CRANNÓG READING & WURM AFTERS

I'll be reading a short story set in Rome, 'From Jesus to the Moon', at the launch of the 29th issue of Crannóg tomorrow night (Friday 24th) in The Crane Bar, Sea Road, Galway. 6.30 - 8.30pm. There will be readings, pints and chat. All welcome!

Wurm director, poet Kit Fryatt

Last night's reading at Wurm in Apfel in Dublin went very well. The Loft Bookshop on Abbey Street is a cosy shop above a bar and I got a warm welcome from Kit Fryatt, who is the woman who puts the worm in the apple of the poetry scene in Ireland.

Poet Natasha Cuddingon

My fellow reader was Canadian writer Natasha Cuddington who lives in Belfast. She read from a haunting poem sequence set in Canada and the USA, which had an intriguing set of characters (Girl, Clyde and Cousin Randall, to name a few). I've been steeped in American language lately, what with being in Nebraska and also devouring the wonderful novel The Help, and I very much enjoyed Natasha's language. Much of the sequence was about cotton pickers and Native Americans and I jotted down a couple of lines that struck me: 'thirteen sharecropper babies, each lucky and unlucky'. Then a Cree man who 'wears the country in his braids'. Beautiful.

The audience. Yes, I am grinning maniacally :)

I have a curious love/hate relationship with doing readings. I dread them and act like a narky witch for hours beforehand but, once I hit the stage, I'm fine. It helps when the audience are receptive and enthused and I had a lovely audience last night (they laughed! they sighed!). Among them were fellow writers and editors Patrick Chapman, Christodoulos Makris, Eimear Ryan, Deirdre O'Neill, John Kenny and his wife Susan Caldwell, and Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin. I read exclusively from The Juno Charm, which felt neat and uncluttered, rather than the usual fiddling with books and pages. I think I'll do it again!

Meself, reading from The Juno Charm

And, look, I got prezzies: Christodoulos Makris's wonderful collection and a Wurm im Apfel mug - I love mugs:

My prezzies from Wurm!

All in all, a wonderful night and I highly recommend going to Wurm events in The Loft for the convivial atmosphere - where else can you sit in a book shop above a bar and sip beer as you listen to readings? As my Kiwi friends like to say, choice :)