Springtime in Paris

I'm so looking forward to reading in Paris next week with Deirdre Cartmill and Maureen Boyle at the Irish Cultural Centre.
Hopefully there will be time for a little sightseeing and as I've never been in Paris before I want to fit in as much as possible. Thinking Montmartre and maybe a boat trip on the Seine. One of the best tips I've had so far, from a friend who lives in France, is before I say anything else say, Je suis desole. Je ne parle pas bien Francais. Detalils of the event below - and any other tips welcome.
http://www.centreculturelirlandais.com/modules/movie/scenes/home/index.php?fuseAction=litterature

New CavanKerry Book

I am really delighted to have a poem included in the second volume of the Waiting Room Reader, published by the excellent CavanKerry Press, New York.
The Waiting Room Reader: Stories to Keep you Company, will be placed in many waiting rooms in hospitals in the tri-state area. Over 10,000 free copies of the first volume of the Reader were placed in over 300 waiting rooms in more than 63 hospitals in the tri-state area.

Have a look at what CavanKerry do at the link below

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cavankerrypress.org%2F&h=gAQGs_4T-

Poetry, stories and a bit of drama in Ballycastle

Short notice I know, but I'm reading tomorrow night with a great bunch of other writers. The venue is Thyme cafe in Ballycastle and we will start around 7.30. Tea and coffee available, or if you prefer something a little stronger you can bring your own bottle. It will be a nice relaxed evening, so if you are in the area why not come along and listen to a mixture of drama, short stories and poems from Jo Egan, Anne Harris, Myra Vennard, Pamela Greene and myself.

Acts of Resilience

Acts of Resilience: Stories that glow in the dark

For further information or to rsvp: gerri@moriarty.prestel.co.uk

The ‘Acts of Resilience’ project took place in East and South Belfast during 2011. Through story-telling, poetry and creative writing, it explored the idea that people can survive and grow, in spite of hard times. What gives us strength to carry on? How do we encourage others that it is possible?

The project has resulted in a short DVD and specially commissioned poems by Moyra Donaldson and Damian Gorman and will be celebrated at a special reception in the Banqueting Hall, Belfast City Hall, on Monday December 5^th at 5.30 p.m, hosted by Belfast Community Safety Partnership.

Please do join us for this event and bring a friend.

We very much hope that the DVD and poems will raise awareness of the importance of encouraging resilience. If you are aware of a teacher, youth leader, community or voluntary sector organisation who might like to use the DVD to encourage dialogue, please do forward the invitation to them.

Literary Salon moves to Limivady

Details here of the next Literary Salon event - I haven't read in Limivady before so looking forward to it

https://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=132767333497903

Desire and Dust

I'm just home from the launch of Abridged 0-23:Desire and Dust. It's a classy publication, beautifully produced and I'm really pleased to have a poem included. The poem 'The Flayed Horse', is printed over an image by Ackroyd & Harvey, called 'Burning the Bone' from the making of 'Polar Diamond'
It's a fascinating project where the artists were given a polar bear bone by the Govenor of Svalbard in 2007 and they used technology to accelerate a process that usually takes millions of years - growing a diamond from graphite. They extracted the graphite from the cremated ash of the bone and grew the diamond with the support of the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
Look out for a copy of the magazine - there is lots of excellent stuff in it, images and words. A big congratulations to the editors Gregory McCartney and Maria Campbell.

Galway

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1352582222#!/event.php?eid=169558409790591

Aspects Festival

So - Aspects Festival kicks off on the 21st September. I have my tickets booked for several events and I'm particularly looking forward to hearing Dan Cruickshank, an expert on one of my favourite times in history. Also keen to get to Leanne O'Sullivan's reading. I haven't heard her before. There are lots of good things on during the week, so you should have a look at the programme if you haven't already. All very welcome of course, to the Sunday night event with Kevin Barry and myself, hosted by Malachi O'Doherty. It's in the Vin Cafe - so you can have a nice glass of wine or two as well! Must be good...

The Return of the Literary Salon!

http://www.belfastfestival.com/ByDate/EventDetails/?guid=qub_event_249108&title=Literary+Salon%3A+New+Writing+Showcase

Workshop in Enniskillen

I'm heading down to Enniskillen on Saturday 3rd September to do a full day workshop with the local writers' group. The venue is the Westville Hotel. It is also open to non members, so if you would like to come along or know anyone in the area who might be interested, the contact for booking is Dianne Trimble   mailto:trimbell@yahoo.co.uk

The workshop will have 3 sessions, one on short story writing, one on publishing and one concentrating on poetry.
All welcome!