Submission call for Issue 4 of North West Words magazine

This time last year Eamonn, Nick  and the rest of us on the North West Words team were planning our second NWW Writing Weekend and to coincide the launch of our website. We planned to host a magazine of writing and art on that website. We invited Denise Blake to join us on an editorial team and put a call out for submissions.

Writers who had read at our events, writers who were winners in the Donegal Creameries NWW Poetry Prize, writers who were to facilitate at our July weekend gave us their work, Lisa Bond gave us her art. Editing was a matter of selecting the strongest from a very strong submission.

We are a year on and we have had three issues, each featuring a local artist and writers from far and near. The second and third issues had to stand on their own two feet so to speak. Again strong writing arrived in the inbox, and Rik Walton's beautiful photography and Renata Visser's art set off the written work.

The magazine is widely shared, the website viewing figures are steady and rising. The magazine is the most time consuming NWW project  I'm involved with, the most far reaching and the one that is most out of our control.

We rely on readers liking and sharing the magazine link, we rely on writers choosing to send us their precious work. It's the call out now for the fourth issue, volume two if we want to get picky about it, and my heart is in my mouth again. Send your  best poems, stories and memoir to editornww@yahoo.com. For full submission details see our submission page

North West Words Arts Night Next Thursday 26th June 2014

June, good weather, my holidays are looming, and NWW is next week - what a combination! I always enjoy NWW, but I must say I'm particularly looking forward to this one as a fiction writer. Alan McMonagle is reading, and Siobhan McNamara, with music by Maryann McDonnell.

April North West Words - Thursday 24th April 8pm

I didn't get to last month's NWW which is a pity as I always enjoy it immensely. This month the featured writers are the Galway poet Kevin O'Shea, and local writer Finbar Rafferty. Music by Rosie Carney. It should be another good night in Cafe Blend, Letterkenny.

North West Words - February Arts Night

Gosh, it's nearly that time of the month again. The last Thursday means North West Words at Cafe Blend. And, as always, there's an interesting line up.

North West Words Arts Night and Poetry from the 2013 Donegal Creameries Competition

Well, you had to arrive early last Thursday night to get a seat in Cafe Blend. The regular monthly NWW night was dedicated to readings of the shortlisted, highly commended, and winning poems from the Donegal Creameries and North West Words Poetry Prize 2013. Congratulations to all the winning entries and particularly to Monica Corish shown in the photo below being presented with her cup.

I always enjoy NWW, but this was definitely a particularly special night. Many of the poets were there to read, one had even travelled from Poland. For those who couldn't be there, a regular participant of NWW read out their poem. So, the audience got to hear all the shortlisted and winning poems. It was a rare treat with such a variety of voices and themes. 

The competition judge, Kate Newman, spoke generally about the competition entries and her judging process. And then, after each poem was read out, she explained why she had picked it, and what made it special for her. It was a pleasure to listen to her comments, and so obvious that she had invested much time and thought in her choices.

The winning entires were:

Winner: Monica Corish, Leitrim, Back Where We Started

2nd place: Eithne Reynolds, Dublin, The Shed

3rd place: Brendan Kinnane, Meath, Hammer

Highly Commended:
Edward O'Dwyer, Limerick, Texting God

Gavan Duffy, Dublin, Breakdown

Bogusia Wardein,  Poland, The First Letters of the Alphabet

Winifred McNulty, Donegal, Lloyd's Lighthouse

Shortlisted:

Anne O'Connell, Sligo, The Reek

Ellen Factor, Derry, Lovebirds

 

Connie Roberts, USA, Pallas Lake

Patrick Hull, Dublin, Windowseat

Guy Stephenson, Donegal, Veldtshoen

Maurice Keady, Dublin, A Centuary of Poppies

Clare O'Reilly, Kildare, Bog Woman

Congratulations to the poets above, the NWW team, and Cafe Blend for a lovely night.

 

Christmas with North West Words

This Thursday evening it's the Christmas event at North West Words, Cafe Blend, Letterkenny. We are in for a treat with readings from  the poet, editor of Boyne Berries, and Boyne Writers' group member Michael Farry.

North West Words Arts Night Next Thursday

Halloween with North West Words - you could bring out the horror fiction for the open mic. Or, horror poetry, is there such a thing? We might find out next Thursday in Cafe Blend, Letterkenny 8pm onwards.

Donegal Creameries North West Words Poetry Prize 2013

We had the official launch last night before the wonder women that are the Errigal writers took the stage. Their reading was a real treat, together 18 years, Denise kept telling me it was important for them as a group to read together, I feel it was just as  important for NWW to invite them. It was a happy coincidence that the winner of the first Donegal Creameries North West Words Prize, Averil Meehan of the Errigal Writers was there to help us launch.

Here is the poster with entry details and rules:

Donegal Creameries North West Words

Poetry Prize 2013

Prize €250 and perpetual Donegal Creameries North West Words Poetry Cup

 

Information Rules and Conditions of Entry

This prize is open to anyone over the age of 18 as long as the poem is the original work of the author submitting it. Entries must not have been previously published in any media, self published, broadcast, and /or won any competition. Only poems in English are being accepted for this competition.

The maximum number of poems per entrant is 3.

Send your poem(s) along with a cover letter with name, address, and phone number and/or email address, and title(s) of each poem submitted. Please do not put your name or personal contact details on the same page as the poem(s).

Post entries to North West Words Poetry Prize 2013, 54 Thornberry, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.  On-line submissions will not be accepted.

Entries must be received by the closing date - Friday, 15 November 2013.

More North West Words and Errigal Writers

This Thursday night at 8pm in Cafe Blend Letterkenny there's more from North West Words. The featured writers are Errigal Writers. They have so many poetry collections, Sunday Miscellany readings, and competition wins between them that my mind boggles. They variously write poetry, prose, flash, radio drama, memoir pieces, songs.... and much more, I'm sure. This should be a night to remember. I'll be there.

Jon McGregor takes a week to get from Nottingham to Donegal...

......I mean, of course, his letter, postmarked 3rd September, which has just been delivered. Although Jon has been here too, you know. He doesn't just pluck these novels out of the air. He researches. He couldn't have written 'So Many Ways To Begin' without travelling the highways and byways of Donegal, and a fine job he made of it.

It is a book with a strong sense of place. As well as Donegal, he skilfully portrays Coventry and Aberdeen. The book also has a wide historical and social sweep, but it is the characters who dominate. In postcard no.3, I asked Jon how he maintained the balance between characters and relationship, and the portrayal of historical and social change.

He responded by emphasising that this was always going to be a domestic novel. The main character, David, is adopted. He works as a museum curator. We track his life as son, husband, and father.
'The bigger, historical themes/concepts seemed to nudge in later,' he writes.
I love this phrase, for the heart of the book is never overwhelmed by the ambition of its themes. As Jon concludes, '..the personal is the political; the domestic is the grand narrative.'
In 'So Many Ways To Begin', he nudges us gently into acknowledging the truth and depth of this.

Sincere thanks to Jon McGregor for his cooperation with this interview by post. There is one more postcard to go. A full version of the interview will be printed in North West Words magazine.

Jon McGregor: The Donegal Connection

Jon McGregor has written three fine novels and a superb collection of short stories.  He has attracted critical acclaim and prestigious awards for his short fiction and novels alike, but his second book, "So Many Ways To Begin" has links with Donegal. Jon kindly agreed to tell me more, answering questions on postcards that were handwritten and sent between his office in the University of Nottingham, where he is Professor of Creative Writing (Writer in Residence), and my Donegal home. It seemed like a good way to communicate with Jon as he is also editor of  'The Letters Page', a literary journal which takes correspondence as its theme, launching this month. He's a busy man....

Here is the first postcard:

"So Many Ways To Begin" is structured in short chapters, each bearing the title of an object or piece of ephemera that has played some part in the life of David, the main character. At the recent North West Words Writing Weekend in Letterkenny, Lisa Frank of Doire Press gave an excellent fiction editing workshop and told us she has studied and admired the structure of "So Many Ways To Begin", and recommended it to the participating writers.

The very first scene of the book depicts a hiring fair in the years before WWII, and introduces us to Mary, a young Fanad woman. When I asked Jon about this, he described the hiring fair as '..a startling piece of history for those who don't know it.' They are a fading part of living memory here. As a child, I heard my uncles tell stories of walking from their home in the mountains to the hiring fair of Letterkenny, working for wealthier farmers in the east of the county when they were hardly more than children themselves. With empathy and insight, Jon McGregor recreates the harshness of the times.

"So Many Ways To Begin" is a wonderful book. You should read it, if you haven't already. If you hurry, you can finish it before Jon's second postcard arrives and you'll know next time what we are talking about when we talk about home, emigration, the changing nature of work, loss, choice, fate or Anna (the most treacherous female museum curator in the history of fiction!)

(A full version of this interview with Jon McGregor will appear in a future issue of North West Words magazine. Keep an eye on this blog for further information and the postcards to follow...)

North West Words

North West Words is a monthly reading series that takes place in Café Blend on the last Thursday of every month. Burtonport poet, Eamonn Bonner set the series in motion in the spring of 2010. There was already a tradition of Café Blend being used as a venue for poetry readings, book launches and music events so it was the obvious home for the series.
A typical NWW event will have a published author, maybe with a book launch, an emerging local writer, a local musician. There have been poets, fiction writers, dramatists, memoirists, local historians, travel writers. We have had poetry in English, Irish, Spanish, Russian. On occasion a particular writing group will present a group reading. Audiences are warm and appreciative. Pauline and her staff at Café Blend serve teas, coffees, wine and food all evening.As well as the support we get from Café Blend, NWW is also supported by Eason and Click Computers in Letterkenny. The County Arts Office and DLDC have also supported NWW at various times but largely the operation runs on donations for a raffle from the audiences each event.
North West Words publishes a quarterly free magazine which is distributed across Donegal. There has been a schools poetry competition each year and last year the first Donegal Creameries North West Words Poetry Prize for adults was launched. Since its second year NWW has gone on the road around the county presenting events in Falcarragh, Buncrana, Burtonport as part of the Earagail Arts Festival and local festivals.
In July this year NWW ran a weekend of readings workshops and discussions and we plan to do something similar next year.
Why do I say we? A team of people work to bring NWW events and two Garden Room Writers are on that team, me and Nick Griffiths. So there is an overlap. I look after extra events like the competitions and the writing weekend and Nick is the man behind Poetry for Spaces, more about that soon.
This Thursday local Historian Helen Meehan launches her book about Ethna Carbery/ Anna Johnston Mc Manus; poet and wife of folklorist Seamus Mc Manus. Donegal Town poet Anna Colhoun joins Helen in the reading and there will be music from Mary Ann Mc Donnell. There will also be an Open Mic.