucked (1996); An Awful Racket (2001); and Throw in the Vowels: New & Selected Poems in May 2005 to mark her 50th birthday. Her plays include: Face Licker Come Home (Salmon 1991); God of the Hatch Man (1992), Colie Lally Doesn't Live in a Bucket (1993); and Down All the Roundabouts (1999). In 2004, she wrote a screenplay entitled The Big Break. In 2008 she wrote a play, The Empty Frame, inspired by Hanna Greally, and in 2008 a play for radio, The Plastic Bag. Her collection Sunny Side Plucked was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She is a member of Aosdána. Her most recent book Hurting God – Part Essay Part Rhyme was published last year by Salmon.

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 http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com

May Over The Edge Writers' Gathering with Art Stringer, Ron Houchin, Jane Williams & Sarah Griffin

The Over The Edge May Writers’ Gathering presents readings by poets from the United States and Australia plus the launch of a new collection of poetry by one of Irish poetry’s exciting new talents. Art Stringer, Ron Houchin & Jane Williams will read their work at The Kitchen @ The Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway on Friday, May 13th, 8pm. The evening will also see the launch by Professor Adrian Frazier of Follies, the debut poetry collection by Sarah Griffin, which has just been published by Lapwing Press. All are welcome.

A. E. Stringer is the author of two collections of poems, Channel Markers (Wesleyan University Press) and Human Costume (Salmon Poetry). His work has appeared in such journals as The Nation, Antaeus, The Ohio Review, Denver Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah, Poetry Northwest, and in Backcountry: Contemporary Writing in West Virginia. He has edited and introduced a new edition of Louise McNeill’s Paradox Hill, (West Virginia University Press, 2009). He has read his work in a wide range of American locales and also previously in Galway. For twenty years, he has taught writing and literature at Marshall University in West Virginia USA.

Ron Houchin lives on the banks of the Ohio River across from his hometown of Huntington, West Virginia. For thirty years, he taught public school in the Appalachian region of southernmost Ohio. He has three books published by Salmon Publishing, Death And The River (1997), Moveable Darkness (2002), and Museum Crows (2009). His other books Among Wordless Things (2004) and Birds In The Tops Of Winter Trees (2008) were published by Wind Publications of Nicholasville, Kentucky. His awards include Appalachian-Book-of-the-Year-in-Poetry, a National Society of Arts and Letters Prize, an Ohio Arts Council Fellowship, a poetry prize from Indiana University, a Writers’ Digest Award.

Jane Williams was born in England in 1964 to an Irish father and Australian mother. She has lived all her adult life in Australia where her poetry has been widely published since the early 1990’s. Awards for her poetry include the Anne Elder Award for her first book outside temple boundaries, the Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize and the D.J.O'Hearn Memorial Fellowship. She is the author of four collections of poems and lives in Tasmania. Samples of her work can be found at http://www.janewilliams.wordpress.com/

Sarah Maria Griffin is currently completing her MA in Writing at NUI Galway. Sarah won first prize at the 2010 Over the Edge Fiction Slam in Galway and has appeared on RTE Radio’s Arena speaking about and performing her poetry. She recently took part in a Culture Ireland sponsored showcase of the best of Irish performance poetry at the famous Nuyorican Poets’ Café in New York City. Follies, Sarah’s debut collection of poetry, has just been published by Lapwing Press and will be launched by Professor Adrian Frazier, Director of the MA in Writing at NUI Galway.

There is no entrance fee. The Kitchen @ The Museum has a wine licence. 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.

Irish Writers' Centre: Poetry and Short Stories Publishing Seminar

On Saturday 2nd July the Irish Writers' Centre is hosting a day-long Poetry and Short Stories Publishing Seminar with leading figures across a variety of branches of the publishing industry.

Talks will be given by Ciaran Carty, Editor of New Irish Writing; Declan Meade, Editor of the Stinging Fly; Jessie Lendennie, Managing Director of Salmon Poetry; Kevin Barry, Short Story Writer and Novelist; and Kevin Higgins, Poet and Co-organiser of Over The Edge Reading Series.

From 10.30am to 4.30pm. Tickets €60 or €50 for members.
--
Irish Writers' Centre
19 Parnell Square
Dublin 1
t: +353 (0)1 872 1302
e: info@writerscentre.ie
http://www.writerscentre.ie

Poetry Workshops at Galway Arts Centre with Kevin Higgins STARTING IN MAY

Starting in early May, 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 last year by Salmon and his work also appears in the generation defining anthology Identity Parade –New British and Irish Poets (Ed. Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010). Kevin’s next collection The Ghost in The Lobby will be published next year by Salmon.

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, another the Cúirt New Writing Prize, while several have published collections of their poems. Kevin is also co-organiser of the successful Over The Edge reading series which specialises in promoting new writers.

Each workshop will run for eight weeks, commencing the week of May 2nd. They will take place on Tuesday evenings, 7-8.30pm (first class May 3rd); on Thursday afternoons, 2-4pm (first class May 5th) and on Friday afternoons, 2-3.30pm (first class May 6th).

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 €90, with an €80 concession rate.

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

Daytime Creative Writing with Susan Millar DuMars at Galway Arts Centre STARTING IN MAY

Starting in May, Galway Arts Centre presents a daytime class for all those beginner and continuing creative writing students out there, both facilitated by Susan Millar DuMars. Susan Millar DuMars writes both poetry and fiction. A collection of her stories, Lights In The Distance, was published last year by Doire Press; she has published two collection of poetry, Big Pink Umbrella (2008) and Dreams For Breakfast (2010) both with Salmon Poetry. She is also co-organiser of the Over The Edge reading series which specifically promotes new writers.

The class is suitable for both beginning and continuing creative writing students, working in either poetry or fiction. Students will spend their week 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, 2-3.30pm, commencing on Monday May 9th and runs for eight weeks.

The cost to participants is 90 Euro with an 80 Euro concession price. Booking is essential as places are limited. For booking please contact Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, phone 091 565886 or email victoria@galwayartscentre.ie

Poetry Chicks at May North Beach Poetry Nights PLUS monthly slam

North Beach Poetry Nights' Slam

on Monday 9th May

in the Crane Bar at 9 pm

with The Poetry Chicks from Derry.

Abby Oliveira and Pamela Brown have been performing together as The Poetry Chicks since 2006. They are based in Derry and are regular performers on the British and Irish poetry scenes, including appearances at Glastonbury, Electric Picnic, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and Flatlake Literary Festival. Together they perform uncompromising and original work. They are modern bards with an ancient mission - to rekindle the verve of Spoken Word in their endless search for the truth about the world and about themselves.

Reviews

‘...the best thing to happen to Irish literature since the beatniks…’ Pat McCabe (author The Butcher Boy, Breakfast on Pluto)

‘the Poetry Chicks (and Connor Kelly)…so sexy your eyes will water…are among the wonders of the modern age, or soon will be!’ Eamonn McCann (Journalist Hot Press)

‘…the wonderfully entertaining Poetry Chicks.’ Brian O’Connell (The Irish Times.com)

Abby Oliveira was born in Scotland in 1982. Since graduating with a 1st class BAHons degree in Theatre Studies in 2004 she has worked in theatre, poetry/prose/stage writing and street performance and performs regularly with groups such as In Your Space and Sole Purpose Productions, Derry. She has also facilitated writing workshops extensively throughout the country and abroad with children and adults of all ages, and her poetry has been widely published. She was the winner of the Belfast Poetry Performance Cup (2006) and a finalist in the Cúirt, Electric Picnic, Glastonbury festival (2009), and Belfast Poetry Slams (2007), as well as a semi finalist in the BBC Radio 4 slam (2009).

Pamela Brown is a published poet who has written comedy sketches for radio. She has had two plays produced; one of which was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (1993). Collaborating with the Dutch photographer Jan Voster, her work has been exhibited in Holland and Ireland. Working for Artists in Creative Enterprise she was a leading facilitator for Wordflight, a prose and poetry project resulting in an anthology by young writers. She was involved with the Your Space or Mine? A project run by ARTS, a research group in the Architecture department at the University of Ulster. Pamela has a commendation in Community Drama from the University of Ulster.

Poets wishing to enter the May Slam should have 2 max. 3 minute poems.


The poem for the 2nd round must be performed without a script.


Door 5/3 Euro.


Info: John@ 091-593290


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

On The Farm presents Mixed Grazing

On the Farm

Presents:

Mixed Grazing

Sarah Clancy (poetry)

Tom Cussen (music)

Alan McMonagle (fiction)

Rab Fulton (storyteller)

May 21st 1pm

Ballinderreen, Co. Galway

M.C: Brendan Murphy

Event not weather permitting

Details and Directions:

087 9139698

farmreadings@yahoo.com

And it’s Free.

Sarah Clancy wins 2011 Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam

Congratulations to Sarah Clancy who this afternoon won the 2011 Poetry Grand Slam at The Cúirt International Festival of Literature with her poem 'Hippy Get A Job'. Sarah will now perform at the Vilenica International Literary Festival in Slovenia in September. On Wednesday Sarah was one of the readers at this year's Cúirt / Over The Edge Showcase reading at the Druid Lane Theatre.

Congratulations also to Laurie Leech and Adam White who took second and third place respectively. Sarah, Laurie and Adam will now perform their work at the Electric Picnic Festival in August.

2011 Cúirt Over The Edge Showcase reading with Sarah Clancy, Nicola Griffin, Paul Casey PLUS Cúirt New Writing Prize Winners

2011 Cúirt Over The Edge Showcase Reading

Wednesday, April 13th, 3.30pm

Druid Lane Theatre
All welcome

The 2011 Cúirt Over The Edge showcase reading takes place as part of this year's Cúirt International Festival of Literature at the Druid Lane Theatre, Galway on Wednesday, April 13th, 3.30pm. The writers showcased this year are Sarah Clancy, Nicola Griffin &  Paul Casey. The reading will be introduced by regular Over The Edge host, Susan Millar DuMars.

This event has grown since its inception in 2006 to become one of Ireland's premier platforms for showcasing new poets and fiction writers. Participating writers have previously been Featured Readers at Ireland's most successful reading series, the Over The Edge: Open Readings in Galway City Library. This year the three winners of the Cúirt New Writing Prize 2011 (to be announced) will read with the Over The Edge writers. The Cúirt New Writing Prize is kindly sponsored by Tígh Neactain in memory of Lena Maguire. http://www.galwayartscentre.ie/cuirt/literature/118.html

Sarah Clancy is from Salthill. She is a participant in the Galway Arts Centre Poetry Workshops facilitated by Kevin Higgins. This year, in a display of what she describes as beginners luck, Sarah was shortlisted in the poetry section of the WOW awards, the Listowel Writers Week Collection of Poetry Competition and the Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. Her poems feature in Behind The Masks, a publication of work by participants in the advanced poetry workshop at Galway Arts Centre. A collection of her poems, Stacy and The Mechanical Bull, was published recently by Lapwing Press. Sarah was a Featured Reader at the August 2010 Over The Edge: Open Reading. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2010/08/august-over-edge-open-reading-with.html

Nicola Griffin grew up in Cheshire in the North West of England and studied Psychology and Sociology at the University of Keele in Staffordshire. She has lived in East Clare since 1997. She writes poetry, non-fiction and fiction, is a graduate of the MA in Writing at NUIG and a participant in the Advanced Poetry Workshop at Galway Arts Centre. She has a regular column in Inland Waterways News and her poetry has recently been published in Ropes Unravelled, The Sunday Tribune, The Stinging Fly, Behind The Masks, Crannóg and Nthposition.com. Nicola won the poetry section in the 2010 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. She was a Featured Reader at the September 2010 Over The Edge: Open Reading. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-over-edge-open-reading-with.html

Paul Casey was born in Cork in 1968. He has lived in a number of countries in Europe and Africa working mostly in film, multimedia and teaching. Paul taught scriptwriting at the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. He now organises the weekly Ó Bhéal poetry event in Cork city. His poetry and reviews have appeared in a number of Irish journals including THE SHOp, Revival, Cork Literary Review, Southword and Census. A chapbook of Paul’s longer poems, It’s Not All Bad, was published by Heaventree Press in May 2009. In June 2010 he completed a poetry-film, The Lammas Hireling, which has been accepted for Berlin’s biennial Zebra International Poetry-Film festival. Paul is working towards his first full collection. He was a Featured Reader at the March 2010 Over The Edge: Open Reading. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2010/03/poet-and-fiction-writer-mary-odonnell.html

The winners of this year’s Cúirt New Writing Prize are Celeste Augé (fiction), Marie Cadden (poetry) and Hedy Gibbons (memoir).

Celeste Augé was born in Canada but came to live in Galway when she was twelve years old. She writes both fiction and poetry, and is currently working on a manuscript of short stories as well as her second poetry collection. In 2009, she was short-listed for a Hennessy Literary Award for poetry. She lives in County Galway with her husband and young son. Celeste was a Featured Reader at the February 2004 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Marie Cadden lives in Spiddal, Co. Galway. Until 2007, she was a teacher of the deaf and children with autism. Her poems have been published in The Recorder (USA), THE SHOp, ROPES, Revival, Boyne Berries, Galway Arts Centre Advanced Poetry Workshop anthology Lady Gregory’s Townhouse, 2009, and Behind the Masks, 2010 (co-editor). She was awarded ‘Highly Commended’ in the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year 2010 and in the Francis Ledwidge Poetry Award 2009, and also shortlisted for Cuirt /Over the Edge Showcase Readings in 2010 and 2011. Marie was a Featured Reader at the February Over The Edge: Open Reading. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2009/02/patrick-kavanagh-award-winner-for.html

A native of Cork, Hedy Gibbons has lived in Galway for thirty years. Formerly a mid-wife, latterly a counselling psychologist, now an aspiring writer, for the past twelve years she has been writing short prose and poetry. Much of her work has been broadcast on RTE’s Sunday Miscellany and Lyric FM’s Quiet Quarter, and published in their subsequent anthologies. A chapter from her memoir has been published in County Lines (New Island, 2006). Her poetry has been published in Divas! A Sense of Place (Arlen House, 2005) and Ropes – In Knots (NUIG, 2007), and has been short-listed for a number of awards. She was shortlisted for the 2009 Cúirt Over The Edge Showcase reading. Hedy was a Featured Reader at the March 2008 Over The Edge: Open Reading. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2008/03/american-novelist-michael-strelow-at.html

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing support of Galway City Library, Galway City Council, The Arts Council and The Cúírt Festival of International Literature.

http://www.cuirt.ie/component/option,com_rsevents/Itemid,116/cid,14/layout,show/view,events/

Cúirt Festival Launch of Poems for Patience and The Cat's Cradle-Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust

In association with

Cúirt International Festival of Literature

warmly invites you to the launch of

POEMS FOR PATIENCE VIII

An exhibition of poems selected and introduced by Dennis O’Driscoll

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust invites you to come along to the launch of the eighth series of the very successful Poems for Patience initiative. Poet Dennis O’Driscoll will introduce 21 poems he has selected, including works by Poets reading at this year’s festival. The poetry is circulated throughout the waiting areas of University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park University Hospital. For the duration of the festival, the poems will be on display on the Art Corridor, University Hospital, Galway.

Dennis O’Driscoll, born in Tipperary in 1954, he has published eight books of his poetry, a collection of his essays and reviews, a book of quotations about poetry and a collection of his interviews with Seamus Heaney. His awards include a Lannan Literary Award, the E. M. Forster Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the O’Shaughnessy Award from the Center of Irish Studies in Minnesota, and the Argosy Irish Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature by University College Dublin in 2009.

and

THE CAT’S CRADLE VI

Memoirs and Stories from patients in Units 5 & 6 edited and introduced by Kevin Higgins

Volume 6 of Cat’s Cradle – That Must Be Me! – will also be launched on the Art Corridor. Kevin Higgins; Merlin Park University Hospital Writer-in-Residence has compiled stories by patients from Units Five and Six of Merlin Park University Hospital using photographs and memorabilia.

The opening is on Friday 15th April at 11.00am on the Arts Corridor, University Hospital Galway

(The Arts Corridor is located just off the main foyer of the hospital in the direction of the Out Patients Department)

For further details contact
Margaret Flannery
Arts Officer
Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust
Galway University Hospital,
Galway
Ireland
Tel: +353 (0)91 544979
Email: margaret.flannery@hse.ie

Spring Creative Writing at GMIT with Susan Millar DuMars

Susan Millar DuMars will give support, instruction and feedback to students who are interested in writing either fiction (short stories, novels) or poetry. The course takes place one evening per week (Wednesday) for 7 weeks from 7–9 p.m. The course commences on Wednesday, April 20th. Advance booking is essential. Places cost €95.00. For further details or to book a place contact GMIT, Dublin Road, Galway. Telephone 091-742145 or see http://www.gmit.ie/

Susan was born in Philadelphia in 1966 to a Belfast-born mother. She holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco. Her poems and short stories have been published widely in the US, UK and Ireland. Susan's stories have been short-listed for many awards, and in 2005 she received an Irish Arts Council Bursary for her fiction. American Girls, a volume of her short stories, was published by Lapwing in 2007. Since 2003, Susan and her husband Kevin Higgins have organised the successful Over the Edge reading series, showcasing new writers. Susan teaches creative writing at Galway Technical Institute, Galway Arts Centre, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology and on the Brothers of Charity Away With Words programme. Big Pink Umbrella (Salmon Poetry, 2008) was the first full collection of her poetry. One of her poems was chosen by editor, Mathew Sweeney, for inclusion in Best of Irish Poetry 2010 (Southword Editions). Several of her poems feature in Landing Places: Immigrant Poets in Ireland, edited by Eva Bourke (Dedalus Press, March 2010). Her second collection of poems, Dreams for Breakfast, was published this April by Salmon Poetry. Her first full collection of short stories, Lights In The Distance, is published this December by Doire Press.

http://www.gmit.ie/lifelong-learning/lifelong-learning-programmes/general-interest/artistic-creative/creative-writing-beginners.html

Dave Lordan at North Beach Poetry Nights

North Beach Poetry Nights' Slam on Monday 11th April in the Crane Bar at 9 pm with guest Poet - DAVE LORDAN (Dublin)

Dave Lordan is a powerful and provocative performer, who has carved out a niche for himself in the literary and performance world all over Ireland and abroad. Dave's collections are The Boy in The Ring (Salmon Poetry, 2007), which won the Strong Award for best first collection by an Irish writer and was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Prize, and Invitation to a Sacrifice (Salmon Poetry, 2010), which the Irish Times called: 'an act of cultural resistance, as brilliant on the page as it must surely be in performance'. Éigse Riada theatre company produced his first play, Jo Bangles, at the Mill Theatre, Dundrum in 2010.

Dave Lordan is not to be missed!

Poets wishing to enter the March Slam should have 2 max. 3 minute poems. The poem for the 2nd round must be performed without a script. So time to get memorizing now!

Door 5/3 Euro.

Info: John@ 091-593290

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

The Pamphlet Project Launches Issue 1 at Testify! @ Roisín Dubh

Each issue of The Pamphlet Project will see a poet collaborate with a visual artist. Issue 1 was designed by Clare Lymer with words by Elaine Cosgrove and will be launched at Testify! @ The Roisín Dubh on Monday, April 4th, 8pm.

Clare Lymer recently returned to her hometown Galway after successfully completing her B.A. in (Hons) Photography at University of the Arts London. Her photographic work has been selected to front and promote various projects. These include Source Photographic Review’s Graduate Photography Project 2009, the Arts Council of England’s ‘Own Art’ in 2010 – an initiative to engage and inspire new buyers of contemporary art, and by Camberwell College of Arts in a showcase for their B.A. Photography course.

In 2009, curator Johan Sjöström of The Gothenburg Museum of Art in Sweden chose Clare’s work as part of his best 6 graduating photography students from the U.K. and Ireland. She was one of selected graduate artists to exhibit in the PhotoIreland Festival 2010, Ireland’s first international festival of Photography and Image Culture. In 2010, Clare was an artist in residence at the Burren College of Art and her work on ley lines made the final longlist for the Gallery of Photography’s Artist’s Award. She has been published and exhibited in Ireland, the U.K. and Germany.

Elaine Cosgrove is 25, comes from Sligo and currently lives in Galway. She writes poetry and flash fiction and loves both almost the same. Elaine graduated from N.U.I. Galway in 2007 with a B.A. (Hons) in English, Sociology & Political Science. Elaine has participated in a creative writing seminar facilitated by Mary O’Malley, and creative writing classes facilitated by Kevin Higgins and Susan Millar DuMars.

In 2010, Elaine was shortlisted for the ‘Fish Publishing One Page Story Prize’ and also the ‘Over the Edge New Writer of the Year Competition’. Following this, she was a featured reader at the December ‘Over the Edge Reading’ in the Galway City Library. She took part in a ‘Poetry Depot’, co-organised by SpiritStore and Ink Storm, for Culture Night Limerick 2010.

Elaine has self-published two chapbooks called be still, girl, be still and Varnish. She read poems from Varnish at the ‘Over the Edge Poetry Showcase 2011’. Most recently, Elaine has been published by the online magazine wordlegs and has set-up a small chapbook publishing press called opener chapbooks.

Cúirt Festival Masterclasses

Please note that the closing date for applications for the Poetry and Prose Masterclasses during Cúirt, is next Friday, 25th March at midnight.


Submissions are welcomed for the Fiction Masterclass with Dermot Healy on Wednesday 13th April, 11am-1pm, Hotel Meyrick, Eyre Square and the Poetry Masterclass with Simon Armitage, Thursday 14th April, 11am-1pm, Hotel Meyrick, Eyre Square.


To apply, please email your contact details to siobhan@galwayartscentre.ie along with a sample of your work (750 words max for prose and 2 poems for poetry).


The cost of each Masterclass is €20.


For more details of the festival programme see: http://www.cuirt.ie

March Poetry Slam at Galway Arts Centre

The next Galway Arts Centre Poetry Slam with MC Pete Mullineaux will take place Tuesday March 15th at 7pm at the Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street.

Anyone can participate on the night and new comers are very welcome. To participate you need one poem/piece that will take about 3 minutes to perform. Judges on the night will select their favourite and the winner will be invited to be a guest reader at the next slam as well as qualifying for the Cúirt Grand Slam which will take place during this year's Cúirt International Festival of Literature 12-17 April 2011. In addition to this, the winner's poem will be published on the Galway Arts Centre website along with a biography of the contestant. There will also be an interactive words game on the night with a Charlie Byrne's Bookshop voucher up for grabs.


Our guest reader this month will be last month's winner, Dave Rock.

Loose Lips @ Róisin Dubh

This Wednesday, 30th March, as usual, upstairs in the Roisin at 9pm, another fantastic Loose Lips story telling session.

Theme: SURPRISES!

Have you ever surprised someone? Ever been surprised? Or do you just want to tell us how much you love or hate surprises? Maybe the story itself will be a surprise?

And if you don't have a story, why not come along and listen, because all story tellers need listeners.