May Over The Edge: Open Readig with Orla McAlinden, Rory Duffy, & Mona Jakob

Mona Jakob, Rory Duffy, & Orla McAlinden for final Over The Edge: Open Reading before the summer break 

Orla McAlinden

The May ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, May 30^th 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Orla McAlinden, Rory Duffy, &.Mona Jakob. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always especially welcome at the open-mic. This is the final Over The Edge: Open Reading before the summer break. The evening will also see the announcement of the details of this year’s Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition.

Mona Jakob has been an on-and-off-participant in Susan Millar DuMars’ classes for creative writing over the last couple of years and is currently enrolled in her Advanced Fiction Writing Class. Her only publication so far has been in the academic field of Old/Medieval Irish (for the curious: A study of the Green Man in the story of ‘Buile Shuibhne’), but she hopes to finish her first novel in the not too distant future – working in a bookshop (Dubray’s) certainly is a good incentive. Enjoying discussions on what constitutes literary fiction, she draws inspiration from the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, Becky Chambers, John Connolly and Robin Hobb.

Rory Duffy lives in Athlone. His fiction has been published in several journals including Crannóg, The Stony Thursday Book, Southword, and Penduline Press. He was highly commended in the Over the Edge New Writer of The Year competition in 2015 and won the 2016 Over The Edge Annual Fiction Slam. Also in 2016 Rory was placed 3rd in the PJ O'Connor Awards and was also short listed for the Frances MacManus Award. In 2017 he was nominated for a ZeBBie Award by the Irish Writers Guild for his radio play Paulo in the Underworld. Rory was also highly commended in the Seán Ó'Faoláin Award in 2017. Currently his favourite bird is the common swift (Apus Apus) but this may change.

Orla McAlinden is a multi-award-winning author, vet, farmer, teacher and mother, originally from Armagh, living in Kildare. Her short-story collections and novels, The Accidental Wife, The Flight of the Wren (Red Stag/Mentor Books, Sept 2018) and Full of Grace (Red Stag /Mentor Books, May 2019) have featured in the Sunday Times (Ireland) magazine, The Irish Times, Irish News, on RTE and BBC Radio and others. Her awards include the Eludia Award for first fiction, The Cecil Day Lewis emerging writer award, and the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards Short Story of the Year. Her short fiction has never yet appeared in an Irish print journal, but she lives in hope!  www.orlamcalinden.com

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.

May Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering launches Christine Valters Paintner’s debut poetry collection

The May Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering presents an exciting variety of poetry including the Galway launch of Christine Valters Paintner’s debut poetry collection, Dreaming of Stones (Paraclete Poetry) with guest speaker Dara Molloy. There will also be readings by Patrick Chapman, Raine Geoghegan, Colm Keegan, and Anita Ouellette. The event will take place at The Kitchen @ The Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway on Friday, May 10th, 8pm. All are welcome. There is no cover charge.

Christine Valters Paintner is the online Abbess of Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery and global, ecumenical community integrating contemplative practice and creative expression. She is a Benedictine oblate living on the west coast of Ireland with her husband John. Together they lead pilgrimages and retreats in Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and Austria. Christine is the author of twelve books on spirituality, monastic wisdom, creativity, and the arts including The Artist’s Rule and The Soul’s Slow Ripening.  Her poems have been published in journals in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and the UK. She has participated in poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre and online. Dreaming of Stones is Christine’s debut poetry collection. 

Patrick Chapman was born in 1968 and lives in Dublin. He has published eight poetry collections since 1991, as well as a novel and three volumes of stories. His other works include a short film, television for children, and audio dramas for Doctor Who and Dan Dare. He produced B7’s dramatisation of Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles for BBC Radio 4. His most recent poetry collection Open Season on the Moon is just published by Salmon Poetry.

Anita Ouellette is a poet living in Massachusetts. She was runner-up in the 2013 Over The Edge New Writer of the Year competition and is a regular participant in Kevin Higgins’ online poetry workshop. Anita is currently on holiday in Ireland and will share a couple of her poems.

Colm Keegan is from Dublin. Elaine Feeney said this of his most recent poetry collection, Randomer (Salmon, 2018): “Delving into themes of mid-life, fatherhood, love, belonging and family, with solid observations and self-surrendering language, here is a poet now ready to watch and listen. Keegan is loyal to his trade, never hiding truth, or shirking responsibility. Randomer catapults Keegan into the anti-hero role of his own tales. The Dublin that created him, he bravely recreates, through lines that are gritty yet gorgeous. Keegan continues to write politically, honouring the list poem, watching Ireland with a satirical eye and sharp wit, while questioning the poet’s place in everything: the home, the city, even his place in poetry and its lure, for better or worse.  Randomer is a fascinating read. It finds edgy beauty in the banality of human struggle, in a world that’s off-kilter. These poems are gut-wrenchingly raw and beautiful.  You will return to this book again and again. Keegan is a romantic with nerve and bravery.  We find solace in his path.”  

Raine Geoghegan, MA is a poet and prose writer of Romany, Irish and Welsh descent living in the UK. Recent publications include Poetry Ireland Review; The Curlew; Travellers' Times; Ofi Press and Under the Radar. She is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net 2018 nominee. Her pamphlet, Apple Water: Povel Panni was launched in December 2018.

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing generous 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 fourteenth 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 / Over The Edge New Writing Showcase features three participants from the Over the Edge literary series in Galway – Daniel McBrearty, Jessamine O’Connor, & John D. Kelly – and Shannon Savvas and Jeremy Haworth,  the winners of the Cúirt New Writing Prize 2019. The MC for the event will be regular Over The Edge host Susan Millar DuMars. It takes place on Wednesday, April 10^th, 11 am, at The Town Hall Theatre. Entry is free of charge. All welcome.

John D. Kelly lives in Co. Fermanagh. Since he began writing creatively in 2011, his work has been commended in many competitions and published in various literary publications. He was Highly Commended in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award 2016, awarded joint ‘Silver’ in the International Dermot Healy Poetry Competition in both 2015 and 2014, and won first prize in Hungry Hill ‘Poets Meet Painters’ 2014, amongst other awards. John was a Featured Reader at the February 2018 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Jessamine O'Connor

Jessamine O Connor facilitates The Hermit Collective arts troupe, The Wrong Side Of The Tracks Writers, and the Ballaghaderreen branch of Failte Isteach conversational English classes. She won the iYeats, the Francis Ledwidge, and the Poetry Ireland Butlers Café poetry competitions, and was short-listed for the Hennessy, Over The Edge, Cuirt New Writing, Galway Hospital Poems For Patience, Bradshaw Books, Leaf Books and Red Line Book Festival competitions. She is currently promoting her fifth chapbook Pact, and her first full collection of poems is coming out with Salmon in early 2020. Jessamine was a Featured Reader at the May 2018 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Daniel McBrearty

Daniel McBrearty, or Danny to his friends, is a writer of both poetry and prose. The Donegal native's poetry has been published in A New Ulster, and his fiction was chosen as the winner in the Ulster Male category in Hot Press' Write Here Write Now Competition last May. A student of creative writing at NUI Galway, Danny’s writing deals with being young in an irrational world. He has no idea what his writing style is. That’s for other people to decide. Danny was a Featured Reader at the December 2018 Over The Edge: Open Reading and he was a runner-up in this year’s Poems for Patience competition.

Shannon Savvas is a New Zealand writer who divides her life and heart between New Zealand, England and Cyprus. Her flash fiction and short stories have been published online in journals in New Zealand and the United States and in a number of anthologies. Shannon describes herself as a “chronic long and short lister in [writing] competitions.” She won the 2017 Reflex Fiction Winter competition and is the winner of the fiction category in the Cuirt New Writing Prize 2019.

Jeremy Haworth is a novelist and poet. Originally from Bray, Co. Wicklow, he now resides in rural Co. Laois with his wife, Claire, and two children. He divides his time between writing and developing an organic market garden. He is currently working towards the publication of his first book of poetry. Jeremy is the winner of the poetry category in this year’s Cúirt New Writing 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.