August and September


3rd August

Pete Mullineaux

You can listen to Pete’s reading here.

Pete Mullineaux is originally from Bristol, where, aged 13 he had his first poem published with Macmillan in the anthology Poetry & Song and recorded on vinyl by Harrap. Living in London in the late 70’s and 80’s he was a member of the left wing punk rock band – The Resisters, before going solo as Pete Zero, playing the UK music and performance poetry circuits. This took him from Trafalgar Square to Glastonbury, appearing alongside such figures as Salman Rushdie and the Pogues. He won the City of London Poetry/Song contest and appeared in the Apples & Snakes anthology, Raw & Biting Cabaret Poetry. (Pluto Press 1985)

Living in Galway since 1991 he has been working with Galway Youth Theatre as well as facilitating numerous drama and creative writing projects. He helped set up the original Galway Comedy Club and has been MC for the Cuirt International Festival of Literature poetry grand slam for the past seven years – and prior to that, Poet’s Platform. Several plays have been produced for the stage and by RTE and his poetry has been published widely in Ireland, the UK and elsewhere. Readings include Cuirt, Muscailt, Newcastle West, Newbridge, Clifden, Ballina and Saimhliocht Chairrai arts/literature festivals – and he has also played music venues, such as the Cobblestone in Dublin, Galway’s Roisin Dubh and the Amnesty Freedom Café.

Pete’s chapbook, Zen Traffic Lights appeared from Lapwing in 2005 and his debut full collection, A Father’s Day, published by Salmon in 2008, is already receiving excellent critical reviews. Launches have taken place in Galway, Limerick (Cuisle festival) and London. In 2008 he was chosen to read in Clare as part of Poetry Ireland’s anniversary commemorations. Also in 2008 he was invited by the Thomas Hardy Society to address the opening ceremony of their annual Conference in the UK. Readings for 2009 lined up so far, include the Oxfam Bookshop in London, Coole Park and the Cuirt festival.

Simple, luminous images – Mullineaux’s voice carries lilts of John Cooper-Clarke. There are poems here to make one smile, frown, think; the comedian often gives way to a serious poet indeed. A very fine book, then, and beautifully produced.‘ Fred Johnston – Western Writers Centre.

 



10th August

Joseph Horgan

You can listen to Joseph’s reading here.

Joseph Horgan was born in Birmingham, England to Irish parents. He has lived in Ireland since 1999. He was shortlisted for the Hennessy Award in 2003, and winner of the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 2004. He is published in various magazines. Joseph’s first collection, Slipping Letters Beneath the Sea, was published by Doghouse in 2008. He is due to be included in a Dedalus anthology of immigrant poetry. He also has a book about landscape and memory, due from Collins Press in 2010.

 



17th August

Ó Bhéal in association with Foras na Gaeilge presents a bi-lingual evening with

a bi-lingual poetry evening with

Áine Uí Fhoghlú

You can listen to Áine’s reading here.

Áine Uí Fhoghlú was brought up in the Gaeltacht area of An Rinn, Co. Waterford. She is a secondary school teacher and has collected a body of folklore from native Irish speakers in her area. She has published two collections of poetry: Aistear Aonair (1999) and An Liú sa Chuan (2007) both by Coiscéim publishing as well as editing Dánta Mílaoise (2000), a bilingual collection of poems by secondary school students in County Waterford.

Áine’s poems have been featured in various publications and anthologies as well as being broadcast on radio and television. She is on the Writers in Schools panel and does workshops at primary and secondary school level as well as with adult groups. She was Writer in residence with County Kilkenny VEC in 2006, has won many awards for her poetry including the Irish language prize at Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown International Poetry Competition, Strokestown International Poetry Festival, was shortlisted for Brendan Kennelly Summerfest and was awarded the Michael Hartnett Poetry Prize and Duais Foras na Gaeilge at Listowel Writers’ Week. Áine has received bursaries from Ealaín na Gaeltachta and The Arts Council and was listed by The Irish Times in Jan ’09 as ‘one of the people to watch in the year ahead‘.

 



24th August

Nigel McLoughlin

You can listen to Nigel’s reading here.

Nigel McLoughlin is Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Gloucestershire and Course Leader for their MA in Creative & Critical Writing. His work has been twice short-listed for a Hennessy Award and placed in The Kavanagh Prize and The New Writer Poetry Prize. He holds an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing and a PhD from Lancaster University.

Nigel has written five collections of poetry: At The Waters’ Clearing (Flambard/Black Mountain Press, 2001), Songs For No Voices (Lagan Press, 2004), Blood (Bluechrome, 2005), Dissonances (Bluechrome, 2007) and Chora: New & Selected Poems (Templar, 2009). He also co-edited Breaking The Skin (Black Mountain Press, 2002), an anthology of new Irish poets. His poetry and translations from Irish and German have been published in literary journals and anthologies in Ireland, Britain, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and Japan. He has read his work at many of the leading poetry venues and festivals in the UK and Ireland.

 



31st August

Tommy Frank O’Connor

You can listen to Tommy’s reading here.

Tommy Frank O’Connor lives in Tralee, Co. Kerry, Ireland. A novelist, poet, dramatist and story writer, his published works include a novel The Poacher’s Apprentice (Marino Books, 1997); a novel for children Kee Kee, Cup & Tok (Wynkin de Worde, 2004); a collection of stories Loose Head (Doghouse, 2004), his award winning poetry collection Attic Warpipes (Bradshaw Books, 2005) and his philosophical work Pulse (Doghouse, 2006). He is regularly published in literary presses and anthologies worldwide and his performances have a character beyond mere recitation of the written word.

O’ Connor’s stage pageant Bréanainn was performed at Siamsa Tíre where he has also written for youth theatre and pantomime productions. His work for stage has also been performed in Listowel and Cork. He conducts Creative Writing Residencies in Schools, Libraries, Prisons and Colleges. He has had two terms as Writer in Residence for Co. Kerry, 2007 and 2008.

He is Clan File of the O’Connor Kerry Clan.

In 1978 he won a Kerry Sports Star award and followed that up in 1979 by winning a gold medal for Ireland in the Celtic Nations Championships in Edinburgh.

 



7th September

Keith Armstrong & Rense Sinkgraven

You can listen to Keith’s reading here.

Keith Armstrong was born & bred in Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, where he has worked as a community development worker, poet, librarian & publisher. He has been a self-employed writer since 1986 and he has just received a doctorate, for his work on Newcastle writer Jack Common. He has recently compiled and edited books on the Durham Miners’ Gala and on the former mining communities of County Durham and the market town of Hexham.

His poetry has been extensively published in magazines such as New Statesman, Poetry Review, Dream Catcher, Other Poetry, Aesthetica, Iron, Salzburg Poetry Review and Poetry Scotland, as well as in the collections The Jingling Geordie, Dreaming North, Pains of Class and Imagined Corners, on cassette, LP & CD, and on radio & TV. Keith has also written for music-theatre productions and has performed his poetry on several occasions at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and at Festivals in Aberdeen, Bradford, Cardiff, Cheltenham (twice at the Festival of Literature – with Liz Lochhead and with ‘Sounds North’), Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Greenwich, Lancaster, and throughout the land. In 2004-5, with the support of Arts Council England, North Tyneside Council and Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, he worked with Berlin artist Rolf Wojciechowski on a text sculpture which involved readings on the beaches along the Northumbrian coast from Marsden to Cullercoats and from Druridge Bay to Berwick. In 2007 he collaborated on the touring play The Making of Saint Cuthbert for which he wrote and performed his poetry including shows in local churches. He appeared again at the Hexham Abbey Festival in 2008 and at the Durham Book Festival.

He has long pioneered cultural exchanges with Durham’s twinning partners, particularly Tuebingen and Nordenham in Germany and Ivry-sur-Seine and Amiens in France, as well as with Newcastle’s Dutch twin-city of Groningen, where he has frequently performed with poets like Rense Sinkgraven.

Keith is a noted Geordie wordsmith, a bloke whose musings were always radical, though of their place.’ (Folk Roots magazine).

Keith Armstrong’s poems are rooted in the Tyneside music-hall tradition, closely behind which was the august balladry of the Borders. Throughout the collection, the authentic lyrical note of this northern poet is struck.‘ (Michael Standen, Other Poetry).

You can listen to Rense’s reading here.

Rense Sinkgraven (1965) grew up in the village of Smilde in the Netherlands. He made his debut with the volume Bombloesem (Bomb blossom; Uitg. kleine Uil, 2005). He was the city poet of Groningen, Newcastle’s twin city, from 2007 until January 2009 and has visited Newcastle twice to perform his poems.

Rense’s work has been published in many literary magazines and anthologies. Besides being a poet, he is also the lead singer in a band, Rense and his Scrambled Eggs. They brought out a single and accompanying video entitled Eier back (Bake Eggs), a Dadaist punk song. His new volume of poetry appeared in January 2009, Sloop de stad met tedere woorden (Demolish the Town with Tender Words; Uitg. kleine Uil).

 



14th September

Liz Gallagher

You can listen to Liz’s reading here.

Liz Gallagher was born and brought up in Donegal, Ireland and has been living in Gran Canary Island for the past 14 years. She has an Education degree in which she specialised in the Irish language. She also has a Computer Science degree and is at present doing research into online debating for her PhD.

Liz began writing about five years ago. She has had poetry, fiction and non-fiction work published widely in Ireland, the UK and the USA. Awards and prizes include selection for the 50 Best New Poets 2007 Anthology from Meridian Press in Virginia University where she was one of three cash prize winners. She had one of her poems chosen for inclusion in the Oxfam Ireland Poetry Calendar 2009. She was selected by Poetry Ireland to take part in its Introductions Readings in May 09 in recognition of her status as an emerging poet. She has just won first prize in The Listowel Writers’ Festival Single Poem competition. Her first collection, The Wrong Miracle, will be published by Salt Publishing in September.

Liz blogs at Musingshere

 



21st September

Ó Bhéal’s Munster heat for the 2009 All-Ireland Slam Championship in Galway

From 9pm sharp … One hour, Twelve poets and Three rounds will produce Two Winners to represent Munster!

Bernadette Cremin

You can listen to Bernadette’s reading here.

Bernadette Cremin was the outright winner of the 2005 Biscuit Publishing “Challenge” themed poetry competition. Perfect Mess is her prize award collection. Bernadette lives in Brighton, has won a Year Of The Artist award, a performance poetry bursary and has been published in the UK and Eire. Alongside solo commissions Bernadette has collaborated with a music producer (State Art), a film-maker (Indifference Productions) a photographer (ProjectPoetry) and a geneticist (Promise of Threat). Her collection Speechless (Waterloo Press) followed in 2007.

Bernadette has previously worked as a social worker, tea lady, sociology lecturer, TEFL teacher, bank clerk and waitress. This chequered and eclectic career path has invaluably enriched her true vocation of poet and performer.

Cremin has built a magic bridge between performance and the page; she has proven palpably and infectiously, how there needn’t be such a divide in the first place. Speechless is quite aptly titled, for that’s exactly how it leaves one: it proves that Cremin’s poetry is as tangible and affecting on the page as it is when uttered from her lips like subtle spells.” – Alan Morrison

… a poet at once glamorous and sordid. She writes of call girls and ham actors, moody photos and bedsit divas. Bernadette in lines both precise and honest croons of violence and loss. Hers is the smoky voice of an underclass, forever tough feminine and vulnerable. If Tom Waits had a beautiful stepsister she would sound like Bernadette Cremin.” – John O’Donaghue (Waterloo Press)

Visit Bernadette’s website here.

 



28th September

Ó Bhéal in association with Foras na Gaeilge presents a bi-lingual evening with

a bi-lingual poetry evening with

Pádraig Mac Fhearghusa

You can listen to Pádraig’s reading here.

Pádraig Mac Fhearghusa, born in West Cork and living in Tralee, is working on his sixth volume of poetry in Irish. He has won the Oireachtas poetry prize and the open prize for poetry at Listowel Writers’ Week on several occasions, as well as Duais Cholmcille at Strokestown, 2009. He has also published a history of the Gaelic League in Kerry, and an introduction to the psychology of Freud and Jung in Irish. He edits the Irish literary monthly Feasta.