January Over The Edge: Open Reading with Paula Cunningham, Michelle Coyne, & Liz Quirke

The January ‘Over The Edge: Open Reading’ takes place in Galway City Library on Thursday, January 22^nd, 6.30-8.00pm. The Featured Readers are Liz Quirke, Michelle Coyne, & Paula Cunningham. This reading marks the twelfth anniversary of the first Over The Edge reading in Galway City Library. 

Paula Cunningham was born in Omagh and lives in Belfast where she works as a dentist. Her chapbook A Dog called Chance was a winner in The Poetry Business Competition in 1999.   She has also written drama and short fiction.  Her first full-length poetry collection Heimlich's Manoeuvre, Smith/Doorstop 2013, was shortlisted for the Fenton-Aldeburgh, Seamus Heaney Centre, and Strong Shine First Collection Prizes.

Michelle Coyne has been writing intermittently since she learned to pick up a pencil, but began in earnest in January 2012. She lives in Galway with her husband and two small boys, and works with computer software for pay during the week, the commute providing ample time for working out sticky plot points. Last year, after the birth of her second son, Michelle enrolled in Susan’s intermediate writing class, and is currently taking the advanced class to help hammer her debut novel into shape.  Michelle has had short stories published in Ropes, Crannóg, wordlegs and Silver Apples, and was Long listed for the 2014 Over the Edge New Writer of the Year Award.

Liz Quirke lives in Spiddal, Co Galway with her partner and daughter. Her poems have been published in Southword, The Stony Thursday Book, The Galway Review, Boyne Berries, Revival Literary Journal, Skylight 47 and The Poetry Bus. She has been both shortlisted and longlisted in the Over The Edge New Writer of the Year Competition in 2012 and 2014 respectively. She won the 2012 Edmund Spenser Poetry Competition at the Doneraile Literary and Arts Festival. One of her poems was nominated for consideration for the 2014 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem.

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.

GALWAY UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS ARTS TRUST ANNOUNCES POETRY COMPETITION

Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust is seeking entries again for its exciting annual poetry competition. 

 

CRITERIA: poems entered in the competition should be no more than 30 lines long. They must be the original work of the entrant. Poems previously published in magazines or poetry collections are eligible. Multiple entries are accepted; poets can enter as many poems as they wish.

PRIZE 

*the winner will have her or his poem published and displayed on the Arts Corridor of University Hospital Galway as part of the 2015 Poems For Patience. Poems For Patience is a long running series which over the past decade has featured poems by leading Irish and international poets such as Seamus Heaney, Philip Schultz, Jane Hirschfield, Michael Longley, Vona Groarke, Tess Gallagher and many more. The poems after exhibition on the Arts Corridor are then displayed in waiting areas throughout Galway University Hospitals.

*the winner will be invited to read his or her winning poem at the launch of the 2015 Poems For Patience at the Cúirt International Festival of Literature in April 2015.

*the winner will be provided with accommodation in Galway for one night during the 2015 Cúirt International Festival of Literature

*the winner will be given a copy of their poem printed as a Poem for Patience poster

*the winner will be asked to submit six poems for consideration for a Featured Reader at the Over The Edge: Open Reading series in Galway City Library.

ENTRY FEE: to enter one poem the fee is €10. If you enter two or more poems the entry fee is €7.50 per poem i.e. to enter two poems it costs €15, to enter three poems €22.50 and so on.

Payment should be made by cheque or postal order payable to Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust. 

Entries should be sent by post to Margaret Flannery, Arts Director, Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust, Galway University Hospitals, University Hospital, Newcastle Road, Galway. Do not put your name on the poems; please include your contact details on a separate sheet. 

THE CLOSING DATE is Friday, March 13th 2015.

THE JUDGE: The competition judge is Kevin Higgins. Kevin Higgins is Writer-in-Residence with Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust. He facilitates poetry workshops at Galway Arts Centre; teaches creative writing at Galway Technical Institute and on the Brothers of Charity Away With Words programme. He is the poetry critic of the Galway Advertiser. Kevin is co-organiser of Over The Edge literary events. His first collection of poems The Boy With No Face was published by Salmon in February 2005 and was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award. His second collection, Time Gentlemen, Please, was published in March 2008 by Salmon. His work also features in the anthology Identity Parade – New British and Irish Poets (Ed Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010). Frightening New Furniture is his third collection of poems and was published in 2010 by Salmon Poetry. Mentioning The War, a collection of his essays and reviews was published by Salmon this April. Kevin has read his work at most of the major literary festivals in Ireland and at Arts Council and Culture Ireland supported poetry events in Kansas City, USA (2006), Los Angeles, USA (2007), London, UK (2007), New York, USA (2008), Athens, Greece (2008); St. Louis, USA (2008), Chicago, USA (2009), Denver, USA (2010), Washington D.C (2011), Huntington, West Virginia, USA (2011), Geelong, Australia (2011), Canberra, Australia (2011), St. Louis, Missouri (2013), Boston, Massachusetts (2013) & Amherst, Massachusetts (2013). His poetry has been translated into Greek, Spanish, Italian, Japanese & Portuguese. Kevin’s fourth collection of poetry, The Ghost In The Lobby, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2014.

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

NEW YEAR Beginners & Intermediate Creative Writing Classes at Galway Technical Institute with Kevin Higgins & Susan Millar DuMars

NEW YEAR Beginners & Intermediate Creative Writing Classes at Galway Technical Institute TAKING BOOKINGS NOW

Creative Writing for Beginners with Kevin Higgins takes place one evening per week (Monday) from 7-9.30pm (9 weeks) with a mid term break. It commences on Monday, January 12th, 2015. Advance booking is essential. Places cost €120. Kevin Higgins will provide writing exercises for, and give gentle critical feedback to, those interested in trying their hand at writing poems, stories or memoir. 

To book a place, go to http://www.gti.ie/aeapply/course/detail/t/69/c/201501-003713


Intermediate Creative Writing with Susan Millar DuMars takes place one evening per week (Tuesday) from 7-9.30pm (9 weeks) with a mid term break. It commences on Tuesday, January 13th, 2015. Advance booking is essential. Places cost €120. This class is suitable for those who’ve participated in creative writing classes before or begun to have work published in magazines. Flexible exercises and work-shopping of assignments, together with the study of the works of published writers, will help each class member to find their own writing voice.

To book a place, go to
http://www.gti.ie/aeapply/course/detail/t/69/c/201501-003752

YOU CAN ALSO BOOK in person at Galway Technical Institute, Monday to Friday (10am-4.30pm).

For further information contact Galway Technical Institute, Father Griffin Road, Galway, phone 091-581342 or email info@gti.ie or see http://www.gti.ie  

New Year Poetry Workshops at Galway Arts Centre

Starting in January, 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 in 2010 by Salmon. His work also appears in the generation defining anthology Identity Parade –New British and Irish Poets (Ed. Roddy Lumsden, Bloodaxe, 2010) and in The Hundred Years’ War: modern war poems (Ed Neil Astley, Bloodaxe April 2014).  A collection of Kevin’s essays and book reviews, Mentioning The War, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2012. Kevin’s poetry has been translated into Greek, Spanish, Turkish, Italian, Japanese & Portuguese. His fourth collection of poetry, The Ghost in the Lobby, was published by Salmon in April 2014.

Each week Kevin will give participants a poetry writing exercise for the following week and will offer each participant constructive suggestions as to how her or his poem can become the best possible poem it can be.


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, two have won the Cúirt New Writing Prize, and yet another the Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam, while several have published collections of their poems. In 2013 a group of his students set up the poetry newspaper Skylight 47, which publishes new poems, reviews of poetry books and opinion pieces about poetry related matters. Kevin teaches poetry on the NUI Galway Summer School programme and mentors poetry students on the NUIG BA Creative Writing Connect programme. Kevin is also co-organiser of the successful Over The Edge reading series which specialises in promoting new writers.


Each workshop will run for ten weeks, commencing the week of January19th . They will take place on Tuesday evenings, 7-8.30pm (first class January 20th ); on Thursday afternoons, 2-4pm (first class January 22nd) and on Friday afternoons, 2-3.30pm (first class January 23rd).


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 €110, with an €100 concession rate. 


Places must be paid for in advance. There are no refunds once a class has commenced. To book a place contact reception at Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, phone 091 565886 or email info@galwayartscentre.ie