Dr Reamonn O Donnchadha, psychotherapist, university lecturer and author, will explore with participants aspects of psychology, the Self, and personal change. The facilitator is a Jungian therapist and author of The Confident Child, and Be Confident.  He will weave the psychology of C G Jung and the poetry of Patrick Kavanagh into a meaningful fabric of personal meaning.

For information and booking please phone the Patrick Kavanagh Centre on  00353(0) 42 93 78560

E-mail: infoatpkc@eircom.net

www.patrickkavanaghcountry.com   Admission fee: €50 (Prior booking is essential).

‘A True Note on a Slack String’

Martin Dyar is originally from Swinford in County Mayo. His poetry has recieved the Strokestown International Poetry Award, the In Sight of Raftery Award and the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award. Last year, Martin was selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions Series and recieved an Arts Council Bursary Award in Literature. Martin has also written a play, Tom Loves a Lord, about the Irish poet Thomas Moore. He has a PhD in English from TCD, where he lectures Medical Humanities in the School of Medicine.

Located in the T K Whitaker Building, Dundalk Institute of Technology Library is open to the public, and hosts various cultural events designed for the college & wider community.  This includes a local  reading group which meets up every Tuesday at 1 pm and a writing group  meets up on the 1st & 3rd Thursday of every month at 7.30 pm.  New members are always welcome.  Further information is available on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/dkitlib

Admission to the poetry reading is free and all are welcome.  For those who attend there will be a complimentary one year free years membership.

For more information, please contact the Library on 042 9370310.

“Soundings Live”

 1. pm Thursday 6^th October

 The Space, Town Hall, Dundalk

Admission free.

Live Broadcast on Dundalk FM 100

The Arts Service of Louth Local Authorities Presents -

 “Soundings Live”, a poetry recital and reminiscences featuring poems from

‘’Soundings”, read by a cross-section of Dundalk people who had the anthology as part of the Leaving Certificate syllabus and who  are now rediscovering their favourite poem from the book, The event will be broadcast live at lunchtime on Dundalk FM 100.

If you did your Leaving Cert between 1969 and 1995, then you will react accordingly on hearing the word “Soundings”.  For some, it was their first introduction to the world of poetry, beginning a life-time romance with words, verse, and the potential of the human imagination.  For others, it would have graced the top of the bonfire painstakingly constructed from schoolbooks, and lit with great joy on the day after the completion of the Leaving Cert.  Love it or hate it, “Soundings” accompanied over a million students through two of their teenage years, and has left quite an impression on a great many of those erstwhile students.

As part of the activities around All-Ireland Poetry Day, the Arts Service of Louth Local Authorities is organising a reading by six Dundalk-based people, who will each pick a poem from “Soundings”, one that thrilled, frightened, bored, or inspired them.  The reading and ensuing conversation will be open to the public – just drop into the Town Hall on Thursday October 6^th at 1pm – and will be broadcast live on Dundalk fm 100. Presented by Eileen Corcoran

The six who will be sharing their poems, and their reasons for choosing them, are –

-       Cllr. Marianne Butler, Chairperson, Dundalk Town Council

-       Breffni Martin – founder Louth Branch, Birdwatch Ireland, and son of the late Augustine Martin, who edited “Soundings”.

-       Fergus Mullen, State Solicitor for Louth, and noted actor and theatre director.

-       Alan Anderson, musician, and manager of local hostelry, The Spirit Store.

-       Barbara Smith, writer and facilitator, whose first poetry collection, “Kairos”, was published by Doghouse Books in 2007.

-       Graham Russell, Manager of Dundalk Sports Centre, based in Muirhevna Mor

Over the years, copies of “Soundings” began to be sold over the internet, sometimes fetching surprising prices.  Demand for a re-print began to be heard, and publishers Gill and MacMillan decided to re-issue “Soundings” in 2010.  It has since sold very well.

“For many people,” says Louth Arts Officer, Brian Harten, “Soundings is the one thing they remember from their Leaving Cert English course.  All of the poems in the volume are still valid, and many became that one poem that stuck in people’s minds, as they grew into adulthood.  For that reason, this broadcast is a great way to encourage people to reconnect with poetry.”

So, for a trip down poetic memory lane, tune into Dundalk fm 100 on October 6^th at 1pm, or call into the Town hall to sit in on the live broadcast.  This event is part of the celebrations for All Ireland Poetry Day, which is co-ordinated by Poetry Ireland.  Soundings Live is an initiative of the Arts Service of Louth Local Authorities.

For further information contact

Denis Darcy

Arts Office

Dundalk Town Council

042 9392950

denis.darcy@dundalktown.ie

The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award for a first unpublished collection of poems in English is open to poets, born in the island of Ireland, or of Irish nationality, or long term resident in Ireland.

The award is now in its 40th year. Previous winners include Eileán Ni Chuilleanáin, Paul Durcan, Thomas McCarthy, Peter Sirr, Sinead Morrissey, Conor O’Callaghan, Celia de Freine and Joseph Woods.

The winner of this year’s award will receive €1,000. Certificates will be awarded for 2nd and 3rd place.
The closing date for entry to the competition is Friday 22nd July.
The Award will be presented on the evening of the 30th September at the opening of the
Annual Patrick Kavanagh Weekend in Inniskeen.
Rules and entry form from the Patrick Kavanagh Centre, Inniskeen:
Tel. 00353(0)429378560, Fax 00353(0)429378855
E-mail: infoatpkc@eircom.net www.patrickkavanaghcountry.com

The Hawk’s Well is delighted to announce the third iYeats Poetry Competition – an online national and international competition open to all and with a special award for poetry from poets under 25.

The innovative contest, run by Sligo’s Hawk’s Well Theatre, was set up two years ago to mark the 70th anniversary of WB Yeats’ death and quickly won a prestigious reputation for the calibre of both entrants and judges.

The theme of the iYeats Poetry Competition 2011 will be “I am still of opinion that only two topics can be of the least interest to a serious and studious mood, sex and the dead” – William Butler Yeats

The closing date for receipt of poems on this subject is Sunday, 26 June.

Prize giving and a public reading of the shortlisted poets will take place in the Hawk’s Well Theatre during the annual Yeats International Summer School 2011.

Gerald Dawe was born in North Belfast on April 22nd 1952. He was educated at Orangefield Boys School, University of Ulster (1971-1974) and National University of Ireland, Galway where he taught for many years (1974-1987). In Galway he founded Trio: Modern Poetry in Performance and the innovative public workshops, Starting to Write. He was founder editor of Writing in the West, a literary supplement published by The Connacht Tribune (1980-1985) and founder editor of Krino: The Review (1986-1996). He was appointed lecturer in English at Trinity College Dublin in 1988, elected Fellow of the College in 2004 and is the inaugural director of the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing, School of English at Trinity College, having established with Brendan Kennelly the first Masters programme in creative writing offered by an Irish university. He has been John J Burns Visiting Professor, Boston College (2005) and Heimbold Professor, Villanova University, Philadelphia (2009).

His early poems were published in the sixties and seventies in Britain and Ireland and first collected in Sheltering Places (Blackstaff Press 1978). Since then The Gallery Press has published his poetry: The Lundys Letter (1985), Sunday School (1991), Heart of Hearts (1995), The Morning Train (1999), Lake Geneva (2003) and Points West (2008). He is the recipient of various awards and fellowships including the Macaulay Fellowship in Literature, Hawthorden International Writers Fellowship and Ledwig-Rowolht International Writer Fellowship.

Gerald Dawe has published three collections of essays, including The Proper Word: Collected Criticism (2007), My Mother-City (2007), The World as Province: Selected Prose (2009), Conversations: on Poets & Poetry (due in 2011), as well as editing numerous anthologies of Irish poetry and criticism, including the groundbreaking Earth Voices Whispering: Irish war poetry 1914-1945 (2008). He has given readings and lectures in many parts of the world. Married to Dorothea Melvin, he lives in County Dublin.

Enda Wyley was born in Dublin in 1966. Her collections are Eating Baby Jesus (Dublin, The Dedalus Press, 1993); Socrates In the Garden (The Dedalus Press, 1998); Poems for Breakfast (Dedalus, 2004); and To Wake to This (The Dedalus Press, 2009).

She was poet in Residence in Melbourne University in 1996, having received The Vincent Buckley Memorial Award that year.

Her books for children are Boo and Bear (illustrated Greg Massardier, Dublin, The O’Brien Press, 2003); and The Silver Notebook (The O’Brien Press, 2007).
She lives in Dublin.

A national and international competition open to all, the iYeats Poetry competition 2011 has a special Emerging Talent category for poetry from the 16 – 25 age group.

This year’s theme is;

“I am still of opinion that only two topics can be of the least interest to a serious and studious mood, sex and the dead” – William Butler Yeats

Up to four poems on this subject may be entered online only for both the General and Emerging Talent categories with a closing date of Sunday, 26 June 2011.

Prize giving and a public reading of the shortlisted poets will take place during the annual Yeats International Summer School in July.

For full details of the competition and to enter online go to http://www.hawkswell.com/competition/

Terms and Conditions

Only online entries will be accepted.
Files with entries must be in Word format (Word 97 – 2003) and attached to the online entry form.
The iYeats Emerging Talent Award is open to all 16 – 25 year olds.
Entry fee: €5 per poem
Prizes: First prize of €300
Emerging Talent award of €300
Ten highly commended awards.
All prize winners will have their poems published on the Hawk’s Well website and will be offered the chance to read their work at an informal ceremony during the 2011 Yeats International Summer School.

For more information contact Mary Clarke on 00 353 (0) 71 916 1518 or at info@hawkswell.com

Hawk’s Well Theatre, Temple Street, Sligo, Ireland
Tel: ++ 353 (0) 71 916 1518
www.hawkswell.com

Jaki McCarrick was declared as the first ever winner of the Liverpool Lennon Paper Poetry competition by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy.

The glittering ceremony was held on Saturday the 6th of November in the Sir Paul McCartney Auditorium at Lipa (Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.)

May I personally thank everybody who supported the event and encouraged such an amazing rersponse.

I enclose a copy of Jaki McCarick’s deservedly winning poem

Roger Cliffe-Thompson

Competition organizer

eventpoets.co.uk

“In my poem ‘The Selkie of Dorinish,’ I imagine John and Yoko living on the island of Dorinish in Clew Bay, Co. Mayo. Lennon purchased this island in the ’60s. I imagine an unusual arrangement for the couple in which John is a shape-changing seal. I rarely enter poetry competitions but I got a strong feeling for this poem after coming across an article on Mayo by Tamasin Day-Lewis in Cara, the Aer Lingus magazine. Like a lot of writers, I am often at my most creative when travelling about.” Jaki McCarrick

The Selkie of Dorinish

She has come to love meadowsweet,

and rubs its Germolene smell

into her sallow skin.

In the evenings she gathers wingnuts

for her new artwork

and makes eyes and beady lines

from black bluebell seeds.

Around the cottage are the trees

I planted as seedlings in ‘67:

Spanish oak, a row of limes and elder,

and everywhere the stark green water –

on which, at night,

the mainland throws

its gold and amber elvers.

Sometimes ships will stop for stones

for ballast on the western beach.

Once a sailor saw me

changing from my wet-suit;

then Yoko came and we three sat together

drinking, then watching

the grey Atlantic skies

burst open with light.

There is an island for every day

of the year in Clew.

And here we should have come

after she’d had her New York premonition.

But better late than never.

She keeps the house now

and I the sea around it.

In winter she collects her kindling

in the morning,

wearing lambswool boots

that make no sound.

If out, I’ll cast an eye across and at Croagh Patrick

then watch the mist fall over Inishcuttle,

thick as sealskin on the reeling sea.

Jaki McCarrick 2010

http://jakiscloudnine.blogspot.com/

Celebrating All Ireland Poetry Day in County Louth on Thursday 7th October couldn’t be easier this year, with a wealth of events to choose from. You could indeed make a whole poetry trail out of the day.

In the north of the county, DkIT Library hosts a Lunchtime Garden Poetry reading, with the theme of ‘Transitions’.  Those who want to read their own work or that of well-known poets, or just listen, can enjoy this event in the DkIT Library Rooftop Garden Atrium, at 1pm sharp.

Later in Carlingford, Jaki McCarrick, poet, playwright and fiction writer, will read from her work at 7.30pm in the beautiful surroundings of the Holy Trinity Heritage Centre. Back in Dundalk from 8.30pm onwards, McGeough’s, Roden Place, hosts the new ‘Meitheal Open Mic ‘series, where all are welcome to sign up and read their poems alongside featured readers, The Poetry Divas. The Diva collective are known for their vivacious live performances throughout Ireland, most recently appearing at the Electric Picnic.

Mid-Louth sees Sandy Sneddon at Scoil Mhuire Na Trócaire, Ardee, bringing his special brand of poetry to children in the morning.

In the south of the county, Drogheda Library in Stockwell Street hosts a wealth of poetry events, beginning with the ever popular Niall De Búrca, in the morning for children, selected schools only. At lunchtime, Marie MacSweeney will read from her work at 1.30pm, and the Viaduct Bards host their poetry session from 6.30 to 7.30pm. All in Drogheda Library across the day.

All Ireland Poetry Day events in Louth are curated by Barbara Smith, on behalf of The Arts Service of Louth Local Authorities, and organised in association with DkIT Library, Drogheda Library, McGeough’s, Dundalk, and Scoil Mhuire na Trócaire, Ardee.

For further information telephone 042 9392950, email denis.darcy@dundalktown.ie

Denis Darcy, Arts Office, Dundalk Town Council

Holy Trinity Heritage Centre Carlingford

To Celebrate All Ireland Poetry Day

7 October 2010 at 7.30pm

Jaki McCarrick is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin. She has published poetry in Poetry Ireland Review, Revival, Boyne Berries, Cathach, Word on the Street, Pedestal Magazine, Stylus (Australia). Her first play, The Mushroom Pickers, won the 2005 Scottish Drama Association’s National Playwriting Competition, and premiered at the Southwark Playhouse in London in May 2006 and in New York in February 2009. Her most recent play, Leopoldville, has just been shortlisted for the 2009 Kings Cross Award for New Writing. She was selected for the 2009 Poetry Ireland Introduction series of emerging poets.

Jackie Mc Carrick, writer /poet

Will read from her work

Thursday, October 7^th. At 7.30.pm

Admission Free (no ticket required)

Further details Carlingford Heritage Centre

042 9373454

Programmed by The Arts Services Louth County Council for National Poetry Day

Details of other events in Louth for National Poetry Day available from

www.createlouth.ie