Book Launch | Moments with Patrick Gately | Poetry Day Ireland

The Moments Series by Patrick Gately

– poetry that reflects, dwells, marvels in and captures the moment –

Life is just a moment long,
Added to the moments gone.
When we recall back on years gone by,
They are moments together that seem to fly.

Moments in Time by Patrick Gately

The poetry of Patrick Gately not only captures the moment but lives and dwells in it too – momentarily, of course!

Reflections on life and observations drawn from everyday experiences fill the pages, describing events that may only be momentary or fleeting in duration but cast light, nevertheless, on the mundane world and all that is easily overlooked. An air of universality permeates the themes and the impressions that he creates, making one feel as if the moment is frozen in time. The thoughts expressed linger long after the moment has passed.

At the same time, he is also able to bring forth the humorous side of life, and to write it all down. The reader is taken on a journey that, at its destination's end, will make you feel glad that you took the time to stop and stare.

Moments in Life by Patrick Gately

Patrick Gately is a retired electrician who lives in Dublin. Although he hails originally from Dún Laoghaire, he has found a home in Santry, on the northside of the city.  He had been writing for many years until he realised, one fine day, that he had produced enough to fill a book – or several. Now, two volumes of his poetry have been published simultaneously, with the promise of more to come. More recently, he has turned his attention to fiction writing.

Moments in Life and Moments in Time by Patrick Gately are published under the imprint of The Manuscript Publisher. The books will be formally launched at Ballymun Library in Dublin on Thursday, 25 April starting 6.30pm, as part of Poetry Day Ireland celebrations, an annual celebration, now in its tenth year, that takes place under the auspices of Poetry Ireland, where the nation is invited to read, write and share a poem.

Moments in Life and Moments of Time by Patrick Gately are published under the imprint of The Manuscript Publisher and available to buy online. RRP €12.95 plus P&P.

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.

Festivals and Events | SiarScéal Festival and the Hanna Greally Literary Awards

Hanna Greally Literary Awards 2023 Now Open for Entries

– part of SiarScéal Festival 2023 celebrations –

Entries are now being accepted for the Hanna Greally Literary Awards 2023, which takes place as part of the annual SiarScéal Festival. Cash prizes totalling €400 are up for grabs but better be quick: the closing date for entries is this coming Friday, 22 September, to be received no later than 5pm (Irish time).

Entry is free but limited to one per participant. Entries may be in the style of poetry (maximum of 100 lines) or prose/short story (maximum of 2000 words). A cash prize of €200 will be awarded to each of the overall winners in the Poetry and Prose/Short Story categories. Detail of how to enter (including competition rules, etc) are available from the website of SiarScéal (see Competition page).

Winners will be announced and prizes presented at SiarScéal Festival 2023, to take place on Saturday, 21 October at Roscommon Co. Library, Abbey Street, Roscommon Town. Also featuring in this year's festival programme of events is a symposium of young authors, who will read from their work contained within their own handmade book, produced with the help of artist, Vanya Ward

SiarScéal is an annual arts and literary festival that has run every year since 2007 and takes place in Roscommon, drawing inspiration from unique culture and heritage of the Roscommon environs, together with the regional counties of Leitrim and Sligo.

SiarScéal – annual arts and literary festival that takes place in Roscommon

New Books and Titles | The Joys of a Second Rattle at Life by William Tiernan | Book Launch

 The Joys of a Second Rattle at Life by William Tiernan

– Book Launch: Saturday, 8 October at Fr. Flanagan Community Centre, Ballymoe, Co. Galway –

The Joys of a Second Rattle at Life by William Tiernan is the author's third collection of poetry and, arguably, his most ambitious date. Whether addressing himself to issues such as pandemics or the war in Ukraine, to more universal themes of redemption and re-birth, battles of the body and the bullying of the mind, Tiernan's observations go straight to the human heart, breaking down the distance of what is right from what is wrong, conveying it all in his unique and inimitable lyrical style.

From the Pen of William Tiernan

Mine is a hard hammering against the wall of flame.
The demon we must come to terms with and tame.

A new day brings a new, raw hunger and thirst.

I must give the world my poem and my word.
Without having to fall on my sword.

The heart can be touched by crying
But, the soul knows not of dying.

It's smiles we give and tears we fall.
We belong to the universal call.

I'm sick and tired of war and dying.
Sick and tired of hunger and homelessness crying.

I'm into me and I'm the whole world's lover
And, I know there are many mysterious things to discover.

The road less travelled is the road best left behind
And, the better one, perhaps, is the one we've yet to find.

Existence is forever so short
But, life at times, too long.

Old fashioned, I might be but, most of the poetry nowadays doesn't turn me on. I like the stuff to rhyme, while this thing of survival gets on my bloody nerves.

William Tiernan is a poet and author who resides in rural Galway, close to the Roscommon border. His writings reflect his personal experiences and convictions as well as strong ties to the community in which he lives, his identification with the place where he grew up. These impressions are particularly reflected in the first two volumes of his poetry: Greetings from Guilka, Ballymoe (2016) and Bluesy Ballymoe (2018). In 2014, he was National Winner in the poetry category at the Hanna Greally International Literary Awards, organised as part of the annual SiarScéal Festival in Co. Roscommon.

The Joys of a Second Rattle at Life by William Tiernan is published under the imprint of The Manuscript Publisher and available to buy online, along with other books by William Tiernan.

Copies will also be on sale at the official launch of the book, to take place on Saturday, 8 October at the Fr Flanagan Community Centre in Ballymoe, Co. Galway, starting at 8pm. The author will be on hand to sign copies.

Milestones and Anniversaries | Percy Bysshe Shelley | 200th Anniversary of His Death

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
– English poet of the Romantic era who died 200 years ago today –

"Shelley, the writer of some infidel poetry, has been drowned; now he knows whether there is God or no!"

W. Finden (1787-1852),
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

How one English conservative newspaper reacted to news of the death of Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet of the Romantic era who, in many ways, personified the spirit of the it. Percy Bysshe Shelley left this world 200 years ago today.

If his lyrical mastery were not enough to make his work instantly memorable and recognisable, there are also the circumstances of his lives, his loves, his travels, his circles of friends, his tragic and untimely death to add to the mystique that surrounds one who often resembles the prototype rock star. For these and other reasons, Shelley has a valid claim to being among, not just the greatest but also the most enduring of the Romantic poets.

The life and works of Percy Bysshe Shelley exemplify English Romanticism in both its extremes of joyous ecstasy and brooding despair. Romanticism's major themes – restlessness and brooding, rebellion against authority, interchange with nature, the power of the visionary imagination and of poetry, the pursuit of ideal love, and the untamed spirit ever in search of freedom – all of these Shelley exemplified in the way he lived his life and live on in the substantial body of work that he left the world after his legendary death by drowning at age 29. – Poetry Foundation

Unlike some of those among his friends and contemporaries, Shelley did not 'wake up one day to find himself famous'. Rather, his reputation and stature has grown largely posthumously. It is not that Shelley's poetry and other works failed to attract attention during his lifetime. Rather, it was attention of the wrong sort. From an early age, he courted controversy and ran the gauntlet of official censorship, government surveillance in addition to the unwanted attention of his creditors, for a time. If pamphlets and tracts with titles along the lines of The Necessity for Atheism (written in 1811 in collaboration with T.J. Hogg) were not enough to cause consternation, then the content of such work would have induced an affect on anyone in positions of authority who cared or dared to read them.

Shelley was capable of evoking great passion, as in poems like The Mask of Anarchy (1819), declaiming against the arbitrary use of power and in vindication of political and civil rights. Then there is the quiet, intellectual subtlety of poems such as Ozymandias (1818), contemplating the fate of man and of human endeavour generally, when considered from the vantage point of the ravages of time.

Joseph Severn, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

It was on this day (8 July) in 1822 that Shelley, accompanied by two others, set out on a journey by boat from Livorno for Lerici. They were caught in a storm and did not return alive. However, Shelley's badly decomposed remains washed up on shore ten days later. His body was identified by a volume of poetry by John Keats that he was carrying in his coat pocket. In accordance with Italian quarantine law of the time, his remains were cremated on a beach near Viareggio and the ashes were buried in the Protestant Cemetery of Rome.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in England on 4 August 1792 and died in Italy on 8 July 1822, having reached the age of just 29. In that short period, he produced a immense body of work that includes poetry, plays, fiction, essays, among the best known of which (in addition to those already mentioned) would include Ode to the West Wind (1819), To a Skylark (1820), The Cenci (1819), Prometheus Unbound (1820), A Defence of Poetry (1821), Hellas (1822) and his final, unfinished work, The Triumph of Life (1822).

Jimmy Renzi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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.

Literary Awards and Bursaries | Winner of John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize for 2021 Announced

Poet, Diane Louie wins 2021 John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize

Diane Louie, poet

It has been announced winner of the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize for 2021 is Diane Louie, for her first book of poems, Fractal Shores.

Awarded annually to the author of an outstanding first poetry book collection in the English language and valued at €10,000, the prize is sponsored by the John Pollard Foundation and administered by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre in the School of English, Trinity College Dublin. The patron of the John Pollard Foundation is Stephen Vernon, who named the Foundation in memory of his grandfather, John Pollard.

In her first poetry book, a collection of prose poems, Diane thinks of the poems as little events. They are happening and happenings. They draw on experience, image, metaphor and all the properties of language, to create little worlds-in-motion: spinning while orbiting, actively shifting our point of view.

Award-winner Diane Louie says:

I am elated and profoundly honoured to be the recipient of the third annual John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize. Made possible by the generosity of Stephen Vernon, the Foundation's vision celebrates English literature's international vitality.

This past year, the global confinement has brought home how connected we are across cultures and political boundaries and, in our shared isolation, how deeply important literature is to our well-being. It has been such a long year for all of us. For me personally, the Foundation's recognition is a sweet reminder that even though we have been kept apart, a book – of poems! – can connect us.

The Foundation's confidence in my work means the world to me; this recognition will give my book independent wings and allow me to continue with the work I love. I look forward to sharing the vitality of our poetic endeavour as we go forward: even in a pandemic, poetry never needs a mask!

Members of the prize jury were: (Chairperson) Eoin Mc Namee, Director of the Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College Dublin; Alice Lyons, writer; Vona Groarke, poet; Professor Philip Coleman, School of English, Trinity College Dublin.

Eoin Mc Namee, from the selection committee, says:

The work in Diane Louie's Fractal Shores is vivid and cosmopolitan, an exquisite combination of intellectual fire and lyric craft, and we are delighted to see it emerge as the winner of the 2021 John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize.

The benefactor of the prize, Stephen Vernon, congratulated the winner on her achievement:

Once again, the selection committee has picked an outstanding debut collection of poems. Diane Louie is enormously talented, with a talent that is wholly her own and she is a most deserving winner of the 2021 John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize.

Diane Louise was born in Newfoundland and grew up in Connecticut. She earned degrees from Oberlin College and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, for both fiction and poetry. Her work has appeared in Epoch, Arts & Letters, FIELD, TriQuarterly, Cloudbank and elsewhere. She lives in Paris, France, with her partner, a research scientist.

Previous Winner of the Foundation International Poetry Prize:

• 2019 Hannah Sullivan
• 2020 Isabel Galleymore

Poetry in Focus | Verona Pentony, a poet on a mission of peace

A Song for Forgiveness by Verona Pentony

– from the Reflections series, recently recorded in Nashville, Tennessee –

Verona Pentony is a poet with a purpose in life. Her mission is one of peace. Motivated, from an early age, by an ambition to meet people from all walks of life, her mission has taken her to many places and has achieved recognition and reciprocation in some far-flung quarters of the world.

The White Rose of Peace theme has
featured in much of Verona Pentony's work,
including the Reflections series,
published between 2012 and 2014

A Song for Forgiveness (from her debut collection, Reflections from the Heart, part of the Reflections series – see below) has recently been recorded in Nashville, Tennessee by singer, Katy Lynn Johnson:

Take the train to Forgiveness County;
Everyone has a heartache to mend.
Learning the lessons all of us must one day see.
Making the enemy into your friend.

"All Missions begin as thoughts, embryos of an idea that grow into a visualised result," says Verona. For her, it began on 18 December 2003, when she received the guiding sign to promote World Peace and Forgiveness. Thus began her distribution of The White Rose of Peace Card during the Iraq War.

She was living in London at the time but upon return to Ireland, she began work on the Reflections series, resulting in two volumes of poetry – Reflections from the Heart, published in 2012, soon to be followed by Reflections of Time in 2014 – each incorporating the theme of The White Rose of Peace Card. Both titles have been through several reprints and are available to buy online, in print and e-book editions.

Verona's poetry conveys her passionately held ideals, rooted in Humanism, that promote healing through forgiveness as a pathway to reconciliation. An eloquent expression of this is felt in the poem, One Day –

One day, our childhood instinct to reach out won't have been ripped way and replaced with fear.
One day, we will remember without pain and have no need to spread the blame.

The complete composition is published on Verona's website, where other important news and updates about her writing and other activities are posted periodically.

In addition to her writing, Verona Pentony has had a wide-ranging and diverse career in hospitality, hotel management, corporate social responsibility. She has performed her work at many literary festivals and gatherings across Ireland and further afield, making her well-known in poetry and literary circles.

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.

Literary Awards and Bursaries | John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize 2021

Entries Sought for John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize 2021

The John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize, valued at €10,000, is awarded annually to the author of an outstanding debut collection of poems, published in the English language.

Submissions are now being considered for the 2021 award, to be adjudicated by a panel of judges nominated by the John Pollard Foundation and the Oscar Wilde Centre at the School of English, Trinity College Dublin. The panel will be chaired by the director of the centre or, a nominee.

Criteria for entry for the 2021 awards include the following:

• The prize will be awarded to a first book of poetry, published originally in the English language, between 1 October 2019 and 16 October 2020
• Only single-authored books are eligible
• A book shall be defined as having at least 48 pages
• A publisher may submit one nomination for the prize
• The winner must be available to accept the prize, in person, at Trinity College Dublin.

Submission by the publisher (by e-mail to wilde@tcd.ie; subject line: JP Prize Submission 2021) should consist of a PDF copy of the book and a brief author biography (200 words maximum). The deadline for submissions is 16 October 2020. Further information may be obtained from the Oscar Wilde Centre at Trinity College Dublin

The winner of the award will be announced during Trinity Week 2021.

Milestones and Anniversaries | Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

In the Time of Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

Bain News Service, publisher / Public domain

Only a man harrowing clods
In a slow silent walk
With an old horse that stumbles and nods
Half asleep as they stalk.

Only thin smoke without flame
From the heaps of couch-grass;
Yet this will go onward the same
Though Dynasties pass.

Yonder a maid and her wight
Come whispering by:
War's annals will cloud into night
Ere their story die.

– In Time of 'The Breaking of Nations' by Thomas Hardy, 1915

The author, Thomas Hardy, always regarded himself primarily as a poet even though he gained fame, in his lifetime, for his novels and short stories. Indeed, it was the income that he earned from these endeavours that allowed him, eventually, to leave his job as an architect and devote himself full time to writing.

His first volume of poetry, Wessex Poems, was not published until 1898, representing the output of the previous thirty years. It followed not too long after the publication of his final novel, Jude the Obscure, which, like much of his work, received criticism for its portrayal of issues concerning class, religion, morality, marriage and social mores. Characters in Hardy's novels seem destined (doomed even) to live out their lives within the confines of a Victorian class system, no matter how hard they try to break free. All life springs from the earth and to the earth it returns in the end.

In the 20th century, Hardy devoted himself entirely to poetry and it is at this point that themes in his writing begin to shift, from the social realism of his 19th century novels that often verges on fatalism, to an altogether bleaker outlook of his 20th century poetry, becoming more and more pronounced with the onset of World War I and the destruction that it brought in its wake.

In Time of 'The Breaking of Nations', reproduced above, appeared in 1915 and specifically response to a request from the Saturday Review for 'an uplifting poem' in a time of war. What he achieves is certainly uplifting, insofar as it evokes the strength to be found in human endurance when pitted against the ravages of time. The pervasive sense of melancholy is all too clear however and this, it could be said, is typical and characteristic of Hardy, both as a poet and novelist.

Thomas Hardy was born on this day in 1840, in Dorset, England. He lived briefly in London, pursuing a career as an architect before returning to Dorset, where he died on 11 January 1928.

Sources

• Interesting Literature
• Poetry Foundation

200th Anniversary of the Birth of Walt Whitman (1819-1892), America's Shakespeare

Samuel Hollyer (1826-1919) of a daguerreotype
by Gabriel Harrison (1818-1902)(original lost).
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Today's bicentennial celebration of the birth of Walt Whitman (1819-1892) honours the life and legacy of a figure of enduring fascination and appeal. To many, he has come to be seen as the embodiment of American literature of a certain era and, some have even suggested that 'he is America'. He could certainly be regarded as America's Shakespeare.

Whitman was born in New York state to a family influenced by Quakerism. Three of his seven brothers were named after figures of the American War of Independence, while Whitman himself shared the name of his father (Walter), which was shortened to Walt. He completed formal education at the age of 11. What followed was a varied career as an office worker, in printing, journalism, teaching, also writing some early novels. His real emergence on the literary scene however, was announced with the publication of his collection of poetry, Leaves of Grass, in 1855, a venture that he financed himself.

During the American Civil War, he sought to rally public opinion to the Union's cause and worked in hospitals caring for the wounded.

Whitman has been been hailed the first "poet of democracy" in the United States. A contemporary and friend proclaimed that "you cannot really understand America without Walt Whitman, without Leaves of Grass" while a poet of a later generation, Ezra Pound, called Whitman "America's poet ... He is America."

Not all have been fulsome in their praise of Whitman however, some seeing in his supposed nationalism an America that is "arrogant, expansionist, hierarchical, racist and exclusive".

"... his poetry has been a model for democratic poets of all nations and races, right up to our own day. How Whitman could have been so prejudiced and yet, so effective in conveying an egalitarian and anti-racist sensibility in his poetry, is a puzzle yet to be adequately addressed." – see Wikipedia

His work has also been controversial for its seeming depiction of an overt sensuality that some have found 'obscene'. The subject of Whitman's own life and his presumed sexuality has come under scrutiny, both during his lifetime and right down to the present day.

Walt Whitman, poet, essayist, and journalist, was born on this day in 1819.

The Compendium by Brian Corvin: something a little different

The Compendium is author, Brian Corvin's third published work. Where his first two – The Dream Journey (2010) and The Unity Project (2016) – were collections of poetry and verse, the present volume offers "something a little different".

The opening section contains of a selection of neohaikus and social verse while, the second introduces the reader to some quirky short stories, taking on tales of the macabre, turning up some strange and unexpected twists. This is followed by a trilogy of related one-act plays that deal with the issue of clerical child abuse, probing the question of whether forgiveness of the kind that can lead to redemption is ever really possible in such a context.

The volume finishes with an autobiographical fragment (Towards a New World Order), in which he describes how he became a Baha'i, while living in Devon, England back in the 1960s.

"I am still a Bahai though, these days, I sometimes describe myself as a Neo-Bahai. I have never regretted my move to Bahai though, when writing about it, I sometimes feel that I can see similarities to Graham Greene's sardonically tinged attitude to Catholic beliefs and practices. I still believe that Bahai offers an unmatched vision for the future of the species, though we seldom live up to its aspirations and, I certainly feel that it is worth considering in this confusing, pessimistic and negative transitionary period."

The author, Brian Corvin, was born in Dublin, Ireland eighty years ago but, he sees himself as a world citizen. He has been inspired by Bahaullah, the prophet of globalisation but, feels that his writing should be grounded in the here and now of the world that he finds around him.

He achieves this quite admirably and with keen insight. His true talent, it might be said, rests in an ability to faithfully convey the views held by those of a particular mindset, irrespective of whether one might share those views or, even sympathise with them. It comes across in his writing whether he is talking about the European refugee crisis, politics in the era of Trump, the motives that drive people to commit desperate acts.

The Compendium by Brian Corvin is published by The Manuscript Publisher. It is on sale now and available to buy online as well as from certain bookshops. RRP €9.99.

SiarScéal Festival 2018 featuring Beneath Western Skies exhibition

SiarScéal Festival 2018

The annual SiarScéal Festival takes place this weekend (Friday and Saturday, 19-20 October) and, this year, showcases a special photographic and poetry exhibition entitled Beneath Western Skies, celebrating seascapes, lakes and landscapes of the breathtaking County Sligo. The exhibition is already on view at Roscommon County Library HQ in Roscommon Town and will be until Tuesday, 24 October.

Also headlining at this year's festival will be Faye Boland, whose debut collection of poems, Peripheral, takes its title from her overall winning entry at last year's Hanna Greally International Literary Awards, which run, most years, as part of the festival. The Awards are on hiatus this year however, a selection of entries from last year accompanies the photographs featured in Beneath Western Skies exhibition.

A writing workshop with author and poet, Mary Branley on the Friday is another reason to go along while, musical performances and the always popular open mike session to close the festival on the Saturday. The full details for this year's festival have been posted online and also available to download.

The festival is open to the public and anyone interested in performing their work is asked to contact the organisers by text or SMS to Int+353+(0)86 1649756.

SiarScéal is an annual community festival based in Roscommon and Roscommon County Council Library Services have sponsored this event, along with The Manuscript Publisher and AIB. Photographers and poets from surrounding areas have generously allowed their work to be displayed and performed, including Ann Joyce, who has been a friend of SiarScéal since its inception.

Book Launch: Peripheral by Faye Boland

Poetry with a Power to Connect

Peripheral by Faye Boland is the author's debut collection of poems, to be formally launched at Tralee Library in Co. Kerry on Saturday, 22 September, starting 2.30pm.

Faye Boland's poetry has been described as "a happy combination of musical lyricism and intellectual subtlety" by well-known Irish poet and novelist, Brendan Kennelly.

The poem from which this collection takes its title was Overall Winner at the 2017 Hanna Greally International Literary Awards, organised as part of the annual SiarScéal Festival in Co. Roscommon. It is also from this that the present volume results, as the prize, on this occasion, was for the winner to have his or her book published professionally by The Manuscript Publisher, an Irish-based publishing services provider.

In her citation of Boland's winning entry, the adjudicator at the awards, Mary Melvin Geoghegan, drew attention to the author's "economy and freshness of language", which she describes as "riveting – words forming as scaffold to arrest the eye and ear" –

My roof is the sky,
the wind my walls.

Every night, it blows
the same words:

Homeless.
Homeless.

Poet, Eileen Sheehan describes Boland's poetry, "recounted from an eclectic range of perspectives", as charting "a restless search for home, for purpose in an era when people feel increasingly disconnected from their own sense of worth."

So, where does one find that sense of self-worth? From our ability to connect is one place to start looking, this collection of poetry might appear to suggest: the ability to receive and to acknowledge human distress signals, rather than trying to shut them out. Also, from the pleasure to be found in the mundane, reminding us that we are all somehow connected, no matter how dispersed and disparate our lives become.

Peripheral by Faye Boland is published by The Manuscript Publisher. It is on sale now and available to buy online, as well as from other outlets. RRP €12 plus P&P.

The book will be formally launched at Tralee Library, Co. Kerry on Saturday, 22 September, starting 2.30pm.

Faye Boland will also be performing her work and giving readings at the following public events and venues during autumn 2018:

• Irish Writers Centre, Parnell Square, Dublin 1 – Thursday, 27 September @ 6.30pm
• Carnegie Arts Centre, Kenmare – Friday, 28 September @ 8pm
• Kinsale Literary Festival – Sunday, 7 October @ 3pm
• Limerick Writers Centre, The Poetry Circle, Nelly’s Cafe, Nicholas Street, Limerick – Thursday, 18 October @ 7.30pm
• SiarScéal Festival, Roscommon Library, Abbey Street, Roscommon Town – Saturday, 20 October @ 12pm

Book Launch: Would You Believe? by Dezi Jay M

Would You Believe? by Dezi Jay M

– a collection of morality tales told with underlying comedic intent –

Would You Believe? by Dezi Jay M (the author's fourth published outing to date) will be formally launched on Thursday, 15 March at Parnell's GAA Club in Coolock Village, Dublin, starting 7.30pm.

The author's offering is a collection of morality tales, told mostly through verse and delivered with impeccable comedic judgement and effect. The author displays a craftsman-like knack for word play, colourfully illustrating the problems and predicaments drawn from everyday life, which are rarely black and white.

Dezi Jay M says that he grew up in a world that seemed confusing. Neither he, his parents, his teachers, nor anyone else were aware that he was autistic. Today he has come to acknowledge his Asperger's as a gift. He looks at life from a clearer perspective, allowing him to express his sense of humour in a healthy environment.

"Some say life is a gamble. I would prefer to say that in life, one may take risks. Much of my work is about people going through difficult situations and turning it around. Each poem, each story has a meaning to it, has a consequence. It has vindication and most importantly, the essence of Love."

Dezi Jay M is an author, actor, performing poet (AAPP) who lives and works in Dublin, Ireland. His writing reflects themes and personal preoccupations with issues related to alcoholism and addiction, homelessness, church and state and the state of the world in general. Previous publications include, The Day the Poppy Met the Shamrock (2014), The Resurrection of Peter (2015), Legacies (2016). He is currently working on a volume of memoirs that he intends to have ready for publication shortly. Further information about his literary and other activities can be found at his website – DeziJayM.com

Would You Believe? by Dezi Jay M is on sale now and available to buy online (RRP €12.99 plus P&P), along with the author's other publications. It will also be on sale on the night of the launch (Thursday, 15 March) at Parnell's GAA Club, Coolock Village, Dublin. Entertainment and light refreshments will be provided. Doors open at 7.30pm and everyone is welcome.

A sample or teaser edition has already been published and is available to download for free.

Reflections by Verona Pentony: popular poetry series now available in Kindle editions

The Reflections series by Verona Pentony, two volumes of poetry previously available only in print editions, have just been made published in Kindle. Furthermore, they will be free to download on Amazon this coming weekend, from Thursday 25th to Monday, 29th January.

Verona Pentony is a poet with a love of humanity and of nature: a love nurtured and distilled from her childhood experiences growing up on a farm in north Co. Dublin and from summer holidays in Co. Leitrim.

Spirituality, political events, leadership and world peace are among the chief concerns and abiding themes of her poetry. In making her work available for free in this manner (on a once-off, limited basis), she looks forward to feedback from readers who might be interested in her views on peace and reconciliation in the world today: maybe have their own thoughts and expressions that they would like to share. She is, as she says, inspired by the experiences of life – her own and other people's.

Reflections from the Heart (published in 2012) and Reflections of Time (2014) have gone through several re-prints since initial publication and have received praise from many quarters:

"Verona has truly captured the essence of life in Reflections of Time and Reflections from the Heart. Her words drive home the important things in life and cause us all to reflect and re-evaluate what's right in front of us and what's important." – Lesley Everett, Personal Branding Coach and Speaker

Now, both titles are available to a much wider public audience.

Further information about Verona's future writing, publishing and public performances will be posted to her recently launched website. In the meantime, sample her work for free, for a limited time only, by downloading the Kindle editions on Amazon, between Thursday 25th and Monday 29th January.

Book Launch: Bluesy Ballymoe by William Tiernan

Book Launch: Bluesy Ballymoe by William Tiernan

– Saturday, 9 December, Fr Flanagan Community Centre, Ballymoe, Co. Galway –

Poetry that fears not to go wherever the heart leads it is what the reader can expect in the forthcoming, second volume by William Tiernan, soon to be released.

Bluesy Ballymoe: Pulse and Hearts above Zero has just been published and will be on general sale from Saturday, 9 December, when the book will be formally launched at a special reception in the Galway village from which the book takes its title.

William Tiernan is a poet and author who resides in rural Galway, close to the Roscommon border. His writings reflect his personal experiences and convictions, as well as strong ties to the community in which he lives and his identification with the place where he grew up.

His first collection of poems, Greetings from Guilka, Ballymoe: Poems from the Head and the Heart (also on sale and available to buy online) was published in 2016. Previously, he was National Winner in the poetry category at the Hanna Greally International Literary Awards in 2014, organised as part of the annual SiarScéal Festival in Co. Roscommon.

As a poet, he says, he is always a loner but, in his heart and soul, he strives to be a real people's person and not a fair-weather friend, not least to those who suffer the torments of this world.

"No matter how strong faith is, fear and doubt will test it to its core, weaken it if they can and, in some cases, sadly, destroy."

He goes on to say that "love can be a cold stone nesting in a warm fire with its flame reaching out to heal, but cannot reach a dying wound."

Tiernan's poetry burns with insight; a true example of the fire inside the head that drives a person to create. Influences ranging from Bob Dylan to Patrick Kavanagh will be discerned but the voice is all his own. It is a distinct voice that reaches out to people, addresses itself to themes that are universal, reflections that are often sadly true but, able and willing to rise to the challenges that they present.

"Never let the sun go down on your hatred or your anger; it will eat you away. Depression is an illness of the mind and body, a cancer of the soul. Let's support one another and defeat it."

Bluesy Ballymoe: Pulse and Heart above Zero by William Tiernan is published by The Manuscript Publisher and is available to buy online (RRP €12.95 plus P&P). It will also be on sale at the book's launch, to take place on Saturday, 9 December at Fr Flanagan Community Centre, Ballymoe, Co. Galway, following 8pm Mass.

We Will Remember Them: the Poets of World War I

Readings from WWI Poets at Ballina Arts Centre this November

Mayo-based poets, Mike Byrne and Anni Wilton-Jones will be reading from a selection of First World War poetry at Ballina Arts Centre on Monday, 13th November, from 8pm.

The event, entitled We Will Remember Them, will feature, in particular, poems written by Irish men and women, such as Katherine Tynan, who lived in Claremorris, and Tom Kettle.

There is no admission charge and everyone is welcome.

Poetry Day Ireland – 27th April

27 April is Poetry Day Ireland. This year's theme is Poetry Connects and Poetry Ireland is inviting everyone to "join-in, link-up, and connect through the power of poetry. Find an event near you in our What's On guide or browse our brochure" both of which are available from Poetry Ireland website.

From Kerry to Derry, there will be more than 100 creative, inspiring and thought-provoking events taking place on Thursday 27 April. The many wonderful events that are planned are a testament to the dedication and commitment of our partners, and to poetry lovers and event promoters around the country, who do so much to keep Ireland’s poetry landscape vibrant all year round. Have a look at what's in store at www.poetryday.ie or browse our brochure to find an event near you. – Poetry Ireland