2016 Over The Edge Poetry Book Showcase at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop

The 2016 Over The Edge Poetry Book Showcase featuring Michelle O'Sullivan, Trevor Conway, Lorna Shaughnessy, James O’Toole, Aideen Henry, Robyn Rowland,  Matt Mooney, Kate Ennals, Quincy Lehr, and the anthologies Raving Beauties –Hallelujah for 50ft Women (Bloodaxe),  AND AGAMEMNON DEAD: An Anthology of Early Twenty First Century Irish Poetry (Muavaise Graine, Paris), & 21 Poems: 21 Reasons for Choosing Jeremy Corbyn will take place at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop on Friday, February, 12^th  at 6.30pm.

In this annual retrospective of the year just past, Galway-based poets, who published a new collection of poems during 2015, are invited to read three poems from the collection in question. There will also be short readings from the anthologies Raving Beauties: Hallelujah for 50ft Women (Bloodaxe),  AND AGAMEMNON DEAD: An Anthology of Early Twenty First Century Irish Poetry (Muavaise Graine, Paris); 21 Poems: 21 Reasons for Choosing Jeremy Corbyn, 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.

May Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop

May Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering

at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop

The May Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering presents readings by fiction writer Anna McCarthy, and poets Cormac Culkeen, Billy Ramsell & Maeve O’Sullivan. The evening will also see a reading, by members of his family, from Tom Duddy’s posthumously published second poetry collection: The Years (HappenStance Press, 2014).  The event will take place at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle Street, Galway on Saturday, May 17^th, 6pm. All are welcome. There is no cover charge.

Tom Duddy was born in 1950 in Ramolin, near the small town of Shrule, Co. Mayo. He came to live in Galway in 1969, and later taught Philosophy in the School of Humanities at NUI Galway. His academic publications include A History of Irish Thought and Dictionary of Irish Philosophers. A chapbook of his poems, The Small Hours, was published in 2006, and his first full collection, The Hiding Place, in 2011. Sadly, in 2012, Tom became ill and died, aged 62. A posthumous collection, The Years, was published earlier this year by HappenStance Press.

Anna McCarthy was born in London and lives in New York with her husband and young daughter. Her work has appeared in Otoliths and was featured in the 2012 Du Maurier Festival. She was an Iowa Review Short Story Awards finalist in 2013 and the winner of the hotly contested fiction category in the 2013 Over the Edge New Writer of the Year competition. She teaches at New York University.

Billy Ramsell was born in Cork in 1977 and was educated at the North Monastery and UCC. Complicated Pleasures, his first collection, was published by the Dedalus Press in 2007. He holds the Chair of Ireland Bursary for 2013 and has been shortlisted for several other prizes. He edits the Irish section of the Poetry International website and co-runs an educational publishing company. His most recent collection: The Architect’s Dream of Winter was published in 2013.

Cormac Culkeen is a writer of poetry, fiction and short stories from Dunmore, Co. Galway. Some years ago his work was published in The Burning Bush literary magazine, and more recently, his work has been published in Skylight47. He has been a featured reader at the Over the Edge open reading in October 2012. He lives and works in Galway and has been attending creative writing classes at Galway Technical Institute with Susan Millar Dumars.

Maeve O’Sullivan’s poems have been widely published and anthologised since the mid-1990s. Initial Response, her debut collection of haiku poetry was published by Alba Publishing in 2011, and was well-received by critics. She also performs at festivals and literary events with the spoken word group The Poetry Divas. Her poem ‘Leaving Vigo’ was recently nominated for a Forward Prize for a Single Poem by Revival magazine. Her poetry collection Vocal Chords was published earlier this year by Alba Publishing.

For further information contact 087-6431748.

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

Launch of the anthology 'Over the Edge: the first ten years' and Nicki Griffin’s debut collection of poetry 'Unbelonging'

You are invited to the launch of Over the Edge: the first ten years - An anthology of fiction and poetry edited by Susan Millar DuMars & Unbelonging, the debut collection of poetry by Nicki Griffin, winner of the 2010 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year award for poetry. Both books are published by Salmon. The launch takes place at Charlie Byrne’s bookshop on Saturday, November 30^th, 6pm.

You can buy the book here. 

Over the Edge: the first ten years is edited by Susan Millar DuMars and includes poetry & fiction by forty seven writers who have published a first book since being Featured Readers at an Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library. Over The Edge has, during the past decade, been an important platform for emerging writers in Ireland and beyond. This book celebrates the writers who have emerged via Over The Edge thus far. The book will be launched by Pat McMahon, retired Galway County Librarian, who has always been an enthusiastic supporter of Over The Edge.

Nicki Griffin was the 2010 Over the Edge New Poet of the Year. Her debut collection, Unbelonging, which will be launched by Professor Adrian Frazier of the MA in Writing at NUI Galway, has two main themes, both of which examine a sense of displacement. The first is personal, a consideration of dislocation of self in place, both her own and of those who struggle in new countries or within their own communities. The other theme is public and looks at the relationship between those with power and those without, how this affects our lives in modern western society, our civil liberties, the tensions between human needs and environmental degradation. In the collection she explores the connection between these two aspects of the human condition, how we interact with the world and how, by considering ourselves as separate from and in control of this world we threaten our future existence. Nicki grew up in Cheshire in the north west of England but has lived in East Clare since 1997. She completed an MA in Writing at NUI Galway in 2009. In 2012 she was awarded a Literature Bursary by the Arts Council. She writes for Inland Waterways News and co-edits poetry magazine Skylight 47. Her first work of non-fiction, The Skipper and Her Mate, was published by New Island in 2013.

All are welcome to attend the launch.