Maeve Binchy RIP

A sad day when a writer of the standing of Maeve Binchy passes on.  I had the pleasure of meeting the Maeve at a function in St. Andrew's Lane  some years back when she signed this ticket for me
. May she rest in peace

Dromineer Competition

Dromineer Literary Festival Competition Winners 2011

POETRY Competition, judged by Dermot Healy

1st Yoga Class  by Liza Costello,  Dublin 

2nd Meeting Himself Coming Back by James Martyn, Galway

3rd The Grip of the Dead  by Paul McMahon,  Sligo

Highly commended Poems

Invasion by Afric McGlinchey, County Cork                             

The Colony  by Tommy Murray, Co Meath                                                

Church Bell in Codalet, France by Peter Goulding, Dublin               

In the Dog House by Paul McMahon, Sligo

Flatline by Paul McMahon, Sligo   

FLASH SHORT STORY COMPETITION, judged by Vincent McDonnell                

1st  LOST FOR WORDS  by Hedy Gibbons Lynott, Co Galway

2nd COFFEE BREAK by Lucie Kavanagh, Co Mayo

3rd DUST by Elizabeth Power, Galway City

A mistake by the administrators  last year had me placed second but this was reversed and  I got a Highly Commended Award

Westport Arts Festival Poetry Competition 2012 – a call for entries

Posted on July 16, 2012 in Literature, News, Poetry, WAF 2012

Calling all scribes, wordsmiths and lyrical-language lovers! For the first time ever, Westport Arts Festival is running a poetry competition


I notice that one of the judges in this contest is Aosdana member Dermot Healy.    I had the privilege  of being presented with a signed copy of Dermot's book,'A Fool's Errand' as a prize in the Dromineer Poetry contest  in 2011

A Rare Find

Being an eternal browser it is only logical that I should come across a rare find once in a while which is just what happened today when I came across this rare limited edition hard back copy of the poems of F R Higgins.  The collection does not include his poem about Laracor which makes the book even more desirable.  When the book was published in 1992 fifty one years after the death of the poet it was prices at nine pounds sterling.  I will now add it to my other rare books which includes Elizabeth Hickeys ' I send my Love Along the Boyne'  and also her 'Legends of Tara '  and the Chatto and Windus 1873 published 'Life and Works of Jonathon Swift

Title:     Swimming with Dolphins

ISBN:     9781907276965

Pages:     52

Prices:    10.00  Sterling (Hard Copy)

                    5.00 Sterling (Digital Price in PDF)

Title:     Counting Stainedglass Windows

ISBN:     9781907276156

Pages:     36

Prices:    10.00  Sterling (Hard Copy)

                    5.00 Sterling (Digital Price in PDF

Thinking Swift

Delighted to win The Battle of the Books  and just thinking of things Swift I came across this book which gives not only the life of Jonathan Swift but everything he has ever written.  It is published by Chatto and Windus in 1876 and runs to over a thousand pages.  It might come in handy if it was ever decided to have a museum dedicated to Swift

Team Announced

The Meath Writer's Circle team for the Battle of the Books has just been announced , it is

Ymmot Yarrum         Leahcim  Sliehs     and       Knarf   Yhprum

Battle of the Books

The Countdown has begun to this momentus clash, with little information being given on either side.   Some of the curtain raising personalities appearing  before to this contest include  Dara O'Breen and George Hook