'poèmes Galway-Lorient' launched

                      poèmes Galway-Lorient

"This is the website of poèmes Galway-Lorient, part of the twinning of the Irish and Breton cities of Galway and Lorient. Here, we bring to you poetry and writing from both cities, in the original language and in translation."

Arts Council to fund Over The Edge in 2015

 

We were very happy to be informed today that the Arts Council will fund Over The Edge in 2015. 

Over The Edge will receive the same level of funding as in 2014, 2013, & 2012, which was an increase on the funding we received in 2011. 

We think it can now be safely said that Over The Edge has survived the great recession and we look forward to our lively programme events next year, including the tenth year of the Cúirt / Over The Edge Showcase reading for new writers.

Final Over The Edge: Open Reading of 2014 with Marion Cox, Christine Murray, & Edward O’Dwyer PLUS launch of Galway-Lorient poetry initiative

The December ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, December 18^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Edward O’Dwyer, Christine Murray, & Marion Cox. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are especially welcome. The evening will also see the launch of ‘Poemes Galway – Lorient’ a web magazine featuring poems in both English and French by poets from Galway and its twin city Lorient in Brittany.  The Over The Edge Christmas celebration will take place afterwards.

Marion Cox lives in County Galway where she runs a HR and Management advisory service.  With a passion for words and literature, she found herself inexplicably rising in the ranks of international business and has worked at senior executive level in multinationals in the US and Europe.  Having somewhat recovered, she organises the Lady Gregory Autumn Gathering at Coole Park and takes poetry classes with Kevin Higgins.  Marion’s prose and poetry has been published in The Healing Pen, Writing for Wellbeing (Patricia McAdoo), The Citroen Quarterly (North America) and Irish Left Review.  This year, she was a featured reader with the Galway Girls at An Béal Binn, Erris Festival of Words, Belmullet.

Christine Murray

Christine Murray is a poet and poetry activist based in Dublin. Her poetry is published in Ropes Magazine, Crannóg Magazine, The Burning Bush Online Revival Meeting. Carty’s Poetry Journal, Caper Literary Journal , CanCan,  The Southword Journal (MLC),  A New Ulster and the Diversity Blog (PIWWC; PEN International Women Writer’s Committee). Her poem for three voices, Lament, was performed at the Béal festival in 2012. Chris writes a poetry blog called Poethead which is dedicated to the writing, editing and translation of women writers. 

Edward O'Dwyer

Edward O'Dwyer (b. Limerick, 1984) has poems published worldwide in journals, anthologies and e-zines. In 2010 he took part in the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series and edited the anthology, Sextet (Revival Press). He has since been shortlisted for various awards, including a Hennessy Award and the Desmond O'Grady Prize, as well as nominated for Pushcart, Forward and Best of the Web prizes. Recently, his work was Highly Commended by the Forward Prizes judges, and features now in the The Forward Book of Poetry 2015. He is on the Committee of Cuisle Limerick City International Poetry Festival. His first full collection of poems, The Rain on Cruise's Street, was published recently by Salmon Poetry (2014).

‘Poemes Galway – Lorient’ is a web magazine featuring poems in both English and French by poets from Galway and its twin city Lorient in Brittany. It is edited by Susan Millar DuMars, Patrick Argenté and Nadia Lhote; designed by Darrell Kavanagh and published with the support of Galway City Council’s Galway – Lorient Twinning committee. It will be launched at the reading.

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. New readers are always most welcome. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details phone 087-6431748.

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

2014 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year: THE WINNERS

The fiction winner is Rachael Hegarty from Dublin for her short story 'Betty'. Rachael receives a cash prize of €300 and her short story manuscript will be read by Doire Press.

The poetry winner and 2014 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year is Ruth Quinlan, Galway for her poems 'The Passing', 'Home for the Holidays', and 'Painted Lady'. Ruth receives a cash prize of €700; her poetry manuscript will be read by Salmon Poetry; and she will be a Featured Reader at an Over The Edge: Open Reading during the first half of 2015. Ruth also receives a basket of books from Kenny’s Bookshop.

Highly commended in Poetry:

Maurice Devitt for ‘The Man at the Shop’

Victoria Kennefick for ‘Shanagarry’, ‘Lighthouse’, & ‘Writer's Retreat’

Angela Carr for ‘Bone Yard’, ‘CAT Scan’, ‘July, a Storm’  

Highly commended in Fiction:

Rory Duffy for ‘Young Robbins Don't Have Red Breasts’

Edel Burke for ‘Fractured’

Averil Meehan for ‘Chapter One’

You can read the shortlist here.

We thank our judge Eleanor Hooker and our sponsors: Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop; ISupply Quay Street; Ward’s Hotel; Derek  Nolan TD; Clare Daly TD; and Kenny’s Bookshop & Gallery.

Citation by Judge, Eleanor Hooker

"It was a great honour to be asked to judge the 2014 Over the Edge, New Writer Competition. Thanks to Kevin and Susan for asking me.

Writing is a transformative act; a writer takes a blank page and scratches it with words that illustrate a world peopled by characters her/his reader get to know, come to care about, or even be repulsed by, but whom, if the writer has done her/his job, the reader will continue to wonder about, after the last full stop.

Often, what successful poems, short stories and novels, have in common, is an arresting first line, verse, paragraph. However, once the writer has caught the reader’s attention, it is her/his job to carry it through, to deliver the best story/poem for that piece of writing. All of the entries on the shortlist carried through on their promise.

Writing that comes across as an academic exercise in word arrangement, will cause the reader’s bullshit alarm to sound, and that alarm may means the reader will not follow the writer to their last full stop.

2014 Over the Edge Poetry Winner &  Overall winner – Poetry Ruth Quinlan, Galway. Poems - The passing, Home for the Holidays, Painted Lady
 

The three poems in this submission resonated with me immediately. The surprise is most definitely in the turn of image; whilst the poet’s language works on behalf of the idea. Leaving prosaic noisiness behind, the words, against the natural ego of language, allow themselves to serve.  Strong emotion writes quiet, and in these poems, it hushes, it allows air to ventilate a heavy heart, it allows space between the words, room for the reader to enter, to infer.

That’s what I want from a poem; the words to work associations, ideas, stories in my imagination, not draw me back to the page, to its own cleverness.

From Home for the Holidays (a home and a history, awaiting the return of a family long left, embraces them like the love from a parent)

…to gather

and ignore the chimed appeals

of our half-filled parish church

…then

stamp our feet and huff on fingers in the hallway,

scattering the playful ghosts of childhood selves

We fling open windows and doors,

airing the house in gulping draughts,

allowing it to breathe and break

the fragile seals woven by spiders

jealously squatting in our absense

Painted Lady is about the catastrophe of aging. Sentimentality is a heartless beast; this is not a sentimental poem, it is filled, however, with the relentless heartlessness of time on the Painted Lady.

Her face and hair, once Titianesque

in rosebud curves and auburn curls

have become the illustrations

of a tattered colouring book

2014 Over the Edge fiction winner is Rachael Hegarty, Dublin.

Story Entry - 'Betty'

Betty is an engaging story, and like the telling of history from below, it takes a character that might be as invisible in real life, as they are to most of the other characters in this short story. 

The telling is such that we willingly attach ourselves to Betty as she takes us on her road trip round the 8^th floor of the Central Bank, we want to help her when her trolley snags on the foyer rug (a lovely detail).

A writerly detail that caught my attention, is the movement in the story, there is some summary, (it’s nearly impossible to avoid, though we’re constantly told it should be avoided in a short story), but there is little of what James Woods call an aspic of arrest, Rachel Hegarty has Betty move and act, there is cause and effect.

Writing has a moral obligation, a character should not be debased, or introduced for the advancement of the story, (you may wonder), if they are created, it must be for themselves. I don’t believe Betty is a vehicle for the author’s agenda on class, but as a consequence of writing about Betty, we readers recognize attitudes to class.

I like that Betty is not depicted as a perfect human being, it makes her a perfect character. When she is humiliated, she acts, takes an ultimate and surprising action that absolves us of any pity we might otherwise be compelled to feel for her.

I am certain we will be hearing more of these two writers; I look forward to following their careers.

Highly commended in Poetry:

1. Maurice Devitt – Poem, The Man at the Shop

This poem is mysterious, beautiful, surreal, with echoes for me of Popa, Simic, Helen Ivory. The poet should beware not to become opaque and lose the reader.

2. Victoria Kennefick – Poems, Shanagarry, Lighthouse, Writer's Retreat

Three striking poems, what an astounding line ‘stones/are born like grudges’, The poet should avoid overused poetic tropes, these poems own originality, trust that.

3.  Angela Carr – Poems, Bone Yard, CAT Scan, July, a Storm

Three excellent poems, with stunning opening lines that absolutely grab the reader. CAT scan is an astonishing poem, well achieved. Be cautious of over-wording a thought; be confident that your turn of image will carry it.

Highly commended in Prose:

1. Rory Duffy – Short Story, Young Robbins Don't Have Red Breasts

Utterly convincing voice of the child, beautifully observed. This story has serious potential, however, beware of formatting, layout and language, it could affect whether a reader will persist.

2. Edel Burke – Short Story, Fractured

A brilliantly told story that leads the reader and exposes the dangers of their assumptions. The writer should be on their guard against hackneyed writing or clichéd characters.

3. Averil Meehan – Story, Chapter One

This story holds us from the outset, it’s ending doesn’t maintain the promise of the opening pages. Don’t go for easy resolutions, the best stories are those unwillingly told. I wonder should the author consider keeping this a short story (the title is Chapter One…could one sustain this throughout a novel?)"

November Over The Edge: Open Reading with Teresa Sweeney, Deirdre McClay & Joseph Horgan PLUS MA in Writing Students from NUI Galway

The November ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, November 20^th, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Joseph Horgan, Deirdre McClay & Teresa Sweeney. There will as usual be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. This month’s open-mic will continue our showcase of the poetry students from this year’s MA in Writing at NUI Galway. New readers are always especially welcome at the open-mic.  

Teresa Sweeney is from county Galway. She was short listed in this year’s Over the Edge New Writer of the Year. She has been published in Roadside Fiction, Number Eleven Magazine, Wordlegs, Boyne Berries and runner up in WOW! Awards 2011. Teresa took classes with Susan Millar DuMars including the Advanced Fiction class. She is studying an MA in Writing in NUIG this year. Teresa’s stories can be read here: http://www.teresasweeney.com   

Deirdre McClay lives in Donegal and is a member of Garden Room Writers. She has published fiction in The Irish Times, Sunday Tribune, Crannóg, Boyne Berries, Wordlegs, and The Linnet’s Wings, among others. In 2005, she was nominated for a Hennessy Award. More recently, her short stories have won in The Lonely Voice Competition, and the Allingham Festival; she has also been longlisted, shortlisted, and highly commended in national competitions. 

Joseph Horgan

Joseph Horgan was born in Birmingham, England, of Irish parents. He is a past winner of The Patrick Kavanagh Award and has been awarded an Arts Council bursary for his poetry. His first collection of poetry, Slipping Letters Beneath the Sea, was published by Doghouse in 2008. His second book, The Song at Your Backdoor, a meditation on identity and place, was published by Collins Press in 2010, and was selected as an RTE Book on One.  His most recent book, The Year I Loved England, a collaborative poetry collection with English poet Antony Owen, was published in 2014 by Pighog Press. His work has been anthologised in: Off the Wall (Marino ed Niall MacMonagle), Landing Places (Dedalus ed Eva Bourke and Borbala Farago), and Sunday Miscellany 2008-2011 (New Island ed Clíodhna Ní Anluain). He has written a weekly column for the Irish Post since 1999.
 

As usual there will be an open-mic after the Featured Readers have finished. This month’s open-mic will continue our showcase of the poetry students from this year’s MA in Writing at NUI Galway. New readers are always most welcome. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details phone 087-6431748. 

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