Poetry and Classical Music at Ballymaloe

Didn't go out on Valentine's Night? Stayed inside writing tender/bitter love poems? Here's a chance to enjoy yourself!

A Melody of Words - Poetry and Classical Music at the Grainstore, Ballymaloe House, Shanagarry, Co. Cork. Friday 24 February 8pm

A wonderful night of poetry and harp in the beautiful setting of Ballymaloe.

Acclaimed poets Thomas McCarthy and Gerard Smyth will read from their work. Throughout the evening classical harpist Sarah Noonan will perform pieces by J.S. Bach, Grandjany, Weiss,Hasselmans, Tournier, Dussek, O' Carolan and Salzedo.

Tickets €15. Concession €10. Ballymaloe House are offering an excellent package deal of €60 for early 6pm dinner plus event or €140 for dinner, B&B and entrance to the event!

Ballymaloe pride themselves on offering a warm welcome, tastefully decorated bedrooms and award-winning cuisine which celebrates the best of local, seasonal produce.

For more details please contact Rebecca at The Grainstore - thegrainstore@ballymaloe.ie

Éalú - TG4

The first programme of Magamedia's new season of Éalú starts on this Thursday, 16 February at 10.30 pm. This programme, A Pal in Prison, features Limerick man Sean Bourke who sprang Britain's most wanted KGB spy from Wormwood scrubs in 1966. George Blake was serving the longest sentence ever handed down by a British court when he befriended Bourke in prison and they hatched a plan that left intelligence around the world baffled.

Programmes 2 and 3 tell the stories of the escapes of Paddy Flemming and Francie McGuigan from Mountjoy and from Long Kesh respectively. There is an Éalú facebook page.

I think programme 4 is the one that deals with Frank Carty's escape from Sligo Jail. I play the part of a history expert in that one. Quite well actually!

TG4 are using the Kilgannon photograph of Sligo County Council 1920, above with the empty chair representing the imprisoned Carty, on the website at the moment. The photo will also appear in my new book.

Love Poems - The Guardian

For the day that's in it. Last Saturday's Guardian had a feature entitled Love poems: writers choose their favourites for Valentine's Day - Is there a perfect love poem? Authors and poets choose those verses that have special meaning for them. It included the full text of all the poems.

An interesting selection with fewer moderns than you might expect. The absence of Yeats is unexpected and lamentable.

Seamus Heaney chooses "Whoso List to Hunt" by Sir Thomas Wyatt. Wyatt gets two poems in the piece but John Donne has three.

Mourid Barghouti, the Palestinian poet and writer, chooses a poem by recently deceased Wisława Szymborska Thank-You Note" where she expresses gratitude for "those I don't love" because "from a rendezvous to a letter / is just a few days or weeks, / not an eternity."

The full list:
"Love After Love" by Derek Walcott
"Thank-You Note" by Wisława Szymborska
"The Silent Lover" by Walter Raleigh
"Air and Angels" By John Donne
"Epitaph", by Lady Katherine Dyer
"Love and Death" by Lord Byron
"They Flee From Me" by Sir Thomas Wyatt
"It Is Here" by Harold Pinter
"Whoso List to Hunt" by Sir Thomas Wyatt
"Animals" by Frank O'Hara
Untitled, Anon, before 1530
"Touch" by Thom Gunn
"The Good-Morrow" by John Donne
"Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal, Now the White" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
"Valentine" by John Fuller
"Corinnae Concubitus" by Christopher Marlowe
"To His Mistress Going to Bed" by John Donne
"Echo" by Carol Ann Duffy

My New Book - The Blurb

I can't wait to read this book! From the Four Courts Press website.

"Using a wide array of sources and interviews, Michael Farry has produced a balanced, comprehensive and absorbing study of county Sligo from 1912 when the Irish Party controlled all political affairs to 1922–3 when the county saw considerable action during the civil war. This wide-ranging study offers fascinating new insights into the Irish Revolution and details how the county moved from being one of the most loyal to the Irish Party to one of the best-organised Sinn Féin counties. Farry is especially good on how both organised unionism and the strong labour movement in Sligo reacted to the rise of Sinn Féin, its election victory in 1918 and the subsequent Truce, Treaty and civil war. His use of the recently released BMH accounts as well as British military sources results in a richly detailed examination of the IRA campaign and the British reaction. It examines the superior attitude of the IRA towards ‘mere politicians’ during the Truce period and explains why Sligo saw so much conflict during the civil war."

Final editing still to be done though, photographs selected, maps ready, cover not yet finalised. Almost there!!

Bram Stoker in Collooney

I'm grateful to Noel French of Meath Heritage Centre for pointing out a mention of Sligo in an upcoming book on Bram Stoker, the Dublin-born creator of Dracula.

A long-lost notebook belonging to Stoker, written between 1871 and 1881, was recently discovered in the attic of one of his great grandsons and is being published to coincide with the Centenary of Stoker’s death. This personal Notebook is said to show Stoker’s private thoughts and his developing style that foreshadows the journalistic technique of Dracula.

One undated diary entry refers to a trip to Collooney, Co. Sligo, which Stoker describes as the “most unbusy place in Ireland”. In the same town, he overhears some disparaging remarks made by a “peasant” about one of the political parties of the time. “They do go round an’ round an’ round an’ round, jist for all the world like a dog lookin’ for the head of his bed.” This, together with numerous other entries, reveals Stoker’s precision and keen ear for recreating the local dialect.

Natives of Coolaney, like myself, never thought much of Collooney, five miles away and a constant source of postal confusion.

More here and here.

The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: The Dublin Years is written by Dacre Stoker and Prof Elizabeth Miller and will be published by Robson Press on 8 March, 2012, priced at STG£18.99.

Irish Writers' Centre Lunchtime Readings

Lunchtime Readings will run on Fridays at 1pm throughout February and March in the Irish Writers' Centre starting this Friday.

These readings, which are free, are organised in association with Poetry Ireland and will alternate every week between prose and poetry, offering audiences the chance to experience a wide-range of literary talent.

Friday, 10 February, Prose: Paul Murray
17 February, Poetry: Paul Grattan.
24 February, Prose: Shane Connaughton.
2 March, Poetry: Geraldine Mitchell.
9 March, Prose: Anne Sharpe.
16 March, Poetry: Paul Perry.
23 March, Prose: Mary Costello.
30 March, Poetry: Denise Blake

And on Friday, 10 February, the 2012 Over The Edge Poetry Book Showcase featuring Moya Cannon, Stephen Murray, Ndrek Gjini, Lorna Shaughnessy, Jack McCann, Mae Leonard, Sarah Griffin, Pauline Fayne, Pete Mullineaux, Susan Lindsay, Kate Dempsey, Brian Slattery, Karen O'Connor & Sean Kavanagh will take place at The Kitchen @ The Museum, Spanish Arch, Galway.

Noel Monahan: A Celebration

Noel Monahan at Backstage: A Celebration of the Award Winning Poet & Playwright will be held at the Backstage Theatre, Longford in association with Longford Arts Office on Friday, 10 February 8:30pm. Free admission but booking essential.

To celebrate the work of this award winning poet and playwright, a number of writers from the various writers groups in County Longford will read from Noel’s five books of poetry. The evening will be interspersed with music and song.

Noel has been involved at various times with the Cavan/Meath LitLab group and has facilitated workshops for the group. Noel, with Heather Brett, runs Windows Publications which has published many up and coming writers including LitLab members and especially encourages writing in schools.

Noel, originally from Granard, has published five collections of poetry. His most recent publication was Curve of The Moon published by Salmon poetry in 2011. His literary awards include among others, The SeaCat National Award organised by Poetry Ireland. In 2001 he won The PJ O’Connor RTE Radio Drama Award for his play Broken Cups and in 2002 he was awarded The A.S.T.I. Achievements Award for his contribution to literature at home and abroad.

His work has been translated into Italian, French, Romanian and Russian. His most recent plays include: The Children of Lir performed by Livin’ Dred Theatre which appeared at Backstage.

Wisława Szymborska R.I.P.

Polish poet and Nobel Laureate Wisława Szymborska dies on Wednesday 1 February in Krakow, aged 88. Szymborska was described by Czesław Miłosz as "a poet of consciousness... she speaks to us, living at the same time, as one of us, reserving her private matters for herself."

I mentioned her in this blog entry from 2010. And she will also get a mention in my poetry collection from Doghouse in a poem published in THE SHOp magazine in Autumn/Winter 2010 called My Interest in Polish Poetry has been Aroused.

I love this early poem of hers, that line, The hour of do-we-vanish-too-without-a-trace is brilliant in its simplicity.

Four a.m.

The hour between night and day.
The hour between toss and turn.
The hour of thirty-year-olds.

The hour swept clean for rooster's crowing.
The hour when the earth takes back its warm embrace.
The hour of cool drafts from extinguished stars.
The hour of do-we-vanish-too-without-a-trace.

Empty hour.
Hollow. Vain.
Rock bottom of all the other hours.

No one feels fine at four a.m.
If ants feel fine at four a.m.,
we're happy for the ants. And let five a.m. come
if we've got to go on living.

Wislawa Szymborska. Translated by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh.

More of her poetry here. The Guardian obituary here.

Census 3, The Third Seven Towers Anthology

Seven Towers, Dublin have just announced the publication of Census 3, The Third Seven Towers Anthology. It will be launched by its writers at the Irish Writers Centre, 19 Parnell Square, on Wednesday 22nd February at 7 pm. I'm delighted that one of my poems is included. Two other Boyne Writers, Orla Fay and Evan Costigan, are also included.

Not sure which of the three I submitted has been included - it has been quite a while.

This anthology contains over 90 authors from every part of the globe and every possible age and in every imaginable genre.

All of the included authors have performed at a Seven Towers Event and there is excellent writing in every imaginable genre - poetry, prose, short stories, experimental fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and so many more goodies.

The anthology can be ordered online at the special price of 12 Euros (no postage!). Others included are Noel Duffy, Noel King, Pauline Fayne, Alan Garvey, Ross Hattaway, Oran Ryan, Roger Hudson, Patrick Joyce, Eileen Keane, Quincy R. Lehr, Eamonn P Lynskey, Tommy F O'Connor and Greagoir O'Duill.

Boyne Writers Group AGM - Chairman's Address

Boyne Writers Group chairperson, Paddy Smith, welcomed the members to the 2011 AGM held in Trim on Thursday, 2 February by saying “All the time, I count my blessings – and among them is the blessing of belonging to a writers’ group such as the Boyne Writers. It has transformed my life. I shudder to think what I might be doing if I wasn’t in the group: playing golf!”

He mentioned what was the year’s highlight for the group, the publication of the tenth issue of Boyne Berries and described it as “a fine booklet that we can all be very proud of”. He said that though it was a costly exercise it was well worth while.

Paddy was delighted that the group’s core activity, writing, was going well. Members produced some good stuff during the year. Many of them appeared in various publications, were successful in competitions, had published books and Paddy himself had three of his plays performed.

He posed the question: Are we better writers as a result of being members of the Boyne Writers Group? Answering it for himself he said “I personally feel that I have learned much about writing as a direct result of my involvement with the group. Not necessarily from the entire process of criticism, although this does help of course, but from the process of writing. If I wasn’t in a writers’ group I certainly wouldn’t be writing as much. Also from the process of listening – listening to what others are writing”.

He did go on to warn that, in his opinion some of the basics of good writing, such as punctuation and grammar, are being ignored by some or even many, members - “If we go forth into the world as writers, seeking publication here and there, we should care about such matters.”

Paddy did go on to discuss some of the group’s non-core activities which, he said, had not being going so well. Our Boyne Readings, for example were not resumed after last summer’s break mainly through lack of enthusiasm because of small attendances. He discussed what we expect from these readings and how we might attract larger audiences.

The Boyne Writers’ international satirical writing competition which we organise for the Trim Swift Festival has not been attracting large entries and in 2011 had a record low number of entries: “Is there no interest at all in this ancient form of commentary: satire? One would have thought that in these turbulent times satire would come into its own”. Again the group need to consider this.

In conclusion Paddy said how much he is looking forward to the coming year in the Boyne Writers and he hoped that this will be the year it all happens for each and every member.

Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition

This is a nice touch - an email to all those commended in a poetry competition which includes details from the judge and friendly encouragement for the future. Well done Munster Literature Centre!

Dear Writers,

We are writing to notify you that your one of your poems has received a commendation in the Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition. To view your listing, please visit: http://www.corkpoetryfest.net/prize.html

In his blog the competition judge says 'In the end, the top thirteen poems distinguished themselves in different ways. Of the 1700 poems the winning poem really stood out for me, while there was some difficulty in deciding which poems to include in the “highly commended' list and which bubbled just below the surface. I decided to publish a list of 70 commended poems, wishing to reassure many entrants of their achievement ... "

Although we can only publish the top 13 poems, we would like to congratulate you on the commendation and hope it serves to encourage you with your writing. It is certainly an achievement for your work to be distinguished out of 1700 poems.

Wishing you loads of writing inspiration,

The Munster Literature Centre

Poetry Competition Results

The results from two competitions just announced. No joy in either I'm afraid.

The Plough Prize results are here, with the long and short lists. No addresses or country credit given so I don't know how many Irish featured but two names I recognise, Peter Goulding and Richard Halperin, who both made the long list for the short poem competition. Well done.

However in the Cafe Writers Competition Dublin resident, David Mohan, took first prize of £1000 for his poem Wildfire. Out of 2146 poems entered! Well done David. Don't know if the results are on the website but all entrants got an email with the results. Nice touch!

Winning and commended titles here were generally of the quirky, interesting type rather than the single word type. Here's the full list of titles: Wildfire, The Burnt Child, Surgery Dog, Hunting Elmer Fudd, When colour Left the World, Siren, Mémorial Des Deportations, The Day God was Angry, Fish Dancing in Desert, Piss Pot.

Dundalk Reading

Some poetry readings are good, some great and then there are some like last night's in the Riva Townhouse, Dundalk. It was most enjoyable. John Noonan and the group had organised a great mix, starting with members of the local writers group who read poetry and prose with an obvious enthusiasm and enjoyment which was, as they say, infectious.

Some good material as well, including the excerpt from the bitter-sweet story about the children digging to Australia and the poem with Selfish Mother as part of the title.

Then local poet, the well-known and well-regarded Barbara Smith read. Barbara is a fellow-Doghouse poet (Can I say that yet?) and her second collection is being published this year. She read some older poems and some from the new book including one from a series on Antarctic exploration which is coincidentally an interest of hers. Great material.

Then singer, school principal Kevin Stanley as Leonard Cohen. Cohen's words are so good and they were sung so well that you want to attack your own poems and cut them back to the basics.

Follow that! Well I had to. I read twelve poems chosen for their readability. And they got a great reaction. This was one of the best audiences I have read for. They reacted to every nuance and giggled, laughed or were silent in response to words and lines.

The poems were a mixture of old and new, I included two new "Perth poems" to see how they sounded. The one about the West of Ireland weather expert all at sea in Australian weather went down very well with the audience seeing the humour from the very start.

I read my Auschwitz poem since Holocaust Memorial Day was marked last Sunday and despite, or maybe because of the fact the the audience was very gender imbalanced - mostly female - I did my "male guilt" poem called Innocent. All very well received.

A great enjoyable reading, thanks to all concerned!

Dedalus Press Book Launches

This Wednesday, 1 February will see the launch at 7pm of four books by Dedalus Press in the Irish Writers' Centre, Dublin. These include Different Kinds of Love by Leland Bardwell (a reissue of her 1987 short story collection), My Lord Buddha of Carraig Eanna by Paddy Bushe, The Shadow Owner's Companion by Eleanor Hooker and Before You by Leeanne Quinn.

Two of these books are debut poetry collections, those of Drogheda-born Leeanne Quinn and North Tipperary resident Eleanor Hooker. Eleanor was among the eight, including myself selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series in 2011. She has a BA (Hons. 1st) from the Open University, an MA (Hons.) in Cultural History from the University of Northumbria, and an MPhil in Creative Writing (Distinction) from Trinity College, Dublin.

Eleanor is also involved with the Dromineer Literary Festival, being a founding member, Vice-Chairperson and PRO for the festival. Emerging Writer had an interview with Leanne and Women Rule Writer one with Eleanor on their blogs recently.

Poetry Reading in Dundalk

I'm reading poetry in the Riva Townhouse, Dundalk on tomorrow, Monday, evening as part of the Brigid of Faughart Festival. The evening starts at 8.30, first half hour will be readings by Dundalk Writers. After a short break some Leonard Cohen songs and then I'm on for twenty/twenty five minutes.

Set list almost finalised. I'm looking forward to it!

More details of the Festival events here and here.

A Poetry Collection from Doghouse

Another Yipee! This one a bit louder than recent ones.

My poetry collection Asking for Directions has been accepted by Doghouse Books, Tralee, Co Kerry and will be published by the summer. I spent two days in Tralee this week with Doghouse editor, poet Noel King, editing the manuscript. Noel's collection, Prophesying the Past, was published by Salmon last year.

An interesting activity indeed. I've had lots of criticism of my writing being involved with two keen writers groups but this was different. Noel, being editor, had more than a passing interest in what he was going to publish and so his opinions carried a lot of weight.

So, of the manuscript I submitted, four poems were omitted by mutual consent, two need major surgery, most of the rest need minor adjustments and a small number are fine apart from some punctuation insertions. The punctuations needed are generally commas.

So 42 poems including one six part sequence, 60 pages - a mixture of poems looking back and looking forward, looking in and looking out, serious and not so serious. something for everyone! I'll keep you posted!

Magma Poetry Competitions Results

Results of the Magma poetry competitions are on the website. No addresses given for the winners and others mentioned and the only name I recognise as Irish is Afric McGlinchey who gets a special mention in the up to 10 lines section for her poem Late.

Afric was the 2010 winner of the Hennessy Award for Emerging Poetry and we have published her in Boyne Berries.

Looking through the winners and shortlisted I can't help but notice the number of one and two word titles. Very few of those long "wackier" titles that come into and go out of fashion by the month. Jane Routh's I have always loved a galvanised scoop is the best and longest of that type in the list.

Poetry Reading in Dundalk

It's almost February! And the first of February is the feast of St. Brigid.

Brigid of Faughart will be celebrated at Imbolc, Dundalk, Faughart and Ravensdale Co. Louth, Saturday 28 January to Wednesday 1 February 2012. The emphasis of this festival is to revisit and reclaim the richness of the traditions associated with Brigid of Faughart in ways which are relevant to our lives in 21st century.

A variety of activities including a Be the Change introductory workshop on Saturday 28 January at the Magnet Pastoral Centre, Demesne Road, Dundalk. Time 10.30 registration /tea: Workshop commences at 11.00am sharp. This workshop takes a fresh look at many of the critical current concerns- such as environmental sustainability, social justice and human/spiritual fulfilment and explores what connects these different themes. Further details from Claire Oakes 087-6760157.

On Sunday the traditional pilgrimage walk, 5 km, starts from the Peace Garden, Fair Green, Dundalk to St Brigid’s Shrine, Faughart on Sunday at 10am.

And on Monday 30 January at 8pm there is an evening of evening of poetry, story and song with myself, Kevin Stanley and Dundalk writers. This takes place in the Riva Townhouse, Seatown Place, Dundalk. Admission 5 Euro: details from John Noonan Tel 087- 253858.

See you all there!

Mary Lavin

The fact that one of the rooms at the Irish Writers Centre is being named for writer Mary Lavin reminds me that 2012 is the centenary of her birth. She was born in Massachusetts in 1912, the only child of an immigrant Irish couple.

The family returned to Ireland when Mary was ten and lived in Galway and then in Dublin. She studied English and French at University College Dublin (UCD). As a result of an approach to Lord Dunsany, the then well-known Irish writer, he became Mary's literary mentor.


In 1943 Mary Lavin published her first book. Tales from Bective Bridge, a volume of ten short stories about life in rural Ireland which became a critical success. Lavin married William Walsh, a Dublin lawyer and the couple had three daughters and moved to "Abbey Farm" at Bective, Co Meath.

She went on to publish several collections of short stories and two novels. She died in 1996. I presume there will a number of publications and events to mark the centenary. I did hear rumours of some event being held in Trim to mark the occasion because of her local Meath connection.

Naming the Rooms in the Irish Writers' Centre

Absent Friends: The Naming of the Rooms in the Irish Writers' Centre takes place on Tuesday next, 24 January at 7.00pm.

You are invited to attend the Irish Writers' Centre on Tuesday next, January 24th for an evening celebrating some of the finest Irish writers after whom we will officially name the rooms.

Tributes will be made on the night by family, friends and former colleagues of the writers, who will also read from their work. The contributors will be:

John F. Deane for Robert Greacen
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin for Eilís Dillon
Hugh McFadden for Michael Hartnett
Patricia Strong for Eithne Strong
Anthony Glavin for Benedict Kiely
Helen Dwyer for James Plunkett
Catherine Phil McCarthy for Mary Lavin

The rooms of the Irish Writers' Centre will be named after the above writers as a permanent mark of appreciation and a celebration of their continuing influence on Irish literature.

All are welcome to this evening of celebration and remembrance. Admission is free but booking is essential, so please do call (01) 8721302 to reserve your place.

Poetry Competition Judges

Always interesting to read comments by those who judge poetry competitions.

Patrick Cotter, who judged the Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Prize, has some reflections here on the judging process. The winning “competition poem” is . . . a stand-alone achievement which punches above its weight, a corvette which bristles with the armament of a battleship. There were 1,700 entries from 560 poets!

George Szirtes had a recent post which I assume was inspired by his judging of the Magma Poetry Competition which I entered. This includes gems such as Never believe yourself at your gravest or most profound. The planets move on, the odd star occasionally giggling.

No results yet from there. Hmmm. My entries were a bit serious weren't they.

Art Exhibition for Haiti Week

Conor Gallagher, the Sligo-born artist for whose exhibition The Hawk's Rock, my poetry chapbook was produced, has been in Haiti helping to rebuild there after the massive 2010 earthquake. He has returned with a collection of images some of which will be exhibited during Haiti Week, January 20th-28th in the Atrium, Nazareth House, Sligo. Proceeds will go to projects in Haiti.

The official opening is on Friday next 20 January at 6pm.

The exhibition will include paintings and drawings of moments and scenes witnessed on the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince in Haiti. Some are made with gouache on photo paper. Conor says "I like this surface because it is very resistant to the paint and you really have to work with it it to leave a mark". The delightful painting above is entitled Toujou zanmi (Always friends) and is gouache on A4 photo paper.

Other work in the exhibition was made with gouache and local household paint on light plywood panels measures 30cm x 25cm.

Examples of Conor's Haiti work, here, here and here.

Memoir Competition - A Reminder

Closing date for this competition is coming up - 30 Jan 2012 - the Fish Short Memoir (Life Writing) Contest, with David Shields as the judge.

1st prize: €2,000, and the ten best short memoirs will be published in the 2012 Fish Anthology which will be launched July 2012.
2nd prize: one week at the stunning Writers’ Retreat at Casa Ana, in the mountainous La Alpujarra region of Spain, plus €300 towards travel.

Entries must be 4,000 words or less. Entry €15 online.

Fish can also provide a critique of your Memoir for €40 and even help you brush up your memoir writing skills by joining their online memoir writing course.

Which reminds me . . .

The Guardian/Observer had supplements this weekend about Making the Most of your Memory. I got the Saturday one but forgot today's one. Anyway yesterday's supplement had an article listing Memory Myths, false belief about memory held by many people.

These included:

Some people have photographic memories. FALSE.
Forgetting occurs gradually. FALSE.
Confidence is a reliable indicator of memory accuracy. FALSE.
Traumatic memories can be repressed and "recovered" years after they occurred. FALSE.
Hypnosis can be used to retrieve forgotten memories. FALSE.

Interesting.

Gregory O'Donoghue Poetry Competition 2012

The 2012 Gregory O'Donoghue International Poetry Competition results have just appeared on the website. Yipee I'm there! OK Among the seventy commended but I'm delighted.

After not sending out poems for most of 2011 because of history I sent out at least thirty to various competitions and journals in December. This is the first result! Great!

As usual the poem commended is not the one of those I sent in I might have chosen as my best. Often happens. I have entered this competition a few times in the past but never got noticed.

Two other Boyne Writers in the commendeds, Evan Costigan and Tom Dredge. Well done lads!

A measure of the international aspect of the competition is that the first and second winners are from the USA and of the ten highly commended only one is Irish.

Hedge School - Lively Debate - Disagreement

Historians who admitted not knowing what actually happened, never mind why it happened!
Historians who welcome a lively debate and fundamental disagreement!
Historians who promise that the coming centenary celebrations will not see wishy-washy consensus!
Great!!

Though one audience member castigated the panel for the disagreements and hoped this wouldn't set the tone for the next ten years of commemorations but this idea didn't get much support. Life is dull enough without agreement on history.

Last evening's History Ireland Hedge School was a great success with the room filled to overflowing and some people even turned away. A very lively debate with Tommy Graham of History Ireland doing a fine job of chairing the discussions and allowed the panellists, David Fitzpatrick, John M. Regan, Eve Morrison and John Borgonovo enough time to respond to each other as well as getting some interesting audience participation.

The topic The War of Independence: ‘four glorious years’ or squalid sectarian conflict? was deliberately designed to generate debate though most debate centred on two controversial incidents discussed in Peter Hart's book The IRA and its Enemies. Peter sadly died in 2010 but he was an important presence at last night's event.

The controversial incidents are the Kilmichael Ambush of 1920 where Hart challenged Tom Barry's account that surviving Auxiliaries were shot after they engaged in a false surrender. The second controversy surrounds the April 1922 killings in Dunmanway, in which ten Protestant men were shot. Hart claimed that the incident was a sectarian atrocity but this is contested with others arguing that the men were targeted for their role as informers.

The consensus appears to be that the war of independence (a very suspect term itself) was maybe, possibly glorious to some degree but like all wars certainly had its squalid side and certainly involved some sectarian incidents.

The evening's debate will be made available as a podcast on the website.

David Fitzpatrick has just published a biography of the father of the poet Louis MacNeice.

History Ireland Hedge School

So the big difference between history and poetry is that history is just a matter of finding out what happened and recording it while poetry is much more uncertain, allusive, deals with the personal more often and uses language in a more careful exact way. Well not exactly.

History is far from the objective recording of facts and events. This may be the basis but the aim is to increase our understanding of the past and the present. Central to this is interpretation and this is usually coloured by current events and situations. Thus the post-1969 troubles in Northern Ireland coloured the way the history of the 1912-1923 period was understood.

Anyway there's a History Ireland Hedge School on today, Wednesday, 11 January at 7.00pm entitled The War of Independence in the South: "Four glorious years" or squalid sectarian conflict? in the National Library, Dublin.

The Four Glorious Years 1918-1921 was the title of Frank Gallagher’s (deputy director of the first Dáil’s Department of Publicity) account of the War of Independence. But how glorious were they? Recent scholarship, in particular the late Peter Hart’s on the war in West Cork, has cast it in a darker light with accusations of sectarianism and even ‘ethnic cleansing’ levelled against the IRA, which in turn has provoked a lively and sometimes vitriolic debate.

The list of speakers is impressive: David Fitzpatrick (TCD), John M. Regan (University of Dundee), Eve Morrison (TCD) and John Borgonovo (UCC). David Fitzpatrick was my supervisor of my doctoral thesis and I met John M. Regan at the Seán Mac Diarmada Summer School two year ago.

The promotional blurb claims that "the hedge schools run by History Ireland are slightly subversive in nature". I have no idea what they mean by this and the use of the qualifier "slightly" before "subversive" seems laughable.

Anyway it should be an interesting event and I hope to attend if I survive a day in the archives - another "final" visit.

Christmas Reading No. 2: Emerald Illusions

My non-fiction Christmas read was Emerald Illusions: The Irish in early American cinema by Gary D. Rhodes, published by Irish Academic Press. I got interested in silent film while studying Sligo in the civil war period noting the wealth of entertainment provided by the cinemas in Sligo at the time.

This book based on a doctoral thesis, provides the first major history of the Irish-themed film in early American cinema. It revises prevailing views in this area and particularly opposes the view that films with an Irish theme or filmed in Ireland were made primarily for an Irish American audience.

The book spends a lot of time examining the origins of these films in pre-cinema entertainments such as Irish-themed stage plays, vaudeville acts, and magic lantern slides, revealing their various influences on early American cinema.

It is very good on the prevalence of "stage-Irishness" in these but also on the various ways that was understood. The question of authenticity was very much to the fore even from the earlies days of film and this led some companies to film in Ireland (and elsewhere in Europe and in Egypt and Palestine) in order to be able to claim authenticity.

The book is an academic work with detailed footnotes and is only available in hardback at the moment.

The Kalem company came to Ireland (nicknamed the O'Kalems) in 1910 and subsequent years and filmed here, particularly around Killarney. Some of their films had historical themes. Other companies followed suit. Irish Film & TV Research Online has made available nine dramatized films (or the parts which remain) about the Irish made in Ireland and America by Sidney Olcott and others during 1910–15.

Watching these on the computer's tiny screen gives no feel for how they were actually received. In a large crowded cinema, on a big screen, with live musical accompaniment they must have made quite an impression. We are inclined to think of audiences at silent films thinking to themselves It will be much better when the talkies arrive!

The Irish Film Institute is responsible for preserving and making available Ireland's film heritage. It has recently made available on DVD The O'Kalem Collection 1910-1915 containing the surviving eight films made by that company and a documentary The O'Kalem's in Ireland.

Christmas Reading No. 1: Fault Lines

I read two books, a novel and a non-fiction work, this Christmas! Neither had anything to do with my history work, just read for enjoyment, interest, information, enlightenment, improvement, education, fun, delectation and pleasure.

The novel was Fault Lines by Canadian author Nancy Huston. I don't like novels that tell a story one damn thing after another and one of the challenges of the modern novel is to find ways to avoid this yet still engage the reader. Huston does tell her story in sequence but backwards in time.

This works very well, the story is revealed slowly in reverse as we go back in time from 2004 California to wartime Germany. Each of the four sections of the novel is narrated by a six-year-old, starting with the monstrous, precocious voice of Sol, who believes himself omnipotent, and idolises Bush and Schwarzenegger. We meet characters in this first section who we meet subsequently as six year old narrators.

I really enjoyed the book, the tension was built up expertly with every section revealing more about what had gone before and drawing you into the past of this family. It moves easily between California, Canada, Israel and Germany drawing out connections, some subtle, some not so subtle, between the past, the present and the future.

I really enjoyed it. It has won a number of prizes, was originally written and published in French, then translated by the author and published in English.

The author talks about the structure of the novel here on YouTube. A Guardian review here.

Word of the Year 2011 - Occupy

In its 22nd annual words of the year vote the American Dialect Society voted occupy (verb, noun, and combining form referring to the Occupy protest movement) as the word of the year for 2011.

“It’s a very old word, but over the course of just a few months it took on another life and moved in new and unexpected directions, thanks to a national and global movement,” Ben Zimmer, chair of the New Words Committee of the society, said, “The movement itself was powered by the word.”

Word of the Year is interpreted in its broader sense as “vocabulary item”—not just words but phrases. The words or phrases do not have to be brand-new, but they have to be newly prominent or notable in the past year.

Other category winners:

Most Useful: humblebrag - expression of false humility, especially by celebrities on Twitter.

Most Creative: Mellencamp - a woman who has aged out of being a “cougar” (after John Cougar Mellencamp). This beat bunga bunga - name for sex parties allegedly involving former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and kardash - unit of measurement consisting of 72 days, after the short-lived marriage of Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries.

Most Outrageous: assholocracy - rule by obnoxious multi-millionaires.

Most Likely to Succeed: cloud - online space for the large-scale processing and storage of data.

Founded in 1889, the American Dialect Society is dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it. The society’s website is here.

Sir Geoffrey Hill

Even though I think honours lists are a load of rubbish it's still good to see poetry honoured in the UK New Year honours list with Geoffrey Hill, elected last year as Oxford's professor of poetry receiving a knighthood, now or soon to be Sir Geoffrey Hill.

Hill, 79, who had an academic career, has been described as the finest living English poet. He is also routinely criticised or praised, depending on your viewpoint, as a "difficult" poet. He is quoted as saying in reply: Difficult poetry is the most democratic because you are doing your audience the honour of supposing they are intelligent human beings. So much of the popular poetry of today treats people as if they were fools.

This is no doubt in answer to the well known and oft quoted saying of poet Adrian Mitchell (1932-2008): Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people.

So which side are you on? The nice think is of course you don't have to be on any side. Poetry is or should be broad enough to encompass both wings. If you press me though I'm on Hill's side.

Creative Writing Courses this Spring

Start off the New Year with a little gift to yourself! Choose from this great list of Creative Writing Courses this Spring in the Irish Writers' Centre.

A taste of what's on offer. . . .

Poetry Writing with Catherine Phil MacCarthy

Writing the Short Story with Sean O'Reilly

Novel Writing with Chris Binchy

Finish Your Novel with Conor Kostick

Intermediate Creative Writing with Nessa O'Mahoney

Beginners' Creative Writing with Alan Jude Moore

Feature Writing with Henry McDonald

Crime Writing with Cormac Millar (Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin)

Writing the Memoir with Ivy Bannister

Poetry Workshop with Enda Wyley

Writing Your First Novel with June Considine

Blogging with Henry McDonald

Short StoryWriting with Mike McCormack

Beginners Creative Writing with John Maher

Getting to the heart of your characters with Mia Gallagher

If you're interested in any of our courses, please book through the website, call the Centre at (01) 8721302 or just drop in and book in person.

Short Story, Poetry Chapbook Competition

Doire Press, Connemara, is pleased to announce its 2012 1st annual poetry & chapbook competition

Winners will each receive 75 copies of their own professionally edited and printed chapbook (one for poetry, one for fiction), published by Doire Press. Chapbooks will be perfect-bound, contain up to 40 pages, feature colour front and back covers, as well as their own isbn and barcode.

Fiction entries: one short story per entry (4,000 words max)
Poetry entries: 4-6 poems per entry (10 pages max)

Deadline: January 9, 2012

Entry fees: €10 for first entry, €8 for each additional entry (you may submit multiple entries in either fiction or poetry, or submit to both fiction and poetry).

Judges: Fiction: Alan McMonagle: Poetry: James Martyn.

Full details on the website.

Poem for the New Year

Somehow Thomas Hardy's pessimism with just a dash of unrealistic optimism seems right for this New Year.
Welcome 2012!

To commemorate the end of the nineteenth century Hardy composed a poem originally titled By the Century's Deathbed later renamed The Darkling Thrush. Though written several weeks earlier, it is dated 31 December 1900.

His bleak wintry take on the nineteenth century is interrupted by the cheerful song of a thrush and the poem ends with a hint of hope:

So little cause for carolings
0000Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
0000Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
0000His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
0000And I was unaware.

Text Readability Tests

This website has a readability test which can be fun to use. You copy and paste a section of your text and it calculates its readability and gives scores on the Gunning Fog Index and Flesch Reading Ease.

The first estimates the years of formal education needed to understand the text on a first reading. A Fog index of 12 requires the reading level of a U.S. high school senior (around 18 years old). A paragraph from my history book measured 14.84 on this scale so it's beyond most American 18 year olds.

The Flesch measures textual difficulty which indicates how easy a text is to read, on a scale of 0 = very difficult, to 100 = very easy. My piece came out at 46.97 which seems bang in the middle.

Hours of holiday fun!

Your Object - The Model, Sligo

This seems like a good idea and has the potential for a very interesting exhibition.

Your Object is an exhibition, planned to take place in spring 2012, to mark the 150th anniversary of The Model Building in Sligo. This exhibition will consist of people’s treasured objects to reflect the cultural region today. Everyone is invited to submit an image of his or her most treasured object to The Model with a short paragraph explaining why they value this object.

You are invited to submit images of photos, antiques, household items, clothing, family heirlooms, but we ask you to not send original items; an image and explanation is all that is required at this stage. Closing date is 6 January.

The Model, home of The Niland Collection, is one of Ireland’s leading contemporary arts centres. Built in 1862 as a Model School, the present building has been extended twice. The first extension was in 2000 when it was completely refurbished and extended by McCullough Mulvin Architects. The building was redeveloped again by architects Sheridan Woods in 2010, whose extension to The Model has increased the building by a third in size to create a world-class visitor centre.

Happy Christmas

Lost Christmas

He is alone, it is Christmas.
Up the hill go three trees, the three kings.
There is a star also
Over the dark manger. But where is the Child?

Pity him. He has come far
Like the trees, matching their patience
With his. But the mind was before
Him on the long road. The manger is empty.

R. S. Thomas, Young and Old (1972).

A happy and a peaceful Christmas to all who stumble this way.

The crib is in St Joseph's Church, Rockfield, Coolaney, Co Sligo.

The poem is by Welsh poet and Minister, R.S. Thomas, whose simple, spare poetry has a strange mixture of the devout and the questioning. During last summer I visited his resting place, beside St. John's Church, Porthmadog, North Wales.

Toy Sale 1923

One of the fascinating things about researching in old newspapers is how easy it is to get sidetracked into reading stuff which is interesting but irrelevant. The advertisement above is from the Irish Independent front page, Christmas Eve 1923.

Read the list of lovely toys on offer. Can I have a clock-work train please? No toy guns mentioned, the civil war was just over and the rebuilding was just started.
Also no Santa Claus, instead a Queen in Fairyland.

Anyone getting Mah-Jongg this Christmas?

Rolls Royce Armoured Cars

A feature of the recent War Dead book launch in Trim was the presence of some World War 1 re-enactors from Lord Edward's Own Historical Re-enactment group, Athy and the Irish military war museum, Drogheda. Some were dressed in uniforms of the time and had rifles, pistols, grenades, kit on display.

I was intrigued by the lot, especially by the guns and especially especially by the Vickers machine gun pictured above. You can research and write history which involves weapons and their deadly use often without ever really knowing what the weapons looked like.

One of the many fascinating characters featured in my book is the Rolls Royce armoured car The Ballinalee which spent quite a while in Sligo, was taken by the anti-Treaty forces (republicans, irregulars, IRA - what to call them is often a problem). It was used against the Free State troops for a few months until it was recaptured. The anti-Treaty forces put it out of action before it was taken and it was not used again in the war.

Anyway the armoured car's main weapon was a Vickers gun and I had never seen one until Noel French's launch. An impressive weapon firing 450 to 500 round of .303 per minute, with an effective range of 2,000 metres. The republicans took the machine gun out of the Ballinalee before they abandoned it.

The most famous of the 14 or so Rolls Royce armoured cars used by the Free State is the Sliabh na mBan beside which Michael Collins died during the Civil War. It has just been fully restored by the army and is in the Curragh, Kildare. More here , here and here.

Christmas Poems

The Boyne Writers readings for the residents in Knightsbridge Home have been going on now for two years I think and have been very enjoyable and successful as well judging by the number of attendees. We have also succeeded in involving many of the residents in reading, reciting or singing themselves which adds considerably to the enjoyment.

I've been looking for poems to read this Wednesday on the theme of Christmas. They have to be well written with a good rhythm to aid reading and help keep attention. A bit a humour here and there helps as does clever rhymes. Simple and serious is also a good combination.

I found a discussion thread on this very topic and followed some of the links to poems, some I might use. I always feel free to shorten poems I read or indeed sometimes to change words.

Anyway here is my tentative set list for Wednesday. The number I read will depend on how many residents want to contribute, I may read as little as four or as many as seven, so better be prepared. Last week we had a request for A Christmas Childhood by Kavanagh but I didn't have the poem in any of the regular books I carry with me.

Advent - John Betjeman

The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus - Ogden Nash

Talking Turkeys - Benjamin Zephaniah

Prayer For a New Mother - Dorothy Parker

Goodwill To Men - Give Us Your Money - Pam Ayres

Christmas Bells - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A Christmas Childhood - Patrick Kavanagh

Any other suggestions?

LitLab at Crannóg, Cavan

The Cavan branch of the Cavan/Meath LitLab was well represented at Saturday's,celebration in Crannóg Bookshop, Cavan when owner, John McEvoy, was presented with the Bord Gais Energy Bookshop of the Year Award. Three of our members , Honor Duff, Mairéad Donnellan and Paddy Halligan, read there at noon by special invitation and made a great impression on shoppers and fellow-celebrants.

They read three poems each, Paddy read from his "exotic journeys" poems partly based on experience and partly fiction in the proper proportions. Honor's set included a recent one based on a flooded Cavan field visited by optimistic water fowl and Mairéad read her hilarious "They're only here for Heaney" poem which usually goes down very well with its self effacing humour.

Other notable writers, Noel Monahan, Shane Connaughton, Dermot Healy and Michael Harding were reading at the venue during the day.

Mulled wine, good company, good prose and poetry and a positive bookshop story - a perfect start to the Christmas season. Well done LitLab!

Bord Gais Energy Bookshop of the Year 2011

Crannog bookshop, Church St., Cavan has been named Bord Gais Energy Bookshop of the Year 2011.

"Proprietors John McEvoy and Anne Connolly were thrilled to be named as the winning recipient of this honour and to receive their award trophy together with the prize of €5,000 worth of free electricity from Bord Gáis Energy.

As any visitor to The Crannóg can see, this is a bookshop with a distinct identity; a warm embracing physical space filled with a broad and eclectic range of titles so rarely seen in bigger shops. From a class field of excellent bookshops from all over the country, The Crannóg emerged as a worthy winner."

John believes a bookshop is an integral part of the community and ‘reflects the community it’s in’ and was keen to thank customers and staff, ‘without our customers we wouldn’t be what we are’ he said. ‘We are also very proud of the staff who work here; it’s a nice reward for them as well.’

The award is being celebrated in the bookshop all day today Saturday 17th December. A number of national authors will attend during the day and local authors are welcome to come in and informally read a couple of poems or extract form a novel or whatever at some point throughout the day.


A number of our LitLab members will be there and will read.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny Launches War Dead Book

The Taoiseach launched Noel French's book The Meath War Dead in Trim last evening. He did the book and the dead proud delivering a speech which acknowledged their sacrifice, the country's lack of appreciation in the past and the plans to have the coming centenaries respectful of all traditions.

He spoke of the pain of the families whose relatives had been killed in the war and of those survivors who returned to a changed Ireland where their sacrifices were not valued or acknowledged.

Things have changed, he said, and spoke of the Irish President and the Queen visiting the Garden of Remembrance and the War Memorial at Islandbridge earlier this year. He promised that the coming centenary celebrations would be inclusive with mutual respect a central element.

(Photo from this website)

This made me wonder about my own book, does it fit the bill? I think so. The first world war looms large in the early part and the contribution and opinions of the non-Catholic population of Sligo are well dealt with, I think. We'll see.

A feature of the Taoiseach's speech was the amount of poetry included - Owen, Ledwidge, Robert Graves. Maybe not what you might expect from a Fine Gael Taoiseach! But then Enda is a west of Ireland man where poetry has always been valued and educated in St Patrick's College, Drumcondra as a primary teacher. So he knew some of the poems by heart, either from teaching them or being taught them.

He quoted from the well known Lament for Thomas McDonagh by Francis Ledwidge but also a verse from his less well-known The Irish in Gallipolli

Neither for lust of glory nor new throne
This thunder and this lightning of our wrath
Waken these frantic echoes, not for these
Our cross with England’s mingle, to be blown
On Mammon’s threshold; we but war when war
Serves Liberty and Justice, Love and Peace.

And finally An Taoiseach mentioned the ending of the war in Iraq and the futility of the "war to end wars" quoting from Robert Graves' poem Armistice Day 1918

When the days of rejoicing are over,
When the flags are stowed safely away,
They will dream of another wild 'War to End Wars'
And another wild Armistice day.

A well organised night, a great speech and an excellent launch for what is the fourth in a series of such volumes on Irish counties by the History Press.

The Meath War Dead

As regards centenaries and the upcoming remembrance of the Irish Revolution this goes hand in hand with the centenary of the Great War 1914-1918. The commemoration of the Irish dead of that war has been problematic over the years but is now an accepted part of the national story.

Over five hundred men from Meath died in the Great War. Their lives and those of their families are recorded in a new book, The Meath War Dead, by Trim author Noel French. Noel has been director of the Meath Heritage Centre, Trim since 1987 and has written twelve local histories and has had a number of articles published in Riocht na Midhe.

The book is being launched by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, in the Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim at 7pm on this Thursday, 15 December. It is published by the History Press.

These Meath war dead lie in graveyards from Basra to Bermuda, from Jerusalem to Gallipoli, from Ypres to Teltown and everywhere in between. This new book contains a comprehensive record of those men and includes those who died at sea. One hundred men from Navan and district died in the war. Twenty families lost more than one member in the war. The poet, Francis Ledwidge, is the most well-known of the Meath causalities of the war.

Not only are the dates and places of deaths of each man recorded but the author attempts to give some background details including parents, dates of baptisms, occupations of their parents and their own occupations. The present families of the men who died provided photographs and never before seen correspondence for this publication.

The Irish Revolution 1912-1923 - County Sligo

Many of you, for various reasons, boredom included, will be delighted to hear that I sent off the final draft of my history book earlier this week. I edited it down to 70,762 words - that includes footnotes and bibliography - so it's finished.

More or less. The editors will now look it over, possibly make a few corrections and suggestions which will be finalised by the end of March. And then Four Courts Press will publish it at the end of 2012 as the first volume in its series on the Irish counties 1912-1923.

Great to get in early! Already you can see the build up of publications of that period. The centenary is going to see many more such publications and by the time 2023 arrives we'll all be tired of centenaries.

I still have to finalise (Four Courts Press house style would demand finalize) the photographs to be included. I found quite a number of the period which are previously unpublished and they should add a lot to the book.

Book Auction Kells

I spent a few hours this afternoon viewing books in a second-hand book auction in Usher's Auction House, Kells - lot of lots of books. This is the second part of the sale of the collection of William Battersby, late of Cannon Row, Navan, Co. Meath, who passed away in the Autumn 2010.

This appears to have been a large and eclectic collection and includes newspapers, pamphlets, posters, stamps, postcards as well as books that cover topics from Irish language to religion, art & design to agriculture, history, drama, poetry, mythology, archaeology and travel. There are lots such as "A shelf of poetry books" and "Books about Jonathan Swift".

There are also papers from the north County Dublin HolmPatrick Estate, Headfort Estate in Kells, advertising memorabilia, theatre programmes, old receipts and log books.

William Battersby wrote a number of books including ‘The Age of Newgrange’ (1997), ‘The Hospitallers at Kilmainham, Kells’ (1996), and ‘The Book of Kells, A New Look’ (1995) a selection of which will also feature in the sale.

I think there is also a third sale to be held in January. An article about the previous sale by Des Kenny here. The current sale starts tomorrow, Monday 12 December, at 11am and will probably last all day.

It's a strange experience to wander through stuff that someone has collected over a lifetime now spread out to be dispersed among the curious and the interested - a bit like a person's life spread out for the public gaze.

Did I see anything interesting? A few but I doubt if I'll buy anything. I already have quite a lot of books etc, not enough I think to make three sales, but one? Maybe.

T.S. Eliot Poetry Award Controversy

The Australian poet I mentioned a few times recently, John Kinsella, is in the news again. His collection, Armour, was one of a shortlist of ten for the £15,000 TS Eliot prize announced in October.

Since then award-winning poet Alice Oswald, who was shortlisted for her new collection Memorial, a retelling of the Iliad focusing on the ordinary soldiers who died, pulled out in protest at its sponsorship by an investment company. Oswald said she believes that "poetry should be questioning not endorsing such institutions".

The Poetry Book Society, which runs the award loses its Arts Council funding next year and it announced a new three-year sponsorship for the prize from private investment management firm Aurum Funds at the same time as it revealed its shortlist in October.

Oswald's withdrawal was followed later this week by that of Kinsella. 'The business of Aurum does not sit with my personal politics and ethics', he said, 'hedge funds are at the very pointy end of capitalism'.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. I admire their stands of course but I like the idea of someone like Kinsella, whose poetry leaves no room for doubt about his attitude, taking money from an outfit like Aurum and getting publicity from them - subversion rather than endorsing.

Eight poets remain in the running for the TS Eliot prize, one of the most prestigious in poetry: John Burnside, Carol Ann Duffy, David Harsent, Esther Morgan, Daljit Nagra, Sean O'Brien and Irish poets, Leontia Flynn for Profit and Loss and Bernard O'Donoghue for Farmer's Cross.

Greg Hastings Exhibition

Greg Hastings, who does our Boyne Berries cover illustrations, is having an exhibition of his imaging work at Trim Library from this Saturday 10th Dec until 17th Dec 2011.

He will be in attendance during that period and will be delighted to meet and talk to visitors. All images will be on sale - great Christmas presents!

Images displayed on this Facebook page represent a selection of his work. These fine art images are carefully printed on 300gsm 'Fine Art Paper'. Each print is individually done and carefully controlled to be colour faithful and rendered properly.

Greg's cover for the first ever Boyne Berries.

W.B. Yeats - Athlete

Spent the day in the National Library. Am I finished there now? Well it all depends on what you mean by finished. I found what I needed - a great quote from Bishop Morrisroe of Achonry to finish my book and match his great quote I open the book with. And some information on the Royal Irish Constabulary in Sligo.

But finished? Well. I popped down to visit W.B. Yeats while there. It's a wonderful exhibition, something new to notice each visit. Nice online presence also. I looked at the lovely cup (picture right) W.B. won in 1879 at the age of 14, for winning the half-mile race at the Godolphin School in Hammersmith, London.

Now if he had only kept up the athletics and forgot about that ould poetry he could have represented his country at the 1896 Olympic Games at the age of 30 more or less. A gold medal maybe!

Anyway W.B. was a great man for revising his poems even after they had been published so he would appreciate how difficult it is to say that something is finished.

Anne Crinion - Trim Photographs

Anne Crinion's book, 50 Years through the Eye of the Camera, containing photographs from Trim and surrounding areas was launched last night. A large crowd attended.

The book contains a large number of photographs of events, shows, drama, musicals, local happenings, official opening etc from the early 1960s. Many familiar faces there some now also no longer with us. The book is available in local outlets in Trim.

I arrived in Trim for the first time in 1970 and stayed in lodgings with Anne's mother for ten years so I know a lot of people in the book.

I feature in the book in a photo from the early seventies when I was in a drama group in Boardsmill. We did Sean O'Casey's Shadow of a Gunman set during the war of independence. I played Donal Davoren, the poet (a very bad poet) who is mistaken for a gunman. War of independence, poetry seem to have haunted me.

Anyway I remember it as being very enjoyable and carefree. We didn't worry too much about accents or method acting or any of that fancy stuff - the height of our ambition was to learn the lines and deliver them on stage. Sadly some of those in the picture have passed away.

And me? I'm the fellow on the left with lots of hair and bare feet.

  

Boyne Writers Publications

More congratulations to Boyne Writers Group members, to Anne Crinion whose book of photographs of Trim and surrounding areas is being published tonight, Friday, in Trim Castle Hotel. This book contains a selection of photographs taken by Anne over the last thirty years or so and features many Trim people and events. A great Christmas present!

And on this Saturday the Irish Daily Mail are publishing The Holly Gatherers by member Caroline Finn in their glossy magazine. This piece was included in RTE's most recent Sunday Miscellany Anthology. I think there may even be a photograph of Caroline in the magazine, with holly as well!

There's no keeping up with this crowd!

Francis Ledwidge International Poetry Awards

Blogger, Peter Goulding, has posted the results of the Francis Ledwidge International Poetry Awards here. He himself came second this year, well done Peter! (Though possibly it's time to drop this "What a suprise - there must be some mistake!" attitude to your numerous winnings and commendations and publishing credits Peter.)

Some other familiar names in the winners and commended lists. Two members of our Meath/Cavan LitLab group are there, Andrew Jones and Patrick Devaney (Andy and Pat to us) as is Boyne Writers Group member Evan Costigan. Well done lads!

The awards ceremony, always a friendly event, will take place at ‘Donoghues’ The Glen of Aherlow, 29 Emmet Road, Inchicore, Dublin, on Wednesday, 14th December, 2011 at 8.00 pm. All are welcome.