Book Launch | Only When I'm Dancing Can I Feel This Free by Wayne Power

Only When I’m Dancing Can I Feel This Free

– part of Waterford Writers Weekend 2023 –

Wayne Power's third poetry collection
to be launched as part of
Waterford Writers Weekend 2023,
26-29 October

Waterford Writers Weekend gets underway today, 26 October and runs until the 29th, with a full programme of events that includes the launch of the latest volume of poetry from Wayne Power, Only When I'm Dancing Can I Feel This Free.

"… this new collection once again showcases his endless gift to wield words that will make you laugh, cry and think. All wrapped up in a singular, powerful and unique voice that celebrates and laments modern Ireland, modern romance, in a comedic, thought-provoking, gritty and edgy style. With an unmistakable grá for his home town of Waterford. We are delighted to launch this collection with him."

St Patrick's Gateway Centre in Waterford is the venue for this event, which starts at 7pm. Tony Kelly, whose film, The Hurler, is currently showing in Irish cinemas will officially unveil the book.

Wayne Power is an author is clearly well into his groove at this stage in his career. His latest collection offers more than a nod and a wink to the Queen of Pop, also expressing and a debt of gratitude, perhaps.

Wayne says of his latest offering:

"The lyrics from which this book is named after, I feel are fitting. They encapsulate joy and freedom: something I have struggled and fought for, for a long time and feel I have achieved through poetry and spoken word. I have found my voice and freedom through this beautiful art form that has ultimately changed my life."

Wayne Power is a writer, poet and spoken-word artist based in Waterford City who has come to prominence in recent years, both locally and nationally, through his performance art, poetry and plays that he has written. His work has been described as "speaking for and to a lot of his generation" in the words of playwright, Jim Nolan.

His third collection is, arguably, the strongest to date, which is no mean feat, coming on the back of two previous volumes – Everyone’s a Star after Midnight from 2020 and Neon Hearts and the Angry Mob in 2022 – that were well received by audiences and critics alike.

Only When I’m Dancing Can I Feel This Free by Wayne Power is published under the imprint of The Manuscript Publisher. Copies of the book are also available to buy online, along with other published work by Wayne Power.

New Books and Titles | Neon Hearts and the Angry Mob by Wayne Power | Book Launch

Neon Hearts and the Angry Mob by Wayne Power

– poetry at its unfiltered best with an unrivalled comedic edge –

Neon Hearts and the Angry Mob
by Wayne Power

Love in a time of lockdowns could be one way of describing the soon to be published Neon Hearts and the Angry Mob by Wayne Power, a worthy follow-up to his debut collection, Everyone's a Star after Midnight, published in 2020

Moreover, these poems go to the very essence of love, seeing it in terms of matters that concern both the heart and the mind. It is a love that is rooted in the communities to which we belong: those that we are born into and those that we seek out, often in search of refuge.

Written in the author's inimitable, racy style – reflecting the spoken-word, performance art that is his craft – these stories offer snapshots of the light and shade of city life, recollections of lost nights, love, mental health, also addressing social and political themes.

This is poetry at its unfiltered best, at times gritty but delivered with an unrivalled comedic edge, nourished by a sentiment steeped in fondness for where he is from, where he has been and where he hopes to go in life. We cannot have the good without the bad, so take time to enjoy all that the world has to offer, see both sides, enjoy the things that existence reveals or has yet to tell us about ourselves and the human condition.

Everyone's a Star after Midnight
by Wayne Power

Neon Hearts and the Angry Mob by Wayne Power is published by The Manuscript Publisher and available to pre-order online, where his debut collection, Everyone’s a Star after Midnight is also on sale.

The book will be formally launched on Friday, 4 March at 7pm in St Patrick's Gateway Centre in Waterford by local and nationally known playwright, Jim Nolan. Music, entertainment and refreshment will be provided on the night, along with performances by the author of some of his poems, who will also be on hand to sign copies.

New Books and Titles | Introducing Wayne Power – author, poet, spoken-word artist

Everyone's a Star after Midnight by Wayne Power

– tales from the urban jungle, of Love's lost and found, midnight masquerades and a soul laid bare –

The debut collection
from Wayne Power

Wayne Power is a writer, poet and spoken-word artist based in Waterford, who has risen to prominence in his native city in recent years, through his work on the local arts scene. It is not surprising therefore, that his debut collection of poems, Everyone's a Star after Midnight, should be so eagerly anticipated by all who know him and are familiar with his work.

It is a book, he says, that is dedicated:

… to the underdogs, the dreamers, the mental health warriors, the unrequited, the shoulders we cry on and the torch songs we let heal us. The friends who become family and the family who become everything.

In 2019, Wayne burst onto the spoken-word scene, at a rapid pace, through his work with the Modwords collective. He quickly became a regular face at Waterford's various open mic nights, taking every opportunity to share his truths. In this video, Wayne performs his composition, My Town, which is just one of the many gems in this, his debut collection.

His poetry and writing are unfiltered, at times gritty, recalling lost nights, love, mental health and political themes coupled with a comedic edge, all of which celebrate the human condition. They are snapshots of the light and shade of city life, steeped in a fondness for where he is from, where he has been and where he hopes to go.

Love is underrated. Fear is overrated. I didn't dream it.

Wayne Power,
author and spoken word artist

Everyone's a Star after Midnight by Wayne Power is published by The Manuscript Publisher. It is available to buy online, in print and e-book editions. RRP €12 plus P&P.