Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Swift Festival, Trim - Battle of the Books


The Swift Satire Festival in Trim takes place on Saturday July 12th and Sunday 13th, 2014.

The satire battle between the Boyne Writers Group and Meath Writers Circle has been discontinued and in its place, retaining the name, is judgement night in the €500 international poetry and prose writing "Battle of the Books" competition.

The 10 shortlisted writers (or their stand-ins) will read their entries, which judge Niamh Boyce will then comment upon before announcing her winner at the end of the night.

The audience will vote for their own winner, who will receive the €100 Audience Prize.

Helpful advice will be delivered by two "Mentors" who will champion or denigrate each of the shortlisted writers. I seem to have been persuaded to play the part of one of these, Peter Higgins is the other. A press release says "Any similarity between Statler and Waldorf from The Muppets and our two Mentors, Peter Higgins and Michael Farry, is not entirely coincidental". Indeed!

Niamh Boyce is from Athy and won the overall Hennessy XO New Irish Writer of the Year and the Emerging Poet Category for her poem “Kitty”. Her unpublished poetry collection has since been highly commended in The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award 2013. Her novel, The Herbalist (Penguin Ireland) won Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards 2013. She also writes short fiction and is working on a new novel.

This takes place at 8pm on Saturday 12 July and tickets to this event are : €5.

No comments: