Sunday, October 28, 2012

Loose Leaves

Loose Leaves

Recipe for success: Irish book awards shortlist

Recipe for success: Irish book awards shortlist

DCU Under Thirty Writers Scheme

News

Under Thirty project for young Irish writers

Under Thirty project for young Irish writers
Under Thirty, a new and unique non-profit project designed to nurture and showcase young Irish fiction at home and aboard, is seeking submissions from young writers under the age of 30. The project provides writers with access to a panel of experienced writers, literary scholars, editors, and publishers, who work entirely voluntarily to review submissions and provide feedback and encouragement to the country's aspiring writers.
The project aims to help writers to develop their skills, and make their formative first steps into the literary world. Through a blind peer-review process, the most promising submissions are selected for publication in a bi-annual journal, and all entries are given back their manuscripts with suggestions and advice from the panel. In this way, writers can be assured that their work speaks for itself, and the panel of reviewers have the freedom to truly feed back into the development of new writers, and provide them with the constructive criticism and motivation to go even further with their work.
The project creator, Dr. Stephen Doherty, a twenty-eight-year-old psychologist and writer, explained how it "has received fantastic support from many networks around the country and abroad. Schools, universities, writing groups, libraries, broadcasters, and politicians, all want to invest in the up-and-coming generation of our writers - one of our country's unique and notable values, that shines through boom and bust."
Dr. Doherty continued, "The project uses its homepage and social media channels to provide information of funding opportunities in the arts, connect writers of all experiences with one another through events and online fora, and to add to our growing pool of freely available resources for new writers."
Under Thirty has a team of over fifty, and it's growing: Markus Ahonen, Celeste Augé, Dr. Richard Barlow, Turtle Bunbury, Dr. Dermot Burns, Tom Carroll, Yvonne Cassidy, Dr. Philip Coleman, June Considine, Eoghan Corry, Dr. David Coughlan, Paddy Cummins, Theo Dorgan, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Dr. Michael Farry, Michael Freeman, Craig Gibson, Jack Harte, Gerry Hanberry, Dr. Derek Hand, Caroline Healy, Jean-Philippe Imbert, Phelim Kavanagh, Prof. Margaret Kelleher, Dr. Patricia Kennon, Brian Kirk, Dr. Brigitte Le Juez, Rozz Lewis, John MacKenna, Manchán Magan, Jessica Maybury, Dr. Áine McGillicuddy, Monica McInerney, Michéle Milan, David Mohan, Sinéad Moriarty, Dr. Christina Morin, Alan Nolan, Tim O'Brien, Billy O'Callaghan, Dr. Eithne O'Connell, Dr. Maureen O'Connor, Vanessa O'Loughlin, Paul Perry, Louise Phillips, Prof. Ian Campbell Ross, Valerie Sirr, Dr. Olga Springer, Sarah Webb, Prof. Jenny Williams.
Bursting with fresh talent, new stories, and infectious potential, the inaugural journal will be published in December as a soft-bound book and e-book at a special event at Dublin City University. Sponsored by the Centre for Next Generation Localisation - a Science Foundation Ireland funded national research centre exploring areas of language, translation, and technology - this event on the campus of Ireland's university of enterprise and innovation will host a mix of our newly published and established writers, literary scholars, and some special guests. From the contributions published in the journal, an award will be given each year to one outstanding new writer in the form of a scholarship/writing retreat so that they can truly focus on making their first publication a successful one.
The deadline for submissions for the first issue is November 7th, 2012. For more information about the project, and to make a submission: visit www.under-30.org

Friday, October 19, 2012

Blog Updated

Hi
I spent some time this morning searching for and adding links to useful sites, as well as writing competitions.  Take a look and let me know of any issues such as links not working etc.  The Merriman closing date is 31st October, but looks like a good one to aim for.  Also, from the Irish Writers Centre (www.irishwriterscentre.ie) there is a list of competitions with closing dates over the next few months.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Getting Published - meeting in Dun Laoghaire 9th June

From: arts@DLRCOCO.IE
To: arts@DLRCOCO.IE
Date: Tue, 29 May 2012 12:05:58 +0100
Subject: dlr Artist Network June 2012


Friday, May 11, 2012

DLR Arts Bulletin 11th May 2012

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dlr Arts E:Bulletin



STOP LOOK LISTEN - Youth Arts 2012 - Call for Participation

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is delighted to announce that applications are now open for STOP LOOK LISTEN 2012. From Thursday 25th October until Saturday 3rd November youth arts activity will be celebrated around the county. If you represent an organisation, project or programme that works with, or on behalf of, young people in a creative way in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County or if you are an individual under twenty five then STOP LOOK LISTEN is for you. Contact Mary and she will let you know how you can get involved.

For further Information contact: Mary Mac Namara, Administrator,
The Grainstore, dlr’s Youth Arts Facility:
E-Mail: grainstore@dlrcoco.ie
Phone: (01) 2047978 or text (086) 0256727.

Deadline for applications is Friday June 15th at 12 noon.
Read More


2012 dlr Arts Grants Awarded

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Arts Office is delighted to announce that the 2012 Arts Grants have been awarded. This scheme of grants provides financial assistance to individual artists, arts groups and arts organisations engaged in arts projects or events at local or county level. Grants are also awarded to support the arts practice and professional development of individual artists. For full details of this year’s recipients follow the read more link.
Read More


Call for Applications – The Irish Times Poetry Now Award

dlr Poetry Now calls for applications for The Irish Times Poetry Now Award.
The Irish Times Poetry Now Award is presented annually to the author of the best single volume of poems published by an Irish poet in the previous year. The shortlist of 5 titles will be announced in The Irish Times in advance of the festival and the winner will be announced in The Irish Times and at Poetry Now at Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival which takes place from the 4th to the 9th of September 2012. The prize-winner will receive €5000.

The judges for this year’s award are Gerald Dawe, James Harpur and Mary Shine Thompson.

The award is made possible by the generous support of The Irish Times.

For more information and details on eligibility and entries please contact: maeve@lineupsme.com or call: 086 158 2725
Read More


Dublin Dance Festival Family Spectacular Comes to The Pavillion

Location: Pavillion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire
Date: Sat 12-Sun 13 May 2 & 4.30pm
Price: Full price: adult €14, child €10. Concession price: adult €12, child €8
Family ticket €40 (Four people)

Ever watched a cloud turn into a sheep right before your eyes?

Enter an enchanting, joyful world full of moving objects and dreamlike imagery. Nubes (Clouds) takes a wildly imaginative approach to the theme of clouds, inspired by the surrealist artist Magritte. Audiences of all ages will delight in watching vibrant dances and inventive scenes involving flippers, ladders, puppets in suits, and all kinds of clouds.

Stylish Aracaladanza is one of Europe’s finest child-focused companies which tours all over the world.

Age suitability 12 years & under

For bookings and further information follow the read more link.
Read More

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Monday, April 30, 2012

A massive advance on a first novel

Books in her blood

A Novel in a Year

A novel in a year

Louise Doughty
Louise Doughty 
The acclaimed novelist Louise Doughty here introduces a unique new column teaching the art of fiction
Some years ago, I was sitting in a café with a writer friend. He had just come from giving a talk to a group of sixth-formers and one of them had asked, "Why did you become a writer?"
"You know what?" he said to me, stirring his cappuccino, "I gave them some flannel about the joy of language, but actually, the real reason I became a writer was so that I could move to London and sit in cafés with other writers and talk about why I became a writer."
For those of us who come from decidedly non-literary backgrounds, there is something wonderful about being a writer - all the shallow stuff we are supposed to despise; the café talk, the book launches, the scanning of literary pages feeling guiltily gratified when a friend gets a bad review. Forget for a moment the loneliness, paranoia and financial insecurity, Being a Writer is great fun.
But there is a catch. You have to write. This is something that would-be writers sometimes appear not to have grasped. Like many novelists, I often give talks at festivals and a common question is, 'How did you get your first novel published?'
It's a perfectly valid question but I often suspect the motivation behind it. What was your trick? is what they mean. Tell me your trick, because when I know it, I will be published too. The honest answer, I'm afraid, is, "I wrote a good book. And if you want to be a published writer, you will have to write one too."
Throughout 2006, I will be writing a column in this newspaper called Write a Novel in a Year. Can you write a novel in a year? Well, yes, if you don't do much else and you work hard and are talented.
But in actual fact, if you follow the column, and do the exercises I set (yes, exercises) what you will end up with will not be a novel, it won't even be the first draft of a novel, it will be a body of work, the raw material, which you may one day be able to shape and work on until it becomes a book.
How long does it take to write a novel? Well, it depends. My first, Crazy Paving, was written while I was a part-time secretary, young and single with no domestic ties. It took me 18 months.
By the time it came to writing my second, I was theatre critic for a Sunday newspaper, which meant I had all day to write before going to the theatre in the evenings: as day-jobs go, it was a corker. Dance With Me was written in seven months.
My third novel was sold on the strength of a one-page proposal when I was pregnant with my first child. I promised my publisher the book would be delivered before the baby but I was lying through my teeth. Baby arrived when I was one chapter in.
My partner worked full-time and I had no childcare, but I still had to finish the book as we had spent the advance on buying a flat to have the baby in. Honey-Dew was written in eight months while I was sick with exhaustion. There's a reason why it's my shortest book.
My fourth, Fires in the Dark, was a huge departure. The first three had all been contemporary and peopled in the main by female characters. The events in them weren't autobiographical - Honey-Dew is about a girl who murders her parents - but it's fair to say that in terms of their scope and landscape, they were within my own experience.
Fires in the Dark is set in Central Europe and is about a boy from a tribe of nomadic Kalderash Roma. Born in a barn in rural Bohemia, he grows up during the Great Depression and the rise of Nazism, is interned in a camp, and escapes to take part in the Prague Uprising of May 1945. It was three times the length of Honey-Dew and took me four and a half years to write.
So, in other words, how long is a piece of string? Your novel will take you as long as it takes you - but I'm going to stick my neck out and say that if you haven't written a book before and are really serious about it and have a job or a family or - heaven forbid - both, then you are looking at around three years from start to finish.
This first year is just the taster, the generating-material-and-having-a-go year. At the end of it, you will have a huge amount of work remaining. Still interested? Good, we'll get started in a minute.
Before we do, let's establish a few things that the column will emphatically not do. It will not - repeat, not - give advice on how to get into print. Any letters or message board posts asking me how to get an agent or publisher will be weaved into a ceremonial pyre in my back garden and torched.
Getting published may seem impossible, and often is, but if you haven't written your book yet then quite frankly it's the least of your problems. Your only concern should be to write. Write your book, write it well, then re-write it even better.
I'm afraid I also can't read any manuscripts - I have to be ruthless about that or I won't write a word myself this year. There is something I will do, 'though. The Daily Telegraph has now set up this section of its website, where you will be able to post your writing to be commented on by fellow followers of this process. This article and exercises from subsequent columns will be posted there as well. Every now and then, I'll be dropping in, just to check how you're all getting on.
A word of caution, though. I used to teach a creative writing evening class. My least talented students were invariably the ones who came with a curled lip, convinced that they were far cleverer than anyone else in the group and that the only reason they weren't a published writer like me was because of some vast conspiracy against them, of which I was naturally a part.
On the one hand, they wanted to touch the hem of my garment. On the other, they were convinced they had nothing to learn and despised themselves and their fellow students for even being there. Here is this week's apercu: we all have something to learn.
Even Ian McEwan or Margaret Atwood or Toni Morrison still have something to learn, and the reason they are great writers is because they know it and work incredibly hard on each and every book.
"Every time I am about to start a novel," says Susan Hill, "I look at it, and it is like a mountain and I say to myself, oh no, this time you have gone too far." If you simply sit back and think about the prospect of writing a book it will seem a vast and unconquerable task.
The way to make it less so is break it down into its constituent parts, which is what we will be doing over the next twelve months. "The art of writing," Kingsley Amis said, "is the art of applying the seat of one's trousers to the seat of one's chair."
So let's start. Take up a notebook and pen, and write one sentence, beginning with the words, "The day after my eighth birthday, my father told me..." Write more than a sentence if you like but just one sentence is fine.
If you feel so inclined, you can post yours on the message board, or send it to me on a postcard c/o the Daily Telegraph Books Desk. I'll be talking more about first sentences next week and printing some of your efforts the week after that.
While you are doing this exercise, you may well find a small, mocking voice whispering in your ear. It will be saying things like "Don't be stupid, you can't write a novel", or, maybe, "this is stupid, I'm too clever for this".
Both thoughts are equally destructive and both must be ignored. Everyone has to start somewhere. Lawrence Sterne, Emily Bronte, Nadine Gordimer all started somewhere. Turn off the computer and go and get a notepad and pen. Go on.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Thursday, April 26, 2012

The year of living anxiously

The year of living anxiously

The book industry's big show and tell

The book industry's big show and tell

This week on writing.ie




The Home of Irish Writing Online!
 
The Irish are renowned for being a nation of story tellers. 
Find out what the story is, starting right here..... 
 


This week on writing.ie
A_June_of_Ordinary_Murders_Conor_BradyIn the 1880s the Dublin Metropolitan Police classified crime in two distinct classes. Political crimes were 'special', whereas theft, robbery and even murder, no matter how terrible, were 'ordinary'. Ex Irish Times editor Conor Brady takes us to Dublin and 1887 to reveal A June of Ordinary Murders just published by New Island. Bringing crime and history together, you can win your copy at our competitions page.
 
 
ehpicEamon Harrigan recently featured in the Over the Edge readings in Galway. His debut novel published by US digital publisher Solstice, is Irish noir fantasy, and draws on screenwriting skills learned in LA. Barry Houlihan met with Eamon to find out more.
 
 
alliancelogoThe Alliance of Independent Authors launched at the London Book Fair on 18th April. A global initiative by Irish author Orna Ross, one one its first meet-ups happened in Dublin's Central Hotel, appropriately in the Library Bar. Sarah Downey found out what it was all about...

susanrich American poet Susan Rich reveals exactly how your poetry can benefit from revision in It's Not What You Write, It's How You Re-write. Soon to facilitate Speaking Pictures: a workshop considering poetry and art, this week we're launchng another exciting competition with Anam Cara Writers and Artists Retreat - this time for poets! Click on our competitons page to find out how to win.

southcirc_title
The South Circular is a new digital literary magazine that aims to show case new writing talent. Find out from editor and publisher Aoife Walsh exactly how it came about and what opportuities it offers for new writers...

Tell us your story...
emmaverlingDid you see our Mining Memories article from Emma Verling, taking us back to her childhood with some evocative images in Cathair Caim, a memoir.
If you have a story to share with us and the National Folklore Archive, helping to build a first hand picture of Ireland's history, please send it in! Check out our Tell Your Own Story for how.

And in our Guest Blogs...
barry houlahan 2Barry Houlihan had two tickets to give away for the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival - read his interview here with Artistic Director Brian Merriman  and leave your comment on his blog to enter our draw!
 

Kate_Dempsy
Kate Dempsey brings us a double post in Poetic License - an interview with poet Enda Coyle-Greene and in a guest post from poet Dave Lordan, we find out how creativity can be sparked in the classroom in Trizzards, Gizzards and Lady Gagazzards

Alison_Wells_2 Alison Wells explains why she's self published under the pen name AB Wells in Random Acts of Optimism.
 
 
 
 

derek-flynnDerek Flynn looks at how song writer Lou Reed influences writers in SongBook 






 
Hazel_Gaynor_blogIn Carry On Writing, Hazel Gaynor reviews the London Book Fair from an author's perspective.
 
 
 

CarenKennedy_Inkwell_2Caren Kennedy says watch, listen and learn if you want to write TV drama over at Word Play



Catherine_Ryan_HowardCatherine Ryan Howard invites Shauna Bickley to talk about her self publishing experience in Self Printed






Tell Us Your Story
We looking for your submissions of personal essays in the Monday Miscellany, Mining Memories and Writing & Me sections! See what we have there now and check here for full submission guidelines:

 
We are working with the National Folklore Collection in UCD to preserve selected submissions to these sections to add to their rich archive.


  About
 
Writing.ie has been developed by Vanessa O'Loughlin with vital support from the Arts Council.
 
 
 
 
 
Vanessa is a publishing consultant and runs The Inkwell Group, Ireland's leading publishing consultancy. She is Vice Chair of Irish PEN , and Irish Adviser to The Alliance of Independent Authors and a member of Publishing Ireland.
 
 
 
 
         
 
 
 


  Contact us at contact@writing.ie
We welcome your thoughts and ideas!



Writing.ie, The Old Post Office, Kilmacanogue, Co. Wicklow, IRELAND

DLRCOCO Arts Bulletin

To continue to receive the dlr Arts e-bulletin please add arts@dlrcoco.ie to your contacts. If you are having trouble viewing this email view it online.

dlr Arts E:Bulletin



dlr County Council announces commencement of new Library & Cultural Centre

Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council is pleased to announce that construction will commence in late April of the new Library/Community & Cultural Centre in Dún Laoghaire.

The Cultural Centre will include a performance space with seating for 100 people, an art gallery, education/ workshop space and café. The Library will include a public ‘living room’ overlooking the park as well as a resource for community information and a dedicated suite of rooms for young people.
Read More


Travelogue

Travelogue is a Per Cent for Art project commissioned by the National Transport Authority, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. In Travelogue, artist Theresa Nanigian has created an intimate portrait of the lives of those who work and travel on the public transport network of the Greater Dublin Area. Travelogue will be displayed publicly at bus-shelters, at rail and bus stations, on advertising sites, on street signage and on buses, trains and trams all over Dublin from 29th April - 13th May 2012.

Further information: Ciara King,
Assistant Arts Officer-Arts Programme Development:
Email: cking@dlrcoco.ie or tel: 01 - 2719 529
Read More


Tender for an Audit of the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Public Art Collection

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council invites tenders for the appointment of an external expert(s) to undertake a condition audit of the outdoor public art collection in the County and cost the required maintenance / conservation work to be undertaken on the works in the collection.

The closing date for receipt of tenders is Monday 21st May 2012 at 12 noon. Please note that tenders received after this time and date will not be accepted.

Full tender document available from Ciara King, Assistant Arts Officer, Arts Programme Development.
Email: cking@dlrcoco.ie or tel: 01 - 2719 529
Read More


The Dublin Painting and Sketching Club 134th Annual Exhibition

Date: 16th April to 29th April 2012
Time: 10.00am to 5.00pm daily, 11.00am-5.00pm Saturday and Sunday
Location: Concourse, County Hall, Dún Laoghaire.

Supported by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Arts Office and Sponsored by Whyte’s this is one of the largest group exhibitions in the country. It will feature 270 paintings in oil, acrylic, watercolour and pastel from over 80 members, who represent many of the country’s leading artists. A wide range of subjects are presented in the paintings on display including landscape, urbanscape, interiors and still life.

This year is the centenary of the death of Bram Stoker, who was a founding member of the Club in 1874. A feature of this year’s Exhibition is the display of a recent painting of Bram Stoker, by artist Aidan Hickey to mark this event.

In addition, there are a number of events organised, for the public in conjunction with the Exhibition including guided tours, painting critique sessions, painting demonstrations and a ‘plein air’ painting day for all, in Sandycove, on Saturday 21st April from 11.00 am.
Read More

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Arts Strategy
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Design Copyright © 2009 - 2012

Thursday, April 19, 2012

This week on writing.ie




The Home of Irish Writing Online!
 
The Irish are renowned for being a nation of story tellers. 
Find out what the story is, starting right here..... 
 


This week on writing.ie
We have the results of the Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat Short Fiction Competition! With entrants from every corner of the world, find out who has won their place in
award winning writer Vanessa Gebbie's workshop here.

Anna_Smith
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Crime writer Anna Smith was in Dublin recently and Vanessa Baker caught up with her and asked her To Tell The Truth about the second book in her Rosie Gilmour series. Smith draws on the true investigations she conducted as an award-winning journalist in Glasgow to write fiction, here she reveals all...
Win your copy at our competitions page!
 
justfollowthefloodlights



Brian Kennedy proves that self published authors can cross the threshold to mainstream publishers. With some sensational self publishing successes, the Exeter City fan explains how Just Follow the Floodlights came about.
Win your copy at our competitions page!

ciaraconlonIs fitting writing into your life proving a little chaotic? In from Chaos to Control, Ciara Conlon reveals her top tips for writers who need to fit so much into their lives.
 
 
 
flameandthecandleA book launch inspired Dominic Price to started digging into County Mayo local history, and it resulted in his own book The Flame and the Candle, out now with The Collins Press. Here he gives writing.ie readers his top research tips, ideal whether you are writing fiction or non fiction. And you can win a copy at our competitions page!
 
 
mousetrappedIn Part Five of our Where I Write series, self publishing sensation Catherine Ryan Howard reveals how a move has changed her writing life!




Tell us your story...
emmaverlingIn Mining Memories this week Emma Verling takes us back to her childhood with some evocative images in Cathair Caim, a memoir.
If you have a story to share with us and the National Folklore Archive, helping to build a first hand picture of Ireland's history, please send it in! Check out our Tell Your Own Story for how.

And in our Guest Blogs...

From the Front Row, ER_Murray_233x350Elizabeth Rose Murray reports from the lauch of the fabulous Listowel Writers Festival
 
 
 
 
 
 

barry houlahan 2In  Centre Stage Barry Houlihan looks at a new Irish language play by Beckett.




Kate_DempsyKate Dempsey discovers the 'I' persona in Poetic License.
 
 
 
 

CarenKennedy_Inkwell_2Caren Kennedy looks at Writing for drama for television in  Word Play




Alison_Wells_2 In Random Acts of Optimism Alison Wells discusses her favourite short story by Claire King.
 
 
 
 

derek-flynnDerek Flynn recounts the continuing adventures of Do You Dream at All in SongBook 
 
 
 
 
 
 




lou_ptwitterLouise Phillips tells us about her a short story in the New Island anthology Another Road in Crime Scene





 


Tell Us Your Story
We looking for your submissions of personal essays in the Monday Miscellany, Mining Memories and Writing & Me sections! See what we have there now and check here for full submission guidelines:

 
We are working with the National Folklore Collection in UCD to preserve selected submissions to these sections to add to their rich archive.


  About
 
Writing.ie has been developed by Vanessa O'Loughlin with vital support from the Arts Council.
 
 
 
 
 
Vanessa is a publishing consultant and runs The Inkwell Group, Ireland's leading publishing consultancy. She is Vice Chair of Irish PEN , and Irish Adviser to The Alliance of Independent Authors and a member of Publishing Ireland.
 
 
 
 
         
 
 
 


  Contact us at contact@writing.ie
We welcome your thoughts and ideas!



Writing.ie, The Old Post Office, Kilmacanogue, Co. Wicklow, IRELAND