PENFEST, CARLOW 2013

Join Kevin Barry, Christy Neary, Dave Lordan, Theo Dorgan, Niamh O'Connor, Ruby Barnes and myself at Penfest, Carlow, in mid-September, for workshops (mine is the short story for beginners), talks and readings. All events are free but you need to book.

For bookings and more see their Facebook page or their website.

DINGLE!

I am reading at the Stonecoast in Ireland event in Dingle on Sunday evening with Ted Deppe. Theo Dorgan is reading tonight (Friday); Paula Meehan Saturday night; Annie Deppe and Boman Desai read on Tuesday 17th. All the events take place in The Dingle Book Shop.

I can't wait to be in Dingle - I went to the Gaeltacht in Feothanach as a teenager so I have happy memories of that part of Kerry. It's a couple of years since I was in Dingle and I am looking forward to revisiting Fungie the Dolphin and eating some good food.

SOUTHWORD 20 NOW LIVE

Writer Adam Marek - pic by Andy Hay

Southword 20, the journal of the Munster Literature Centre, is now online. I have a poem in it here. There are also poems by Paula Meehan, Theo Dorgan and Sinéad Morrissey, to name a few. There are stories from Mary O'Donnell and Adam Marek, among others.

A new feature of the journal is that anyone who has contributed to Southword in the past, or has had previously had work reviewed in it, has a ‘Contributor's Index Page’. You can find this by clicking on your name in the 'Southword Contributors' drop-down menu at the top of the page. From there you should be able to access all of your work across multiple issues of Southword. Neat!

LA PAUME OUVERTE - a poetry Festschrift

Because I read at the Franco Irish Literary Festival a few years ago, I was invited to contribute to a Festschrift in honour of Francoise Connolly, by Theo Dorgan. Francoise is a French woman, married to an Irish man, who has done huge work promoting French literature in Ireland and Irish literature in France.

The Festschrift, which is titled La Paume Ouverte, was a top secret affair until its launch in Dublin last week as a surprise for Francoise. It was pulled together by Theo in association with Poetry Ireland and Dedalus Press.

Sadly, like most midweek events in Dublin, I couldn't make it to the launch, which got a nice little write up in the Irish Times. But I was sent my copy of the book by Joe Woods of Poetry Ireland this week and it is a gorgeous volume. Contributing writers include Órfhlaith Foyle with a beautiful poem called 'Inchagoill Picnic', Fred Johnston, Brian Lynch, Kerry Hardie, Chris Agee, Gerald Dawe and Siobhán Campbell. There are poems in French, English and Irish, some with translations. It's an up-to-the-minute anthology of more than 35 poets writing in Ireland today and I'm sure Francoise was delighted with the gesture. What a fitting and lovely tribute for her years of hard work.

Joe Woods tells me that there will be a limited number of copies available to buy at €10 each from Poetry Ireland, if you write to them, and a few are also available in Books Upstairs on College Green in Dublin. Poetry Ireland lives at 2 Proud's Lane, off St Stephens Green, Dublin 2. e-mail: poetry@iol.ie

POETRY INTERNATIONAL WEB

Theo Dorgan and James Harpur are the featured poets in this quarter's Irish edition of Poetry International Web. This is a great resource site for both poets and readers; I've discovered all sorts of wonderful articles and new-to-me women poets here, like South Africa's Ingrid Jonker.

See Theo's bio and work here.

See James's bio and work here.