Susan Millar DuMars has written a wonderful Introduction to this Anthology - to which I am a proud contributor. You'd want to read it for the prose in the Introduction alone! But also for the succinct history of an astounding series of readings, over ten years, that has had a regular attendance of around sixty at the monthly library readings - although Pat McMahon, the librarian, who retired last year says there were closer to 100 - he put the chairs away!
It begins, 'In 2003 my partner Kevin and I were living in a grotty upstairs flat in Salthill, Galway. Wood panelling prevailed. A coin-up electricity metre ticked off our minutes of space-heating, television, light. we could watch the undulations of Galway Bay from our front window - if we stood on the couch and squinted.'
Further on is the paragraph - 'At the end of 2002, the writer and storyteller Rab Fulton (founder of "MucMhor Dhubh", a monthly mini-mag that celebrated multiculturalism and the arts) complained to me that no one was giving unpublished writers a chance to read - to practice the art of presenting work, to try out their pieces before an audience. Most of the reading advertised smelled either of new money or of old, mildewed worthiness. I though about this lack a lot, and one winter's morning as I walked in to town I decided I could see how to challenge it. I phoned Kevin; by the time I'd made it into work, he and I had created the format for the Over the Edge Readings.'
Eamon Wall - Poet and Smurfit-Stone Professor of Irish Studies as the University of Missouri, St .Louis has written: 'this anthology provides a generous selection of work and a lively introduction from Millar DuMars that locates the series within the contexts and histories of the Galway literary scene from the 1990's to the present.' His own book 'from the sin - e cafe tot he black hills, notes on the new irish' (The University of Wisconsin Press, 1999) has a comment from Eavan Boland on the back cover describing it as "A sparkling, engaging view of what it means to be an immigrant witness, to look at the United States through the eyes of a new population of Irish." It is interesting to see Over the Edge through the eyes of an emigrant Irish poet who returns regularly to the Irish scene. His book says, 'In recent times, (he is writing in 1999!) Irish publishers of poetry have received more generous government subsidies, and this extra funding has allowed them to take a more international view of poetry; for them, to bend Kavanagh's dictum, the new Irish view of poetry must be parochial and international'. Something the recent Ireland Professor of Poetry, Harry Clifton, addressed in his lectures and in an interview in Issue 1 of Skylight 47. This is a poetry magazine launched by Skylight Poets, a Thursday afternoon Advanced Workshop with Kevin Higgins, to celebrate ten years of Over the Edge - under the co-editorship of Nicki Griffin, Kevin O'Shea and myself. It is mentioned, also, in Susan Millar DuMars' Introduction.
It is true I have a declared interest. But I doubt anyone buying the book from www.salmonpoetry.com or at the AWP launch on Friday 28th February, 2014 @Salmon Poetry's Reception and Reading in the Sheraton Hotel, Seattle, 3rd Floor, will be disappointed. 'Over three hundred writers have read at Over the Edge. About two hundred were unpublished at the time.Over forty of these published books since.' You can read selections from their publication in this Anthology. It is a literary history of a particular moment in time in Galway. To have been fortunate enough to be able to avail of it has been a real privilege and an extraordinary opportunity. All who can get there are welcome at the launch.
Saturday, 22 February 2014
Friday, 7 February 2014
Saturday, 1 February 2014
I’m not sure about poems against Women Bishops – especially on Brigid’s Day!
Catching my breath after a first year of being involved in producing Skylight 47, I am very impressed – and not a little sorry - to see on his blog michaelfarry.blogspot.com/ that Michael Farry has retired from being Editor of Boyne Berries, having produced 15 Issues. He is succeeded by Orla Fay, also of the Boyne Writers Group. Congratulations Michael.
‘At the AGM the chair person, Paddy Smith, offered a challenge to the group (BWG) worth keeping in mind, ‘Where are the poems about potholes on our roads or about what it’s like to be a member of the first human settlement on Mars or about the slow pace of funding for the arts in this country? (That latter issue, I’m convinced, is at the core of the recent controversy over Limerick City of Culture.)’ I couldn’t agree more. ‘Where is the material that deals with the taking over of the world by accountants? Or where’s the stuff that’s a lively commentary on RTE television programmes? Or that’s against Women Bishops! Depression and melancholy are not enough in our writing; we must be contrary too!’
Boyne Berries has been one of the first ports of call for new writers for all this time. I really appreciated having a poem published, getting to Trim to enjoy the launch of that issue and meeting other contributors and members of the Boyne Writer’s Group, of which Michael Farry is Secretary. The Boyne Berries Writers Group has an annual satire competition too, I see on the website Michael maintains. Kevin Higgins and all those in his Galway workshops who had a recent term or two on taking a satirical perspective, take note!
I met Michael at the workshop Alan Jude Moore held for authors selected for the Poetry Ireland
Introductions Series in 2011. He has been a generous supporter of our venture with Skylight 47, contributing poems and coming to readings and offering us a copy of his book, Asking for Directions (Doghouse, 2012) for Review. It was reviewed by Nicola Griffin who writes, ‘…this is a collection of precise language, never excitable but drenched in images that allow you to see the places and people of these stories, often quirky and sharp.’ She goes on to mention the humour in particular poems.
I wish you everything best in your retirement from being editor, Michael. I hope it means you’ll be able to visit our Galway events soon again. You are a historian as well as a poet. Can we expect a history of Boyne Berries? I’m now expecting a new book, or two – history and poetry, shortly. Hope so.
‘At the AGM the chair person, Paddy Smith, offered a challenge to the group (BWG) worth keeping in mind, ‘Where are the poems about potholes on our roads or about what it’s like to be a member of the first human settlement on Mars or about the slow pace of funding for the arts in this country? (That latter issue, I’m convinced, is at the core of the recent controversy over Limerick City of Culture.)’ I couldn’t agree more. ‘Where is the material that deals with the taking over of the world by accountants? Or where’s the stuff that’s a lively commentary on RTE television programmes? Or that’s against Women Bishops! Depression and melancholy are not enough in our writing; we must be contrary too!’
Boyne Berries has been one of the first ports of call for new writers for all this time. I really appreciated having a poem published, getting to Trim to enjoy the launch of that issue and meeting other contributors and members of the Boyne Writer’s Group, of which Michael Farry is Secretary. The Boyne Berries Writers Group has an annual satire competition too, I see on the website Michael maintains. Kevin Higgins and all those in his Galway workshops who had a recent term or two on taking a satirical perspective, take note!
I met Michael at the workshop Alan Jude Moore held for authors selected for the Poetry Ireland
Introductions Series in 2011. He has been a generous supporter of our venture with Skylight 47, contributing poems and coming to readings and offering us a copy of his book, Asking for Directions (Doghouse, 2012) for Review. It was reviewed by Nicola Griffin who writes, ‘…this is a collection of precise language, never excitable but drenched in images that allow you to see the places and people of these stories, often quirky and sharp.’ She goes on to mention the humour in particular poems.
I wish you everything best in your retirement from being editor, Michael. I hope it means you’ll be able to visit our Galway events soon again. You are a historian as well as a poet. Can we expect a history of Boyne Berries? I’m now expecting a new book, or two – history and poetry, shortly. Hope so.
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