PROJECTS
CREATIVE ACTIVISM
poetry plus
Monthly Open Mic
I have been running the monthly open mic, Poetry Plus, for more than a decade in the tearoom of Brewery Lane Theatre, Carrick-on-Suir. I started it because I needed something like this for myself and I wondered if others might too.
Since the beginning Poetry Plus has attracted a friendly and generous gathering of people, many taking their first tentative steps at reading in public. It’s a supportive and sharing space, a quality which transferred to our Zoom sessions during COVID-19 lockdowns. The title of the pandemic collection from the group, Only Connect, published by Beir Bua Press in 2020, captures it perfectly.
The format is simple; you read your own work (poetry or short prose) or share something by a favourite writer, and you are also welcome to come and listen.
To get details of dates, simply complete the contact form below to be added to my email list. The fee is €5 to cover costs.
Brewery Lane
Writers' Weekend
The Brewery Lane Writers' Weekend is an initiative I started back in 2013 and has been going from strength to strength ever since. It is undoubtedly Ireland's most intimate writers' event, limited to 12 participants, and is scheduled annually for the weekend following Easter. It is facilitated each year by two visiting writers who bring to the weekend their own specialised knowledge of their genre and their own individual creative energies. What stays the same is the schedule of workshops, individual tutorials, and time and space for writing in the stimulating company of other writers. This is all in the special atmosphere of a small theatre in the town of Carrick-on-Suir, with its proximity to the Suir Blueway, the Ormond Castle and Sliabh na mBan (the mountain of the women). For enquiries and to get on the mailing list, simply complete the form below.
With thanks to all the team at Brewery Lane Theatre and to Tipperary Arts Office for continued funding support for this event.
pandemic
projects
Creative Collaboration
Over the past decade or so I have grown creatively in ways I could not have predicted because of a community of writers, in Carrick-on-Suir and much further afield, a community that grew out of invitations I extended to create individually and together. The outcomes have frequently been both unpredictable and wonderful. This has expanded even further in recent years through joining forces on a variety of creative projects with The Tudor Artisan Hub, the arts collective founded by Linda Fahy. This has resulted in many exciting collaborations between writers, visual artists, filmmakers, musicians and other creatives over several years. These projects have always involved a lot of fun, hard work and steep learning curves.
During the difficult years of the COVID-19 lockdowns, everyone rose to a new level of commitment and innovation. As we responded creatively to these challenges, our collaborative work showed us the true transformative potential of the arts for communities and for individuals. For a full list of these projects see this link.
Some samples:
Read my Irish Times article about the 2020 lockdown bereavement project, In Ár gCroíthe go Deo / In Our Hearts Forever, here.
The Poetry Plus pandemic collection, Only Connect. View the launch by publisher Beir Bua Press here
You can watch a video about the Lockdown Is/Was… sketchbook project below.
This unique sketchbook by artist, Sheila Wood, was created in response to a collaborative poem written on the 26th June by the ‘Writing Changes Lives’ writers’ collective. The collaborative poem, “Lockdown is / was…”, was written at the end of a fifteen-week series of Poetry Plus open mics held on Zoom during Lockdown 1 in Ireland, from March 20th through to June 26th 2020. (Photography and videography by Pete Smith.)
The “Lockdown is/was…”
Sketchbook
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