NEWSFLASH Long-list for 2011 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year

Philip Abbink, Galway, Ireland
John Austin Connolly, Dublin, Ireland
Lisa Allen, Galway, Ireland
Bernie Ashe, Galway, Ireland
Meleesha Bardolia, Melbourne, Australia
Gene Barry, Cork, Ireland
Marie Bashford-Synnott, Dublin, Ireland
Batsheva Battu, Galway, Ireland
Stephanie Brennan, Galway, Ireland
Paul Bradley, Galway, Ireland
Bern Butler, Galway, Ireland
Erin Buttner, Galway, Ireland
Stephen Byrne, Galway, Ireland
Marie Cadden, Galway, Ireland
June Caldwell, Dublin, Ireland
Kimberly Campanello, Dublin, Ireland
Angela T. Carr, Dublin, Ireland
Martin Casey, Mayo, Ireland
Jane Clarke, Wicklow, Ireland
Rachel Coventry, Galway, Ireland
Bernie Crawford, Galway, Ireland
Damian Cunniffe, Galway, Ireland
Madeleine D'Arcy, Cork, Ireland
Rory Duffy, Westmeath, Ireland
Hilary Fennell, Dublin, Ireland
Stephanie Flaherty-Klapp, Galway, Ireland
Philippa Gibbons, Galway, Ireland
Pauline Gillen, Galway, Ireland
Mary Healy, Kilkenny, Ireland
Dearbhaile Houston, Galway, Ireland
Derek Hynes, Galway, Ireland
Anne Irwin, Galway, Ireland
Sandra Jensen, Cork, Ireland
Des Kavanagh, Galway, Ireland
Jean Kavanagh, Clare, Ireland
Stephen Kennedy, Dublin, Ireland
Tom Lavelle, Galway, Ireland
Barbara Leahy, Cork, Ireland
Laurie Leech, Galway, Ireland
Marie MacSweeney, Louth, Ireland
Gemma Marren, Mayo, Ireland
Connie Masterson, Galway, Ireland
Antoinette McCarthy, Kilkenny, Ireland
Rosaleen McDonagh, Dublin, Ireland
Andrew McEneff, Dublin, Ireland
Danielle McLoughlin, Cork, Ireland
Paul McMahon, Sligo, Ireland
Anne McManus, Galway, Ireland
Sighle Meehan, Galway, Ireland
Lauren Norton, California, USA
Kerrie O’Brien, Dublin, Ireland
Brian O’Connell, Galway, Ireland
David O'Dwyer, Dublin, Ireland
Noel O’Regan, Kerry, Ireland
Michael O'Siochain, Cork, Ireland
Niall Ó’ Sioradáin, Dublin, Ireland
Kevin O'Shea, Galway, Ireland
James O'Toole, Galway, Ireland
Evelyn Parsons, Galway, Ireland
Laura Peters, London, UK
Fiona Place, Galway, Ireland
Bridget Rowland, Mayo, Ireland
Marybeth Rua-Larsen, Massachusetts, USA
Breda Wall Ryan, Wicklow, Ireland
Eimear Ryan, Tipperary, Ireland
Natalie Ryan, Dublin, Ireland
Rejini Samuel, Galway, Ireland
Seamus Scanlon, New York, USA
Maresa Sheehan, Carlow, Ireland
Alan Timmons, Wicklow, Ireland
Steve Wade, Dublin, Ireland
Alice Walsh, Dublin, Ireland
John Walsh, Galway, Ireland
Nicole Walsh, Sligo, Ireland
Heidi Wickam, Sligo, Ireland

The competition is kindly sponsored by Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, McGinn’s Bar, Niall Ó’Brolcháin, Senator Fidelma Healy Eames & Mike Cubbard.

The shortlist will be announced

at the August Over The Edge:Open Reading

in Galway City Library

this coming Thursday, August, 25th, 6.30-8pm.

The competition judge is Elaine Feeney.

Fiction Long-list – a few words about the process by Susan Millar DuMars

(N.B. 40 of the writers on the above long-list are long-listed for fiction, the other 35 for poetry.)

There were 197 stories entered. Only 40 could be long-listed. So more than three quarters of the stories had to lose out.

Stories were read by me and three other very experienced writers with no names attached. Any entries with which I was familiar I gave to the three volunteers for their verdict.

Each entrant was allowed one story on the long-list. That way the greatest number of people could benefit from being long-listed.

The Result
Many fine writers didn’t make it this time; including many with Masters Degrees, many who have read for Over the Edge, many for whom I’d have great professional respect. This was startling to realise, and my heart broke for those who didn’t get through. At the same time, it proves the fairness of the process.
In the end, here is what we looked for:
• Stories with a strong, unusual, likeable narrative voice.
• Simple stories; those with elaborate, gimmicky plot twists generally did not make it through.
• Stories with memorable images we could not get out of our heads.
• Stories that used their 3000 words well. That is, the piece didn’t read like a vignette, an exercise or an extract but a fleshed out story with clear beginning, middle, end.
• Stories that felt true. Not that they had to be true, of course. But the author must have taken the time to walk in her characters’ shoes.

It was a very tough job; the standard of entries was very high. My sincere congratulations to the forty authors who made it to the fiction long-list.

Daytime Creative Writing with Susan Millar DuMars at Galway Arts Centre STARTING IN SEPTEMBER

This September Galway Arts Centre presents a daytime class for all those beginner and continuing creative writing students out there, both facilitated by Susan Millar DuMars. Susan Millar DuMars writes both poetry and fiction. A collection of her stories, Lights In The Distance, was published last December by Doire Press; she has published two collection of poetry, Big Pink Umbrella (2008) and Dreams For Breakfast both with Salmon Poetry. She is also co-organiser of the Over The Edge reading series which specifically promotes new writers.

The class is suitable for both beginning and continuing creative writing students, working in either poetry or fiction. Students will spend their week 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, 2-3.30pm, commencing on Monday September 19th.

The cost to participants is 110 Euro with a 100 Euro concession price. Booking is essential as places are limited. For booking please contact Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, phone 091 565886 or email victoria@galwayartscentre.ie

Launch of 'Mosaic' by the Skylight Poets at Nuns' Island Theatre

On Friday September 2nd at 6.30 pm MOSAIC, the third anthology of poetry from Skylight Poets will be launched in the Nuns’ Island Theatre in Nuns’ Island Galway.

Skylight Poets is the collective name for an unlikely bunch of writers who have gathered on Thursday afternoons in a sparsely furnished room with four skylights at the top of Galway Arts Centre in Dominick Street Galway. Under the guidance of poet and director Kevin Higgins the first anthology from this motley group Lady Gregory’s Townhouse was published in 2009 to much acclaim. This was followed in 2010 by the highly praised Behind the Masks and this year sees the publication of Skylight Poets third anthology entitled Mosaic. Already it is garnering praise from renowned poets Moya Cannon and Mary O'Malley.

Each anthology is edited by a group of four different editors. The editors of Mosaic are Sarah Clancy, Des Kavanagh, Deirdre Kearney and Kevin O’Shea. The contributors vary in poetic ambition and achievement from people who have won prestigious awards in the literary world, some of whom have had their work published in journals and poetry magazines worldwide, some who have already published collections of their work to those who merely seek the company and fun of the workshops for nothing more than the pleasure of creative effort.

After the launch of Mosaic at 6.30 in Nuns’ Island Theatre on Friday September 2nd, Skylight Poets will read from their work at the Over the Edge Writers Gathering in The Kitchen at Galway Museum on September 9th and will perform again at Clifden Arts Week on September 16th.

Free parking is available at Nuns’ Island car park and a wine reception is sponsored by Thomas Woodberry’s of Middle Street Galway. All are welcome!

Gerry Hanberry's Biography of Oscar Wilde's Family Just Published by The Collins Press

Gerry Hanberry's biography of Oscar Wilde's remarkable family

is just published by The Collins Press.

Dr Adrian Frazier from NUI Galway will launch the book

in Charlie Bryne's Bookshop

on Saturday 10 September at 6.00 p.m.

All Welcome.

Creative Writing with Dave Lordan @ Bray Institute of Further Education

Beginners (mon) and Intermediate (wed) Creative Writing classes with Dave Lordan

Bray Institute of Further Education. Term begins monday the 26th of September.

7.30 to 9.30 PM. Cost 120 euro. Discount for unwaged. Enrol here http://www.bife.ie/Pages/Enrol.aspx  10 week courses.

Beginners will be given a gentle introduction to the art of creative writing through a variety of exercises designed to stimulate creativity and self confidence in your expressive ability.

Intermediate students will work in an atmosphere of collective mutual support and constructive criticism with the intention of completing a publishable portfolio of finished poetry or prose.

Writers of prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction equally welcome.

Both courses will include sessions on dialogue, narration, character, description, finding your own style and voice, the discipline of being a writer...

Read more about writer and teacher Dave Lordan here http://davelordanwriter.wordpress.com/ email Dave at dlordan@hotmail.com

Ring anytime on 087-0921117.

SPECIAL RATES VIA OVER THE EDGE FOR INISHBOFIN WRITING JAUNTS

The Inishbofin Jaunt

September Creative Writing Weekends On Inishbofin Island

2 - 5 and 9 -12 SEPT 2011

Tutors: Yvonne Cullen,(“Writes beautifully, and can pass on the skill” The Irish Times Sept 2009, “Best Creative Writing Teacher in Dublin” - Dubliner Magazine) Guest tutor on weekend two: Anthony Glavin. Suitable for beginner and developing writers

Classes, workshops, relaxed and fun group Readings and social nights, plus plenty of time to explore Inishbofin too!

086 1701418 Email yvonnesworkshops@gmail.com  http://www.yvonnecullen.wordpress.com

THERE IS A SPECIAL 'VIA OVER THE EDGE' FEE for two Developing writers on each weekend, of €200 in place of €230, on weekend one, Developing Poetry and Personal Essay, and €240 in place of €270 on weekend two, Developing Short Fiction and Personal Essay.

CONTACT YVONNE CULLEN NOW AND TELL HER THAT YOU READ ABOUT

THE SPECIAL OFFER HERE ON THE OVER THE EDGE WEBSITE

A unique opportunity to hear four Galway fiction writers at Sheridan's Wine Bar

A unique opportunity to hear four Galway fiction writers at Sheridan's Wine Bar on Monday September 5th, 8pm. The writers will read stories that have been shortlisted in the R.T.E. Francis McManus Short Story Competition. Three of the readers, Davnet Heery The Little Girl in Pink, Aideen Henry Saibh and Geraldine Mills The Street With Looking Glass Eyes were shortlisted in 2011 and the fourth reader, Jim Mullarkey Heaven was runner up in 2002. MC for the night is Kevin Higgins. All are welcome.


DAVNET HEERY
A long-time resident of Cois Fharraige, Connemara, Davnet enjoys solitary walks along the shore and on the bog, day-dreaming. Recently graduated from the MA in Writing at NUIG she has had a giddy summer reading at literary festivals countrywide for the launch of the MA class anthology Bicycles with Umbrellas. Primarily a poet (she has been grant aided by Galway Co.Co. to work towards a collection Camellia) she also enjoys writing plays.

AIDEEN HENRY
Aideen story, Saibh, was shortlisted in 2011 for the Francis McManus Short Story Award and recorded on RTE Radio. As part of the Atlantis Collective Aideen Henry’s short stories have featured in three short story anthologies launched each year at the Cúirt International Literary Festival; The Town of Fiction (2009), Faceless Monsters (2010) and Eat the Swans (2011). Her short story, Morning Surgery, was shortlisted for the Aindreas McEntee Prize (2010). Oculoterra was selected for the inaugural Lonely Voice Series at the Irish Writer’s Centre Reading in Dublin in January 2010.

JIM MULLARKEY
Jim has been shortlisted twice in the RTE Francis McManus Competition, the last time in 2005 for Mary up in Donegal. He has been long-listed for the Raymond Carver Short Story Award and the Fish Short Story Competition. He was runner-up in the 2003 Galway Cúirt Poetry Festival. Jim read at the inaugural Cúirt Festival/Over The Edge showcase reading in April 2006. In recent years Jim has facilitated creative writing workshops for adults with learning difficulties. His first collection of short stories, And, will be launched by Doire Press on September 17th in Galway Museum at 1pm.

GERALDINE MILLS is an award winning poet and short story writer and has been published nationally and internationally. She has published four collections of poetry and two of short stories ‘Lick of the Lizard’, (2005) and ‘The Weight of Feathers’, 2007 (Arlen House). She was winner of the Inaugural Penguin/ RTÉ Short Story Competition, 2010. Other awards for fiction include the Moore Medallion, The OKI Award and she has been shortlisted 6 times for the Francis MacManus Competition. Geraldine was the millennium winner of the Hennessy/Tribune New Irish Writer Award for her short story ‘Lick of the Lizard’. She teaches creative writing in Ireland and the US.

2011 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year LONG-LIST TO BE ANNOUNCED

The announcement of the long-list for this year’s Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition will take place at a special Salmon Poetry reading at Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Middle Street, Galway on Saturday, August 20th , STARTS 6.30 PM. Majella Cullinane will read from her just published collection ‘Guarding The Flame’ and there will also be readings by Over The Edge co-organisers Susan Millar DuMars & Kevin Higgins.

For more about Majella Cullinane see http://www.salmonpoetry.com/bookshop-search.php

THE LONG-LIST WILL BE AVAILABLE HERE ON THE OVER THE EDGE WEBSITE LATER THAT SAME EVENING

This year's competition has received a record number of entries; the competition judge is Elaine Feeney.

Record Entry for 2011 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year Competition

This year's Over The Edge New Writer of The Year Competition has received a record 371 entries; 194 fiction entries and 177 poetry entries. 

The long-list will be announced at a special event at Charlie Byrne's Bookshop on the afternoon of Saturday, August 20th. Further details to follow. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2011/02/2011-over-edge-new-writer-of-year.html

Clare Pollard, Evelyn Parsons & Laurie Leech for August 'Over The Edge: Open Reading'

Clare Pollard

The August Over The Edge: Open Reading takes place in Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street, Galway on Thursday, August 25th, 6.30-8pm. The Featured Readers are Laurie Leech, Evelyn Parsons & Clare Pollard. The reading is sponsored by Poetry Ireland. The evening will also see the announcement of the shortlist in this year’s Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition.

Laurie Leech is a Galway based poet. He is MC of the Testify! nights in Róisín Dubh, showcasing poets, musicians and anything else in between. Formerly MC of Poetry Smackdown, which was featured on RTE’s Arena. He took 2nd place in the 2011 Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam and 1st place in the 2011 Drogheda Fringe Poetry Slam. He puts his words to music sometimes and shared a bill with Buck 65, also during Cúirt 2011.

Evelyn Parsons says that she “stumbled down a creative writing shaped rabbit hole in 2010, landing heart first in a fiction wonderland of classes with Kevin Higgins and Susan Millar DuMars.” She was highly commended in the 2010 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition and short-listed for the 2011 Fish One Page Prize. Evelyn is also an avid reader and a member of the Ballinasloe Booksuckers Club.

Clare Pollard has published four collections of poetry with Bloodaxe Books, the most recent of which, Changeling, was published in June of this year. Her play The Weather (Faber, 2004) premiered at the Royal Court Theatre and has been performed at the Munchner Kammerspiele in Munich. Clare was Assistant Director of the Clerkenwell Literary Festival from 2002-5. She has scripted and presented two documentaries for televison, and her documentary for radio, ‘My Male Muse’, was a Radio 4 Pick of the year. Her short stories have been published in The Idler and the anthology Comma (Comma Press, 2002). She recently co-edited the Bloodaxe anthology Voice Recognition: 21 poets for the 21st Century. Clare is currently teaching for The City Lit, The Poetry School and the Arvon Foundation. This is Clare’s first time reading in Ireland.

There will be an open-mic when the Featured Readers have finished. This is open to anyone who has a poem or story to share. New readers are always especially 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 and The Arts Council and the sponsorship of this reading by Poetry Ireland.

2011 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition to be judged by Elaine Feeney

2011 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition

sponsored by Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop,

McGinn’s Bar,

 Niall Ó Brolcháin,

Senator Fidelma Healy Eames

& Mike Cubbard

In 2011 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 overall winner total prize money of €700 and the title Over The Edge New Writer of The Year 2011. The 2011 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 2011/12. Salmon Poetry will read, with no commitment to publish, a manuscript submitted to them by the winner in the poetry category.

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 2011 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 Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011. A longlist will be announced in Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop on Saturday, August 20th, 2011. A shortlist will be announced at the Over The Edge: Open Reading in Galway City Library on Thursday, August 25th. The winners will be announced at the Over The Edge reading in Galway City Library on Thursday, September 29th, 2011.

This year’s competition judge is Elaine Feeney. Elaine was born in Galway in 1979. In 2006 she won the North Beach Nights Grand Slam and in 2008 won the Cúirt Festival's Poetry Grand Slam. Elaine has performed at many venues including The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Electric Picnic, The Vilenica Festival and The Cúirt International Festival of Literature. Her work has been translated into Slovene. Elaine lives in Athenry with her partner Ray, and sons, Jack and Finn. Her first full collection of poetry Where’s Katie? was published last year by Salmon poetry.

Elaine Feeney

For further details contact Over The Edge on 087-6431748,

e-mail over-the-edge-openreadings@hotmail.com

Inisbofin Writing Jaunt with Yvonne Cullen

For details of this year's Inisbofin Writing Jaunts (September 2nd-5th & September 9th-12th) with renowned poet and creative writing teacher Yvonne Cullen, see here
http://yvonnecullen.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/inishbofinjaunt-brochureonline1.pdf

Summer Open-Mic at Westside Library

Over The Edge in association with Westside Arts Festival presents the 2011 Over The Edge Summer Open-mic and the launch of Monday Miscellany, a collection of stories, poems and memoir by the Westside Writers and at Westside Library, Seamus Quirke Road on Tuesday, July 19th.

Monday Miscellany will be launched by Galway City Council’s Arts Officer, James Harrold, at 5.30pm.

The annual Over The Edge Summer Open-mic will follow immediately at 6.30pm. Everyone who has a poem or story to share is most welcome to take part. So, if you have some writing you’d like to read to an audience. This is your opportunity to do so.

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.

SALMON POETRY RAFFLE!

Salmon Poetry's fundraising raffle is now underway with a unique prize of all thirty-one of its 2011 poetry collections, signed by the authors. Have your own bookshelf of some of the finest contemporary Irish, American and British poetry!!! €5.00 for 5 tickets; €10.00 for 12 tickets. Full details about the books and how to purchase tickets at: http://www.salmonpoetry.com/raffle.php

Call for poetry, short-stories, photography and art work for Galway Artistic Atlas

Poets, artists, photographers and short-story writers, with work based in or inspired by Galway, have less than one month left to submit work to The Artistic Atlas of Galway.

The Atlas which aims to highlight the artistic capital of the City and County, the people that live in it and those that pass through it. The work submitted will be compiled into chapters based on certain themes of Galway. Conceptual maps will be drawn up, influenced by the work in each chapter. These will be included in the Atlas alongside more traditional maps, allowing people to visit places and read the landscape in different ways.

Liam Duffy the organiser has been happy with the response so far: “the idea has been met with intrigue and enthusiasm, and I've been delighted to receive work from professional artists and writers and people who've just happened to catch a special glimpse of Galway with their camera or pen”.

The deadline is July 31, submissions should be sent to GalwayAtlas@gmail.com and more details can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=224818917528218 

The Galway Artistic Atlas is very grateful for funding from Spunout.ie

July Writers' Gathering presents Doire Press Showcase, Launch of 'The Geese at the Gates' by Drucilla Wall & a reading by Los Angeles Poet John Menaghan

The Over The Edge July Writers’ Gathering presents a special showcase reading by poets and fiction writers published by Galway county based Doire Press. Gerry Galvin, Susan Lindsay, Susan Millar DuMars and Doire Press publisher John Walsh will read their work at The Kitchen @ The Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway on Thursday, July 14th, 8pm. The evening will include a reading by Los Angeles poet John Menaghan and the Galway launch of The Geese at the Gates, the exciting debut poetry collection by St. Louis based poet, Drucilla Wall, just published by Salmon Poetry. All are welcome.

Drucilla Wall was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She teaches poetry and essay writing, and Native American literature, at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. In addition to poetry, her essays appear in journals and anthologies. She has earned awards and fellowships for her work, including the Mari Sandoz Prairie Schooner Short Story Award, the Western Literature Association Willa Pilla Prize for Humor in Writing, and University of Nebraska Fling and Larson Fellowships. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, and has spent summers with family and friends in Wexford and Galway, Ireland, since 1985. Her debut collection of poetry, The Geese at the Gates, is just published by Salmon Poetry.

Gerry Galvin was born in Limerick in 1942 but now lives in Oughterard, Co. Galway. He is a chef and former restaurateur, author of two cookbooks, The Drimcong Food Affair (McDonald Publishing, 1992) and Everyday Gourmet (The O’Brien Press, 1997), and is a columnist for Organic Matters magazine. His poetry and short stories have been published in newspapers and magazines in both the U.K. and Ireland. His first collection of poems, No Recipe, was published by Doire Press last year. Gerry’s crime novel, Killer ála Carte, will be published soon also by Doire Press.

Susan Lindsay is originally from Dublin but now lives in Galway. She has read her work at Over the Edge literary events, Clifden Arts Week and Mythic Links, and was a member of the Faber Academy, Dubin poetry class in 2010. A social work graduate (TCD, 1975), she has been a psychotherapist, group leader, workshop facilitator and trainer for over thirty years. This year Susan was selected to take part in the 2011 Poetry Ireland Introductions series of readings. Her first book of poetry, Whispering the Secrets, was published by Doire Press in March.

Susan Millar DuMars was born in Philadelphia. She has been short-listed for the Cúirt New Writing Prize and the START chapbook prize. Her fiction was awarded a bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland in 2005 and was showcased in a mini-collection, American Girls (Lapwing Publications) in 2007. Susan has also published two volumes of poems with Salmon Poetry. Her short story collection Lights In The Distance was published by Doire Press in December 2010.

John Walsh was born in Derry. His first collection, Johnny tell Them, was published in 2006 by Guildhall Press. In 2007 he received a Publication Award from Galway County Council to publish his second collection Love's Enterprise Zone. His third collection, Chopping Wood with T.S. Eliot, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2010. His poems have been published in Ireland, the UK, Austria and the United States. He is organizer of North Beach Poetry Nights in Galway and founder of Doire Press.

John Menaghan born in New Jersey, has lived in Boston, Berkeley, Vancouver, Syracuse, London, Dublin, Belfast, Galway, Gortahork, and Dingle, & presently makes his home in Venice, CA. Winner of an Academy of American Poets Prize and other awards, he has given readings in Ireland, England, France, Hungary, and the U.S. He has also had several short plays produced in Los Angeles. John teaches at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he also serves as Director of both the Irish Studies and Summer in Ireland programs and runs the LMU Irish Cultural Festival. He has published three collections of poems with Salmon Poetry, the most recent of which is What Vanishes (2009).

There is no entrance fee. The Kitchen @ The Museum has a wine licence. 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.

Summer Literary Extravaganza at Over The Edge June Writers' Gathering

The Over The Edge June Writers’ Gathering presents a summer literary extravaganza of readings by poets and fiction writers from Italy, Albania, the United States and Ireland at The Kitchen @ The Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway on Friday, June 24th, 8pm. The evening will include the Galway launch of new poetry collections by Joseph Lennon and Ndrek Gjini. Fiction writer Jim Mullarkey will read from his forthcoming collection of short stories. Italian poets Luca Artioli, Andrea Garbin, Fabio Barcellandi and their translator Dave Lordan will read from their recent publication Poethree-New Italian Voices (Thauma Edizioni, 2011). All are welcome.

Joseph Lennon was born in Newport, Rhode Island, and grew up in Rochester, a small town in central Illinois. He has lived in Ireland and Italy and travelled throughout India. After a decade in New York City, teaching at Manhattan College, he now lives in Philadelphia with his family and is Director of Irish Studies at Villanova University. He has published poetry and critical essays on Irish literature and postcolonial studies. His book Irish Orientalism: A Literary and Intellectual History (Syracuse UP, 2004) won the Donald J. Murphy Prize for Distinguished First Book from the American Conference for Irish Studies. Fell Hunger is Joseph’s first collection of poetry and was published in April by Salmon Poetry.

Ndrek Gjini was born in Albania in the 1960s. From 1984 to 1988 he was a student at the University of Shkoder in Albania. After graduation he worked first as a teacher and then as a journalist. During these years he published poems and many newspaper articles in the Albanian language. In 2002, Ndrek moved to the West of Ireland. In 2004, he undertook a course that led to a National Certificate in Print Journalism; at GMIT he earned a BA honours in Heritage Studies. At present, he is enrolled in the MA in Writing at NUI Galway. His poems in English have recently been published in Cyphers magazine. The Death of Night is Ndrek’s first collection of poems in the English language and is just published by EMAL.

Jim Mullarkey lives in Galway. He was a member of Galway City Council for 1993 to 1999 before turning his hand to writing. He has been short-listed for the Raymond Carver Short Story Award and the Fish Short Story Competition. His story ‘Heaven’ was runner-up in the RTE Francis McManus Award. Jim read at the inaugural Cúirt Festival/Over The Edge showcase reading in April 2006. His first collection of short stories, Murph’s Advice, will be published by Doire Press in September.

Dave Lordan's latest collection of poems is Invitation to a Sacrifice (Salmon Poetry, 2010) which was called by The Irish Times 'an act of cultural resistance, as brilliant on the page as it must surely be in performance'. Eigse Riada theatre company produced his first play, Jo Bangles, at the Mill Theatre, Dundrum in 2010. Forthcoming are Assassin for Higher from Wurm Press in Nov 2011 and his first collection of short stories Out of My Head due out from Salmon Publishing in Summer 2012. He can be contacted at dlordan@hotmail.com

Luca Artioli

Luca Artioli was born in Mantova in 1976, where he still lives.He was the creator and co-founder of the “Confraternita dell’ “Uva”, a group of writers 25 from Mantova / Modena / Como. He’s currently a member of the “Movement from the Underground”, a literary group for the union of the arts, based in Montichiari (BS). His official website is http://www.lucaartioli.it/ His books are Fragili Apparenze (Apparent fragilities) (Poems - TCM Editions, Mantova, 2005) and Suture (Sutures) (Poems - Ed. Fara, 2011);
                                      

Fabio Barcellandi

Fabio Barcellandi was born in Brescia in 1968. He is part of the group of poets and artists that quickens the literary meetings at the coffee bar Galeter in Montichiari, where he has performed on numerous occasions, from his tentative beginnings to the latest missives. He is from under the earth. What they say of him is that he walks hand in hand with death, whistling He has published two collections of poems: Parole alate (Winged words) (Cicorivolta editions, 2007) and Nero, l’inchiostro (Black Ink) (Montag editions, 2008).
                                       

Andrea Garbin

Andrea Garbin lives and works in the province of Mantova. He has published the poetry Il senso della musa (The sense of the Muse) (Aletti, 2007) and Latex (Fara, 2009) and some short-stories in the anthologies Per natale non esco (For Christmas I don’t go out) (TranseuropaLibri, 2008) and Il rumore degli occhi (The noise of the eyes) (Edizioni Creativa, 2009).

There is no entrance fee. The Kitchen @ The Museum has a wine licence. 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.

Salmon Poetry presents Galway launch of 'Witness Trees' by Lorna Shaughnessy

Salmon Poetry

invites you to celebrate the publication of a new

collection of poetry

Witness Trees by LORNA SHAUGHNESSY

Launch introduction

by

Des Kavanagh

VENUE:

The Space Invaders Gallery, The Cornstore, Middle Street, Galway

DATE/TIME:

Saturday 25th June, 2pm

All welcome!

Visit the Salmon website for further details:

http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=232&a=45

Salmon Poetry, Knockeven, Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare

Tel: 065 -7081941

email: info@salmonpoetry.com

NEWSFLASH Salmon Poetry To Publish Over The Edge Competition Winner

Nicola Griffin

Nicola Griffin won the poetry section in the 2010 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. Part of Nicola's prize was that Salmon Poetry would read a manuscript submitted to them by her. We are delighted to announce that Salmon Poetry has now accepted for publication Nicola's first collection of poems. The publication of her or his first book of poems is a huge moment in any poet's writing life. We are delighted that Nicola's entry into our competition has led directly to this major breakthrough for her as a poet.

Salmon Poetry will read, with no commitment to publish, a manuscript submitted to them by the winner of the poetry section in the 2011 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. For details on how to enter this year's competition see http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2011/02/2011-over-edge-new-writer-of-year.html

LAUNCH of North Beach Nights Grand Slam Anthology PLUS June Poetry Slam

North Beach Publications and Doire Press invites you to the launch of North Beach Nights: Anthology One, featuring Sarah Clancy, Mark James & Mikey McCrory, with a forward by Billy Ramsell.

Monday, June 20th, 7.30pm in The Crane Bar

Launch by Billy Ramsell
-----------------
After the North Beach Nights 'Anthology One' launch on Monday June 20th

North Beach Poetry Nights' Slam

with guest poet Billy Ramsell, Cork.

Billy Ramsell was born in Cork in 1977 and educated at the North Monastery and UCC. Complicated Pleasures, his first collection, was published by the Dedalus Press, Dublin, in 2007. He has been shortlisted for a Hennessy award and a Strong award. He has been invited to read his work at many festivals around the world; most recently in Shanghai and in San Francisco. He lives in Cork where he co-runs an educational publishing company

Poets wishing to enter the June Slam should have 2 max. 3 minute poems. The poem for the 2nd round must be performed without a script.

Info: John@ 091-593290

North Beach Poetry Nights acknowledges the generous support of Galway City Council.

Galway Night of Eco Poetry

You are invited to join the Galway Night of Eco Poetry - to be held at Ard Bia at Nimmos, 8 p.m. on Saturday 11th of June. There will be two featured poets, Tom Duddy and Sabine Lenore Mueller, reading a selection of their works, followed by an open mike session to share and enjoy poetry with nature at heart. Join in and let your voice be heard!

With this night of poetry we will celebrate the closing of our conference "From Ego to Eco - Imagining Ecocentrism in Literature, Film, and Philosophy" hosted by the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at NUIG – All are welcome!

If you are interested in taking part, please sent an email to ecopoetrygalway@hotmail.com and let us know how many/which pieces you would like to perform!

May 'Over The Edge: Open Reading' with Rita Ann Higgins, Angela Carr & 2010 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year, Seamus Scanlon

The May Over The Edge: Open Reading takes place in Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street, Galway on Thursday, May 26th, 6.30-8pm. The Featured Readers are Seamus Scanlon, Angela Carr & Rita Ann Higgins. The reading is also one of series of events which will mark Galway for Japan Day. Galway for Japan Day gives the people of Galway an opportunity to express their solidarity with the victims of the recent earthquake in the Tohuku province of Japan. Yoshimi Hayakawa of The Wa Café will read a poem at the open-mic on the evening to mark the day.

Seamus Scanlon is a native of Galway and currently living in New York. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from City College New York where he won numerous awards for fiction and drama. He was a runner up in 2010 Fish Publishing One Page competition and the winner in 2011 and was short-listed for the 2009 New Irish Writing Awards. He also won a prestigious Carnegie Corporation/New York Times award for librarianship in Dec 2009 with prize money of $5,000. His first ever reading was at the Over The Edge open-mic in Galway City Library in early 2004. Last September, Seamus was chosen by competition judge, James Martyn, as 2010 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year for his story ‘The Butterfly Love Song’. This reading is part of Seamus’s prize for winning the Over The Edge competition. He also received a cash prize of €700.

Angela T Carr hails from Glasgow, via Donegal, and has lived and worked in Dublin since 1999. She began writing poetry in 2007 and since then her work has been short-listed for the Single Poem award at Listowel Writers Week 2008, published in the Fish Anthology 2009, Commended in the Francis Ledwidge International Poetry Award 2010 and Highly Commended in the Over the Edge - New Writer of the Year 2010. She is a member of the Words on the Wind poetry group, at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin, and excerpts from her poems were published on the streets of Dublin, as part of the Upstart initiative during the General Election campaign.

Rita Ann Higgins was born in 1955 in Galway, Ireland. She divides her time between Galway City and Spiddal, County Galway. Her first five collections of poetry were published by Salmon: Goddess on the Mervue Bus (1986); Witch In The Bushes 1988); Goddess and Witch (1990); Philomena’s Revenge (1992); and, Higher Purchase (1996). Bloodaxe Books published her next three collections: Sunny Side Plucked (1996); An Awful Racket (2001); and Throw in the Vowels: New & Selected Poems in May 2005 to mark her 50th birthday. Her plays include: Face Licker Come Home (Salmon 1991); God of the Hatch Man (1992), Colie Lally Doesn't Live in a Bucket (1993); and Down All the Roundabouts (1999). In 2004, she wrote a screenplay entitled The Big Break. In 2008 she wrote a play, The Empty Frame, inspired by Hanna Greally, and in 2008 a play for radio, The Plastic Bag. Her collection Sunny Side Plucked was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. She is a member of Aosdána. Her most recent book Hurting God – Part Essay Part Rhyme was published last year by Salmon.

There will be an open-mic when the Featured Readers have finished. This is open to anyone who has a poem or story to share. New readers are always especially 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 and The Arts Council http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com

May Over The Edge Writers' Gathering with Art Stringer, Ron Houchin, Jane Williams & Sarah Griffin

The Over The Edge May Writers’ Gathering presents readings by poets from the United States and Australia plus the launch of a new collection of poetry by one of Irish poetry’s exciting new talents. Art Stringer, Ron Houchin & Jane Williams will read their work at The Kitchen @ The Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway on Friday, May 13th, 8pm. The evening will also see the launch by Professor Adrian Frazier of Follies, the debut poetry collection by Sarah Griffin, which has just been published by Lapwing Press. All are welcome.

A. E. Stringer is the author of two collections of poems, Channel Markers (Wesleyan University Press) and Human Costume (Salmon Poetry). His work has appeared in such journals as The Nation, Antaeus, The Ohio Review, Denver Quarterly, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah, Poetry Northwest, and in Backcountry: Contemporary Writing in West Virginia. He has edited and introduced a new edition of Louise McNeill’s Paradox Hill, (West Virginia University Press, 2009). He has read his work in a wide range of American locales and also previously in Galway. For twenty years, he has taught writing and literature at Marshall University in West Virginia USA.

Ron Houchin lives on the banks of the Ohio River across from his hometown of Huntington, West Virginia. For thirty years, he taught public school in the Appalachian region of southernmost Ohio. He has three books published by Salmon Publishing, Death And The River (1997), Moveable Darkness (2002), and Museum Crows (2009). His other books Among Wordless Things (2004) and Birds In The Tops Of Winter Trees (2008) were published by Wind Publications of Nicholasville, Kentucky. His awards include Appalachian-Book-of-the-Year-in-Poetry, a National Society of Arts and Letters Prize, an Ohio Arts Council Fellowship, a poetry prize from Indiana University, a Writers’ Digest Award.

Jane Williams was born in England in 1964 to an Irish father and Australian mother. She has lived all her adult life in Australia where her poetry has been widely published since the early 1990’s. Awards for her poetry include the Anne Elder Award for her first book outside temple boundaries, the Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize and the D.J.O'Hearn Memorial Fellowship. She is the author of four collections of poems and lives in Tasmania. Samples of her work can be found at http://www.janewilliams.wordpress.com/

Sarah Maria Griffin is currently completing her MA in Writing at NUI Galway. Sarah won first prize at the 2010 Over the Edge Fiction Slam in Galway and has appeared on RTE Radio’s Arena speaking about and performing her poetry. She recently took part in a Culture Ireland sponsored showcase of the best of Irish performance poetry at the famous Nuyorican Poets’ Café in New York City. Follies, Sarah’s debut collection of poetry, has just been published by Lapwing Press and will be launched by Professor Adrian Frazier, Director of the MA in Writing at NUI Galway.

There is no entrance fee. The Kitchen @ The Museum has a wine licence. 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.

Irish Writers' Centre: Poetry and Short Stories Publishing Seminar

On Saturday 2nd July the Irish Writers' Centre is hosting a day-long Poetry and Short Stories Publishing Seminar with leading figures across a variety of branches of the publishing industry.

Talks will be given by Ciaran Carty, Editor of New Irish Writing; Declan Meade, Editor of the Stinging Fly; Jessie Lendennie, Managing Director of Salmon Poetry; Kevin Barry, Short Story Writer and Novelist; and Kevin Higgins, Poet and Co-organiser of Over The Edge Reading Series.

From 10.30am to 4.30pm. Tickets €60 or €50 for members.
--
Irish Writers' Centre
19 Parnell Square
Dublin 1
t: +353 (0)1 872 1302
e: info@writerscentre.ie
http://www.writerscentre.ie

Poetry Workshops at Galway Arts Centre with Kevin Higgins STARTING IN MAY

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 last year by Salmon and his work also appears in the generation defining anthology Identity Parade –New British and Irish Poets (Ed. Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010). Kevin’s next collection The Ghost in The Lobby will be published next year by Salmon.

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, another the Cúirt New Writing Prize, while several have published collections of their poems. 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 2nd. They will take place on Tuesday evenings, 7-8.30pm (first class May 3rd); on Thursday afternoons, 2-4pm (first class May 5th) and on Friday afternoons, 2-3.30pm (first class May 6th).

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

Daytime Creative Writing with Susan Millar DuMars at Galway Arts Centre STARTING IN MAY

Starting in May, Galway Arts Centre presents a daytime class for all those beginner and continuing creative writing students out there, both facilitated by Susan Millar DuMars. Susan Millar DuMars writes both poetry and fiction. A collection of her stories, Lights In The Distance, was published last year by Doire Press; she has published two collection of poetry, Big Pink Umbrella (2008) and Dreams For Breakfast (2010) both with Salmon Poetry. She is also co-organiser of the Over The Edge reading series which specifically promotes new writers.

The class is suitable for both beginning and continuing creative writing students, working in either poetry or fiction. Students will spend their week 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, 2-3.30pm, commencing on Monday May 9th and runs for eight weeks.

The cost to participants is 90 Euro with an 80 Euro concession price. Booking is essential as places are limited. For booking please contact Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, phone 091 565886 or email victoria@galwayartscentre.ie

Poetry Chicks at May North Beach Poetry Nights PLUS monthly slam

North Beach Poetry Nights' Slam

on Monday 9th May

in the Crane Bar at 9 pm

with The Poetry Chicks from Derry.

Abby Oliveira and Pamela Brown have been performing together as The Poetry Chicks since 2006. They are based in Derry and are regular performers on the British and Irish poetry scenes, including appearances at Glastonbury, Electric Picnic, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and Flatlake Literary Festival. Together they perform uncompromising and original work. They are modern bards with an ancient mission - to rekindle the verve of Spoken Word in their endless search for the truth about the world and about themselves.

Reviews

‘...the best thing to happen to Irish literature since the beatniks…’ Pat McCabe (author The Butcher Boy, Breakfast on Pluto)

‘the Poetry Chicks (and Connor Kelly)…so sexy your eyes will water…are among the wonders of the modern age, or soon will be!’ Eamonn McCann (Journalist Hot Press)

‘…the wonderfully entertaining Poetry Chicks.’ Brian O’Connell (The Irish Times.com)

Abby Oliveira was born in Scotland in 1982. Since graduating with a 1st class BAHons degree in Theatre Studies in 2004 she has worked in theatre, poetry/prose/stage writing and street performance and performs regularly with groups such as In Your Space and Sole Purpose Productions, Derry. She has also facilitated writing workshops extensively throughout the country and abroad with children and adults of all ages, and her poetry has been widely published. She was the winner of the Belfast Poetry Performance Cup (2006) and a finalist in the Cúirt, Electric Picnic, Glastonbury festival (2009), and Belfast Poetry Slams (2007), as well as a semi finalist in the BBC Radio 4 slam (2009).

Pamela Brown 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. Working for Artists in Creative Enterprise she was a leading facilitator for Wordflight, a prose and poetry project resulting in an anthology by young writers. She was involved with the Your Space or Mine? A project run by ARTS, a research group in the Architecture department at the University of Ulster. Pamela has a commendation in Community Drama from the University of Ulster.

Poets wishing to enter the May Slam should have 2 max. 3 minute poems.


The poem for the 2nd round must be performed without a script.


Door 5/3 Euro.


Info: John@ 091-593290


North Beach Poetry Nights acknowledges the generous support of Galway City Council.

On The Farm presents Mixed Grazing

On the Farm

Presents:

Mixed Grazing

Sarah Clancy (poetry)

Tom Cussen (music)

Alan McMonagle (fiction)

Rab Fulton (storyteller)

May 21st 1pm

Ballinderreen, Co. Galway

M.C: Brendan Murphy

Event not weather permitting

Details and Directions:

087 9139698

farmreadings@yahoo.com

And it’s Free.

Sarah Clancy wins 2011 Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam

Congratulations to Sarah Clancy who this afternoon won the 2011 Poetry Grand Slam at The Cúirt International Festival of Literature with her poem 'Hippy Get A Job'. Sarah will now perform at the Vilenica International Literary Festival in Slovenia in September. On Wednesday Sarah was one of the readers at this year's Cúirt / Over The Edge Showcase reading at the Druid Lane Theatre.

Congratulations also to Laurie Leech and Adam White who took second and third place respectively. Sarah, Laurie and Adam will now perform their work at the Electric Picnic Festival in August.

2011 Cúirt Over The Edge Showcase reading with Sarah Clancy, Nicola Griffin, Paul Casey PLUS Cúirt New Writing Prize Winners

2011 Cúirt Over The Edge Showcase Reading

Wednesday, April 13th, 3.30pm

Druid Lane Theatre
All welcome

The 2011 Cúirt Over The Edge showcase reading takes place as part of this year's Cúirt International Festival of Literature at the Druid Lane Theatre, Galway on Wednesday, April 13th, 3.30pm. The writers showcased this year are Sarah Clancy, Nicola Griffin &  Paul Casey. The reading will be introduced by regular Over The Edge host, Susan Millar DuMars.

This event has grown since its inception in 2006 to become one of Ireland's premier platforms for showcasing new poets and fiction writers. Participating writers have previously been Featured Readers at Ireland's most successful reading series, the Over The Edge: Open Readings in Galway City Library. This year the three winners of the Cúirt New Writing Prize 2011 (to be announced) will read with the Over The Edge writers. The Cúirt New Writing Prize is kindly sponsored by Tígh Neactain in memory of Lena Maguire. http://www.galwayartscentre.ie/cuirt/literature/118.html

Sarah Clancy is from Salthill. She is a participant in the Galway Arts Centre Poetry Workshops facilitated by Kevin Higgins. This year, in a display of what she describes as beginners luck, Sarah was shortlisted in the poetry section of the WOW awards, the Listowel Writers Week Collection of Poetry Competition and the Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. Her poems feature in Behind The Masks, a publication of work by participants in the advanced poetry workshop at Galway Arts Centre. A collection of her poems, Stacy and The Mechanical Bull, was published recently by Lapwing Press. Sarah was a Featured Reader at the August 2010 Over The Edge: Open Reading. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2010/08/august-over-edge-open-reading-with.html

Nicola Griffin grew up in Cheshire in the North West of England and studied Psychology and Sociology at the University of Keele in Staffordshire. She has lived in East Clare since 1997. She writes poetry, non-fiction and fiction, is a graduate of the MA in Writing at NUIG and a participant in the Advanced Poetry Workshop at Galway Arts Centre. She has a regular column in Inland Waterways News and her poetry has recently been published in Ropes Unravelled, The Sunday Tribune, The Stinging Fly, Behind The Masks, Crannóg and Nthposition.com. Nicola won the poetry section in the 2010 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. She was a Featured Reader at the September 2010 Over The Edge: Open Reading. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2010/09/september-over-edge-open-reading-with.html

Paul Casey was born in Cork in 1968. He has lived in a number of countries in Europe and Africa working mostly in film, multimedia and teaching. Paul taught scriptwriting at the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. He now organises the weekly Ó Bhéal poetry event in Cork city. His poetry and reviews have appeared in a number of Irish journals including THE SHOp, Revival, Cork Literary Review, Southword and Census. A chapbook of Paul’s longer poems, It’s Not All Bad, was published by Heaventree Press in May 2009. In June 2010 he completed a poetry-film, The Lammas Hireling, which has been accepted for Berlin’s biennial Zebra International Poetry-Film festival. Paul is working towards his first full collection. He was a Featured Reader at the March 2010 Over The Edge: Open Reading. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2010/03/poet-and-fiction-writer-mary-odonnell.html

The winners of this year’s Cúirt New Writing Prize are Celeste Augé (fiction), Marie Cadden (poetry) and Hedy Gibbons (memoir).

Celeste Augé was born in Canada but came to live in Galway when she was twelve years old. She writes both fiction and poetry, and is currently working on a manuscript of short stories as well as her second poetry collection. In 2009, she was short-listed for a Hennessy Literary Award for poetry. She lives in County Galway with her husband and young son. Celeste was a Featured Reader at the February 2004 Over The Edge: Open Reading.

Marie Cadden lives in Spiddal, Co. Galway. Until 2007, she was a teacher of the deaf and children with autism. Her poems have been published in The Recorder (USA), THE SHOp, ROPES, Revival, Boyne Berries, Galway Arts Centre Advanced Poetry Workshop anthology Lady Gregory’s Townhouse, 2009, and Behind the Masks, 2010 (co-editor). She was awarded ‘Highly Commended’ in the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year 2010 and in the Francis Ledwidge Poetry Award 2009, and also shortlisted for Cuirt /Over the Edge Showcase Readings in 2010 and 2011. Marie was a Featured Reader at the February Over The Edge: Open Reading. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2009/02/patrick-kavanagh-award-winner-for.html

A native of Cork, Hedy Gibbons has lived in Galway for thirty years. Formerly a mid-wife, latterly a counselling psychologist, now an aspiring writer, for the past twelve years she has been writing short prose and poetry. Much of her work has been broadcast on RTE’s Sunday Miscellany and Lyric FM’s Quiet Quarter, and published in their subsequent anthologies. A chapter from her memoir has been published in County Lines (New Island, 2006). Her poetry has been published in Divas! A Sense of Place (Arlen House, 2005) and Ropes – In Knots (NUIG, 2007), and has been short-listed for a number of awards. She was shortlisted for the 2009 Cúirt Over The Edge Showcase reading. Hedy was a Featured Reader at the March 2008 Over The Edge: Open Reading. http://overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/2008/03/american-novelist-michael-strelow-at.html

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing support of Galway City Library, Galway City Council, The Arts Council and The Cúírt Festival of International Literature.

http://www.cuirt.ie/component/option,com_rsevents/Itemid,116/cid,14/layout,show/view,events/

Cúirt Festival Launch of Poems for Patience and The Cat's Cradle-Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust

In association with

Cúirt International Festival of Literature

warmly invites you to the launch of

POEMS FOR PATIENCE VIII

An exhibition of poems selected and introduced by Dennis O’Driscoll

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust invites you to come along to the launch of the eighth series of the very successful Poems for Patience initiative. Poet Dennis O’Driscoll will introduce 21 poems he has selected, including works by Poets reading at this year’s festival. The poetry is circulated throughout the waiting areas of University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park University Hospital. For the duration of the festival, the poems will be on display on the Art Corridor, University Hospital, Galway.

Dennis O’Driscoll, born in Tipperary in 1954, he has published eight books of his poetry, a collection of his essays and reviews, a book of quotations about poetry and a collection of his interviews with Seamus Heaney. His awards include a Lannan Literary Award, the E. M. Forster Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the O’Shaughnessy Award from the Center of Irish Studies in Minnesota, and the Argosy Irish Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature by University College Dublin in 2009.

and

THE CAT’S CRADLE VI

Memoirs and Stories from patients in Units 5 & 6 edited and introduced by Kevin Higgins

Volume 6 of Cat’s Cradle – That Must Be Me! – will also be launched on the Art Corridor. Kevin Higgins; Merlin Park University Hospital Writer-in-Residence has compiled stories by patients from Units Five and Six of Merlin Park University Hospital using photographs and memorabilia.

The opening is on Friday 15th April at 11.00am on the Arts Corridor, University Hospital Galway

(The Arts Corridor is located just off the main foyer of the hospital in the direction of the Out Patients Department)

For further details contact
Margaret Flannery
Arts Officer
Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust
Galway University Hospital,
Galway
Ireland
Tel: +353 (0)91 544979
Email: margaret.flannery@hse.ie

Spring Creative Writing at GMIT with Susan Millar DuMars

Susan Millar DuMars will give support, instruction and feedback to students who are interested in writing either fiction (short stories, novels) or poetry. The course takes place one evening per week (Wednesday) for 7 weeks from 7–9 p.m. The course commences on Wednesday, April 20th. Advance booking is essential. Places cost €95.00. For further details or to book a place contact GMIT, Dublin Road, Galway. Telephone 091-742145 or see http://www.gmit.ie/

Susan was born in Philadelphia in 1966 to a Belfast-born mother. She holds an MA in Writing from the University of San Francisco. Her poems and short stories have been published widely in the US, UK and Ireland. Susan's stories have been short-listed for many awards, and in 2005 she received an Irish Arts Council Bursary for her fiction. American Girls, a volume of her short stories, was published by Lapwing in 2007. Since 2003, Susan and her husband Kevin Higgins have organised the successful Over the Edge reading series, showcasing new writers. Susan teaches creative writing at Galway Technical Institute, Galway Arts Centre, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology and on the Brothers of Charity Away With Words programme. Big Pink Umbrella (Salmon Poetry, 2008) was the first full collection of her poetry. One of her poems was chosen by editor, Mathew Sweeney, for inclusion in Best of Irish Poetry 2010 (Southword Editions). Several of her poems feature in Landing Places: Immigrant Poets in Ireland, edited by Eva Bourke (Dedalus Press, March 2010). Her second collection of poems, Dreams for Breakfast, was published this April by Salmon Poetry. Her first full collection of short stories, Lights In The Distance, is published this December by Doire Press.

http://www.gmit.ie/lifelong-learning/lifelong-learning-programmes/general-interest/artistic-creative/creative-writing-beginners.html

Dave Lordan at North Beach Poetry Nights

North Beach Poetry Nights' Slam on Monday 11th April in the Crane Bar at 9 pm with guest Poet - DAVE LORDAN (Dublin)

Dave Lordan is a powerful and provocative performer, who has carved out a niche for himself in the literary and performance world all over Ireland and abroad. Dave's collections are The Boy in The Ring (Salmon Poetry, 2007), which won the Strong Award for best first collection by an Irish writer and was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Prize, and Invitation to a Sacrifice (Salmon Poetry, 2010), which the Irish Times called: 'an act of cultural resistance, as brilliant on the page as it must surely be in performance'. Éigse Riada theatre company produced his first play, Jo Bangles, at the Mill Theatre, Dundrum in 2010.

Dave Lordan is not to be missed!

Poets wishing to enter the March Slam should have 2 max. 3 minute poems. The poem for the 2nd round must be performed without a script. So time to get memorizing now!

Door 5/3 Euro.

Info: John@ 091-593290

North Beach Poetry Nights acknowledges the generous support of Galway City Council.

The Pamphlet Project Launches Issue 1 at Testify! @ Roisín Dubh

Each issue of The Pamphlet Project will see a poet collaborate with a visual artist. Issue 1 was designed by Clare Lymer with words by Elaine Cosgrove and will be launched at Testify! @ The Roisín Dubh on Monday, April 4th, 8pm.

Clare Lymer recently returned to her hometown Galway after successfully completing her B.A. in (Hons) Photography at University of the Arts London. Her photographic work has been selected to front and promote various projects. These include Source Photographic Review’s Graduate Photography Project 2009, the Arts Council of England’s ‘Own Art’ in 2010 – an initiative to engage and inspire new buyers of contemporary art, and by Camberwell College of Arts in a showcase for their B.A. Photography course.

In 2009, curator Johan Sjöström of The Gothenburg Museum of Art in Sweden chose Clare’s work as part of his best 6 graduating photography students from the U.K. and Ireland. She was one of selected graduate artists to exhibit in the PhotoIreland Festival 2010, Ireland’s first international festival of Photography and Image Culture. In 2010, Clare was an artist in residence at the Burren College of Art and her work on ley lines made the final longlist for the Gallery of Photography’s Artist’s Award. She has been published and exhibited in Ireland, the U.K. and Germany.

Elaine Cosgrove is 25, comes from Sligo and currently lives in Galway. She writes poetry and flash fiction and loves both almost the same. Elaine graduated from N.U.I. Galway in 2007 with a B.A. (Hons) in English, Sociology & Political Science. Elaine has participated in a creative writing seminar facilitated by Mary O’Malley, and creative writing classes facilitated by Kevin Higgins and Susan Millar DuMars.

In 2010, Elaine was shortlisted for the ‘Fish Publishing One Page Story Prize’ and also the ‘Over the Edge New Writer of the Year Competition’. Following this, she was a featured reader at the December ‘Over the Edge Reading’ in the Galway City Library. She took part in a ‘Poetry Depot’, co-organised by SpiritStore and Ink Storm, for Culture Night Limerick 2010.

Elaine has self-published two chapbooks called be still, girl, be still and Varnish. She read poems from Varnish at the ‘Over the Edge Poetry Showcase 2011’. Most recently, Elaine has been published by the online magazine wordlegs and has set-up a small chapbook publishing press called opener chapbooks.

Cúirt Festival Masterclasses

Please note that the closing date for applications for the Poetry and Prose Masterclasses during Cúirt, is next Friday, 25th March at midnight.


Submissions are welcomed for the Fiction Masterclass with Dermot Healy on Wednesday 13th April, 11am-1pm, Hotel Meyrick, Eyre Square and the Poetry Masterclass with Simon Armitage, Thursday 14th April, 11am-1pm, Hotel Meyrick, Eyre Square.


To apply, please email your contact details to siobhan@galwayartscentre.ie along with a sample of your work (750 words max for prose and 2 poems for poetry).


The cost of each Masterclass is €20.


For more details of the festival programme see: http://www.cuirt.ie

March Poetry Slam at Galway Arts Centre

The next Galway Arts Centre Poetry Slam with MC Pete Mullineaux will take place Tuesday March 15th at 7pm at the Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street.

Anyone can participate on the night and new comers are very welcome. To participate you need one poem/piece that will take about 3 minutes to perform. Judges on the night will select their favourite and the winner will be invited to be a guest reader at the next slam as well as qualifying for the Cúirt Grand Slam which will take place during this year's Cúirt International Festival of Literature 12-17 April 2011. In addition to this, the winner's poem will be published on the Galway Arts Centre website along with a biography of the contestant. There will also be an interactive words game on the night with a Charlie Byrne's Bookshop voucher up for grabs.


Our guest reader this month will be last month's winner, Dave Rock.

Loose Lips @ Róisin Dubh

This Wednesday, 30th March, as usual, upstairs in the Roisin at 9pm, another fantastic Loose Lips story telling session.

Theme: SURPRISES!

Have you ever surprised someone? Ever been surprised? Or do you just want to tell us how much you love or hate surprises? Maybe the story itself will be a surprise?

And if you don't have a story, why not come along and listen, because all story tellers need listeners.

March North Beach Poetry Nights' Slam with Dave Rock at The Crane Bar

North Beach Poetry Nights' Slam returns on Monday 21st March in the Crane Bar at 9 pm with guest Poet - DAVE ROCK

Dave Rock has been a featured performer at practically every main venue for poetry in Ireland, and soon will be at the rest! He placed third in the Cuirt Literature Festival Grand slam and fourth in the All Ireland. His performing style is highly physical and expressive, and often very joyous. He combines slam pieces with traditional poetry. He has also been a storyteller for a number of years, working with traditional and his own invented folktales. He is the co-creator of the InkStorm workshops in creative writing and performing, which have had a ream of very successful events across Ireland and England. He has taught and facilitated both writing, storytelling and performing with children, teens and adults. He's currently designing a new breed of workshops. He's been published in a number of journals, and will be published in the rest! His chapbook, A Single Unstruck Match, was published in 2008. He's also an art photographer, with a number of successful exhibitions.

At the moment Dave in partnership with the SpiritStore Limerick to create a series of public events, with teams of poets offering to help members of the public reimagine their futures, writing poems on the spot based on the feelings, ideas, and experiences shared with them, or creating work on any subject the public choose. These events will lead to a series of publications, public meetings/readings and an ongoing web project. He's also in the final year of a PhD in Sociology and Political Science. North Beach Nights was where he first cut his teeth with performance poetry, having been encouraged to come along by All Ireland Champ Brendan Murphy, and he's very excited to feature there four years later.

Poets wishing to enter the March Slam should have 2 max. 3 minute poems. The poem for the 2nd round must be performed without a script.  So time to get memorizing now!

Door 5/3 Euro. Info: John@ 091-593290

North Beach Poetry Nights acknowledges the financial support of Galway City Council