CloudNine

Very happy to learn today that Carol Ann Duffy, the Poet Laureate, has selected my poem as one of the eight from which she will announce the winner and runners up in the Liverpool Lennon Paper Poet Competition. This will happen at the Liverpool Lennon Poetry Slam to be held on Saturday the 6th of November at LIPA in Liverpool. I've never actually been to Liverpool before so I'm completely looking forward to this prize-giving weekend. As ever, it's wonderful to be shortlisted no matter what the outcome.  Link: http://www.beatlesstory.com/media-room/liverpool-lennon-paper-poet-finalists-announced.html

This is just to let you know that my short story, ‘The Visit’, recently shortlisted in the UK for the Wasafiri Prize for New Writing, was announced winner at a ceremony last week in Somerset House, London. I won joint first prize with another shortlisted writer, Jayne Ryan, and was presented with cheque by Fiction judge, Romesh Gunesekera (nominated in 1995 for the Booker Prize for his novel, Reef) . Wasafiri is Britain’s premier magazine for international contemporary writing. Published quarterly, it has established a distinctive reputation for promoting work by new and established voices across the globe. The 2010 Summer issue of the magazine was dedicated to Irela nd: Texts and Contexts and featured articles by Declan Kiberd and Alain Chouinard. ‘The Visit’ is set against the backdrop of Bill Clinton’s visit to Dundalk in 2000 and will appear in the March issue of Wasafir i. More info: http://www.wasafiri.org/pages/news_01/news_item.asp?News_01ID=205 The ceremony was also part...

The Good Ear Review is a new literary journal for dramatists. Every week it publishes a monologue from established and emerging writers alike.  (I have read some wonderful monologues in this journal.) Well, today it's my turn. The monologue comes from my play, KINDRED, an adaptation of Euripides' Electra set on the Irish border. I am currently adapting the play for radio. In the selected monologue, Eoghan Hartnett has returned home having been away in the US for twelve years. We already know that his father, Heber Hartnett,  now dead, was a leading Republican, famed for his speeches and great story-telling - but Heber also had many secrets.  In this scene Eoghan finds an old story his father used to tell called 'The Field of Hands': http://thegoodearreview.com/

Lots of playwriting and screenwriting opportunities listed here. Have fun! LitNet a new Development organisation in Northern Ireland LitNet NI is a new literature development organisation set up to provide support for writers and literature professionals working in Northern Ireland. Litnet NI has a strong co-ordinating role, bringing individuals and organisations working in the field of literature together. Its new literature forum encourages co-ordination and partnership working at local level and between regional and inter/national organisations and individuals. It will benefit the literature community in Northern Ireland through training, information and the means for contact and shared practice. The organisation runs a Professional Development and Mentoring programme for writers and literature workers. Business and creative skills for mid-career and emerging practitioners will be developed working in collaboration with leading UK literature organisations. LitNet NI Conference...

As part of National Poetry Day yesterday I gave a reading in a truly beautiful venue. The Carlingford Heritage Centre is housed in a deconsecrated church on top of a hill overlooking some of the most beautiful scenery in the northeast of Ireland. Carlingford is often referred to as the 'Kinsale of the North' and rightly so. It's a very chic, atmospheric medieval town and has lots to offer in the line of art galleries and restaurants. The reading attracted some tourists and I got chatting to a lovely couple from California. It was really nice for me to read new work, too, in that most gorgeous of settings. Other news? Well the Arts Council of Ireland have very kindly awarded me a Bursary in Literature this year. Thank you, thank you. And the lovely people at Stony Thursday have accepted some new work from me for their next issue. Stony Thursday is one of the longest running literary journals in Ireland and features work from national and international writers. Hope to h...