February Over The Edge: Open Reading with Jaki McCarrick, Ciaran Ferriter, & Paul Lewis

The February ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, February 23^rd, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Jaki McCarrick, Ciaran Ferriter, & Paul Lewis. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always especially welcome at the open-mic. 

Jaki McCarrick

Paul Lewis was born in Cork and lived there for many years, enamoured of the city's many charms. He now lives in Galway where he continues to work as a cook. Daily preparing vegetables for hours allows Paul time to "write in his head". Some of this makes it onto the page. Paul is very much looking forward to his first reading outside of writing workshops. He has participated in writing workshops with both Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins and, so far, lived to tell the tale.  

Ciaran Ferriter works in catering in a top secret location in Galway. He lives in rural Mayo, where the peace cajoles him to write every evening without fail. His first ever submission was published by the Mayo Advertiser called the 'Passing Storm' which has proved very popular online. Currently he is working with Susan Millar DuMars, in her Advanced Fiction class, on a major project which is a very complicated work, entwining biblical history, treachery, espionage and a Pope who has been earmarked by extremists to join his creator. Ciaran has only been writing seriously for two years and intends to add another twenty two to that if life permits.

Jaki McCarrick lives in Dundalk and studied at Trinity College, Dublin, gaining a Master of Philosophy Degree, Creative Writing – Distinction. Jaki is a playwright and short story writer who is also working on a novel. Her critically acclaimed short story collection The Scattering was published in 2013 by Seren and shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. She has won many awards for her work including: Winner of the 2005 SCDA National Playwriting Competition for The Mushroom Pickers; Shortlisted for the Sphinx Playwriting Award 2006, Bruntwood Prize 2006, Kings Cross Award 2007 for The Moth-Hour; Shortlisted for the 2009 Adrienne Benham Award for Leopoldville and the 2009 Asham Award for short fiction for The Congo. Jaki was also the first ever winner of the Liverpool Lennon Paper Poetry competition, which she was awarded by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. Jaki McCarrick's blog is jakiscloudnine.blogspot.ie

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always particularly 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, Poetry Ireland & The Arts Council.

Are You Free Wednesday mornings?

2017 Over The Edge Poetry Book Showcase at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop

The 2017 Over The Edge Poetry Book Showcase featuring Alvy Carragher, Breda Joyce, Miceál Kearney, Mary Lee, Pete Mullineaux, Luke Morgan, Susan Millar DuMars, Marie Cadden, Kevin Higgins, James O’Toole, Gerry Hanberry, Liz Quirke, Nicki Griffin, Sighle Meehan, Mary Madec, Ger Reidy and the anthologies Even The Daybreak - 35 Years of Salmon Poetry (Salmon), The Poet’s Quest For God (Eyewear Publishing), Fermata – Writings Inspired By Music (Artisan House) & Poems For Jeremy Corbyn (Shoestring Press) will take place at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop on Friday, February, 10^th  at 6.30pm. 

In this annual retrospective of the year just past, Galway-based poets, who published a new collection of poems during 2016, are invited to read three poems from the collection in question. There will also be short readings from the anthologies Poems For Jeremy Corbyn (Shoestring Press, Ed. Merryn Williams), Fermata – Writings Inspired By Music  (Artisan House, Ed. Eva Bourke & Vincent Woods), Even The Daybreak - 35 Years of Salmon Poetry (Salmon, Ed. Jessie Lendennie), & The Poet’s Quest For God (Eyewear Publishing, Ed. Fr. Oliver Brennan, & Todd Swift with Kelly Davio & Cate Myddleton-Evans), all of which include poems by Galway-based writers.

All welcome. There is no cover charge. For further details phone 087-6431748.

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

January Over The Edge: Open Reading with Tim Sniffen, Helena Kilty, & Vinny Steed

The January ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, January 19^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Vinny Steed, Helena Kilty, & Tim Sniffen. This reading marks the fourteenth anniversary of the first Over The Edge reading in Galway City Library.

Tim Sniffen

Vinny Steed has had work published abroad and at home.  His poems have featured in the Galway Review, Headstuff, Skylight 47, Crannóg, Into the Void, Tales from the Forest magazine and in the upcoming Ofi Press magazine in February.  He was long listed for the 2015 & 2016 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition and short listed for the 2016 Doolin poetry competition.  One of his poems was recently nominated by Into the Void for the Pushcart Prize.  He attends poetry workshops in the Galway Arts Centre.

Helena Kilty lives in Galway, where she divides her time between writing and working as a psychotherapist. She’s currently completing a collection of short stories. She also writes non-fiction and poetry. She’s a member of the Galway Writers’ Workshop and completed the MA in writing at NUI Galway in 2012. Her work has been published in Surge: New Writing From Ireland (O’Brien Press), Skylight47, Crannóg, Poems in profile and in the Abandoned Darlings anthology.

Tim Sniffen studied writing and animation at Hampshire College and began working with Chicago’s Second City theater in 2003: credits there include The Second City Guide To The Opera, Death of a Streetcar Named Virginia Woolf and the recent Longer! Louder! Wagner! -- The Second City Wagner Companion, because who doesn’t like taking a few jabs at Hitler’s favourite easy-listening music? Tim has written for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, National Public Radio and keeps his own Tumblr site for things that everyone else refuses to print. You can find him as MisterSniffen on Twitter for jokes and the occasional David Versus Goliath squabble with airlines and movie theaters.

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always most 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, Poetry Ireland, & The Arts Council.

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust is seeking entries again for its exciting annual poetry competition

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust is seeking entries again for its exciting annual poetry competition. 

 
CRITERIA: poems entered in the competition should be no more than 30 lines long. They must be the original work of the entrant. Poems previously published in magazines or poetry collections are eligible. Multiple entries are accepted; poets can enter as many poems as they wish.

PRIZE 
*the winner will have her or his poem published and displayed on the Arts Corridor of University Hospital Galway as part of the 2017 Poems For Patience. Poems For Patience is a long running series which over the past decade has featured poems by leading Irish and international poets such as Seamus Heaney, Philip Schultz, Jane Hirschfield, Michael Longley, Vona Groarke, Tess Gallagher and many more. The poems after exhibition on the Arts Corridor are then displayed in waiting areas throughout Galway University Hospitals.

*the winner will be invited to read his or her winning poem at the launch of the 2017 Poems For Patience at the Cúirt International Festival of Literature in April 2017.

*the winner will be provided with accommodation in Galway if travelling for one night during the 2017 Cúirt International Festival of Literature

*the winner will be given a copy of their poem printed and framed as a Poem for Patience poster

*the winner will be asked to submit six poems for consideration to be a Featured Reader at the Over The Edge: Open Reading series in Galway City Library. 

ENTRY FEE: to enter one poem the fee is €10. If you enter two or more poems the entry fee is €7.50 per poem i.e. to enter two poems it costs €15, to enter three poems €22.50 and so on.

Payment should be made by cheque or postal order payable to Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust. 

Entries should be sent by post to Margaret Flannery, Arts Director, Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust, Galway University Hospitals, University Hospital, Newcastle Road, Galway. Do not put your name on the poems; please include your contact details on a separate sheet. 

THE CLOSING DATE is Friday, March 3rd 2017

THE JUDGE: The competition judge is Kevin Higgins. Kevin Higgins is Writer-in-Residence with Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust. He facilitates poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre; teaches creative writing at Galway Technical Institute, on the NUI Galway Summer School programme and on the NUIG BA Creative Writing Connect programme. He is the poetry critic of the Galway Advertiser. Kevin is co-organiser of Over The Edge literary events. His first collection of poems The Boy With No Face was published by Salmon in February 2005 and was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award. His second collection, Time Gentlemen, Please, was published in March 2008 by Salmon. His work also features in the anthology Identity Parade – New British and Irish Poets (Ed Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010) and in The Hundred Years’ War: modern war poems (Ed Neil Astley, Bloodaxe, 2014). Frightening New Furniture, his third collection of poems, was published in 2010 by Salmon Poetry. Mentioning The War, a collection of his essays and reviews was published by Salmon in 2012. Kevin has read his work at most of the major literary festivals in Ireland and at Arts Council and Culture Ireland supported poetry events in Kansas City, USA (2006), Los Angeles, USA (2007), London, UK (2007), New York, USA (2008), Athens, Greece (2008); St. Louis, USA (2008), Chicago, USA (2009), Denver, USA (2010), Washington D.C (2011), Huntington, West Virginia, USA (2011), Geelong, Australia (2011), Canberra, Australia (2011), St. Louis, Missouri (2013), Boston, Massachusetts (2013) & Amherst, Massachusetts (2013). His poetry has been translated into Greek, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Russian, & Portuguese. Kevin’s fourth collection of poetry, The Ghost In The Lobby, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2014. During 2015 and 2016 Kevin was satirist-in-residence with the alternative literature website The Bogman’s Cannon. During 2016 he published 2016 – The Selected Satires of Kevin Higgins (NuaScéalta) and the pamphlet The Minister For Poetry Has Decreed (Culture Matters – Manifesto Press). Song of Songs 2:0 – New & Selected Poems will be published by Salmon in Spring 2017.

For further details:  Tel: +353 (0)91 544979
 Email: Margaret.Flannery@hse.ie