Paying Attention - Creative Writing Workshop

Paying Attention - A one-day workshop of creative writing

The poem is not a discussion, not a lecture, but an instance- an instance of attention, of noticing something in the world - Mary Oliver

Paying Attention invites you to slow down and connect with your own creativity. The workshop introduces examples from short stories and poetry as well as simple mindfulness techniques to lead you into writing.

When? Sunday 3rd November 2013 from 10.00 - 17.00

Where? Oscailt, 8 Pembroke Rd, Dublin 4. http://www.oscailt.com/ for map.
Free parking. Close to city centre.

Cost : €65 (unwaged €50)

Bookings via 086-603 4481 or shirleymcclure2@gmail.com

www.shirleymcclure.com
www.thepoetryvein.com

Quilt A Poem Competition - Bailieborough

I judged the Quilt A Poem Competition, sponsored by Cara Pharmacy and Beauty which was part of Bailieborough Poetry Festival. We were delighted with the response to this competition and the number and quality of the entries.

It was a difficult task to pick a shortlist and a winner but I enjoyed the challenge. The standard was very high, I can now see why I fail in some many poetry competitions.

I was impressed by the number of poets who started from scratch and came up with a great poem based on a quilt in the relatively short time involved. It was clear also that some found a poem already written which chimed with something in a quilt and entered it. No problem with that either.

The variety of approach was also impressive. Some wrote of the process of quilting, created a story behind the quilting or made quilting a metaphor for something else, including for writing a poem.

I created a longlist of about seventeen fairly easily but cutting that down to ten was difficult with various poems entering and leaving on each new reading. One poem did stand out at this stage and it became the winner.

And the winner was Annette Skade from west Cork for her poem Wedding Quilt. Pictured above with Paddy Halligan, chair LitLab, and myself.

The results are here on the website and the winning and highly commended poems are on this page. Paddy Smith, LitLab member, videoed the prizegiving and has uploaded the proceedings onto YouTube. Search for Bailieborough Poetry Festival in YouTube to find them.

The one thing I haven't had the courage to do yet is look at the full list of those who entered. I'm there are many well-known poets and friends among those. Maybe better not to know!

Sligo 1913 - Yeats Society, Sligo

I'm giving a talk on Sligo 1913 for the Yeats Society at the Yeats Memorial Building Hyde Bridge, Sligo at 8pm on Thursday 10 October. All welcome.

I'll be talking about the excitement and apprehension at the approach of Home Rule, about the successful Sligo Strike and the importance of labour in Sligo town politics but also about the All Red Route, the SS Liverpool, the Rink Picture Palace and 'Before the Dawn in Erin'.

Speaking in the Yeats Building I can't ignore the Yeats brothers of course. In 1913 Jack exhibited in the famous Armory Show in New York and W B published September 1913 in the Irish Times - For men were born to pray and save.

But less than an hour to speak so a little bit of everything I think.

Bailieborough Poetry Festival 2013

The first Bailieborough Poetry Festival on Friday and Saturday was a great success. Friday night's launch of the anthology by Nessa O'Mahony with readings by the LitLab members, Nessa and anthology editor, Barbara Smith was a most enjoyable, well attended event.

The venue, Bia Restaurant, Bailieborough, was perfect, the food was very good, the MC Paddy Smith had some wonderfully bad puns in his introductions and the audience responded very well to the various tones of the readings. The anthology is called Under a Thrupenny Moon and should be available for purchase online at the festival website soon.

Nessa's workshop on Saturday morning, which focused on imagery, had twelve participants all of whom responded enthusiastically to Nessa's thoughtful and challenging exercises. She conducted the workshop with her customary enthusiasm, friendliness and professionalism. The scones and jam were also much appreciated!

In the afternoon we announced the winner of the Cara "Quilt A Poem" Competition in Bailieborough Library where the quilts involved, the work of Mary Halligan were hanging. Having only previously seen the quilts on the internet everyone was impressed by their physical presence.

Four of the short listed poets attended, from Dublin, Fermanagh, Cork and London. They read their poems and LitLab members read the other shortlisted poems. I spoke of the experience of judging, what I was entranced by in the poems and made a short comment on each poem.

The competition winner was Annette Skade from West Cork for her poem Wedding Quilt. Well done Annette! She won the Cork Literary Review Poetry Manuscript Competition in 2012 and her winning collection, Thimblerig, has been published by Bradshaw Books. Above: Annette with LitLab chair, Paddy Halligan and the competition judge.

The final event was the Poetry by Candlelight readings in the Wesleyan Chapel. Another wonderful atmospheric venue with a great audience of local and a group who has traveled from Kells and some fine musicians who entertained the gathering crowd.

The three readers, Heather Brett, Rebecca O'Connor and Noel Monahan, pictured above, were polished performer who delivered their well-crafted work with great assurance and the audience enjoyed the event greatly.

So that's it! Thanks to all who helped, to Poetry Ireland who funded readings, to the sponsors especially Cara Pharmacy and Beauty who sponsored the competition prize and well done LitLab. Some members are even talking about next year's festival already!

Bailieborough Poetry Festival

And next it's Bailieborough Poetry Festival which starts tonight.

The LitLab group of writers are hosting a weekend of readings, workshops, a poetry competition and launch of a new anthology of the group’s work.

This evening sees the official opening of the Festival in Bia Restaurant, Bailieborough, poetry readings by Nessa O’Mahony and Barbara Smith.

Nessa will also official launch the anthology of LitLab members work, edited by Barbara. The anthology is entitled Under a Thrupenny Moon and contains a selection of prose and poetry by ten LitLab members.

Saturday sees a poetry workshop in the Library at 10am facilitated by Nessa O'Mahony - still some places left on this.

At 3pm the prize giving for the Cara Poetry Competition will take place with readings of the ten shortlisted poems and the announcement of the winner. In conjunction with the poetry festival there is a quilt exhibition hanging in the arts space of the library.

The Festival concludes on Saturday evening in the Wesleyan Church with Poetry by Candlelight. Poets, Rebecca O'Connor, Heather Brett and Noel Monahan will read and there will also be music. Should be a good weekend.

All-Ireland Poetry Day - Meath

Boyne Berries launched, now for All-Ireland Poetry Day!

All-Ireland Poetry Day 3 October 2013

‘OUR MOST LOVELY MEATH’ - A Tribute to the Poets of Meath

12 noon:   Laracor Graveyard  F.R. Higgins.

1pm    St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Trim  Jonathan Swift.

4pm    Ledwidge Museum, Slane   Francis Ledwidge.

5pm    O’Reilly Memorial, Dowth  John Boyle O’Reilly.

Boyne Writers Group, Trim, are marking All-Ireland Poetry Day on Thursday 3 October  by holding a series of short readings celebrating the poetic heritage of Meath at places associated with well-known Meath poets. Two of the poets are Meath-born and two others spent many years in the county. At each venue there will be readings from the works of the featured poets.

People are invited to attend at any or all of the venues, to listen to the poetry, to join in by reading their own favourite poems either by the featured poets or by any other poet irrespective of county or country of origin.

At 12 noon they will read at the grave of F.R. Higgins in Laracor Graveyard. Higgins was a native of Foxford, Co. Mayo but spend much time around Trim. He served on the board of the Abbey Theatre from 1935 until his death in 1941. His Father and son: Selected Poems has recently been published by Arlen House.

Then on to Trim where at 1pm they will celebrate the poetry of another “blow-in” to Meath, Jonathan Swift, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Loman Street. Though more famous for his satiric prose Swift also was a prolific poet and his poetry often has the same sharp wit.

At 4pm there will be a reading in the Ledwidge Museum, Slane to remember the most famous Meath poet, Francis Ledwidge. Sometimes known as the "poet of the blackbirds", he had not reached the age of 30 when he was killed in action at the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I.

Finally the group will congregate at the John Boyle O’Reilly Memorial, Dowth at 5pm to read some of the poems of the Dowth born poet, journalist and fiction writer. As a youth in Ireland, he was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, or Fenians, for which He was transported to Western Australia as a Fenian but escaped to the United States, where he became editor of the Boston Pilot newspaper.

Boyne Berries Launched

A most enjoyable launch last evening in the Castle Arch Hotel. We had, I think, the largest number of contributor-readers ever.

Paddy Smith, our chairman, made everyone welcome and introduced our guest editor who also launched the issue. Paddy's introduction was his usual mix of seriousness and fun, setting a nice tone for the evening. Be careful what personal details you mention on Facebook - they may be used in a Boyne Berries introduction!

Kate then spoke about the experience of editing blindly. She mentioned her fears - omitting friends and well-known writers - and told us how carefully she read each of the three hundred or so submissions.

She discussed what got a piece omitted and what ensured selection. She stressed the importance of spelling, grammar, punctuation, knowing where to start and finish, creating something fresh and new, including the unexpected, the off-beat, the memorable line.

Then we had the readings - twenty or so, mostly from the Leinster area but some from further afield, Galway for instance. A great mixture of prose and poetry, varied topics including the light-hearted as well as the tragic.

We ended the formal proceedings by presenting Kate with a framed print of Greg Hastings' cover image.

And the chat afterwards over tea and coffee is a vital part of the event. Thanks to all who submitted, to those who attended and read on the night and to those who would have loved to be there.

Next launch March or April 2014!

Boyne Berries 14

It's ready! There have been times, twice I think, when copies of our magazine Boyne Berries were collected from the printers on the afternoon of the launch - no fault of the printers.

This time it's ready in plenty of time and boxes are in the office and in the boot of the car ready for the launch on next Thursday evening. It looks good and reads better - seventy two pages of prose and poetry from all parts of the country and also from the UK, USA, Canada and France.

The cover is by Greg Hastings who has designed all our fourteen covers. This is the fourth in a series of photographs of windows in derelict Irish houses.

Our guest editor, Kate Dempsey, has done a great job of selection and arranging the material. Among those whose work is included are Nessa O'Mahony, Breda Wall Ryan, Edward O'Dwyer, Patricia Byrne, Noel King and Dimitra Xidous. We are also delighted to include many lesser known writers, some gaining their first publication here.

The launch is in the Castle Arch Hotel, Trim at 8pm on Thursday next 26 September 2013. The guest editor, Kate, will launch the issue and many of the contributors will be present and will read their contributions. All welcome, no entry charge. Looking forward to a great evening.

Boyne Berries 14 can be purchased by PayPal on this page:
http://www.boynewriters.com/buy-or-submit.html

Irish Writers Centre Courses

Whether you wish to write a best-seller, take up a new hobby or write because you can't imagine not writing, the Irish Writers Centre have a course for you!

All their courses are taught by published authors and stretch across several genres. They have classes for people who are picking up a pen for the first time and writers who are going through the hard slog of finishing and editing their work.

This year they are hosting their first online course, taught by Nessa O'Mahony and focusing on creative writing for beginners. Nessa has a poem in Boyne Berries 14 which is being launched on Thursday 26 September in Trim. She is also reading and conducting a workshop at the Bailieborough Poetry Festival the following week-end.

Other new additions include: a food writing course, Delicious Words, taught by Catherine Cleary; a poetry appreciation course, Reading The Great Tradition, with Harry Clifton; Introduction to Playwriting with Michelle Read; Crime Writing with Louise Phillips; Experimental Fiction with Dave Lordan; How to Self-publish and Sell Your eBook with Catherine Ryan Howard and a novel writing course for people who are part way through writing a novel, Lost The Plot?, with Niamh Boyce.

Further details on the Centre's website.

Bailieborough Poetry Festival

Full details are now online of the inaugural Bailieborough Poetry Festival which takes place on the weekend of 4 and 5 October this year.

The organisers, LitLab group of writers, are hosting a weekend of readings, workshops, a poetry competition and launch of an anthology of the group’s work edited by Barbara Smith.

Visiting poets will include, Nessa O’Mahony, Heather Brett, Rebecca O Connor and Noel Monahan.

Venues include the town library in the old Market Square, Bia restaurant and the Wesleyan Church. In conjunction with the poetry festival there will be a quilt exhibition in the arts space of the library.

A poetry competition is being held in conjunction with the festival and the quilt exhibition. I'm the judge for this and the shortlist will be announced on 30 September. Prizes will be presented and winning poems read on Saturday 5 October.

Francis Ledwidge Drama in Dublin

I recently mentioned the Francis Ledwidge play, To One Dead, which was being staged in Dublin. Unfortunately I was unable to attend but I'm delighted that it was a great success and that there is talk of putting it on again soon. Well done Liam O'Meara and the Inchicore Ledwidge Society!

The Inchicore Ledwidge Society are pleased to announce that the play To One Dead, was a great success. After a hesitant first night, audience levels perked up from Tuesday, right through to Sunday, with full houses experienced on most nights.

One aspect of the production which particularly delighted author Liam O’Meara was the awareness of the audience to the humour interspersed in the story:  They got every witticism: dashes of humour were essential for light relief as it was a sad, indeed, tragic story. The cast were excellent, I wouldn't have changed one of them. I am new to play writing and production; this has proved to be a wonderful adventure for me and the members of the Inchicore Ledwidge Society. I would like to give a special mention to Frank Allen for his superb direction and for his duel role as army-chaplain, Fr. Devas, the narrator.

A lot of the Francis Ledwidge poems were interpreted in the unfolding of the tale. Quite a number of those attending had never before heard of this greatly overlooked poet of Meath and were much taken by the quality of his verse. Midweek, we had a group of people here from Slane who were, of course, well informed. They thoroughly enjoyed the show.

To One Dead  ended its run on Sunday 8 September, but such is the demand for its return, there may well be another showing in the coming months.

The Work of Michael Farrell exhibition

This exhibition, currently on in the Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, is well worth a visit. I'm not an expert but I was fascinated by the range of the work on display. It is difficult to know sometimes when Farrell is being humorous and when he is being bitterly satiric. Often the two are combined as in his Madonna Irelanda series.

There are a number of his Miss O'Murphy series in the show. These were based on paintings by François Boucher for whom the model was Marie-Louise O’Murphy, later a courtesan and mistress to Louis XV.

Many of his titles are poems in themselves An Incomplete History of Ireland for example. One of the works in the show has a title (with a small alteration) from Wilde's Ballad of Reading Jail: That little tent of blue that sometimes prisoners call the sky.

The work above used on the poster and notices is one of Farrell's Presse series and uses newspaper headlines dealing with the Dublin bombings 1974.

Micheal Farrell (1940-2000) was born in Kells, County Meath and is one of Ireland’s best-known artists. He won the Biennale des Jeunes Paris Laureat in 1967 and the Douglas Hyde Gold Medal in 1976. This retrospective highlights the scope of Farrell’s skill. Produced by Solstice, this exhibition will then tour to Crawford Art Gallery and the RHA.

Well done Solstice!

Aidan Dunne in the Irish Times on the exhibition.
Meath Chronicle report of the exhibition opening.

Academy of American Poets Prizes

The Academy of American Poets has just announced its annual series of poetry prizes. This year, the organization has awarded over $200,000 to poets at various stages of their careers.

I'm delighted to see that Carolyn Forché has won a major award. I was one of about ten poets who attended a workshop facilitated by Carolyn at the Cork Poetry Festival earlier this year and found her a gracious and most engaged and effective communicator. She also did an outstanding reading at the festival.

Some of the awards:
Wallace Stevens Award: $100,000 for outstanding and proven mastery in the art of poetry: 2013 Recipient: Philip Levine

Academy of American Poets Fellowship: $25,000 for distinguished poetic achievement: 2013 Recipient:  Carolyn Forché

Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize: $25,000 for the most outstanding book of poetry published in the United States in the previous year: 2013 Recipient: Patricia Smith's Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah (Coffee House Press, 2012)

Seven Towers Second Thursday - Cities

Every Second Thursday of the month at the Workmans Club, Wellington Quay, Dublin, Seven Towers holds a special themed reading. In this reading four writers/poets read on a specific theme for five to seven minutes.

This Month the Theme is Cities. I'm one of this month's readers. The others are David Murphy, Fióna Bolger and Anna Maria Crowe Serrano. After the featured readers there will be a short open mic. So come along with your prose or poem on the theme - widely interpreted.

David Murphy is a Cork born, Dublin based, award winning Science Fiction Writer. He is co-founder of Irish fiction magazine, Albedo One, and has published two novels, Akron Chronicles and Longevity City and a collection of short stories Lost Notes.

Fíona Bolger's poetry has appeared in many journals including Southword, The Chattahoochee Review, Brown Critique, Can-Can, The Poetry Bus, and Outburst. She is a member of the Dublin Writers' Forum and Airfield Writers. Her collection The Geometry of Love between the Elements has recently been published.

Anamaria Crowe Serrano's publications include Paso Doble (Empiria, Rome, 2006), co-written with Italian poet Annamaria Ferramosca as an experimental poetic dialogue; a collection of short stories, Dall’altra parte (Leconte, Rome, 2003) and a one act play, The Interpreter (Delta3 Edizioni, 2003). Her first full length collection, Femispheres was published by Shearsman, UK, in 2008.

I'm looking forward to this! Workmans Club, Wellington Quay, Dublin. Thursday 12 September. 6.30pm.


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Higgins Selected Poems Launch

I attended the launch of the the Father and Son: Selected Poems, at Higginsbrook House, Trim, Co. Meath. This is a handsome volume published by Arlen House with an introduction by Joe Woods, former Director of Poetry Ireland.

Higginsbrook House is a fine Georgian house in which F.R. Higgins spent many summers. The house was used in the films Becoming Jane and Northanger Abbey in 2007.

A most enjoyable celebration of the poet with interesting contributions by local historian Noel French and Aidan Gray of Higginsbrook, a relative of the author.

There were a number of fine readings of poems from the volume and English poet, P.J. Kavanagh, had the honour of reading Higgins' best known poem, Father and Son. He did it with style.

P.J. Kavanagh is a most interesting writer. He knows Irish writers well, having written Voices in Ireland: A Traveller's Literary Companion in 1994. We talked about T.H. White who had lived near Trim for a while during World War II, Francis Ledwidge and also the Gloucester poet, Ivor Gurney, whose Collected Poems Kavanagh edited in 2004. Guardian Review here.

Two more launches of the book will take place:
The Abbey Theatre, Dublin City – Monday 9th September from. 5.30pm.
The Mayfly Hotel, Foxford, Co. Mayo – Tuesday 10th September from 7pm.

For further information please contact: Aidan Gray (Tel: 087 682 6934, Email: grayajh@eircom.net)

F.R. Higgins : Selected Poems

Arlen House in partnership with Poetry Ireland and the author’s relatives are celebrating the poetry of F.R. Higgins with the publication of his Father and Son: Selected Poems, to be launched in September in Dublin, Meath and Mayo.

Father and Son also serves to honour Dardis Clarke (1939-2013) who championed Higgins’ work – Dardis’s father was the famous poet Austin Clarke who was a close friend of F.R. Higgins.

Frederick Robert Higgins (1896-1941) was born in Foxford, Co. Mayo, he spent summers with his relatives in Higginsbrook, Co. Meath, and much of his working life in Dublin where he reached the position of Managing Director of the Abbey Theatre. Four of his books were published, Island Blood; The Dark Breed; Arable Holdings and The Gap of Brightness. In the 1930s he became a great friend of W.B. Yeats and worked with him on several poetry projects.

Dardis Clarke and Aidan Gray, a relative of the author from Higginsbrook, Meath, worked together to compile this volume. Joseph Woods, poet and former director of Poetry Ireland, has written a stimulating introduction honouring both F.R. Higgins and Dardis Clarke.

Three launches of the book will take place:
Higginsbrook House, Trim, Co. Meath – Sunday 8th September from 4pm.
The Abbey Theatre, Dublin City – Monday 9th September from. 5.30pm.
The Mayfly Hotel, Foxford main street, Co. Mayo – Tuesday 10th September from 7pm.

For further information please contact: Aidan Gray (Tel: 087 682 6934, Email: grayajh@eircom.net)

Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

My first awareness of Seamus Heaney was sitting with my mother watching a Late Late programme in the late 60s on which a small number of young Irish poets each read one poem. Seamus Heaney read Mid-Term Break. I wasn't aware of any special interest my mother had in poetry but she listened attentively and said at the end "Ah, his little brother was killed in an accident". She didn't know it but the brother's name was Christopher. She herself had lost a little brother called Christopher many years before and later a son of the same name.

Seamus Heaney reads Mid-Term Break at the National Gallery.

Years later I attended a reading in Dublin by Heaney and Dutch poet Rutger Kopland (1934-2012). Heaney spoke about memories and poetry and I wrote this poem afterwards.

Heaney & Kopland

Talk show and pub wisdom insist
“Live only in the present”
but, old and contrary, I assert:
“There is only the future
where past is always present”.

Two grey-haired poets
read from memories
(But memories made present -
Yanks in Derry and Afghanistan,
Horace’s Twin Towers thunder).
Turned pages in the roll call
of the dead or soon to die -
friends, lovers, relatives -
like the roll call of years
(I remember writing 1956
In my school copybook)

In the age of black and white
I first saw him read.
My mother said:
“A car killed his little brother.”
Much later I connected all,
two white deal coffins,
each less than four foot
made and painted by her uncle,
held her sons,
brothers I never knew.
Ticks on the roll book
nowhere now, every day.

first published in Revival magazine January 2007.

The Life of Francis Ledwidge

The life and death of Meath poet Francis Ledwidge continues to fascinate. His involvement with the political movements of the day, labour and the Irish Volunteers, together with his enlisting in the British Army and his death on the battlefield of France, makes him an enigmatic character.

He is sometimes caricatured as a "peasant poet" but he is much more than that. Liam O'Meara is one of those who has done most to ensure that Ledwidge is not forgotten and that his stature as a poet is recognized.  This staging of Liam's drama should be well worth seeing.

To One Dead, The Life of Francis Ledwidge, Poet, Soldier, Lover by Liam O'Meara in The Pearse Theatre, 27 Pearse Street Dublin 2. Monday 2nd to Sunday 8th September 2013. Featuring Frank Allen, Glenn Gannon, Ken Fletcher, Natasha Duffy, Niamh Kavanagh, John Smyth, Tomás Gleeson.

Doors Open 7.30pm, Show starts 8pm. Admission €10. Phone 0864099148

Corran Herald : War of Independence article

I'm delighted to have an article in this year's Corran Herald. This annual publication has been produced and published by Ballymote Heritage Group since 1985.

This group, founded in May 1984, has continued to devote itself to its stated aim of raising awareness of all matters of heritage and in particular promoting knowledge of and interest in all aspects of local history, archaeology, culture, folklore and all the many things that make up the unique character of any given area.

They meet monthly and since 1990 have organised a Heritage Weekend each August Bank Holiday. The Ballymote Heritage Weekend continues to attract audiences from near and far and has been widely praised for the high quality of its lectures and outings.

While researching Sligo The Irish Revolution 1912-23 I came across lots of wonderful incidents and material which either didn't get into the book or were included in an abbreviated form. So it's great to be able to write a fuller account and have it published in such a local publication.

My article in the Corran Herald is entitled A strange thing happened on the way to the dance and deals with the meeting of IRA officer Michael J. Marren, O/C Ballymote Battalion, and Major E.S.C. Grune, O/C Sligo Troops, 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment, as a result of a train hold-up in south Sligo on 26 May 1920.

I was lucky to find an account of the incident which Grune wrote soon afterwards. He was impressed by the efficiency and armament of the IRA who held up the train, disarmed the soldiers on board and traveled with them to the next stop where the IRA got off, allowing the British proceed to Boyle. Grune was on his way to a dance at the barracks in Boyle.

Grune's account is included in Capt. A. L. Dunnill's A summary of events during the period in which the 1st Battalion Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment was stationed in Ireland, 1920, 1921, 1922, in Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service, Bedford, UK. This is a marvelous account of that period from the British Army's point of view. 

Marren accidentally drowned at Strandhill the day after the truce in 1921 while Grune served in Palestine later, retired in 1937, served in the RAF Reserve during the second world war and died in 1960.

It is a fascinating glimpse at one minor incident in the Irish war of independence. The full list of the contents of this issue are here. The Corran Herald is on sale in bookshops in County Sligo. Enquiries to: info@ballymoteheritage.com

eBook: Sligo The Irish Revolution, 1912–23

Four Courts Press have just launched their new range of eBooks. Their eBook list will initially consist of ten titles, with more to be added in 2014.

These will include some classic Four Courts Press titles such as the bestselling Murders at Wildgoose Lodge and Edward Daly’s Mister are you a priest? as well as the recently published memoirs of John Hewitt.

I'm thrilled that my book Sligo 1912-23: The Irish Revolution is also among the first ten issued as eBooks.

They will be accessible on a variety of devices including Kindle, iPhone, iPad, Nook and Sony eReader. See the Four Courts Press website for details and purchasing.

‘This is a new and thrilling venture for Four Courts Press and we are excited to be taking our first steps into this vibrant market for our books.’ Anthony Tierney, Marketing Manager at Four Courts Press said.

Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition

I was included in this excellent publication a couple of year ago and have a soft spot for them since.

The Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition offers both existing and aspiring writers the chance to showcase their work to a wider, international audience.

Now in its sixth year, the competition celebrates and nurtures creative talent, inviting writers to submit imaginative and original work in either category for entry: Poetry or Short Fiction.

Prizes include £500 prize money, publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual and a selection of books from partner organisations. Submissions previously published elsewhere are accepted. Deadline 31 August.

For more information please visit the website.

There you will also find details of the Aesthetica Art Prize – Deadline also 31 August

The Aesthetica Art Prize offers budding and established artists a platform to present their work to new and exciting audiences. In this celebration of visual art, artists are invited to submit imaginative and innovative work that pushes the boundaries of their chosen medium.

Prizes include up to £1000 in cash, a group exhibition to take place in York in the UK spring 2014, six months studio space, six mentoring sessions and editorial coverage in Aesthetica Magazine, which has a readership of 140,000 worldwide.

Poetry Master Class by Noel Monahan

Windows Publications Extravaganza 21st National Student Poetry Awards will be held in association with Cavan Arts Office & Culture Weekend on Sunday 22nd September 2013 in the Cavan Crystal Hotel, Dublin Road, Cavan.

This will include a Poetry Master Class by Noel Monahan from 12-2pm. Noel is a multi-award winning poet and playwright has an MA in Creative Writing, five collections of poetry and has read extensively in America, London and throughout Ireland.

Topics Covered Include:
* Poetic Inspiration
* Responding To A Poem
* Finding A Form For Your Poem
* Arranging Your Work On The Page
* Rhythm, Line Breaks & Editing
* Getting Your Poetry Published

Two participants will be chosen to read their work at Windows 21st National Poetry Awards Ceremony at 5pm on the same day in Cavan Crystal Hotel.

Workshop costs €40 (includes coffee) and places are limited so please book before 6th September. All enquiries and booking to 0870534737.

21st National Student Poetry Awards will take place on the same day at the same venue at 5pm. Guest speaker will be Jack Keyes, Cavan County Manager. Guest poet Terry Mc Donagh (Hamburg).

Art exhibition with international artists James Brady (Monaghan), Elena Duff (Berlin) and Anne Petersen (Galway).

Concert in Trim Cathedral

A very special concert takes place at 8pm on Thursday 15 August in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trim.

The Gregory Walkers brings together four of Ireland's leading musicians. Individually the group's members perform classical, renaissance, baroque, contemporary, jazz, world, tango and rock music. In The Gregory Walkers they combine their diverse experiences and talents to present an exciting and refreshing approach to the performance of old music. Two of the group members, Laoise O'Brien and Eamon Sweeney, will be the star attraction in the concert.

Also participating will be the Navan Male Singers and virtuoso violinist, Klara Janu from Czech Republic, who lives and teaches violin in Trim and Dublin.

Gwen Bagnall, who is one of our most accomplished and popular sopranos with a string of AIMS nominations and awards to her name, will also perform. Matt Gilsenan, who is organizing the concert, is volunteering something from his Percy French repertoire and hopes to be accompanied by Frank Foley on his guitar.

Paddy Smith will then read some of his own work. No idea what he will come up with, something dull and boring posssibly, but more probably something sparking, witty, amusing, incisive etc.

Tickets €10 are available  from Siopa An Caislean, Castle Street and the Focus Office and all proceeds are in aid of Irish Cancer Society and the maintenance of the cathedral.

Trim and Sligo Black Friaries

Some more digging today at the Blackfriary, Trim. In cutting nine again, searching for the western end of the church. This end seems very disturbed by later digging and dumping but it looked more hopeful today with some evidence of mortar and possibly walls. Most of the students are finishing this week and heading back to the USA. They seemed to have enjoyed their time in Ireland very much.

I visited the remains of the Dominician Friary when in Sligo last Friday. What a contrast with the Blackfriary in Trim. The stone from the Trim Dominician Friary was sold in later centuries and presumably used in substantial buildings in the town. What happened to the carved stone, the figures of St Dominic etc? All destroyed at the time of the Reformation?

Sligo Friary pictures: 1. The church from the nave with the rood screen and the high altar at the east wall. 2. The cloisters. 3. St Dominic on the O'Crean tomb. 4, St Dominic at the cloisters.

Reading at Yeats Summer School

I was delighted to read poetry in Sligo yesterday at the final day of the 54th Yeats International Summer School. The Yeats Memorial Building is a great venue and the room was full.

I read with two other fine Sligo poets, Ann Joyce and Peggie Gallagher. Ann had already featured in the Summer School having delivered an excerpt from her work Meadbh -The Crimson Path at the Yeats Summer Suite of Music, Spoken Word and Dance. This collaborative performance piece relates the legend of the fabled warrior queen of Connacht and journeys through the ancient and mythical landscape of first century Ireland.

Peggie Gallagher was winner of the Listowel Writers’ Week Poetry Collection in 2012 and her collection, Tilth, published by Arlen House, was launched at this year's Listowel Festival. Two great poets, very good readers of their work, and the audience enjoyed them.

We each read for twenty minutes which gave us time for relaxed introductions and a good selection of material. I rambled from Coolaney to Florence, from early childhood to later life, included some from Asking for Directions and more recent ones including the Fermoy poem.

Eilo, as usual, was a great host and set a wonderfully relaxed tone for the readings. The School Director, Meg Harper, said some kind words at the end. It was a great thrill to be a part, even a very small part, of the Summer School. Thanks to all involved.

Sligo Poets Reading

The 54th Yeats International Summer School Gathering 2013 is in its second and final week. I usually try to attend at least one day of the school and this year was delighted to be included in the Sligo Poets Reading in the Poets' Parlour in the Yeats Memorial Building.

This takes place at 1pm on Friday 9 August, the final day of the school. I've read as a guest at the Poets' Parlour last April and really enjoyed it. A great knowledgeable audience. I also took part in the open mic there on Yeats Day. Now to choose a few suitable poems. Sligo themes or not?

Earlier on Friday, at 9.30am, Susan Wolfson will lecture on Yeats’s ‘Romantic’ Conversations in the   Hawkswell Theatre. Susan Wolfson is a Professor of English at Princeton University. Her research interests include is the Romantics and their contemporaries, that is, the writers in Britain from 1780 to about 1850. This lecture will be about Yeats’s poetry of engagement with the British Romantics, in particular Wordsworth, Shelley, and Keats.

The results of the iYeats Poetry Competition, held as part of the Yeats Festival Season, were announced last week at a reading in the Hawk's Well Theatre, Sligo. The winner was Breda Wall Ryan from Bray, Co Dublin for ‘Dreamless’. The emerging poet prize was awarded to James Conor Patterson from Newry, Co Down for his poem ‘Animal Psalms’. The commended poets were Offaly native, Connie Roberts, now living in the USA and Cróna Gallagher who is based in Co. Leitrim.

Full report here. And full marks to the organizers for the prompt publication of the results!

Fermoy Poetry Festival

Home from the Fermoy International Poetry Festival. Very enjoyable week-end. Great to meet so many poets, local, national and those from UK, USA, Netherlands, India etc. Great also to meet the other winners in this year's competition.

Lots of poetry read in all kinds of venues including barbershops, banks, pharmacies, cafes etc. Above Knute Skinner reading in the Ulster Bank, Fermoy. Below: Miceál Kearney reading in Bermingham's Pharmacy. More photos on Facebook.

Some fine anthologies launched as well. The Blue Max Review has the prizewinning poems from this year's competition as well as lots more from home and abroad. Pat Crotty has a cruel, but very clever, poke at Bob Dylan's recent writing efforts. His first stanza of his poem Bob Dylan's Comeback Albums #12 & 35 goes like this:

Riffs rumble in the mountains, couplets pound on the plain;
Riffs rumble in the mountains, couplets pound on the plain;
Waters gonna rise, cliche's gonna food my brain.

The anthology can be purchased on the festival site.

Doghouse launched their anthology Ten Years in the Doghouse which has poems by about thirty poets published by them in the last ten years. All new poems of course and a number were on hand to read from the anthology. Well done Doghouse!! Again it is on sale on their website.

Doghouse is launching the anthology in Limerick as part of the On The Nail Reading on Tuesday this week.

Fermoy Poetry Festival

Off to the Fermoy Poetry Festival. I was lucky enough to be the Ireland winner this year. The international winners are Rachel Davies, Erin Murphy and Ben Johnson.

There are a number of book launches during the festival. The Blue Max Review anthology will be launched on Friday 2 August in the Grand Hotel Fermoy.  This anthology will include poems from poets from all over the world including the prizewinning ones. Inclusion, an anthology of student poems from Ireland and America, will also be launched there..

Doghouse Books will launch their anthology Ten Years in the Doghouse on Sunday 4 August at 4.30pm at the Forge Bar and Restaurant.  The book contains poems from all of the poets published by Doghouse, include me, over the last ten years.

Gene Barry, the Chairman and founder of the Fermoy International Poetry, will see his own collection of poetry, Unfinished Business published by Doghouse, launched during the festival.

Among poets reading at the festival are, Dutch poets Tsead Bruinja and Jan Glas, MH Clay from Texas, Patrick Crotty from Fermoy, Kim Moore who lives in Cumbria, Bradley R. Strahan from New England, Gabriel Fitzmaurice from Kerry, John W. Sexton and Knute Skinner.

Some of the events may be broadcast live on the internet. More details, including the festival programme, on Gene Barry's Facebook page.

Looking forward to an enjoyable few days in county Cork!

Ten Years in the Doghouse

Doghouse was founded by accident in May 2003 when it was suggested to the founders that they edit an anthology of writers who had read at Poets' Corner, Tralee to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the readings series.

A shed which used to house greyhounds was donated and converted for office space, hence the name Doghouse. The anthology, Heart of Kerry, was launched in January 2004 and after announcing that "manuscripts were welcome" the floodgates opened

To celebrate the anniversary Doghouse has compiled an anthology of new work by twenty nine poets published over the last ten years and entitled it Ten Years in the Doghouse. I'm delighted to have three poems included.

Doghouse will hold a number of launches for the anthology. The first is on Sunday 4 August at 4.30pm at the Forge Inn & Restaurant, Fermoy, Co. Cork during the Fermoy Poetry Festival.

Two days later, on Tuesday 6 August, the anthology will have its Limerick launch at the On The Nail Readings in the Locke Bar, Limerick at 8pm. The Tralee launch will be in Stoker's Lodge, Tralee on Bank Holiday Monday 28 October at 5pm.

Fifth Anniversary Celebration of iYeats Poetry Competition

The Hawk's Well Theatre Sligo, has organised a 5th anniversary celebration of the iYeats Poetry Competition in the theatre on 3 August, at 8pm. This event, entitled ALOUD  will also include the announcement of this year's winners.

The celebration will include readings from Mary Branley, Gerald Dawe, Katie Donovan, James Harpur, Paula Meehan, Niall McMonagle and Enda Wyley all distinguished poets and past judges of the iYeats online international poetry competition.

The readings will be complemented by invited musicians including American Kyle Alden, a San Francisco based singer/songwriter best known for his award winning folk music settings of W.B. Yeats' poetry.

This is a Tread Softly Yeats Festival Season event. Tickets can be booked on the website.

As a commended poet in the iYeats Competition in 2010 I was invited to attend but unfortunately cannot as I will be attending the Fermoy Poetry Festival at that time. I will be attending the Poets Parlour event in the Yeats Memorial Building later that week on the Friday 9 August, at 1pm.

Yeats International Summer School

The 54th Yeats International Summer School begins tomorrow, Sunday 28 July at 2.30pm. The school will be formally opened by Mark Patrick Hederman OSB (Abbot of Glenstal Abbey) in the Hawks Well Theatre on Sunday at 2.30pm.  Mark Patrick will also speak at Evensong in Drumcliffe Church at 5.00pm. All Welcome.

The school lectures will take place at 9.30am and 11.15am in the Hawk's Well Theatre each weekday morning. Lectures are open to the public at a cost of ϵ10.00 per lecture or ϵ15.00 for two.

George Bornstein will speak about 'September 1913' on Tuesday morning and Padraig Yeates will speak about the 1913 lockout on Friday morning.

Other lecturers during the two weeks include Helen Vendler, Alexandra Poulain, Hedwig Schwall, Geraldine Higgins, Gwinn Batten, Madeline Callaghan, Alex Davis, Maureen McLane, Emilie Morin, Jahan Ramazani, Tom Walker, Warwick Gould, Deirdre Toomey and Susan Wolfson.

Other events during the week include:
A round table on the role of the Seanad, convened by Senator Susan O’Keeffe will take place in the Methodist Church, Wine street at 8.00pm on Tuesday 30th July. Tickets are available at the door.

Poetry readings at the Methodist Church, Wine Street with Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin reading on Wednesday 31 July at 8.00pm and Paula Meehan reading on Friday evening at 8.00pm.  Tickets are available at the door.

Swift Hour, Megan Sexton’s first poetry collection, will be launched on Thursday 1st August at 1.00pm in the Methodist Church, Wine Street.

The week will finish with Seamus Heaney reading from his work on Sunday 4 August in the Hawks Well Theatre.

New Writer of The Year Competition

In 2013 Over The Edge is continuing its exciting annual New Writer of The Year Competition. The competition is open to both poets and fiction writers worldwide who have not had a book published.

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 2013.

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. Closing date: Wednesday 7 August.

This year’s competition judge is Sarah Clancy (above). Sarah Clancy has been shortlisted for several poetry prizes including the Listowel Collection of Poetry Competition and the Patrick Kavanagh Award. Her first book of poetry, Stacey and the Mechanical Bull, was published by Lapwing Press Belfast in December 2010 and a further selection of her work was published in June 2011 by Doire Press.

For further details e-mail over-the-edge-openreadings@hotmail.com or see the website.

The Penny Dreadful Launch

The Penny Dreadful literary magazine is about to publish its second issue. The launch details are as follows:

Dublin: Friday July 26th - The Twisted Pepper, Lower Abbey Street - 7:30-10:00

Galway: August 2nd - Charlie Byrne's Bookshop -  Time TBC

Cork: August 19th - The Roundy, Patrick Street - 20:30 till late

I hope to attend the Dublin launch to read my poem about 1916. This was written in response to a LitLab exercise. "Write" might be the wrong word as this is what is called a "found poem", the text is not mine but the arrangement is.

If you can't attend one of the launches you can purchase online on the website.

Ledwidge Day - Sunday 28 July 2013

The annual Ledwidge Day event takes place this year on Sunday 28 July in Tankardstown House, Slane at 3.30pm.

This afternoon of music, poetry and song will include the Dublin Shakespeare Society in a drama, Letters of Love and Loss. This will be followed by a reading by poet John F. Deane from his recently published collection Snow Falling on Chestnut Hill.

More information on the Francis Ledwidge Museum website. Free parking. Come early to avoid disappointment.

RSPB/The Rialto Nature Poetry Competition

The RSPB is working in partnership with leading independent UK poetry magazine, The Rialto, which will showcase the winning entries. As well as offering poets the chance to win considerable cash prizes and publication of their poems, the competition will raise money for conservation and poetry.

Prizes: 1st £1000: 2nd £500: 3rd A Place on a Creative Writing Course at Ty Newydd in 2014 (worth £540). Additional prize, a personal tour with Mark Cocker of his most cherished wild life places in East Anglia. Mark is one of Britain’s most celebrated writers on nature.

The judge is celebrated poet, writer and broadcaster, Ruth Padel.  Ruth is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Literature and a Council Member for the Zoological Society of London.

Her latest collection, The Mara Crossing, shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Prize, explores human and animal migration in poetry and prose. She writes and presents BBC Radio 4 ‘Poetry Workshop’. Ruth will read all the poems entered in the competition.

The entry fee is £6 for the first poem and £3 for each subsequent entry. Full details and the facility to enter online can be found on The Rialto website. Closing date for entries is 30 September 2013.

They are anxious to stress that the term ‘Nature Poetry’ will be given a wide interpretation by the judge and they refer to this mention of the competition in an editorial for The Rialto:

So what is Nature Poetry? As the flier says, the judge will give this a wide interpretation. I’d imagine it won’t have to be just poems about creatures and beings that share the planet, or about ‘environmental concerns’. We are all air and water, everything we eat comes from the earth or the sea, most people know the roughness of a leaf or the heft of a stone can change a mood or express a feeling. I asked a 16 year old, What is nature? and she said, insects and grass: I asked a 32 year old the same question and she said, the sun and the moon and the stars and flowers and fruit and babies. You might just have to write your poems and take a risk.

Cara Quilt a Poem Competition

LitLab, organisers of the Bailieborough Poetry Festival 4-5 October 2013, have announced the Cara Quilt a Poem Competition. Full details are on the website. The competition is sponsored by Cara Pharmacy and Beauty.

Poems must be about, or inspired by, any of the quilts exhibited on the competition page. Closing date for entry is Friday 13th September. First prize of €250.

All shortlisted poems will be featured at a reading at Bailieborough Poetry Festival on Saturday 5th October 2013, and authors will be invited to attend. If the author is unable to attend the short-listed poem will be read by a LitLab member. The winner will be announced at that reading and will be published on the website.

Each poem must not exceed 50 lines, and should be typed, single-spaced. Up to three poems may be submitted per entry. A fee of €5 per entry (3 poems) is payable. Payment can be made via PayPal on the website. Submissions should be emailed to quiltcomp@bailieboroughpoetry.com. Postal entries will also be accepted.

I have been asked to judge this competition and look forward to the responses to the wonderful quilts on show on the webpage. These quilts will also be on exhibition in Bailieborough Library during the Bailieborough Poetry Festival.

Bailieborough Poetry Festival & Competition

My "other" writers group is LitLab which began in 2006 as an initiative by Meath and Cavan Arts Offices to provide mentoring for new and emerging writers in the two counties.

The initial workshops were held in Kells Library under the guidance of John McAllister, author, from Armagh. The group continues to meet fortnightly, in the Library in Bailieborough, County Cavan.

LitLab is publishing an anthology of the members' work in October. The anthology is being edited by well-known poet and performer, a fellow-Doghouse poet, Barbara Smith.

In connection with the launch of the anthology the group is organizing a weekend of readings, workshops and a poetry competition in Bailieborough on the weekend of 4th and 5th October this year - a Poetry Festival.

Visiting poets will include; Nessa O’Mahony, Barbara Smith, Heather Brett, Rebecca O Connor and Noel Monahan. The venues will include the town library in the old Market Square, Bia restaurant and the Wesleyan Church.

In conjunction with the poetry festival there will be a quilt exhibition hanging in the arts space of the library and the poetry competition, sponsored by Cara Pharmacy and Beauty, is based on responses in poetry to these quilts.

The festival website has just been put online. It has details of the competition. A full programme for the festival will follow soon.

John Hewitt International Summer School

A week of poetry (and much, much more) in Armagh: Monday 22 July– to Friday 26 July 2013.

A fantastic programme of poets at the Marketplace Theatre in Armagh City including Simon Armitage, Medbh McGuckian, Penelope Shuttle, Julian Stannard, James Byrne, Orfhlaith Foyle, Pat Boran, Noel Monahan, Jean Bleakney and Conor O'Callaghan, plus a choice of seven creative-writing workshop groups running throughout the week, with the poetry sessions led by James Byrne and Eoghan Walls… plus lectures, talks, drama, music, visual arts, discussions, exhibitions & a creative-writers' reading event.

Other guests include Shirley Williams, Salley Vickers, Pat McCabe, Diljit Rana, Anne Enright, Suleiman Abdulahi, Carlo Gebler, Andy Pollak, Heather Richardson, Nessa O'Mahony, Deirdre Madden, Jan Jedrzejewski: plus Ian Sansom and Wireless Mystery Theatre in The Play of the Book, and the Lurig Players' prizewinning production of David Mamet's Duck Variations.

All part of the five-day festival of culture and creativity that is the 26th John Hewitt International Summer School, with this year's lectures and discussions themed around Living Among Strangers: the lost meaning of home. Full programme online.

Come for the week, a day, or a single event, or dip in and out through the week as you discover this great ancient city & the stunning countryside that inspired poets Paul Muldoon and John Hewitt….

A Book for Mary Lavin's Centenary

The centenary of Mary Lavin’s birth occurred last year and there were a series of events organised in Meath where the writer lived for many years.

Now Irish Academic Press has published a collection of essays honouring her, one of the leading figures of the Irish short story tradition.

Throughout her lifetime, Mary Lavin’s writings were recognised and celebrated both at home and abroad.

Her first collection of stories, Tales from Bective Bridge, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1943 and she won two Guggenheim awards in 1959 and 1961.

In this book leading critics examine the main themes and stylistic features of Lavin’s novels and short stories from a variety of perspectives. Heather Ingman explores the themes of masculinity and gender in Lavin’s writing;; family and community are the main themes analysed by Elke D’hoker.

Aspects of her own turbulent life are examined as her critics aim to understand her multiple meanings, contexts and concerns. This book is a poignant and significant study of the life, work and writings of one of Ireland’s most prolific female writers of the twentieth century, Mary Lavin.

The editor is Elke D’hoker, Associate Professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and the foreword is written by Colm Tobin.

The book is available in paperback, priced at €24.95 from good bookshops or from the publisher's website.

Skylight 47 Launch

The July Over The Edge Writers’ Gathering at Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street on Thursday, 11 July, 6.30-8pm will see the launch of the second issue of Skylight 47, with special guests Eamonn Wall and Patrick Kehoe.

All contributors to this issue of Skylight 47 are invited to come along and read their poem from the magazine. All are welcome. There is no cover charge. Copies of the magazine will be on sale on the evening and can also be purchased here.

Eamonn Wall, Professor of Irish Studies/Professor of English at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and a Wexford native, will officially launch the new issue and read some of his own poems. Poet Patrick Kehoe will also read from his debut collection, It's Words You Want.


I was lucky to be included in Issue One of this poetry newspaper and I'm delighted that my collection, Asking for Directions, is being reviewed in this issue.

President Michael D Higgins at Swift Satire Festival

The Swift Satire Festival closed this afternoon with President Michael D Higgins delivering the inaugural Swift Lecture to a large, appreciative audience in Trim Castle Hotel.

Before the lecture the President unveiled an information panel beside Trim Castle about the film Braveheart, made in Trim at a time when Michael D Higgins was the minister in charge. He spoke of the importance to the film industry in Ireland of films such as Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan.

His lecture was entitled Jonathan Swift, savage indignation, contradictions, vulnerabilities and a lesson for our times. It was a comprehensive, wide ranging discussion of Swift, his times, his writings and the relevancy of his ideas. A fascinating overview for those who knew little about Swift with keen insights for those who were familiar with the writer.

One of his main themes was Swift's rage at the realization that rationality was not sufficient. It is this rage in Swift which is sometimes mistakenly labelled as misanthropy. Human nature, Swift said, was not rational but rather was capable of being rational.

The President drew a parallel with current affairs suggesting that we had been led to believe that financial structures, institutions and markets were rational but have been disappointed. He also pointed out that one of Swift's best known satires, Drapier's Letters, published anonymously, was against a financial scheme.

And so much more! All delivered with great enthusiasm. Makes you want to go back and read Gulliver's Travels again. It is possible that the text or video of the lecture may appear on the website of the President at a later date.

The Great Gulliver Gathering

Scenes from the Great Gulliver Gathering, the reading of the whole of Gulliver's Travels in just over six minutes at the Swift Satire Festival.

All 302 pages of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels were read by over 100 people in the largest simultaneous reading event ever undertaken in Ireland.

Top: The scene beside the castle where registration took place. Sunshine, stalls, bouncing castle, the comedy tent - a glorious setting.

Below: Part of the crowd of readers near the Sheepgate just before the reading commenced.

The Festival continues when one of the highlights should be the inaugural Swift Lecture to be delivered by the President of Ireland. This takes place in the Great Hall at Trim Castle Hotel at 4pm on Sunday, 7 July.

All the details are on the website.

Poetry in Motion

Some pictures from Friday's Poetry in Motion, poetry reading in the main street in Trim before lunch. Some passers-by startled by Yeats, Kavanagh, Auden, Holub, Shakespeare, Heaney, Kipling and work by the visiting group from Bradford.

Poetry in Motion is on again tomorrow, Saturday, in the Castle Grounds near the Garda Station at 11. Remember registration for the Great Gulliver Gathering takes place there from 11.30.

All 302 pages of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels will be read by 302 people (one page per reader) in the largest simultaneous reading event ever undertaken in Ireland. The reading will start at 1pm sharp. It's free to participate, will take only three or four minutes and you will get a certificate.

Swift Satire Festival - A Good Start

The Festival was officially opened last evening in the Trim Castle Hotel. A large crowd heard praise for the festival committee and the local community, some thoughts on Swift's regard for Trim and what he might have to say were he to return.

Then the first event which was, appropriately enough, a local satire competition. Boyne Writers Group and Meath Writers Circle fought the Battle of the Books and we came out victorious in the end. This victory maintained the 'every second year' pattern of victories. 

A large crowd attended, the judges were great, joining in the satire themselves and even introducing an X Factor element. Should I be delighted to have been described as "the Susan Boyle of Swift Satire"?

Paddy Smith was the MC and his dreadful puns at the expense of the contestants went down very well; OK maybe just went down well.

It was nice that the late Tommy Murray was well remembered at the event and that some family members were present. Also nice to see our friends from Bradford there and former Battle of the Books judge and key festival committee member, James Ward.

There should be some photos on the Festival Facebook page later, one already on Boyne Writers FB page. Watch also for the blogs of Orla Fay and of Frank Murphy, captain of the Meath Writers Circle team.

The Festival continues until Sunday night. Today sees our Poetry in Motion reading of poetry in the streets of Trim and tonight has the Swift Round Table with Barry Murphy, Alan Shortt and Colm O'Regan in the Knightsbrook Hotel.

Lots of events on Saturday and Sunday. Full programme on the website.