Dromineer Literary Festival 2017

Dromineer Literary Festival 2017!

The closing date for the Poetry and Short Story competitions is on midnight the 18th of August 2017 so only a few weeks left to get your entries in. You can submit an unlimited number of entries for these competitions but must they must be no more than 40 lines for the poetry and 500 words for the flash fiction section. The entry fees are €5 per poem and €10 per entry in the flash fiction. Post or by email. The judges are Lisa Frank and John Walsh of Doire Press and if by post you need to download an entry form. 

Post to: Peter Hooker, Dromineer Literary Festival, Dromineer, Nenagh, Co, Tipperary.

Full details: www.dromineerliteraryfestival.ie 

Bailieborough Poetry Prize 2017!

Bailieborough Poetry Prize 2017!

This one has a closing date for entry of Friday the 1st of September 2017 and a first prize of €300 for the winning poem. Poems must not exceed 50 lines and should be typed, single-spaced.  Up to three poems may be submitted per entry and you may submit as many entries as you wish. Entry by email or by post and details can be found on their website. Entry fee is €5 per poem or for three poems €10 is payable. The competition is open to anyone who has reached their 18th birthday by the closing date of the competition. Entries must not be currently under consideration for publication or competition elsewhere and should be previously unpublished in printed or online format. 

The judge for this year's competition Patrick Chapman and the postal address with payment in euros only, (Made payable to "LitLab") is: Bailieborough Poetry Competition, LitLab - C/O Bailieborough Library, Market Square, Bailieborough , Co Cavan.

Check out full details at : http://www.baileboroughpoetry.com 

Patrick Kavanagh - Epic

Another poem on war. The time on one that's a little more local and the year of the "Munich Bother" and gods making their own importance.  Read in An Tobar on Ledwidge night. With thanks to youtube and The Word Vault who posted.

Francis Ledwidge Night/An Tobar!

Francis Ledwidge Night/An Tobar!

Francis Ledwidge

An event to mark the centenary of the death of war poet Francis Ledwidge was held in An Tobar Ardbraccan last night. Chaired by Danny Cusack, those in attendance read some of their personal favourites or talked of his writings or reasons for going to war. Other pieces that were read  included Patrick Kavanagh's poem "Epic"  and someone read their own poem on the Blackbird, if I remember correctly. I read A Trench Conversion.  Pieces by  Ledwidge included, Stories of The Boyneside,  his poems, Soliloquy, To One Who Comes Now and Then, The Shadow People, Behind The Closed Eye, The Herons, Avalon, A Soldier's Grave, June, Ascension Thursday 1917, Druidism, Had I a Golden Pound, My Mother, A Little Boy in the Morning, The Wife of Llew, Lullaby, The Blackbirds, and there might be one or two I missed and there are some there I'm not too familiar with. There was also a mention of the Welsh poet Hedd Wyn and Danny Cusack read, The Lament for Thomas McDonagh and In Memoriam Francis Ledwidge by Seamus Heaney. The night finished off with Sean Reilly singing Thomas Moore's, The Minstrel Boy. 

The Age of Glass/Michael Farry

The Age of Glass/Michael Farry

This book will keep you turning the page as it moves from beginning to end. A particular take or observation on or study in depth on what it is that makes the human, it allows only for a little style, humour or contradiction that in the end knows no secret. Meticulously crafted as it move from one discipline to the next and forensic in detail the poems here slot into place to make up a greater story and are difficult to choose between. There are a number of prize winners here and "The Masterpiece is Nearing Completion" is one of the finest road poems while "An Infant Burial" has its own realizations and "Researching Louisa", which won the Goldsmith Poetry Competition in 2016 is a beautiful poem ... and if I had to cherry pick.... One for your bookshelf. This book is published by Revival Press Limerick and retails at €12. Michael Farry has a blogsite, link to the right.

Scurlogstown Olympiad Recordings 2017!

Scurlogstown Olympiad Recordings 2017!

James Linnane at the Recording Desk

This year's recordings for the Scurlogstown Olympiad CD continued in the Summerhill Comunity Centre on Friday last with James Linnane in the recording seat and no pressure! Michael Durkan was the master of ceremonies for the night and managed to get through more than thirty people who performed either a song or recited their favourite poem or recitation. The quality or standard on the night was very high and for those who have yet to perform it will have to be good. Some of the singing was superb and the surroundings contributed in no small way to the success of the occasion. The final round and place is yet to be decided on.    

The Meath Writers' Circle July Meeting 2017!

The Meath Writers' Circle July Meeting 2017!

About thirteen people turned out on Thursday night for a little poetry and prose at the Trim Castle Hotel with everyone getting to read a poem (or two - or story!). The magazine should be off to the printers in the next few weeks and interesting to see what the first proof looks like. A big thank you to everyone who contributed a piece though the launch date will not be until close to Christmas. 

Remembering Ledwidge ~ Dunsany GFC.

Remembering Ledwidge ~ Dunsany GFC  

Noel French, MC for the event!

John Donohue, journalist,
reads an excerpt from Lord Dunsany's autobiography,
"My Ireland"

Jim O' Leary, Noel French and Michael Smith

Emma Griffin
reading, "To Lord Dunsany, on his return from East Africa"

Jim O' Leary of Kilmessan
reading his favourite Ledwidge poem,
"The Cobbler of Sari Gueul"

Liam Cahill, Historian, Broadcaster and Writer
discussing Ledwidge's involvement in
trade union and labour organisations prior to the Great War

Fr. Joe Deegan, parish priest of Slane
sings, "The Blackbird of Slane"

John Quinn of "Goodnight Ballivor I'll Sleep in Trim"
Talking of the Life of Francis Ledwidge
and his book on the poet.

Ledwidge cake baked by Bonnie Smith, Dunsany.

Martin Oakes and Joe Hanly
playing, "On the Road to Passchendaele" 
Composed by Major Gavin Stoddart and Alan Brydon

Frankie de Dobbelaere of the European Union Offices/Kiltale
reads, "In Flanders Fields and Duizend Soldaten" 

Peadar Donohoe cuts the Ledwidge cake.

"The countless white crosses in mute witness stand"
 Niall Brosnan sings, "The Green Fields of France/Eric Bogle

The above are just some of the photographs taken of the performers, or of those who contributed at the "Remembering Ledwidge" event in Dunsany Clubhouse on Sunday last. The event followed a cycle run from Slane taking the back roads through Beauparc, Yellow Furze, Walterstown and Skryne before ending in the GAA grounds. The scenic route and the best road if you want to avoid the traffic that is Navan. The information is with thanks to Noel French and speaking notes John Donohue.

Other readings included Ruth Hickey, "The Lament for Thomas McDonagh" and a letter sent from Lord Dunsany to Thomas McDonagh's daughter. The poem, "Soliloquy" was read by Mary Harrahill - President of The Horace Plunkett ICA Guild Dunsany and two of the pupils of Dunsany School, Matthew Moan and Jessie Agnew gave a talk on what they had learned about the poet. Also the children of the school had a project on display.  

Scurlogstown Olympiad Trim Haymaking Festival 2017 - Meath Daily

Here's a short video from Meath Daily TV on some of the events at The Scurlogstown Olympiad Haymaking Festival in Trim. Enjoy!