Friday 17 October 2008

MARKS AND BUZZ



I arrived back after my trip to Dublin for the Marks launch to a big, fat envelope stuffed with a generous 10 copies of the Buzz anthology from Templar Poetry in the UK. It is a gorgeous production and I am delighted to have three poems included. Fellow Galway writer Maureen Gallagher is also featured. I read half of it last night and the standard is amazing. I can only imagine that the winners of the pamphlet competition were outstanding. One of them was Siobhán Campbell, a well-known and exciting poet. I heard her read at Cúirt a few years ago and one of her poems, about a girl's sexuality being formed by her father's pornography stash, was alarmingly frank and taut.

Copies of Buzz can be bought here for £8 sterling. My pals will be getting a copy for Christmas from my contributor's pile! If anyone wants to review it, contact me through my website or, indeed, go straight to Templar Poetry.

The Marks launch was a blast: a big crowd turned up to drink bottles of Miller and swelter in the studio in Temple Bar Gallery where it took place. Circa did such a good job of the publication: it looks beautiful. Alan Jude Moore, Kevin Barry and myself read

Kevin's piece was about a famous Irish sculpture, the Anna Livia Fountain (nicknamed The Floozy in the Jacuzzi), which was inexplicably moved from its spot on O'Connell St in Dublin several years ago and is now in storage. His monologue was raucous and funny: pure Kevin. I loved his silver and gold runners too - very snazzy!

I met the lovely film-maker Paddy Cahill and his equally lovely brother Conor. Watch out for Paddy's excellent documentary on Liberty Hall which will be shown on RTÉ in the coming months. Also at the launch were writer and blogger P.J. Nolan, writers Kathleen Murray and Sinéad Morrissey, and artists Cora Cummins and Seán Lynch.

It was a great night and all credit goes to Declan Meade of The Stinging Fly and Peter Fitzgerald of Circa. Marks is available to purchase for a bargain €6 here.

3 comments:

Colm Keegan said...

I actually popped in to studio 6 ten minutes before it started to take a peek and maybe say howdy but nobody upstairs was ready. I was heading up to Kevin Power's booklaunch. Shame they were on at the same time.

Padhraig Nolan said...

Nice to finally meet you Nuala - nice buzzy event, sorry to have missed the readings(and Colm).

Marks is a very handsome print project, with some very successful collaborations in there. Well done to all.

Group 8 said...

Uiscebot - it's a feast or a famine. Though you Dublin dwellers do have a lot of events to choose from, it always seems to me.

PJ - sorry we didn't get to chat for longer. It was a busy, busy night. Next time!