Boyne Berries 12 Autumn 2012

Boyne Berries 12 Autumn 2012

Book Cover

Picked up a copy of the above in Antonia's last week and if you're looking for a stocking filler for Christmas you could do worse. This is the twelfth issue now and it continues to attract submissions that are both local and from places as far away as Canada and the United States not forgetting Italy and Africa. Hard to do it justice on a once through and with poems you often need to read them a few times just to get the feel but without reaching for the book, the ones that come to mind are from members of the group itself and for different reasons. James linnane and Evan Costigan both use that little twist at the end and Orla Fay's "Leaving Oz" has a charm all its own. But as they say there are others and for as little as €8 Euro you can purchase a copy. Click on the link to the Boyne Writers for details. Over to your right!

The Meath Writers' Circle Video (3) November 2012

Vera Tuite

This is another of the videos I recorded in November when Ronan Gorry came in to record the C.D. Vera has another video further back called "The Moving Sod" and has been a member of the Writers' Circle for a while now. Give a listen.  

The Francis Ledwidge Poetry Awards 2012/Results

The Francis Ledwidge Poetry Awards 2012

Francis Ledwidge/Google Images

The results of the above have just been announced and Evan Costigan of The Boyne Writers is this year's winner for his poem "Boy at the Bus Stop" with second place going to Denise Ryan for her poem "In Debt"  and third place to Marie Cudden for "Up to Scratch". Looking down the list delighted to see I got a mention as did Michael Farry of The Boyne Writers and Honor Duff of The Cavan Lit Lab. But some of Ireland's best known poets are there, so good company! The Ledwidge Award is a feature of the calendar this time of year and many local writers have been successful or placed in the competition over the years. The presentation of the awards takes place on Tuesday December 4th at Donoghue's Emmet Road Inchicore at 8pm. Sure to be a good night.   

Book Launch: Meath Junior Writers' Anthology

Book Launch: Meath Junior Writers' Anthology

Tommy Murray at Launch of  Swimming With Dolphins

The launch of The Meath Junior Writers' Anthology will now take place om Thursday 6th of December at 7pm in Navan Library where Michael Farry will do the honours. This is a group of twenty six young writers who used to meet every Saturday morning in the library where Tommy Murray would teach and encourage them to develop their creative writing skills. Many of them went on to win prizes and other awards and the night is sure to be an occasion to mark the contribution Tommy made to writing in the county. This is the fifth collection from the group, or the different classes, over the past thirteen years and hopefully other members will also be there on the night, as well as those of  the different writing groups Tommy was connected with. All welcome.

The Meath Writers' Circle Video (2) November 2012

Sean Reilly

This is a beautiful tribute poem read by Sean Reilly which I've been meaning to load for some time. Sean who is as fine a singer as you're likely to meet, writes both poetry and prose and is a member of both The Meath Writers' Circle and The Small Impact Writers' Group in Navan. A number of other videos are posted further back and are worth looking up. This is from the August meeting. 

The Gregory O' Donoghue International Poetry Competition

The Gregory O' Donoghue International Poetry Competition.

Got an interesting booklet on the 2013 Cork Spring Poetry Festival last week which runs from the 13th to the 16th of February and includes information on the above poetry competition. Interesting in that it equates  lack of funding for the arts with a society that would go on to deny universal access to health care or education, or financial provision for all of us in retirement. (Arts funding, the canary in the cage) Well in many cages the canary stopped singing a long time ago. It may not have said so in so many words but I think I got the gist of it. Anyway you can get information on the above festival or competition if you go to, or google www.munsterlit.ie or www.corkpoetryfest.net. Good prize in that competition! Front and back cover of booklet above

Tommy Murray "Hometown"

Tommy Murray

This is the last  recording I made of Tommy on the 25th of October when Ronan Gorry came in to record the Christmas CD  Date is wrong on the video though! The light is not good but I think this was one of the last poems he wrote. There are other tributes to Tommy over on the Michael Farry, Orla Fay and Sheriff From Navan  blogsites. He was buried in St Loman's Cemetry Trim on Tuesday. May he rest in peace.

Tommy Murray R.I.P.

Tommy Murray

Vey sad news yesterday to hear of the death of Tommy Murray of Trim. Tommy was a founder member and chairman of The Meath Writers' Circle and his passing marks the end of an era. Best known for his poetry and short stories he was also an active local historian and his many books and the awards for his  writing are just to numerous to mention. His contribution to the creative writing scene in Meath is second to none and for over twenty years since the creation of  The Meath Writers' Circle in '92 to the present day he managed to arrange venues and meetings and encouraged others to get something into print. He was especially gifted  at creating beautiful verse and whether he was describing something of the landscape or the simplest thing he could bring a wealth of detail to the page. His books of poetry can be ordered from Lapwing and those of local history from publishers such as Nonsuch. A visit to his website "Meath Books" or the newly created home page will  have details of the above. His funeral takes place on Tuesday morning after 11am Mass to St Loman's Cemetry in Trim. Co Meath. Condolences to Josephine and all the family.