Dave Lordan

Dave has guest blogged here before. His new book is coming out soon. Check it out.

The book will be launched at 8pm on Friday 16th of July in Toner's Pub on Baggot street Dublin.

Invitation to a Sacrifice is an eclectic and hard-hitting collection by one of Ireland's most acclaimed  and talented young writers.  Lordan's previous multi award winning collection, The Boy in the Ring, explored the troubling but necessary topic of suicide. In Invitation to a Sacrifice he  moves on to murder, fearlessly interrogating the current rhetoric of sacrifice and documenting the barbaric results of our deadly subugation to the market order. Centuries ago thousands were sacrificed for the thunder god, these days millions go under for the sake of appeasing the stockbroking gods.  In poem after poem Lordan shows what happens to people, places, and things  when they are taken over by greed and given up for profits and property.  Lordan is famous for the shocking humour and challenging intelligence of his live shows and this impact is carried over fully into his page work.  INVITATION TO A SACRIFICE contains poems that range in place from West Cork to Sicily, in  tone from heartbreak to rage, and in style from  plaintive song to howling epic. All are written in language that is as invigorating as it is clear. Once again Lordan displays an exceptional combination of spiritual depth, political bite, and artistic range. As critic Philip Coleman has said of him 'Ignore and stay ignorant'.

Sample Poems Online Text Here

A resurrection in Charlesland

Four Frags

Surviving the Recession

Video here

Surviving The Recession

Jam Factory Poetry

This sounds fun. I'll be away though

Date:	Thursday, July 8, 2010
Time:	8:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:	The Jam Factory Cafe and Studios
Street:	134 James's St,
	Dublin

Derek Beaulieu: radical, challenging conceptual writing; entrancing and intricate visual poetry. Come and enjoy through at least three sensory portals (the Jam Factory serves the best coffee on James's St...)

Creative Writing Workshops/Courses

Creative Writing Inkus running some workshops that sound worth checking out, both online writing classes and class-based.

They say:

Our online creative writing courses allow students to develop their writing skills through one-to-one exercises, lectures and critiques. The courses are structured in such a way that will allow students to fit their writing in and around their own schedule. Students will also receive weekly personal feedback from the tutor.

Our online courses include beginners creative writing, poetry, how to blog, memoir writing and writing for children. Our upcoming courses include novel writing and screenwriting. For online courses, all you need is internet access, as any notes/exercises will be emailed to you.

Creative Writing Ink also provides class-based writing workshops, which take place in Cork City .Our class-based workshops include start a novel, beginners creative writing, poetry, memoir writing and the practice of writing. You'll find full details of all our classes below. 

We also operate an editing service for anyone who would like feedback from an experienced writer and editor, Conor Kostick.

Course Schedule

Online Courses
The courses below are all on demand and on a rolling basis, apart from the Writing for Children course.

Poetry 6 weeks Leanne O’ Sullivan €150.00
Beginners Creative Writing 10 weeks Adam Wyeth €250.00
How to Blog 4 weeks Niamh Griffin €95.00 - Seriously! lessons!
Memoir Writing 10 weeks Ivy Bannister €250.00
Writing for Children 6 weeks Oisin McGann €190.00 - start date July 19th 2010

Writing Workshops
Weekend Workshop
Beginners Creative Writing Cork City; Venue TBC Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th September 10.30 a.m.-4.30 pm Adam Wyeth €160
Start a Novel Cork City; Venue TBC Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th September 10.30 a.m.-4.30 pm Mary Malone €160
Poetry Cork City; Venue TBC Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th October 10.30 a.m.-4.30 pm Leanne O’ Sullivan €160
One day workshops

Memoir Writing Cork City ; Venue TBC Saturday 6th November 10.30 a.m.- 4 pm Ivy Bannister €95

For further information, please visit www.creativewriting.ie, email info@creativewriting.ie 

In the Write Light

(I don't know about you but I'm getting a little tired with 'Write' puns...)

Anyway, a lovely sounding competition this if you want to win the prize - a workshop and (I think) flights and accommodation in Tarifa, Andalucia.

This summer, In The Write Light has teamed up with the Sunday Independent and Aer Lingus to offer writers the chance to participate in a great competition which sees the winner win a place on our September workshop with Nell McCafferty.

What: a short story either fiction or non-fiction, no more than 2,200 words.

Deadline: August 13th 2010.

Send entries: 2 copies of short story to Books Editor, Sunday Independent, 27 - 32 Talbot St. Dublin 1.

The workshops sound great.

Your workshop begins with a deep tissue full body massage. Cleansing your body of toxins and releasing stress, this is the first step towards igniting your WRITE LIGHT!

To ensure you're totally inspired, you'll also enjoy 16 hours of tuition with a published author plus lazy lunches on the beach, leisurely walks along stunning coastline, dinners of fresh fish and tasty tapas and lively chats long into the night.

WRITING WITH DRAMA 7th to 11th July 2010
With Mia Gallagher, best-selling novelist and dramatist

and

CONQUERING MEMOIR 22nd to 26th September
with Nell McCafferty

Stinging Fly Launch

Personally I'm not going to this, not because they've NEVER taken anything of mine though I've submitted some cracking stuff, but because I'll be elsewhere, sunning myself. Not sulking.

The Stinging Fly invites you to the launch of our Summer 2010 Issue 16 on Thursday, July 8, at Sin É.

Guest Edited by Sean O’Reilly, the issue features:

Featured Poets: Kimberly Campanello/Ailbhe Darcy
New Fiction: Evelyn Conlon/Mary Costello/Leona Cully/Deirdre Gleeson/Desmond Hogan/John Kenny/Lynsey May/Andrew Meehan/Keith Ridgway/Declan Sweeney
New Poems: Tom Cleary/Stephen Devereux/Steve Ely/Alyn Fenn/Nicola Griffin/Joseph Horgan/Edward Lee/Lorna Shaughnessy
Comhchealg: Aifric Mac Aodha
Essay: Michael Cronin
Reviews: Dave Lordan/Tom Mathews/Maria Parsons/Kevin Power

The night will include readings by contributors.

There's a lots of names I don't recognise there so it may be worth going to check out the new blood!

Stony Thursday Submissions

The Stony Thursday Book is calling for submissions from local, national and international poets for the next issue which will be published in Limerick, Ireland, as part of Cuisle, Limerick City International Poetry Festival in October 2010.

This year the editor will be Mark Whelan.

The Stony Thursday Book is one of the longest-running literary journals in Ireland and celebrated its 30^th Anniversary Edition in 2005.

Deadline: August 13th 2010

How to submit:
Send no more than 6 poems
When submitting poems, write your name and address on each page.
Send poems to : The Arts Service, Limerick City Council, City Hall, Merchant’s Quay, Limerick
Please mark your envelope : The Stony Thursday Book
Or by email : artsoffice@limerickcity.ie

West Cork Literary Festival - Reminder

4 - 10 July - Bantry

There are (or were anyway) still tickets for Margaret Drabble, Fay Weldon, John Boyne, Eavan Boland and Anthony Horowitz, John Boyne and travel writer Tim Mackintosh-Smith;  Rooney Prize winner Philip O Ceallaigh and Booker Nominee, Simon Mawer.   

There are other names new to me. Suad Amiry, Palestinian author of the international bestseller Sharon and My Mother-in-Law, Singaporean poet and novelist, Felix Cheong. 

Peter Sirr and James Harpur will talk about the Poetry Journey, Simon Mawer and Tim Severin will share their thoughts on Research in afternoon seminars taking place in the Maritime Hotel.

There will be a broad range of writing workshops including:  Fiction with Peter Cunningham, Short Fiction with Nuala Ni Chonchuir,  Writing for Women with Catherine Dunne,  Freelance Journalism with Sue Leonard,   Bound to be Read with literary agent Jonathan Williams,  Poetry with Leanne O’Sullivan,  The Graphic & Fantasy Novel with Celine Kearney,  Short Fiction with Nuala Ni Chonchuir, Song Writing with Julie Feeney and Writing for the Stage with Ursula Rani Sarma.

The Festival  will also feature a new generation of Irish writers, including immigrant poets.  There will be master classes in travel writing and fiction, seminars on the art of editing and some entertaining talks: Brian Dillon will speak about hypochondriac writers; Tony Humphreys will be launching his new book, Karen Coleman will speak about abuse in religious institutions, and Eileen Battersby on re-reading classics.  The  2010 Fish Anthology will also be launched in St Brendan's Church.

Book online at www.westcorkliteraryfestival.ie or ring 027 55987.