May Over The Edge Open Reading with Paul McVeigh, Una Mannion, & Sandra Coffey

Paul McVeigh

The May ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, May 26^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Paul McVeigh, Una Mannion, & Sandra Coffey. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are especially welcome. 

Sandra Coffey is a writer from Athenry, county Galway. She has been published in Crannóg, Honest Ulsterman, Incubator Journal, Silver Apples, Lampeter Review, Galway Review, ROPES and ‘Around the Farm Gate’ a collection of rural stories published by Ballpoint Press, RTE and the Farmer’s Journal. She was longlisted for the 2015 writing.ie Bord Gais Energy Irish Short Story of the Year. She works as a journalist for the Galway Independent. She tweets at @SandraCoffey 

Una Mannion teaches Performing Arts in IT Sligo. In March 2016, her poetry was published in the New Irish Writing page in The Irish Times and her fiction was shortlisted for the Cúirt New Writing Prize. She won the Yeats' Society's Seamus Heaney Prize and came second place in Dromineer Flash Fiction 2015. She has been shortlisted in the Listowel, Bridport, Fish Memoir and other competitions. She is currently completing an MA in Writing at NUI Galway. She lives in Sligo with her husband and three children.  

Born in Belfast, Paul McVeigh is an award-winning writer whose work has been performed on stage and radio, published in print and been translated into French, German, Polish, Russian and Spanish. He began his career as a playwright before moving to London where he wrote comedy shows, which were performed at the Edinburgh Festival and in London’s West End. His short stories have been published in literary journals and anthologies, read on BBC Radio 5 and commissioned by BBC Radio 4. He is the Co-Founder of London Short Story Festival, of which, he was the Director and Curator for 2014 & ’15. He is Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s premier short story salon. The Good Son is his first novel and was shortlisted for The Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, nominated for The People’s Book Prize, and shortlisted for The Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker’ Prize 2015. It was published in France in April 2016 and is a major German release for Autumn 2016. Paul received The McCrea Literary Award in 2015.

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always most welcome at the open-mic. 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.

SPRING POETRY WORKSHOPS AT GALWAY ARTS CENTRE

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 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. His most recent t book 2016 – The Selected Satires of Kevin Higgins was published by NuaScéalta earlier this year. 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 eight weeks, commencing the week of May 9^th. They will take place on Tuesday evenings, 7-8.30pm (first class May 10^th); on Thursday afternoons, 2-4pm (first class May 12^th) and on Friday afternoons, 2-3.30pm (first class May 13^th).

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 reception at Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, phone 091 565886 or email info@galwayartscentre.ie  

Spring Daytime Creative Writing with Susan Millar DuMars at Galway Arts Centre BOOK NOW

Starting in early May, 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, is being 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

Susan Millar DuMars

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, May 9th. It runs for 8 weeks.

The cost to participants is 90 Euro with an 80 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 or email info@galwayartscentre.ie

Eleventh Annual Cúirt Over The Edge New Writers' Showcase Reading

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 Over The Edge New Writing Showcase features three participants from the Over the Edge literary series in Galway – Aoife Reilly, Erin Fornoff, & Michelle Coyne – Kathryn Guille, the winner of the Cúirt New Writing Poetry Prize 2016 and John O’Donnell, the winner of the 2016 Cúirt New Writing Fiction Prize. The MC for the event will be regular Over The Edge host Susan Millar DuMars. It takes place on Wednesday, April 20^th, 3pm, at The Town Hall Theatre. Entry is free of charge. All welcome.

Michelle Coyne, Erin Fornoff, & Aoife Reilly

Michelle Coyne lives in Galway with her husband and two small boys, and works with computer software. Michelle has had short stories published in Ropes, Crannóg, wordlegs and Silver Apples, and was Long listed for the 2014 Over the Edge New Writer of the Year Award. Her story ‘The Sniper’ came third in the 2015 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. Michelle was a Featured Reader at the January 2015 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Aoife Reilly is originally from Laois, but has been living in Galway since 2012. She works as a psychotherapist and teacher and has been attending Kevin Higgins’s poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre since Autumn 2013. Aoife’s poetry has been published in Crannóg, Skylight 47, on the Poethead website, and in a wide variety of other poetry magazines recently. Aoife was a Featured Reader at the August 2015 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Appalachian born, Dublin-based poet Erin Fornoff has performed her poetry at Glastonbury, Electric Picnic, and dozens of other festivals and events across the UK and Ireland. She has been published in The Stinging Fly, Skylight 47, New Planet Cabaret, Cyphers, and many others. In 2014 she was selected for the 2014 Poetry Ireland Introductions Series and became Artistic Director for Lingo, Ireland's first ever spoken word festival. She is also working on a novel. Erin was a Featured Reader at the February 2015 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Kathryn Guille

Kathryn Guille is an American writer and choreographer living in Limerick City. Her screenplay, Enemy of the Freak State, has won the David Dortort Prize for Screenwriting, and her play, Venla and Henry has won the Alice Stark Award for Playwriting. Kathryn is a founding member of the New York Time’s acclaimed Ateh Theatre Group. She was an Off-Broadway and regional fight director and actress for over ten years before moving to Ireland. Kathryn holds a BFA from NYU’s TISCH School of the Arts, and an MFA in Creative Writing from The City College of New York. Kathryn is the winner of the 2016 Cúirt New Writing Poetry Prize. 

John O'Donnell

John O’Donnell’s work has been published and broadcast widely. Awards include the Irish National Poetry Prize, the Ireland Funds Prize and the Hennessy Award for Poetry in 1998. His fiction has been published in the Sunday Tribune, the Sunday Independent, The Stinging Fly, and online in Books Ireland and the Irish Times. Promise, his first short story, was published in 2011 and was broadcast on RTE’s The Book On One. In 2013 his story Shelley won the Hennessy Award for Emerging Fiction. He lives and works in Dublin. John is the winner of the 2016 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.

2016 Cúirt Festival of International Literature INVITES YOU to launch of 'Bone Fire' by Susan Millar DuMars

The 2016 Cúirt Festival of International Literature 

INVITES YOU 

to THE LAUNCH 

of Bone Fire by Susan Millar DuMars 

Date: Monday 18th April
Time: 8pm
Venue: Dock 1, upstairs 

Publisher: Salmon Poetry

Bone Fire

The bones are the bones of the poet – integral to the landscape of her body. The bones are the spines of trees, the bone white of the moon. They belong to the hawk, the blackbird, the lion and the deer. They are, too, the bones of the dead and discarded, the martyred and maimed and the simply inconvenient. They are the bones of the forgotten, who have not forgotten us...

The fire is love and lust – a lover’s tongue, a naked woman. It’s the red stones of a canyon. The fire is the red hair of the poet’s grandfather, the blood of JFK, a warehouse burning in South Philadelphia. Most of all, the fire is destruction; a torching, a bonfire, a clearing of space for whatever comes next.
Bone Fire is what we feel when history unfolds its dark feathers.

Bone Fire, a new collection of poetry by Susan Millar DuMars will be officially launched by Robyn Rowland.

For more about the launch see the Cúirt Festival website.