Article by Kernan Andrews in today's Galway Advertiser

The is an article about 'Down With This Sort of Thing!' - poems in opposition to Ireland's new blasphemy law in today's Galway Advertiser http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/15173

Send us your poems on the issue to over-the-edge-openreadings@hotmail.com

2009 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year Competition

Patrick Chapman

sponsored by Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Kelly Office Supplies, Mary Higgins & a generous individual donor who wishes to remain anonymous

In 2009 Over The Edge is continuing its exciting annual creative writing competition. The competition is open to both poets and fiction writers. The total prize money is €1,000. The best fiction entry will win €300. The best poetry entry will win €300. One of these will then be chosen as the overall winner and will receive an additional €400, giving the author total prize money of €700 and the title Over The Edge New Writer of The Year 2009. The 2009 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year will be a Featured Reader at a reading to be scheduled in Galway City Library in Winter 09/10.

Entries should be sent to Over The Edge, New Writer of the Year competition, 3 Carbry Road, Newcastle, Galway, Ireland with an accompanying SAE. Entries will be judged anonymously, so do not put your name on your poem(s) or story. Put your contact details on a separate sheet.

Criteria: fiction of up to three thousand words, three poems of up to forty lines, or one poem of up to one hundred lines. Multiple entries are acceptable but each must be accompanied by a fee. The fee for one entry is €10. The fee for multiple entries is €7.50 per entry e.g. two entries will cost €15, three entries €22.50 and so on. Fee payable by cheque or money order to Over The Edge. To take part you must be at least sixteen years old by September 1st 2009 and not have a book published or accepted for publication in that genre. Chapbooks excepted. Entries must not have been previously published or be currently entered in any other competition.

The closing date is Monday, August 3rd, 2009. A longlist will be announced in Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009. A shortlist will be announced at the Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library on Thursday, August 27th. The winners will be announced at the Over The Edge reading in Galway City Library on Thursday, September 24th, 2009.

This year the competition judge is Patrick Chapman. He is a poet, fiction-writer and screenwriter. His poetry collections are Jazztown, (Raven Arts Press, 1991), The New Pornography (Salmon, 1996), Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights (Salmon, 2007) and A Shopping Mall on Mars (BlazeVOX, 2008). His fifth collection will appear from Salmon in 2010. He has also written a collection of stories, The Wow Signal (Bluechrome, 2007); Burning the Bed (2003), a multi-award-winning film starring Gina McKee and Aidan Gillen; and an audio play, Doctor Who: Fear of the Daleks (Big Finish, 2007). He lives in Dublin.

For further details contact Over The Edge on 087-6431748 or e-mail over-the-edge-openreadings@hotmail.com

DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING! poems in opposition to Ireland's new blasphemy law

Bishop Brennan gets what's coming to him on Father Ted

Send your poems on this theme to over-the-edgeopenreadings@hotmail.com and we will publish the best of them here

The Christ of Velasquez by William Wall
for Gerry Murphy

I see a dead man nailed
to a plank
someone knifed him
& stole his shorts

William Wall was born in Cork in 1955. His poetry collections are Mathematics & Other Poems* (Collins Press 1997), which won The Patrick Kavanagh Award and the Listowel Writers’ Week Collection Prize; and Fahrenheit Says Nothing To Me (Dublin, Dedalus Press, 2004). His novels for are Alice Falling (London, Sceptre, 2000/New York, Norton, 2000); Minding Children (Sceptre 2001); The Map of Tenderness (Sceptre, 2002); and This is the Country (Sceptre, 2005), which was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize.


Hampshire College Halloween by Susan Millar DuMars
 
Wearing prom pink with white gloves, I was hypnotised by
my skirt spinning.
Chuck and Mike were lazing on this bench –
the moon was silver.
And Andy walked by, dressed as Jesus in a long white toga, hair wavy
like a midnight ocean.
And he was carrying this crazy cross, big as him, and it was
white in the moonlight.
And Andy said “hey” and we said “hey”, and then Chuck got up
and he was walking behind Andy,
matching step for step.
And I said, “Watcha doin’?” and Chuck said,
“Following Jesus, Dude.”
And we giggled and got in line and then we were all followers of Jesus.
And Jesus led.
And if Jesus drank, we drank; and if Jesus danced, we danced;
and if Jesus did a bong hit,
we praised Jesus,
and did one right after Him. And we fell around giggling
and Jesus giggled too.
And He led us through the silvered night, and we were free;

and no one got nailed to anything.

'Hampshire College Halloween' appears in Susan Millar DuMars poetry collection Big Pink Umbrella (Salmon Poetry, 2008) and will also appear in the Best of Irish Poetry 2010 (Southword Editions).


A Prayer for Monsignor Daly by Dave Lordan

Monsignor,
I remember you
The way you strode into our classroom
Your mouth full of tombstones,
Your thin lips full of the grave’s punishments.
Death strode in beside you with a cold wind
And our young limbs stiffened
As we felt the corpse’s grip within ourselves.

One grey afternoon
Or another
You asked us all for news
And I stuck up my hand
And told in all sincerity
How in my room at night
I saw a statue of the Virgin
Filling up with light.

You scowled
And said what I had seen
Was nothing but a childish dream
Impossible!
Impossible!
You said.

I was nine years old and full of talk
And knowing that I had been awake
Knowing it was vision and not dream
Knowing it wasn’t lie or mistake
I told again what I had seen
The truth of light in a plastic queen.

A liar! I was
A blasted little liar’s what you said
And whacked a wooden ruler
Off the back of my head
And whacked again.
A liar! A liar! you said.

Monsignor,
I’m still here to peddle dirt
You’re ten years rotting in the ground
Ten years crumbling into earth
I hope you found your mouldy god
But guess you’re mostly in the sod.

Imagination knows no law
Vision’s way cannot be barred
The day after you struck me
I pissed in the churchyard.

Dave Lordan is originally from Clonakilty in West Cork, but now lives in Dublin. His first collection of poems, The Boy In The Ring (Salmon Poetry, 2007), was shortlisted for last year's Irish Times/Poetry Now Award and won the Strong Award for best first collection by an Irish poet.


Last Testament by Kevin Higgins

Whether I leave this world peacefully,
surrounded by respectable nephews
and voluptuous nieces, or go roaring
at four in the morning in the Prison Hospital,
come what may, let no black crow
sit squawking by my bed,
but pin this sign above my head:
“This fucker here does not repent,
would do the same again and worse.”
Yes, when I have gasped my final gasp,
let Satan clap his hands and cry: “At last!”
May I be down below, having
dinner with Tricky Dicky, sharing
dirty jokes with old Al Haig;
before “nice Father What’s-
His-Name” realises I’m gone.

'Last Testament' is taken from Kevin Higgins's poetry collection Time Gentlemen, Please (Salmon Poetry, 2008) 


My Reduction Phalloplasty by Patrick Chapman

 If you can raise a human being from the grave
And cure a leper of his withered limbs;
If you can walk upon the surface of the sea
And change mere drinking water into wine;

If you can whip a pair of haddock and some loaves
Into a picnic for five thousand hungry souls;
If you can put a virgin in the family way
By whispering sweet nothings in her ear –

Possessing such a god-proportioned rod
You don’t intend to put to proper use,
Appears a tad superfluous. That’s why
I let them circumcise me as a boy.

Patrick Chapman is the judge of this year’s Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. He is a poet, fiction-writer and screenwriter. His poetry collections are Jazztown, (Raven Arts Press, 1991), The New Pornography (Salmon, 1996), Breaking Hearts and Traffic Lights (Salmon, 2007) and A Shopping Mall on Mars (BlazeVOX, 2008). His fifth collection will appear from Salmon in 2010. He has also written a collection of stories, The Wow Signal (Bluechrome, 2007); Burning the Bed (2003), a multi-award-winning film starring Gina McKee and Aidan Gillen; and an audio play, Doctor Who: Fear of the Daleks (Big Finish, 2007). He lives in Dublin.



The Holy Shrine of Knock by Miceál Kearney

a three ring circus of clowns —
suffering, praying and molesting;
where auld women form the mountains,
cripples and fools
rot their teeth on candy floss
and leave with bottles of cryptosporidium.

Miceal Kearney won the 2006 Cúisle Poetry Slam in Limerick, the 2007 Cúirt Grand Slam, the 2007 North Beach Nights Grand Slam, the 2007 Baffle Bard in Loughrea and also the 2008 In-Sight of Raftery Poetry Grand Slam. Short-listed for the 2007 Cinnamon Press Poetry Collection Award. Doire Press published Inheritance, Miceál’s debut collection last year.
 

X & Y by Alan Jude Moore

the earth is flat
territories stretched
across canvas maps

no circum needed
all the journeys we take
tracked on the X & Y

the earth is flat
gated by the godly
from the universe outside

all we need to know
marked on the axis
or scripted in a bible

the earth is flat
pounded down our throats
a Ford Motor Corporation
production line

filtered and smoothly run
lives reasoned out
in dollar signs and oil

fractions of security
payments laid away
made down on beauty

the earth is flat
and there is nothing
to be done

only a monkey
would not believe
in the shape of things

and this is the reason
this is the reason
the reason is

Alan Jude Moore was born in Dublin. Two collections of poetry, Black State Cars (2004) & Lost Republics (2008), are published by Salmon Poetry. His third collection, Strasbourg, will be published, also by Salmon, in 2010. His fiction has been twice short-listed for the Hennessy Literary Award for New Irish Writing. His website is http://www.alanjudemoore.com/


The devil makes work for idle hands by Liam Duffy

The hounds
Were truly
At his door.

In the
Academic
And joyless office
He was forced into
An unfortunate
Constitution
Took his attention,

Drivelling through
Its pages,
The sacred words
Of De Valera,
He found a job
He could do.

Exiting his office
The fruits
Of his labour
Written on tablets
Of stone,
Blasphemy
Would be forbidden,

All the hounds
Stopped growling
And tilted
There heads
In honest awe,

Curious of the forces
That led to
The immaculate
Conception
Of this idea.

Liam Duffy is from Galway but next month will be going to Finland to attend university there. His poems have appeared in The Shop, Revival and many more. He recently completed the Advance Poetry Workshop at Galway Arts Centre. Liam will be a Featured Reader at the December Over The Edge: Open Reading.



Poem by Patrick Cunningham

Jesus Christ King of the Jews
I wonder has he heard the news ?
Thoughts nailed up for the good of the nation
Surely man’s ideas are also Gods creation.

Patrick Cunningham lives in Galway city. He has never written poetry before and is quite surprised to be included here. Nevertheless he feels strongly opposed to any infringement on freedom of expression and couldn't resist expressing himself.



Proof Reading by PJ Kelly

There is a song a say’s something, as all songs do
Its say’s that Freedom oh freedom is just some people talking
And you give us these empty streets
The latest diet…a diet for our diction
Not allow us to run a mere metaphor over our own tongues
Are we to have more traffic lights and no pedestrians
What next?
Juggling blasphemy and infamy, speaking when spoken to
Chivalry, gate houses, horse drawn carriages
And ours is not to wonder why, just to do or die
The monarchy of monotony
What next?
The contradictory patronage of painters and poets
The prostitution of progress over the progress of prostitution
And capital punishment and for the innocents we lose, we lose
What next?
Are the children soon be seen again and never heard
Are we to suffer our angst on Robben Island
Incarcerated for articulations apartheid
Then freedom oh freedom is talking to just some people

PJ Kelly lives in Salthill, Galway. He works as an engineer and is past the halfway point of life expectancy. He attended the Bish Secondary school in the nineteen eighties and then NUIG, gaining his formative education in all the hours in between and thereafter.


Progress at Last by Paul Casey

Onward Christmas soldiers and deliver unto me
my twenty-five thou-a-head, each disrespectful enemy
Oh yes my faithful ministers, please us, geeeeeez us
Twenty-five and three zeeerus! It's Gaaaaaw dly bizznus!

Next on the local walrus agenda ... for sure
is a well deserved fifty grandly cure
for coveting thy neighbour's car. A hundred Gs
for praising that false god Mammona Monneeey

Ah, for Buddha's sake! Help me please!
Pour Krishna's blessings down upon my knees!
I've never taken the lord thy god's name in vain! Darn!
Coz he's not my god anyway! The holy minister Harn

eee mayez well be for all her vanity. You'd never catch me
hummmin GeeeeeezusMAAAREEEEandjosefff now, would ya, hmmmmm?
There should be a million euro fine for that one, at least!
Let's pay commission for getting homeless drunks to sprout the beast.

Come on, say we can, on camera man,
all make good 'aul civilian arrests
for a change
Medieval-style. Think of the benefits ...

I say we fling all the unemployed in jail
after six months of no working, nail
them with a National Politeness Campaign
and reform those damn blasphemers again!

Paul Casey was born in Cork in 1968. He is the founder and organiser of the weekly Ó'Bhéal poetry readings in Cork. A chapbook of his poems, It's Not All Bad, was published recently by Heaventree Press. Paul will be a Featured Reader at the March 2010 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

July 29th POETRY SMACKDOWN

POETRY SMACKDOWN

More drunken vocal debauchery in the from of open mic poetry at the Roisin Dubh. New poets, old poets, good poets, bad poets, come one come all.

Guest performers are:

Scott Regan (The Gin Club)

Kevin Higgins

WEDNESDAY, JULY 29th from 8pm

Venue: The Róisín Dubh, Galway

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=127192051920&ref=mf

Westside Arts Festival presents Over The Edge Summer Open-Mic

Over The Edge in association with Westside Arts Festival presents a reading by the Westside Library Writers and the 2009 Over The Edge Summer Open-mic at Westside Library, Seamus Quirke Road on Wednesday, July 22nd from 6.30pm.

The Westside Library Writers, who recently participated in a series of workshops facilitated by Kevin Higgins will read their work. Afterwards the annual Over The Edge Summer Open-Mic will take place. Everyone who has a poem or story to share is most welcome to take part.

The MCs for the evening will be Kevin Higgins & Susan Millar DuMars. All are welcome to attend.

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

'Rhyming Couplet' to be shown at Flat Lake festival

Rhyming Couplet, a short documentary about Galway writers and Over The Edge co-organisers, Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins, will feature in this year’s Flat Lake Festival.

Rhyming Couplet is directed by Des Kilbane and produced by Laura Cunningham and will be one of a group of short films and documentaries from Ireland and around the world shown in the Flat Lake Cinema Tent from 2pm on Saturday, August 15th.

For the full programme details see
http://www.theflatlakefestival.com/SCHEDULE-OF-EVENTS/2009-programme

'Rhyming Couplet' directed by Des Kilbane - Documentary about Over The Edge organisers in Galway Film Fleadh

Rhyming Couplet, a short documentary about Galway writers and Over The Edge co-organisers, Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins, will feature in this year’s Galway Film Fleadh.

Rhyming Couplet is directed by Des Kilbane and produced by Laura Cunningham.

According to the Galway Film Fleadh programme “Kevin and Susan’s journey together shows that poetry is the language of love.”

Rhyming Couplet will be one of a group of short films shown at the Town Hall Theatre from 10am on Thursday, July 9th. For full programme details see http://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/pr_2009.php?p=thursday/way_out_west

North Beach Poetry Nights Slam at The Crane Bar MONDAY JULY 13TH

North Beach Poetry Nights presents on Monday July 13th at 9 pm in The Crane Bar, Sea Road, Galway

The North Beach Poetry Nights' July 2009 Slam with Guest Performance Poet: Pamela Brown (from The Poetry Chicks) and Cabaretist Conner Kelly on piano.

The Poetry Chicks have had another busy year and are regular performers on the British and Irish poetry scenes. At the end of June they performed at this year's Glastonbury festival, as well as this year returning to Electric Picnic and Flatlake festival.

Pamela Brown (50% of The Poetry Chicks) 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. She is currently a member of Artists in Creative Enterprise and was a leading facilitator for Wordflight, a prose and poetry project resulting in an anthology by young writers.

Conner Kelly is a 19-year old keyboard virtuoso and cabaretist from Derry, who regularly does support with The Poetry Chicks.
His new album is due for release in 2 weeks' time.

Poets wishing to take part in the 2-Round Slam please bring along
two three-minute poems, preferrably memorized.

The winner of each month's Slam goes forward to the 2009 North Beach Poetry Nights' Grand Slam in December 2009. The prize for the Grand Slam winner is publication of a collection of her/his work.

Admission 5/ 3 Euro.

info: john walsh @ 593290

North Beach Poetry Nights acknowledges the financial support of The Arts Council and Galway City Council.

Galway launch of latest issue of Natural Bridge magazine at Summer Poetry Special

The latest issue of the American literary magazine, Natural Bridge, will have a Galway launch at the Over The Edge Summer Poetry Special this coming Friday, July 3rd, 8pm at Sheridan’s Wine Bar, Church Yard Street, Galway.

The editor of the issue, Eamonn Wall, will introduce the magazine and some of the Irish contributors will read their work.

For more about Natural Bridge magazine http://www.umsl.edu/~natural/

Summer Poetry Special at Sheridan's Wine Bar

Ailbhe Darcy

Over The Edge presents a summer poetry special with readings by Ailbhe Darcy, John Corless, Tom Lavelle, Anthony Daly & John Liddy at Sheridan’s Wine Bar, 14-16 Church Yard Street, Galway on Friday, July 3rd, 8pm.

Ailbhe Darcy has published poems in Ireland, Britain and the US, and writes critically for a number of publications including The Stinging Fly and Verbal. She recently appeared as part of the prestigious Poetry Ireland Introductions Series, and has read at the London Irish Centre, Poetry Café, RADA, Dublin’s Liberty Hall and Keats’ House. She has just embarked on a PhD in contemporary poetry at the University of Notre Dame. Her poetry features in the recently published anthology Voice Recognition 21 Poets For The 21st Century (Bloodaxe) and will also feature in the generation defining anthology to be published by Bloodaxe early next year Identity Parade: New British and Irish Poets.

John Corless lives and writes in County Mayo in the Irish Riviera. His poetry is a mix of political, satirical, ecclesiastical and rural and has been described as Paul Durcan meets The Sawdoctors. He has an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University (2008) and is currently researching for a PhD. He writes poetry, fiction and drama. His work has been published in magazines and collections worldwide. Some of his poems have been referred to the Attorney General for approval. His creative writing classes in the Castlebar campus of GMIT are very popular. He hopes to be a full-time writer when he grows up. Thankfully, there's no evidence of that happening yet. His first collection of poems Are You Ready? was published recently by Salmon Poetry.

Tom Lavelle lives in Galway and works as the finance director of a manufacturing company. He is currently a participant in the Advance Poetry Workshop at Galway Arts Centre and as part of that group read his work at last year’s Clifden Arts Week. His poems have appeared in Revival, Boyne Berries, The Stony Thursday Book, Crannóg, West 47 online and The Cuirt Annual. Tom was shortlisted for the Cúirt Over The Edge showcase reading in both 2008 and 2009 and in the 2008 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. This coming Autumn he will be embarking on an M Phil in Writing at the University of Glamorgan.

Anthony Daly was born in Galway in 1979. He gained a BA Degree in Classics and History from NUI. Galway. He has been writing poetry for about the past decade and has published several poems in the local press. He has acted with Selkie Theatre in 2008 in their production last summer of Goodwill, as well as in several other productions and shows over the last six years. Anthony has been a many time participant in the Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam, was a Featured Reader at the March 2005 Over The Edge: Open Reading and was shortlisted for the 2007 Cúirt Over The Edge Showcase reading.

John Liddy was born in Youghal, Co. Cork, grew up in Limerick and now lives in Spain. His poetry collections include Boundaries (1974), The Angling Cot (1991), Song of the Empty Cage (1997), Wine and Hope (1999), Cast-A-Net (2003) & The Well: New and Selected Poems (2007). La Barca de la Arena (a translation by Francisco Rivero in Spanish of The Angling Cot) & Poisionous Pleasure (a tanslation by John Liddy from Tosigo Ardento by José Maria Álvarez) were published recently. His work has been widely praised by critics such as Desmond O’Grady and Patrick Galvin. He lives in Madrid.

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.

Writer's Group at Galway Social Space

Writer's Group at Galway Social Space, 24 Middle Street, every Thursday evening from 8-9.30p.m. Open meeting for writers of poetry, fiction, prose etc. All welcome - drop in any week and bring along a piece of your work. All donations for use of the room go directly towards the running of Galway Social Space.

Kavanagh Day and Documentary

KAVANAGH DAY was inaugurated in 2004 to allow readings of Patrick Kavanagh's writings by waterways in counties around Ireland in mid-July. Ger Considine is a Kavanagh enthusiast and wishes to celebrate his poetry and prose by staging this event in Galway in July this year. Recited Kavanagh poems will be accompanied by a local musician on fiddle or melodeon playing mostly Moor’s / Carolon Irish melodies. For details contact Ger Considine on (086) 873837 or e-mail considineg@eircom.net

Interested groups are invited to the event and a selection of these attendees will read their favorite Kavanagh poem. http://www.gerconsidine.com/

Ger Considine’s documentary on Kavanagh’s girlfriend Deirdre Manifold- Deirdre's Passions is also showing in the Way Out West slot in the Galway Film Fleadh on Thursday, July 9th from 10pm at the Town Hall Theatre.

http://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/pr_2009.php?p=thursday/way_out_west

Topical poem by P.J. Moore

Fáilte Chuig Rás Aigean Volvo
(Salthill Prom Summer 2009)

Fáilte chuig rás aigean Volvo
All life forms are here, terrestrial, avian, aquatic,
The underexposed the overexposed
Liquid and hairy six packs
Uilleann pipers and massage therapists,
Divers winged and skinned
Full bodied tattoos and Corporation crews
Counting the overtime.

They’ve come from Boston, Alicante, St Petersburg and Rio,
Lobster red legs has a ringside seat to all the action
As his 99 drip drip drips onto his pre-cancerous mole.
Laughing innocents with their kids
Are lapping up Punch and Judy violence
With supporting role for a strangely phallic sausage.
Growing middle aged tidal blue spread
Upholds law and order
Alongside slim trim Templemore inductees

The beach fills up fast
With Ronaldos, Messis and Federers
Displaying to beached whales
Blowing smoke, whilst swimming in bulmers.
Jogwalking dog lovers coax reluctant boxers, bulldogs, pugs
And all manner of inbreds
Along two miles of Galway’s catwalk.
Tonight they’ll dream in exhausted canine slumber
Of daring feats performed in past lives under African skies.

Binoculars zoom in on every kind of craft,
Sailboats, curraghs, lifebuoys, buckfast bottles and rafts.
Green dragon in sixth place now
Just ahead and behind Telefonicas black and blue,
Tarot readers cannot tell Fortune tellers
And canvassing candidates apart,
Independent - People First - Connolly Catherine
Vote No. 1. But why?
She’s better looking than Ó’Brolcháin, I suppose.

Dough addicted Claddagh swans
Here in swollen numbers for the fortnights orgy,
Have fixed upon their stocking sandaled pusher,
Whose grandson, the pigeon terrorist
Is momentarily distracted by a cloud
Of red balloons rising skyward.
Nearby familiar redolent reek rising from the seaweed
Attracts flighty starling flocks to feed,
And willy wagtails are playing tig in bouncy motion
Across lichen mottled rocky Atlantic breakers.

Evening falls, the bars are packed
Red legs shuffles off
The Jury’s Inn
But what’s the verdict?

P.J. Moore has been a participant in creative writing classes and poetry workshops at GMIT and Galway Arts Centre, where Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins were his tutors.

Walk and Workshop with Miceál Kearney

Walk and Workshop

Interested in a group workshop —
poetry or fiction.
Nestled between the grey rocks
under the green leaves on the farm
I’ve made a living from.
in relaxed surroundings,
interactive environments
from the rock, the turlough to the flats
you’ll see why I wrote —

I will write forever
but never find those words.

10/12 participants towards the end of July.

Interested: contact Miceál
kearneymiceal@yahoo.ie

Salmon Poetry Reading, The Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon, Thursday 25th June, 7.30pm:

Salmon Poetry and The Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon, host an Evening of Poetry on Thursday 25th June, 7.30pm, at The Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon, County Clare. Readers are:

John Corless, whose debut collection of poetry, Are you ready?, has just been published by Salmon.

Kerry writer Gabriel Fitzmaurice whose most recent collection “Twenty One Sonnets” was published by Salmon in 2007.

Dublin writer Nessa O’Mahony who will read from her verse novel, In Sight of Home (Salmon, 2009)

and Doolin visual artist and poet Ilsa Thielan.

About John Corless and “Are you ready?”:

“The Ireland of 2009 has almost as many ‘serious’ poets as it does blocks of unsold apartments. What I love about John Corless’s poetry is that instead of pretending to sit po-faced on the summit of Mount Parnassus, it goes absolutely in the opposite direction. Like Swift, Paul Durcan and Rita Ann Higgins before him, Corless takes the low road and shines the telltale torchlight of his killer wit into all the most embarrassing areas of contemporary Irish life. No-one is safe. If the truly serious are those who see the world for the joke it is, John Corless is one of the most serious poets we have. He is also a great performer of his own poems, one of the brightest rising stars of the live poetry scene. If you get the chance to go and see him read, do. Desperate Housewives will be repeated. John Corless may not.”
Kevin Higgins

“John Corless comes to poetry with an infectious enthusiasm. He has imbued his work with a sense of discovery and wonder. His debut collection is gritty and irreverent, infected with copious amounts of tongue-in-cheek humour. Here you will find fake tan and calf nuts, the PDs, dancehall fights and dry cash hid behind dressers by dead bachelors. This is not a naive nostalgic sojourn through rural Connaught but an uncompromising white knuckle ride through sometimes dark and menacing places where sacred cows are put through their paces before being loaded up in a trailer and driven unceremoniously out to grass. You have been warned.”
Ger Reidy

John Corless lives and writes in County Mayo, Ireland. His poetry is a mix of political, satirical and rural and has been described as ‘Paul Durcan meets The Sawdoctors.’ He has an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University (2008) and is currently researching for a PhD. He writes poetry, fiction and drama. His work has been published in magazines and collections worldwide. He teaches creative writing in the Castlebar campus of GMIT (Galway Mayo Institute of Technology). This is his first collection.

Are you ready? was launched as part of the Force 12 Writers’ Festival in Belmullet, County Mayo, on Sunday 14th June.

About Nessa O’Mahony & “In Sight of Home”:

“Nessa O'Mahony’s writing is subtle and precise and this fine book crackles with truthfulness. But even more importantly, this is a work of great beauty, a story of how past and present flow into one another all the time. It’s a moving, powerful and richly pleasurable read, audaciously imagined and achieved.”
Joseph O’Connor

Nessa O’Mahony was born and lives in Dublin. Her poetry has appeared in a number of Irish, UK, and North American periodicals, has been translated into several European languages. She won the National Women’s Poetry Competition in 1997 and was subsequently shortlisted for the Patrick Kavanagh Prize and Hennessy Literature Awards. Her second poetry collection, Trapping a Ghost, was published by bluechrome publishing in 2005 and her third, The Side Road to Star, is forthcoming from bluechrome in 2009. She was awarded an Irish Arts Council literature bursary in 2004 and an Artist’s Bursary from South Dublin County Council in 2007. She is currently Artist in Residence at the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies, University College, Dublin. She is Assistant Editor of UK literary journal Orbis. 


About Gabriel Fitzmaurice:

This is deeply indigenous poetry, vitally in touch with a loved community and its experience. Les Murray

These sonnets make the best collection yet of Fitzmaurice’s adult poems. Declan Kiberd

[T]he best contemporary, traditional, popular poet in English. Ray Olson, Booklist

Fitzmaurice is a wonderful poet. Giles Foden, The Guardian

He has a gift for making the quotidian interesting and investing the ordinary with extraordinary significance. Gearóid Mac Lochlainn, The Celtic Pen

[Fitzmaurice] favours the sonnet and is able to manipulate this challenging form very effectively. Angela Topping, Orbis

[Fitzmaurice] is a master of the sonnet form. Eugene O’Connell, Southword

Gabriel Fitzmaurice was born, in 1952, in the village of Moyvane, County Kerry where he still lives. He has been teaching in the local primary school, where he is now principal teacher, since 1975. He is author of more than forty books, including collections of poetry in English and Irish as well as several collections of verse for children. He has translated extensively from the Irish and has edited a number of anthologies of poetry in English and Irish. He has published two volumes of essays and collections of songs and ballads. A cassette of his poems, The Space Between: New and Selected Poems 1984-1992, is also available. He frequently broadcasts on radio and television on education and the arts.

About Ilsa Thielan:

Ilsa Thielan is a member of the North Clare Writers’ Workshop and has published her poetry in widely in journals and anthologies, most recently in the White House Poets’ Revival Poetry Journal. Her poetry will also appear in “Spotlight”, a forthcoming anthology for schools. Her photographic work is a homage to the beauty of the West of Ireland., its stunning nature and unique rural scenes. She also works with mixed media and tapestries. From May to October she exhibits and sells her artwork with BURRENCRAFTS every Sunday in Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare in the Community Centre from 10am to 6pm (www.burrencrafts.net ).


About Salmon Poetry:
Salmon Poetry, taking its name from the Salmon of Knowledge in Celtic mythology, was established in 1981 as an alternative voice in Irish literature. The Salmon, a journal of poetry and prose was a flagship for writers in the west of Ireland, and Salmon's first books, Gonella by Eva Bourke and Goddess on the Mervue Bus by Rita Ann Higgins broke new ground for women poets. Since then over 200 volumes of poetry have been produced, and Salmon has become one of the most important publishers in the Irish literary world. www.salmonpoetry.com

Merlin Park Launch of 'The Cat's Cradle: Hard Times Come Again'

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust warmly invites you to the launch of The Cat’s Cradle IV: Hard Times Come Again-Memoirs and Stories from patients in Units 5 and 6, edited by Kevin Higgins



On Wednesday 24th June 2009 at 11.00am

In Unit 6, Merlin Park University Hospital, Galway

Children from Scoil Íde, Salthill and Scoil Mhuire, Clarinbridge will read poems written in response to the Cat’s Cradle and will perform for the patients.

Refreshments will be served.


Margaret Flannery
Arts Officer
Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust
Galway University Hospitals
University Hospital
Newcastle Road
Galway

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

North Beach Poetry Nights Slam at The Crane Bar with Pete Mullineaux

North Beach Poetry Nights presents

on Monday June 22th at 9 pm

in The Crane Bar, Sea Road, Galway


The North Beach Poetry Nights' June 2009 Slam

with Guest Poet: Pete Mullineaux


Galway poet, Pete Mullineaux has played from Cuirt to Glastonbury, Greenham Common to Trafalgar Square, alongside such luminaries as Salman Rushdie, Melvin Bragg and the Pogues.

His first poem Harvest Festival was published in Macmillan's anthology Poetry and Song, when he was aged 13 ( a few years ago.)

Pete grew up in Bristol but in the late 70's, early 80's deserted to London to join the punk rock band The Resisters.

Music, drama and poetry have been the driving forces of Pete's life ever since. He even managed to fit in a first class honours in drama from Middlesex University along the way!

His collection A Father's Day has been described by various reviewers as 'tender and lyrical',
'gorgeously resonant' and 'grimly funny' and drawn comparisons with Brian Patten and John Cooper-Clarke .

Pete will be reading on the night from 'A Father's Day', the day after Father's Day on Sunday June 21st. (Don't forget!!)

Guest MC: Miceal Kearney

Poets wishing to take part in the 2-Round Slam please bring along
two three-minute poems, preferrably memorized.

The winner of each month's Slam goes forward to the 2009 North Beach Poetry Nights' Grand Slam in December 2009. The prize for the Grand Slam winner is publication of a collection of her/his work.

Upcoming dates:

July 13th: The Poetry Chicks (Derry)

Admission 5/ 3 Euro.

info: john walsh @ 593290

Poetry Smackdown "When good poets go bad!"

Poetry Smackdown"When good poets go bad!"

What: Poetry Open-Mic

Host: Laurie Leech

Time: Wednesday, June 17 at 7:30pm

Where: Roisin Dubh

FRIDAY, JUNE 12th American & Irish Writers at Sheridan's Wine Bar

Over The Edge in association with the American Conference for Irish Studies (ACIS) presents an evening of poetry and fiction at Sheridan’s Wine Bar.

Writers visiting Galway for the ACIS conference at NUIG will be reading alongside local poets at Sheridan’s Wine Bar, Church Yard Street on Friday, June 12th. The reading will start at 9pm.

Visiting writers Ben Howard, Kathryn Kirkpatrick, Eamonn Wall, John Menaghan, Roslyn LaDew, Ed Madden, Daniel Tobin and David Gardiner will read alongside Alan Jude Moore, Gary King and Lorna Shaughnessy.

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

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

http://www.nuigalway.ie/research/centre_irish_studies/acis_09.html

http://www.acisweb.com/index.php

THURSDAY JUNE 11th Evening of Creative Non-fiction with American and Irish Writers at Galway City Library

Over The Edge in association with the American Conference for Irish Studies presents an evening of creative non-fiction with visiting American writers Jim Rogers, Christine Cusick and Jim Murphy and local writers Kevin Higgins and Patricia Burke Brogan at Galway City Library on Thursday, June 11th, 6.30pm.



Jim Rogers is editor of New Hibernia Review. His creative non-fiction has appeared in New Letters, ISLE, and elsewhere. His book of essays about cemeteries is forthcoming from Blue Road Press and is provisionally titled Northern Orchards: Places Near the Dead.

Christine Cusick is an Assistant Professor of English at Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania. She is an active member of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment. She has published ecocritical readings of contemporary Irish poetry and landscape photography as well as place-based creative non-fiction. Her edited collection, which includes her interview with Tim Robinson, is titled Out of the Earth: Ecocritical Readings of Irish Texts and is forthcoming from Cork University Press.

Jim Murphy is Director of the Irish Studies Program at Villanova University. In March 2008 Irish America Magazine named him of its TOP 100 IRISH AMERICANS.

Kevin Higgins is writer-residence at Merlin Park Hospital, working with Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust. Using reminiscence techniques Kevin worked with patients at Units 5 and 6 of the hospital to compile the The Cat’s Cradle: Dancing On Prospect Hill (2008) and the topical The Cat’s Cradle: Hard Times Come Again (2009).

Patricia Burke Brogan is a native of Galway City. She is a poet, visual artist and playwright. She is the author of the award-winning play Eclipsed which exposed the abuses perpetuated at the now infamous Magdalen Laundries. Eclipsed was published by Salmon in 1994, republished by the same publisher in 1997 and again by Wordsonthestreet in 2007. Patricia is currently working on her autobiography, Memoir with Grykes and Turloughs.

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

http://www.nuigalway.ie/research/centre_irish_studies/acis_09.html

http://www.acisweb.com/index.php