BALLINASLOE LAUNCH OF NUDE

Geraldine Mills (writer), Nuala and Joyce Little (artist)


Me - signing Nude

The launch went great last night - lots of people there, lots of good chat, wine and food.
Thanks to Geraldine Mills for launching the book and Joyce's exhibition Body Image with such grace; thanks to Joyce for hosting the launch in her wonderful Tosnú Art Gallery; and to Karen for selling the books and taking pics; thanks to everyone who came and made the night so much fun.

I'll be doing it all again in the No Grants Gallery in Temple Bar on Wednesday the 25th of November at 6pm - I hope many more of you will make it to that launch.

DERWENT POETRY FESTIVAL

JUNO WRITING A POEM...

The 3rd Derwent Poetry Festival takes place at Masson Mills, Matlock Bath from the 20th - 22nd November 2009.
It celebrates the publication of 4 new Templar Poetry Pamphlets, including my pamphlet Portrait of the Artist with a Red Car; some new collections and the Templar Poetry Anthology.

My reading is on the Saturday:
1.45 - 2.30pm
Pamphlet Poets Reading: 1
Two of the four winning poets from the
2009 Templar Poetry Pamphlet & Collection
Competition: 2009, Judged by Tim Liardet

Dawn Wood reads from Connoisseur
Nuala Ní Chonchúir reads from Portrait of the Artist with a Red Car

Thanks to Culture Ireland for funding my trip across the water.

'How Not to Run a Literary Festival' - Amanda Craig

Very interesting post on Amanda Craig's blog 'How Not to Run a Literary Festival'. Festival organisers take notes. Please.

GALWAY LAUNCH OF NUDE

My new short story collection Nude (Salt, 2009) is being launched this Saturday, the 7th of November, in the Tosnú Art Gallery in Ballinasloe at 7.30pm, along with Body Image an art exhibition by Joyce Little.

Super writer Geraldine Mills is performing the launch; I'll do a short reading and there'll be lots of wine and nibbles to guzzle.

Nude will be for sale at the bargainous, Xmas prezzie friendly price of €10. I'll even sign it!

This is launch 2 of 3, and the final one will take place in Dublin on the 25th November at 6pm in the No Grants Gallery, Temple Bar.

I look forward to seeing you all in Galway or Dublin.

LAST STOP AUSTRALIA

Today I'm at Merc's World - the blog home of writer Sylvia Petter - for the last stop on my virtual tour. I thought I'd be glad but actually I'm sad it's all over, sniff sniff.

Merc usually resides in Vienna but at the moment she's at home in her native Australia, so my tour has circumnavigated the globe in true world tour style, from New Zealand to Ireland and the UK several times, to Switzerland, Norway and the USA, all the way back to the Antipodes and Oz. It's been fun. Thanks to those who followed it all.

We talk about smells (?), workshopping and how I found the tour here

REVIVAL - CALL FOR POETRY SUBS

Revival, the poetry journal of the WhiteHousePoets, is calling for submissions from local, national and international poets for the next issue which will be published in Limerick, January 2010.

The deadline for submissions is the 30th Nov 2009

Send to: The Editor, Revival, Moravia, Glenmore Ave., Roxboro Rd., Limerick.

Email: revival1@eircom.net

Submission guidelines here.

NOTEBOOK LOVERS UNITE!

Ah notebooks, how I love thee.

We’ve got a new shop in Galway and I went in and bought two pretty notebooks yesterday. Irresistibly beautiful tiny notebooks that fit in a jeans pocket and have a little elastic band to hold in stray bits of paper – my favourite kind.

I gave a talk to the new BA in Creative Writing students in NUI Galway yesterday about the writing life. On the way home on the train I realised I had forgotten to tell them to buy the smallest, most beautiful notebook they could find and carry it with them always. I thought this as I took my new notebooks from the bag and flicked through them admiringly. Practically salivating.

It struck me, though, that I have somewhat of a notebook mountain. Not just full notebooks but empty ones. Like most writers (female writers?) I have a stationery fetish and I buy notebooks fecklessly and recklessly. It doesn’t matter if they are expensive or that I have plenty of blank notebooks already, I will always buy more. They call to me from the shelf: ‘Buy me, buy me.’ And I oblige.

So, I decided to actually count the blank notebooks, just to see. Oh dear. There are 23 blank notebooks, that I could find. There are more lurking in my house. Anyone else out there similarly afflicted?