National Poetry Day - Poetry Open Mic

Have you ever read your poems aloud? Want to give it a try? Here's an opportunity. The audience will be listening and wanting to like your poems so don't get too nervous.

Thursday 2nd October

We would be delighted if you could join us and participate in a wonderful event being held here in the Irish Writers' Centre next week.

To celebrate National Poetry Day, we're inviting Irish Writers Centre members, writing groups and all friends of the Centre to take part in a poetry open mic.

Guest performances from Deirdre Cartmill, Alan Jude Moore, Maria McManus, Gerard Smyth, Jessica Traynor and more to be announced soon!

Sign up and be in with a chance to perform with this great line-up, or just come along on the night and soak up the atmosphere.

Max. three poems / Five minute slots

Please email events@writerscentre.ie if you'd like to perform on the night.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Centre for what will be a very special evening.

dlr Arts Grants 2015

The deadline for applications for both the Arts Grants 2015 and the Arts Access Grants 2015 is Monday the 3rd of November 2014.

For application forms and guidelines please go to: www.dlrcoco.ie

These forms are not easy to fill in and it's hard to know sometimes what they are looking for and what will knock you over the line. DLR are trying to help with a support session but you can always call your local arts officer if you have a question.

On Wednesday the 8th of October, there will be an application writing support session faciltiated by Kevin Murphy of Voluntary Arts Ireland from 2.30-3.30pm in County Hall, Dún Laoghaire for active retirement associations and for groups that work with older people in the county. Please contact Roisin O'Grady on 01 2719530 or rogrady@dlrcoco.ie for further details.

dlr Artists Network is hosting a talk on funding, proposals and opportunites on Saturday 4th of October at 11am in the Kingston Hotel. Please email artnetdlr@gmail.com for further details and to register your interest in attending this free event.

Her Father's Daughter – Nessa O'Mahony's third collection of poetry

Have you ever been to a book launch? They are nearly always free to go to, there will often be wine and always good company. Usually someone will introduce the writer or writers and then they'll read a little from the book and talk about the work. They often take place in very interesting buildings too.Why not pop a long and maybe you'll make a habit of it. 

Buy the book too, if you have the cash, won't you? You don't have to but it does keep the publishers in business and the writers in ...pencils.

Acclaimed American poet Tess Gallagher will launch Her Father’s Daughter, Nessa O’Mahony’s third collection of poems, published by Salmon Poetry.

When: Monday 29th September 6.30 All welcome

Where:Irish Writers Centre

In this new collection, Nessa explores the nature of the bonds between fathers and daughters, ties that are eternal and that cannot be dissolved by time, distance or loss. She makes that exploration through poems that combine the autobiographical with the historical as she explores poetically two very contrasting father-daughter relationships from two very contrasting periods of Irish history.

Nessa’s grandfather, Michael McCann, was a quintessential Irish nationalist of the early part of the twentieth century. He fought for the British in World War I, then fought against the British in the Irish War of Independence and finally fought his fellow countrymen in an Irish Civil War. In this collection, Nessa presents a parallel sequences of poems, one relating to her relationship with her own father, whose decline and death she charts with painful honesty, the second exploring the life of her grandfather, a more mysterious figure whose story slowly emerges through her mother's memories, and her own research. The result is a meditation on love and losing and on what is retained through narrative and memory.

Dublin Theatre Festival - Panel Discussions

Chaired by Sean Rocks and presented in association with RTÉ Radio One, these discussions will address some of the themes at play in the 2014 festival programme. The panels are open to the public and will be recorded for broadcast on RTÉ Radio One’s Arena. Admission is free but ticketed. Early booking is advised as seats are limited.

Whose Hamlet is it anyway?

He may be one of the most famous characters in world literature, but he has also proved to be one of the most malleable. For the Victorians, he was a warning against the dereliction of duty; for us today, he might be more recognisable as a stay-at-home arts graduate who doesn’t know what to do with himself. What is it that allows him to be our eternal contemporary?

• Venue: Bewley’s Café Theatre
• Date: Saturday Sept 27, 4pm

Imagining Australia

The showcase of Australian productions at this year’s festival opens the door on a theatre culture that remains largely unknown to Irish audiences. What can we learn from works written on the other side of the world? Does Australian theatre have lessons for Ireland in how it deals with cultural diversity and a colonial past?

• Venue: Bewley’s Café Theatre
• Date: Thursday Oct 2, 4pm

Playwriting – making it work, getting it on

How do we identify talented writers with something to say and ensure that their work is staged? How can we ensure that playwrights have sustainable careers in theatre, that their development and risk-taking as writers is encouraged? This panel will focus on the role and opportunities for playwrights in Ireland today, with contributions from playwrights, dramaturgs and Irish theatre companies who develop and present new writing for the stage.

• Panel:
• Sean Rocks (Chair)
• Lynne Parker (Trustee of Stewart Parker Trust and Artistic Director of Rough Magic)
• Aideen Howard (Literary Director of the Abbey Theatre)
• Amy Conroy (Playwright, founder HotForTheatre and author of an In Development presentation during Dublin Theatre Festival 2014)
• Hanna Slattne (Dramaturg, Tinderbox Theatre Company

Presented in association with the Stewart Parker Trust.

• Venue: Irish Writers’ Centre
• Date: Wednesday Oct 8, 4pm

Flaming for Leonard

Here I am reading my poem, Flaming for Leonard, especially written for the Leonard Cohen Celebration with the Poetry Divas at the start of August 2014 in the Liberty Hall Theatre in Dublin.
In September, it was broadcast on Danish National Radio as part of a documentary on Leonard Cohen.

2015 WOW! Award

Submissions for the 2015 WOW! Award
Deadline: Friday October 31st.

€2100 in Prize money plus publication in the 2015 WOW! Anthology.

Judges for 2015

Poetry: Afric McGlinchey

Fiction: Danielle McLaughlin

Poems up to 100 lines
Fiction up to 3000 words

Full details, including how to enter, at www.wordsonthewaves.com

Estudios Irlandeses

Estudios Irlandeses is the scholarly journal of AEDEI, the Spanish Association for Irish Studies. It covers a wide range of original work – research essays, interviews, think pieces and reviews – by well-established academics as well as by junior scholars based in different parts of the world (Brazil, Britain, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and the United States). 

It comes out once a  year.

See link here

Estudios Irlandeses invites authors to submit contributions —in either English
or Spanish— that engage in a critical and original way with aspects of Irish literature, history, arts and the media, for its Issue Nº 10, to be published in March 2015.

Submissions should be sent via email tocontributions@estudiosirlandeses.org not later than December 1st 2014.

Poetry Divas at Skerries Soundwaves Festival

The Poetry Divas will be putting on their gladrags, taking up their handbags and hightailing it to Skerries, Co Dublin.

Tuesday 23rd September 8pm
Skerries Mill
Night Airs

A blend of poetry and music from writers and musicians from Skerries and from further afield featuring:
Ardgillan WritersSkerries Women’s Writing GroupDarren Hughes and guestsandThe Poetry Divas

MC for the evening is Enda Coyle-Greene

Please come along, all welcome. It should be a great night. We have a tasty selection of poems for you.

Tickets here

The Jonathan Swift Creative Writing Awards 2014

Deadline: 30th September 

Entries may be in Irish or English 
Poems should not exceed 45 lines and fees  

Fee: three poems for €10 or €4 for a single poem made payable to "Jonathan Swift Creative Writing Awards".

The judge is the award winning Catalan/Tallaght author Maria Wallace. 

Winners will be notified seven days in advance and must be prepared to read their work if possible at the award ceremony on Saturday the 1st of November at the Heritage Centre in Saggart Co. Dublin. 

Usual rules about not being published or broadcast apply 
Typed in plain font Times Roman point 12 single spacing, without decoration or illustration. 
The entrants name must not appear on the typescript but only on the entry form. 

Send to : Margaret Ennis "Teach Guise", Boherboy, Saggart, Co. Dublin. 

The Caterpillar Poetry Prize

This is interesting. It's the inaugural Caterpillar Poetry Prize.

Deadline: 31 March 2015 

Prize: €1,000 plus publication in The Caterpillar

Details: To celebrate the first year of The Caterpillar, an arts &literature magazine for children, we’re looking for a stand-out poem written by an adult for children (aged 7-11) to which we can award a prize of €1,000.
The prize is open to everyone, as long as the work is original and previously unpublished.

The entry fee is €12 per poem, and you can enter as many poems as you like.

The prize will be judged by the publishers of The Caterpillar and The Moth.

For further details go to www.thecaterpillarmagazine.com.

Creative Writing Classes in Café Joly

Start to Write and From History to Story: Turning a Passion for Research into Writing
Tuesday, 30 September - Tuesday 25 November 2014, 10am-12.30pm
with Yvonne Cullen begin from the end of September, in the National Library's Cafe Joly. 

Yvonne Cullen is an award-winning poet and screenwriter as well as a writer of prose. To book a place, contact yvonnesworkshops@gmail.com or phone Yvonne at 086 1701418

Start to Write will get you going as a writer and keep you going. And if the going gets too tough, the nicest cakes and coffee in town are only every a few feet away. 
Course duration: 10 weeks of 2.5 hour classes. Course fee €250. Start dates: Saturdays, September 27th, Wednesdays October 1st. 
In From History to Story: Turning a Passion for Research into Creative Writing  Yvonne will draw on her nine years' experience researching and writing A Winter Quarters, a book about caravans, travelling shows and home, due out at the end of this year.
Course duration: 10 weeks, from 2.30 to 4.30 on 10 Thursday afternoons from October 2nd. Course fee €260.

Yvonne is an award-winning poet and screenwriter as well as a writer of prose. She has been leading writing workshops and writing retreats around Ireland for 24 years.

More information on the courses and their duration, click here. 

Master Class in Poetry- Bernard O'Donoghue

I would love to go to this retreat in Anam Cara but it is way out of my price range. Residential, full board.

Led by the poet Bernard O'Donoghue

A Week-long Residential Retreat

Arrival:  Saturday, 11 October 2014

Departure: Saturday, 18 October 2014

"I grew up in rural North Cork, in a place famous for traditional music and for poetry in Irish from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. These things led to deep-rooted interests in linguistic things, and especially literature, both written and oral. I went to school in Manchester (my mother's place of origin) when I was 16, and my obsessions from then on were Latin, English literature and music (including classical music at the Halle). I have lived in Oxford since 1965, and my main inspirations have been medieval literature: Chaucer and Dante and above all, the shorter poems in Old and Middle English. The Anglo-Saxon elegies are my model for the perfectly formed lyric poem." 

For many years, Bernard has spent time on and been inspired by the Beara Peninsula.  His Master Class will focus on using such places and time as subject matter and/or inspiration as he guides participating poets in enhancing their poetic gifts.    

It also includes tours of the area so perhaps it's aimed at poets from abroad.

Max 12 participants.

Geoff Stevens Memorial Poetry Awards

This one is for a poetry collection.

Two winners will have a 52 page poetry collection published by Indigo Dreams Publishing and receive 25 copies.

Submission: Selection of 10 poems to 36 lines max.

Entry Fee: £20 per block of poems.

Closing Date: 30th September 2014.

Publication (to coincide with Geoff’s birth date) June 4th 2015.

All entries must be accompanied by cheque to correct amount made payable to ‘IDP’ or via PayPal.

See full submission rules at www.indigodreams.co.uk/#/competition/4577197527

Note: I suggest you research the publishers for this or similar competitions first to see if it is right for you.

Indigo Dreams also publish magazines that are open for poetry submissions.

Benedict Kiely Literary Weekend

There's lots going on in Omagh this weekend.

Thursday 11th September - Omagh Library

8.00 pm Reading by Bernie McGill

Friday 12th September - Strule Arts Centre

5.00 pm Registration 6.30 pm Welcome by the Chairman of Omagh District Council Opening and Launch of art exhibition: 'Beyond Measure' 8:00 pm Panel discussion with Dr Eamonn Hughes, David Hayden and Sinéad Gleeson. Chaired by Declan Meade.

Saturday 13th September - Strule Arts Centre

10.30 am Reading from The China Factory by Mary Costello 11.30 am Tea/Coffee 12.00 pm Bernard MacLaverty A reading from Collected Stories 1.00 pm LUNCH 2.00 pm Reading by Claire Keegan 3.30 pm Bus Tour (meet at box office at Strule Arts Centre) 3.30 pm Writing workshop with Bernie McGill 8:00 pm Drinks Reception in Strule arts Centre Hosted by Chairman of Omagh district Council 8.30 pm Buffet Supper in Strule Café 9.30 pm Sam McDonald (Teeling Irish Whiskey) Join Sam for a ball of malt and a bit of craic as he reflects on 'Vice, Spirit and industry in ireland.'

Sunday 14th September - Strule Arts Centre

11.00 am Billy Ramsell A world of machines, machine management and communication is at the heart of Cork- born poet Billy Ramsell's second collection of poems. The digital signals involved comprise a new life force on the planet, one we have scarcely even begun to comprehend. 11.45 am Tea/Coffee 12.15 pm Reading from work in progress byPat McCabe 1.00 pm Farewell

Cost

Full Weekend Ticket: £85 (€105). Cheques in sterling/euros payable to Omagh District Council. This includes attendance at all sessions, light refreshments throughout, buffet supper on Friday, lunch and buffet supper on Saturday and a choice of the bus tour or the writing workshop. It does not include the cost of accommodation. Individual sessions: £8.00 (€10.00) Sunday Special (2 consecutive sessions): £12.00 (€15.00)

Booking Information for 13th Benedict Kiely Literary Weekend (2014)

Red Line Festival

The programme for the Red Line Festival in Dublin South is announced. There are lots of events but my recommendations are:

Tuesday 14th Oct

POETRY PLEASE! POETRY CIRCLE with Enda Wyley
 3.00pm – 4.30pm
Whitechurch Library, Rathfarnham
Booking @ 01 493 0199
Admission Free
Enda Wyley is an award winning poet and children’s writer. She has published four collections of poetry, and her new collection is due to be published this September. During her workshop Enda will inspire and encourage participants to look at poetry by established poets, create new work and to share their writing with class members … an inspiring afternoon for all poets!
Places limited; book early to avoid disappointment!

Wednesday 15th Oct

STONES OF DUBLIN: A HISTORY OF DUBLIN IN TEN BUILDINGS with Lisa-Marie Griffith
7.00pm
County Library Tallaght
Booking @ 01 462 0073; talib@adublincoco.ie
Admission Free
 In ten of Dublin’s most historic buildings, we encounter the great periods of building activity, the people involved in their construction and the institutions that inhabited them. Behind the façades is the story of Dublin. Bringing together the story of these landmark buildings, Lisa takes us on a wonderful journey through the shifting social, political and cultural history of Ireland’s capital.
Lisa Marie Griffith is the Co-ordinator of the Cultural Heritage Studies Programme at the National Print Museum in Dublin.

Thursday 15th Oct

RED LINE POETRY COMPETITION PRIZE-GIVING CEREMONY AND READINGS with special guest Nessa O'Mahony
6.30pm
RUA RED Café
Booking at 01 451 5860; boxoffice@ruared.ie
Admission Free
 The competition winners of our annual poetry competition will be announced and invited to read their poems. The event will include a reading by special guest, competition judge Nessa O’Mahony. Having spent 15 years in journalism and public relations, Nessa was one of the first writers in Ireland to complete a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing in 2007. She teaches creative writing with the Open University and has published two collections of poems and a verse novel.

TEDXTALLAGHT: THE THEATRE OF CURIOSITY
7.00pm
Civic Theatre
Booking at Civic Theatre Box Office: Book Online or Tel 01 462 7477; boxoffice@civictheatre.ie
Admission €12/€10 concessions
 South Dublin Libraries are delighted to announce the 4th annual TEDxTallaght, our TED (Technology, Entertainment & Design) event showcasing the best of Irish and international thinkers and innovators. Topics covered include quantum physics, eating behaviours, playfulness, urban farming and more! It will be a truly inspirational evening. The speakers this year are Elaine Doyle, Adam Murphy, Andrew Douglas, Paul Gleeson, Jack Kavanagh, Darren McNelis, Gillian Riley, Ian Kingston, AnnMarie Steen…and finally some surprises with the Boomwhackers!! Read more about the speakers here.

Friday 16th Oct

#READWOMEN 2014 with Eileen Casey, Valerie Sirr and Geraldine Mills in conversation with Sue Hassett
8.15pm
Loose End Studio, Civic Theatre Tallaght
Booking at Civic Theatre Box Office: Book Online or Tel 01 4627477; boxoffice@civictheatre.ie
Admission €8/€6
 Are literary women writers undersold and undervalued by the current literary universe? In 2014 a small American literary journal vowed to cover women writers for a full year. Then, artist Joanna Walsh’s #readwomen2014 project became a popular meme on social media. Join three Hennessy award winning writers, Valerie Sirr, Geraldine Mills and Eileen Casey in this lively debate as they assess and attempt to redress male writers’ dominance in the literary world. The event is facilitated by local writer Sue Hassett

UCD Adult Education Course

The Big Four: Yeats, Joyce, Beckett, Heaney


Tuesday, 30 September - Tuesday 25 November 2014, 10am-12.30pm

Just noticed this is a mid week morning. So adult education but only if you're not at work. Or minding children. Hm. Not very impressive.

Anyway, if you are of that ilk, and have €195 to spend. here's the low down.

Through a series of eight lectures, students will engage with poetry, the short story, the novel and drama in examining the contributions of Yeats, Joyce, Beckett and Heaney to Irish and world literature. Classes will focus on key texts to investigate the aesthetic achievements of their work and its lasting influence.
To book a place, register at www.ucd.ie/adulted or contact UCD Adult Education Centre on 01-7167123.
Fee €195. 

There's also 

Living in the Modern World: ‘Modernism’ - the twentieth century’s soul 

The energy of the early twentieth century was reflected in brilliant literature: James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, TS Eliot and in new forms of art: film, jazz and architecture. ‘Living in the Modern World’ is a course which enables students to examine the historical and social change that inspired some of the greatest writers and artist of the twentieth century. Students will investigate and understand what Modernism was about and will learn to recognise and understand its various styles and characteristics and to trace their development by some of the most famous writers of the era. Time will also be given to how Modernism influenced music, film, painting, architecture. No previous knowledge or skills will be required beyond curiosity, enthusiasm and an interest in reading.

Fee: €190

Mountains to Sea Festival

What a fantastic line up they have in Dun Laoghaire again this year. I find the ones in bold appealing personally. The cost can add up somewhat though so I can't do them all. What ones will you see?

Definitely going to Dylan Thomas's Shed.

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 9th - THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 11th
8.00pm Abbey Theatre on Tour Maeve’s House Pavilion Theatre 8

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 12th
10.30am Creative Writing Workshop for Teenagers dlr LexIcon
11.30am Murderous Maths with Kjartan Poskitt Pavilion Theatre
6.30pm Vona Groarke & Don Paterson Pavilion Theatre
7.00pm dlr Writer in Residence Colm Keegan Maritime Museum
8.30pm John Boyne & David Mitchell Pavilion Theatre

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 13th
10.30am My Favourite Superheroes with Alan Nolan County Hall
11.00am It’s Up to Us dlr LexIcon
11.00am Writing Workshop with Anna Carey & Patrick Freyne dlr LexIcon
11.00am Writing Workshop with Jane Casey dlr LexIcon
12.30pm The Irish Times Poetry Now Award dlr LexIcon Free
12.30pm TG Lurgan Anseo! Pavilion Theatre
1.00pm Poetry Take-Away dlr LexIcon (Twitter)
2.00pm The Dahl Factor County Hall
2.30pm Michael Symmons Roberts dlr LexIcon
2.30pm John Kelly & Paul Lynch Pavilion Theatre
4.30pm Going Too Far? Panel on YA Books dlr LexIcon 324.30pm Lynn Barber Pavilion Theatre
5.00pm Menna Elfyn & Nessa O’Mahony County Hall
6.30pm Sinéad Morrissey Maritime Museum
6.30pm Kamila Shamsie & Xiaolu Guo Pavilion Theatre
7.00pm The Great Teddy Bear Library Sleepover dlr LexIcon
8.30pm Letters Live Pavilion Theatre

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 14th
10.00am Haiku-Writing Ginko Meet at East Pier
10.30am Writing Workshop with Mia Gallagher dlr LexIcon
11.00am Where’s Wally Library Hunt dlr LexIcon
11.00am Picture Book Picnic (session 1) dlr LexIcon
11.30am Sunday Miscellany Pavilion Theatre
12.00pm Picture Book Picnic (session 2) dlr LexIcon
12.30pm Shine/Strong Poetry Award Reading dlr LexIcon
12.30pm Eoin Colfer & Aneirin Karadog dlr LexIcon
1.00pm Poetry Take-Away dlr LexIcon (Twitter)
2.00pm Teen Creative Writing Workshop dlr LexIcon
2.30pm David Park & Sinéad Morrissey Pavilion Theatre
2.30pm Jane Casey & Liz Nugent dlr LexIcon
3.00pm Yasmeen Ismail Illustration Masterclass dlr LexIcon
3.45pm Pop-up Poetry Soapbox dlr LexIcon at Shed
4.45pm The Legacy of Dylan Thomas dlr LexIcon
4.30pm Lee Child Pavilion Theatre
6.30pm Karen Perry & Sinéad Crowley dlr LexIcon
6.30pm Making a Scene with Jed Mercurio & Michael Hirst Pavilion Theatre
8.30pm RMS Titanic – Anthony Cronin & Dónal Lunny Pavilion Theatre

Link and booking here