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Monday 2 November 2015

Commemorating 1916 Rising and its Legacy in Poetry

Many of the leaders of the 1916 Rising were writers and a new website aims to encourage students to write contemporary poetry on its legacy.
Speaking at the launch of the website www.1916-2016.net Kerry Women Writers Network member Tralee native Claire O'Mahony said:

 "For Padraig Pearse education was about imaginative engagement rather than indoctrination, the 1916-2016 and Beyond project, Commemorating the 1916 Rising and its Legacy in Poetry aims to imaginatively engage transition year students in the values and ideals of 1916. The students will be tasked with looking at the ideals of the 1916 Rising, in particular the Proclamation, and to consider whether those ideals have been achieved and to devise their own ideals for Ireland 100 years from now. They will then be asked to use these themes as the basis for writing their own poetry in Commemoration of the 1916 Rising and its legacy."
Claire currently teaches creative writing at Killarney Community College as part of its adult education programme.
The project is part of the Kerry 2016 Commemorations and is co funded by Kerry County Council 2016 and Ireland 2016. 

For more information on 
1916-2016 and Beyond: Commemorating the 1916 Rising and its Legacy in Poetry project Contact Claire at omahonycc@gmail.com

Wednesday 28 October 2015

Tuesday 29 September 2015

KWWN member Faye Boland launches new single

Faye Boland's new single "All I Want is You" is to be released on Friday on cdbaby. It will be available soon on iTunes and Spotify. 

Here is the link to cdbaby
https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/faye3

Friday 25 September 2015

Thursday 27 August 2015

Meeting Cancelled

August's meeting of KWWN is cancelled... members must be catching the last rays of sunshine in foreign climes before Autumn.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Monday 24 August 2015

Creativite solutions

Brain fodder moments...

Mixing it up with others from different fields helps us to think outside our comfort zones... maybe we need to be firing up our creativity by broadening our field of view by exchanging ideas...

Having KWWN nights when we listen to podcasts, or TED talks followed by discussions may be a way of expanding our idea horizons and feeding our creativity... perhaps we can discuss this at our next meeting on Saturday 29th August at 11:30am at Tralee Library

Sunday 23 August 2015

It's that time again...




I know you'd rather be walking on the beach or in the sand dunes but it's that time again... KWWN's next meeting is this Saturday 29th August at 11:30 at Tralee Library and Tara White has agreed to come and talk about offering to deliver a writing course for members. Hope you can make it!

Thursday 13 August 2015

Ballymaloe International Poetry Competition

THE BALLYMALOE INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE 2015 IS NOW OPEN! 


Set in ten acres of organic market gardens, orchards and greenhouses, which are, in turn, surrounded by a hundred acres of organic farm, Darina Allen’s Ballymaloe Cookery School is the proud sponsor of the Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize, in association with The Moth.

This year’s judge – Billy Collins – is a two-term US Poet Laureate and ‘the most popular poet in America,’ according to the New York Times.

The Prize is for a single unpublished poem. The competition is open to anyone, and you can enter as many poems as you like. 

The entry fee is €12 per poem. 


Or you can send your poem(s) along with a cheque or postal order made payable to The Moth Magazine Ltd. and an entry form or a cover letter with your name and contact details and the title of poem(s) attached to: The Moth, Ardan Grange, Milltown, Belturbet, Co. Cavan, Ireland. 

And dont forget to READ THE RULES before you enter!

The shortlist will be announced in March 2016. 
The four shortlisted poems will feature in the spring issue of The Moth
The overall winner will be announced at a special award ceremony in Dublin. 
Check out Past winners

Tuesday 4 August 2015

Thoughts upon poetry

In her essay Poetry is not a luxury, Audre Lorde says, "The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives."

Writing helps us to gaze upon life. As writers we train the microscope of the senses over a particular aspect of life and by doing so we hope to bring greater understanding of life as we live it. Unlike the novelists amongst us, poets do not have a lot of time to devote to our task. As poets we write in the snatches of time available to us in our busy, hectic lives. Whenever we write, we write in the hope that the poetry we create has some resonance with others.

I believe that ideas gleaned from our reading or listening to other writers, philosophers, historians, scientists, feminists, social activists etc. will help us to scrutinize our lives with the aid of a stronger beam of light and will inform our understanding of life so that what we produce has greater meaning.

For me Gwendolyn Brooks poem We Real Cool is an example of just that

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/17315

Claire O'Mahony

Monday 3 August 2015

Competition for the Poets amongst us...

Manchester Poetry competition must be one of the most lucrative for unpublished poetry.

Poetry Prize: £10,000
Deadline: Friday 25th September 2015
Entry fee: £17.50
Poetry Judges: Adam O’Riordan, Olivia Cole and Kei Miller


Wednesday 15 July 2015

On the road again... to Cahirciveen

Summer Tour moves on to Cahirciveen Library on Thurs 23rd July at 6:30 til 8pm

Five writers  will perform on the  night and if anyone wants to read their work during the open mic slot at the end you are more than welcome!





©Claire O’Mahony

Friday 26 June 2015

Social history book launch

Academic and KWWN Writer Patricia Kennedy invites you to the launch of her book 


Welcoming the Stranger: Irish Migrant Welfare in Britain since 1957

on Thurs 2nd July.  The book tells the untold story of how the Catholic Church met the welfare needs of Irish emigrants in Britain since the 1950s. Based on a wealth of personal interviews and newly discovered archive material, Welcoming the Stranger offers a unique insight into how Anglo-Irish relations affected emigrants coming to Britain during turbulent times.

It has been favorably reviewed by Mary Kenny in the June 11th release of The Irish Catholic Newspaper: here is an excerpt

“Emigration is, to be sure, a loss of the mother country, and the Catholic clergy, particularly in rural Ireland, were acutely aware of the hard circumstances which drove emigrants forth. Indeed, as Patricia Kennedy’s account shows, the Irish chaplains serving the emigrant community in Britain did a lot more for the people than Irish Governments, which did very little.” 

The book launch takes place at St Laurence’s Church (Dublin 7) at 6:30 pm on Thursday 2nd July.
RSVP: info@iap.ie / 045 895 562. Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Diaspora Affairs, will be guest speaker for the Dublin launch.

Dr Patricia Kennedy is a writer and researcher. She was a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the School of Applied Social Science in UCD from 1995 to 2014. Prior to joining UCD in 1995, she was employed in both Ireland and Britain as a youth and community worker.

You can purchase the book at a discount rate from the following website:

Monday 22 June 2015

Public votes Victoria Kennefick's poetry top prize


Kerry Women Writers' Network member Victoria Kennefick has won the Saboteur Best Poetry Pamphlet award with her chapbook White Whale http://www.saboteurawards.org

Sabotage Reviews editor Claire Trevien said: "What makes the Saboteur Awards unique is not just the categories in which you can vote ...but that it is all completely decided by public vote, which makes it a real breath of fresh air compared to panel-judged awards."

The twenty poems in the collection are enfused with imagery of the sea that mutates into human form. In her opening poem the body of a beached whale becomes the body of the narrator’s mother:
"The weight of her past made flesh on her hips,
the scars of our arrivals barely healed after all this time,
my blind hands all over the body."
The chapbook was joint winner of the Fool for Poetry Chapbook prize in 2014. Published by Southword Editions, the Poetry Chapbook can be purchased from the following website:
http://www.munsterlit.ie/Bookstore%20Other%20Titles.html

Summer Tour If you would like to hear new work by KWWN members come along to Killarney library on Thursday next, 25th June from 6:30-8pm. Five members will perform their work and there will be an open mic session which is open to all writers.

Friday 5 June 2015

Tour got off to a great start

Kerry Writer in Residence Maire Holmes kicked off KWWN's Reading Tour in Tralee library on 26th May last.

The next event takes place in Killarney Library on Thurs June 25th from 6:30-8:00 pm


Monday 25 May 2015

Writer in Residence to read in Tralee!

Writer in Residence Maire Holmes has agreed to read her own work on Tuesday 26th May at KWWN's opening night of its summer tour... come along at 6:30pm to Tralee Library in Moyderwell Tralee


Wednesday 6 May 2015

Upcoming events, meetings and tour

Soon it will be time to search out your summer wardrobe... but before you go rooting for your favourite hat put a note in your diary with the dates of the Kerry Women Writers Summer Tour...

Tues 26th May - Tralee Library 6:30-8pm

Thurs 11th June Killarney Library 6:30-8pm

Thurs 23rd July Caherciveen Library 6:30-8pm

Five writers and a Musician will perform each night.

Heard this gem of a recording of Virginia Woolf talking about the difficulty with words...

Any writer wishing to perform please attend our
Next meeting on Saturday 23rd May at Tralee Library at 11am

AGM to take place on 6th June 11am in Tralee Library

Upcoming opportunities

  • National Poetry Day event by Killorglin Writers...Open Mic 7th May at Killorglin Library at 2pm
  • Meet Maire Holmes, Kerry's Writer in Residence in Kenmare Library from 11-1 on 12th and 19th May (anyone wishing to meet Maire elsewhere can contact her via arts@kerrycoco.ie )
  • 24th May launch of Poets & Dreamers anthology of work by Castleisland Writng Group... contact Sharon Fitzpatrick of Purple Pumpkin Publishing for details.

Monday 27 April 2015

Faye to sing in Dingle on Saturday May 2nd



Faye's gig will take place this Saturday night May 2nd at McCarthy's bar, Dingle, coinciding with Feile na Bealtaine.  

Singer-songwriter Faye Boland, a member of the KWWN, will perform her blues-folk originals with bass player John Doyle in McCarthy's Bar, Dingle at 10pm. There will be no admission charge. Her song Dreaming has had airplay on Kerry Radio,West Limerick 102FM and Tipp FM.

She recently performed live on Balcony TV with The Vibe.

http://www.balconytv.com/videos/faye-and-the-vibe-twilight


She has played in McCarthy's Bar Dingle, Kenny's Bar Lahinch, Harrington's Bar, Glengarriff, The Carnegie Arts Centre and Crowley's Bar, Kenmare. She also appeared in Cork Airport's Summer of Song Programme. This event is one not to be missed.


Wednesday 22 April 2015

Next Meeting...

The next meeting of the Kerrywomen Writers' Network will take place in the Malton Hotel, Killarney this Saturday the 25th April 2015 at 4:30pm.  See you in the foyer.

Monday 20 April 2015

Congratulations

Congratulations to the winners of the The Kerry Literary Awards 2015 - Short Story Competition 
 Here are the short stories that made it to the shortlist:
The Erasers by Diana Muller - Winner of the Award
Saltwater by Emer Fallon - Winner of the Women's International Café Award
Tongues by Cathi Weldon - Winner of The Dingle Bookshop Award
also commended:
The Island by Grainne Keegan
The Loan by Caroline Lynch
Room or an Easel by Faye Boland [KWWN member]
A Turn in the Road by Nicholas McLachlan
All the stories will be published in the competition's blog and the winning story will also be published in West Kerry Live.
The  prizes will be given at The Dingle Bookshop, on May the 2nd at 6 pm during a public presentation and as part of the Feile na Berltaine programme.
All welcome!

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Killarney beckons...KWWN Meeting and Poetry Workshop

Find out what is happening at Kerry Women Writers Network at the next meeting on Saturday 28th March at Killarney Library from  2:15 - 3:15pm. There will be a 15 mins coffee break before the Poetry workshop with award-winning poet Eileen Sheehan from 3:30 to 5pm. All members and would-be members welcome. Don't worry if you haven't written a poem before, Eileen is happy to see women who are new to writing at her workshop.  

Wednesday 11 March 2015

Masterclass in Short Story writing with Claire Keegan

Lightning Bug Press are organising a masterclass in short story writing with award winning writer Claire Keegan. The class will cover:

Narrative Structure
Beginnings & Endings
Tension: rise & fall
Character
Dialogue
Sense of Place
What make prose fine or weak?
and much more...

The masterclass is suitable for all levels - experienced or aspiring writers.

Claire Keegan has written ANTARCTICA, WALK THE BLUE FIELDS and FOSTER (Faber & Faber). These stories, internationally acclaimed, are translated into 16 languages and have won numerous awards. WALK THE BLUE FIELDS was Richard Ford’s Book of the Year in The Guardian, 2010. FOSTER won the Davy Byrne's Award, then the world’s richest prize for a single story. Of ANTARCTICA, The Observer said, “these stories are among the finest stories recently written in English.” WALK THE BLUE FIELDS won the Edge Hill Prize, awarded to the strongest collection published in the British Isles. FOSTER was elected by readers as the best story published in that year in The New Yorker. She also has earned an international reputation as a teacher of fiction, having taught workshops in four continents. She holds an MA and an M.Phil in Creative Writing.

“Every line seems to be a lesson in the perfect deployment of both style and emotion.” –Hilary Mantel

“The best stories are so textured and so moving, so universal but utterly distinctive, that it’s easy to imagine readers savouring them many years from now and to imagine critics, far in the future, deploying new lofty terms to explain what it is that makes Keegan’s fiction work.” -The New York Times

“Every single word in the right place and pregnant with double meaning.” - Jeffrey Eugenides, The New York Times

"Keegan is a rarity, someone I will always want to read.”
– Richard Ford

The event will run on Saturday 25th April 10am-4pm in a central Killarney venue (next to paid for parking or a 5 minute walk from free parking) the cost of the workshop includes a sandwich lunch and teas and coffees. Places are limited to 20 attendees only [note 10 places have already been taken] and there will be some reading homework ahead of the masterclass. This is a non profit making event so apart from a cover for catering all fees go direct to the author. Please email lightningbugpress@gmail.com regarding any questions or to book a place.

Monday 9 March 2015

KWWN Poetry workshop with Eileen Sheehan

Award winning poet Eileen Sheehan will be running a Poetry Workshop for KWWN members and those who would like to become members on Saturday March 28th from 3.30pm to 5pm in Killarney Library.

Eileen has very kindly agreed to provide feedback on the work of the women attending the workshop. Anyone who would like their poetry assessed should, in the first instance, send two of their poems to the Network email address kerrywomenwriters@gmail.com by Saturday 21st March at the latest. Your poems will be forwarded to Eileen prior to the workshop to enable her to give feedback on the day. 

Saturday 28 February 2015

Sonia takes to the stage

KWWN member Sonia Elston is to appear in the hilarious comedy The Camel's Back by Arnold Helsby. A new and unpopular owner arrives at the Hannafin Farmhouse in 1969 and all attempts to remove her seem to end in failure. The play will be performed by The Group Theatre, Tralee at The Ivy Leaf Centre, Castleisland tonight and Sun 1st March, St John's Arts Centre, Listowel on Thurs 5th March and Fri 6th March and Abbeydorney Community Centre on Friday 13th March. All performances start at 8pm. Tickets €10 Concessions €8.

Thursday 26 February 2015

Meeting on Saturday

Next KWWN meeting takes place this Saturday 28th February in Tralee Library at 11:30am.

Practice readings for the International Women's Day events will take place at the end of the meeting at 1pm. Please note each reader is allowed a max. of 2-3 mins to read their work.


Monday 16 February 2015

Lost Kerry poet found

Christabel, the pen name used by Mary Downing, is a name full of sound but to truly know Ms Downing, you need to hear the rhythmic qualities of her language and metre. You can do just that at Kerry County Library on Thursday 19th Feb at 6:30pm, when KWWN presents a talk on the Kerry poet on the 200th anniversary of her birth in 1815.

The talk will be given by Dermot Twomey, and it will cover the poet's background, her father, Daniel McCarthy, the anti-tithe campaigner; her brother -in-law McCarthy Downing, the MP for Cork, her husband, Washington Downing, the parliamentary reporter for Charles Dickens' newspaper and her daughter Helena Paulina Shearer, the famous suffragist.

KWWN member Claire O'Mahony will recite Christabel's poetry.

Wednesday 11 February 2015

Meeting on Saturday 14th Feb

Kerry Women Writers' Network meets again on Saturday at noon at Manor West Hotel, Tralee. The meeting is a general meeting for all members. There is no agenda other than to discuss organising two events for International Women's Day on March 8th next. See you there!

Monday 9 February 2015

A Kerry poet remembered

Whether you enjoy history or poetry you're sure to enjoy this talk. On Thursday 19th Feb from 6:30-8pm at Kerry County Library, Tralee, Kerry Women's Writing Network presents a talk on Kerry poet Mary Downing who wrote under the name Christabel on the 200th  anniversary of her birth in 1815. The talk by Dermot Twomey will cover the poet’s background; her father, Daniel McCarthy, the anti-tithe campaigner; her brother-in-law McCarthy Downing, the MP for Cork; her husband, Washington Downing, the parliamentary reporter for Charles Dickens’ newspaper and her daughter Helena Paulina Shearer, the famous suffragist.

A selection of Christabel's poetry will be recited on the night by KWWN member Claire O'Mahony. All are welcome.

Thursday 5 February 2015

Congrats to KWWN member Barbara Magee-Lovric

Barbara Magee-Lovric is one of 12 people shortlisted in this year's Novel Fair 2015 competition. Barbra is a finalist in the competition which had almost 250 applicants. Get the full story here from the Irish Writers Centre Blog http://irishwriterscentre.ie/blogs/news/18699243-novel-fair-2015