Dublin Poetry Workshops with Alan Jude Moore

In September The Irish Writers' Centre will be holding a series of Poetry Workshops hosted by poet Alan Jude Moore. The workshops will take place every Thursday for 10 weeks from the 24th of September. Early booking is advised as workshop places are limited. You can secure your place by paying online at the Irish Writers Centre.

Alan read some of his work at the Moloch showcase last year, and appeared in the second issue of the journal. You can read his poems, Alphavile and Drift online.

Alan Jude Moore was born in Dublin. His two collections of poetry, Black State Cars (2004) and Lost Republics (2008), are published by Salmon Poetry. A third collection, Strasbourg, will be published by Salmon in 2010.

His work is widely published in journals and magazines, including Poetry Ireland Review, Cyphers, The Stinging Fly, Poetry Salzburg Review, Iota (UK) and Kestrel (USA). His poetry has also been published in Italian and Russian. He has been short-listed twice for the Hennessy Literary Award for New Irish Writing for his short stories.

He holds a degree in political science from Trinity College Dublin and his first publication was in the TCD literary magazine Icarus. He has since been published across Europe and North America and has given readings in Ireland, Italy, Russia and the USA. In 2007 he was a featured poet at the Riflessidiversi cultural festival in Umbria.

American poet and critic Michael S. Begnal discusses Moore's work in the context of contemporary Irish literature in his essay The Ancients Have Returned Among Us: Polaroid of 21st Century Irish Poetry (Avant-Post, Litteraria Pragensia 2006, ed. Louis Armand). Alan's work has been included in the anthologies Salmon: a Journey in Poetry (Salmon Poetry, 2007) and Jacobs Ladder II (Six Gallery Press, 2003). He lives in Dublin.

"What is necessary is to seek new forms and new language to express new ideas and experience. Moore is doing so, and that is what makes Black State Cars an important and essential collection."

- Michael S. Begnal in Poetry Ireland Review, issue 82.

A political undercurrent is always simmering, and when it is aligned with longing, Moore enacts a kind of magic: “remember to melt down your ring for me; / let all our promises be one last bullet” (Zapad). Paradoxically, it’s not the exoticism of Lost Republics which appeals so much, but its familiarity. An accomplished and intriguing book.

- Paul Perry, The Irish Times, Saturday 28th March 2009

This superb second collection finds Moore’s distinctive voice, established in 2004’s Black State Cars, resonating with a new clarity and confidence. Influenced by the neo-modernist tendency but not necessarily of it, Moore avoids the languid, lyrical tonalities striven for and sometimes reached by the majority of his contemporaries. Yet his work could by no means be described as prosaic. His is a robust, sinewy music that once adjusted to has a strangely entrancing charm.

- Billy Ramsell in The Stinging Fly, Issue 12 / volume two, Spring 2009.

19 Parnell Square Dublin 1

Tel: +353 1 8721302

Fax: +353 1 8726282

www.writerscentre.ie

Wrong way birds, taxidermy, and morally bankrupt leprechauns.

It was my blood and the language

That has been spoken into my blood.

 

I decided to explore

This wild place.

 

from Disappeared Language by Duane Locke 

A new issue of Moloch is now available to view online: http://www.moloch.ie/html/issue3/cover.html.

For the last few months we have been plagued by constant repetition of the 'R' word on the airwaves, and scandal after scandal surfacing. You can't turn on the radio or take a taxi without hearing about the abuse by the Israelis, the US army, the Iranian government, and the British army, innocent people going to prison, politicians on the take, horrendous murders, about all the bankers who dragged us into a whole lot of mess, about the builders being bailed out and the regular people who have lost their homes.  Around the corner there is always another ism to deal with.

Moloch was a mythical figure to whom people sacrificed newborn children in the hope of wealth and success.  Nothing could seem more horrifying to most of us today, and yet every radio station and newspaper tells us that the future generations have been sacrificed for transient treasures to a modern-day Moloch. It is an endless wave that can become an obsession and at times make you feel completely and utterly powerless.   It is in times like these that language becomes at once threatened and vital. 

Moloch is an eclectic journal of the eccentric and the conventional, the politician and the romantic, the psychiatrist and the mentally deranged.  It does not adhere to one style or voice but grabs sounds and colours from all walks of life. 

This issue of Moloch deals with progress, with all the dirty dealings of modern society,  offering a contrast between the natural world of bogs and beaches and that of aeroplanes,  televisions, and petty theft.  It deals with the beautiful and the lighthearted, with some of the more pleasant things in life.  It is true, as the cliché goes, that art holds up a mirror to society; but it's also a wonderful way to flip it off its feet, to stick red potatoes in our ears, dive into pink water, scream and create something a little more interesting, and a little less repetitive.

My tune is a chain saw symphony with crickets, with fish,

with wrong way birds that can’t read music,

all of this is home for me now.  Like rain

that doesn’t rain.  They make mattresses specially

for rooms at the centers of houses, to protect from

 

flying glass.  From tornados.  I sleep on a

mattress like that.

 

from Crazy by L. Ward Abel

 

Moloch is an Irish based e-journal of art and writing edited by Ailbhe Darcy and Clodagh Moynan. Tying different art forms together in new and refreshing ways, Moloch aspires to allow artists and writers to find inspiration in each other and, in doing so, add new dimensions to each others’ work.

The current issue contains writing by L. Ward Abel, Claire Askew, Patricia Byrne,  Niamh Campbell, William Doreski, Noel Harrington, Alan King,  David Kowalczyt, Duane Locke, Geraldine Mitchell, Jackie Morrisey, Kenneth Pobo, Sean Ryan and Peter Schwartz

Artists include Oisín Byrne, Conor Callan, Nessa Darcy, Carol Eakins, Derek Fitzpatrick, Gareth Humphreys, Laura Knowles, Sarah Quigley and Damien O'Reilly.

New Issue of Moloch

It was my blood and the language
That has been spoken into my blood.

I decided to explore
This wild place.

from Disappeared Language by Duane Locke

The new issue of Moloch has just been launched. 

This issue contains writing by L. Ward Abel, Claire Askew, Patricia Byrne,  Niamh Campbell, William Doreski, Noel Harrington, Alan King,  David Kowalczyt, Duane Locke, Geraldine Mitchell, Jackie Morrisey, Kenneth Pobo, Sean Ryan and Peter Schwartz

Artists include Oisín Byrne, Conor Callan, Nessa Darcy, Carol Eakins, Derek Fitzpatrick, Gareth Humphreys, Laura Knowles, Sarah Quigley and Damien O'Reilly.

Pinback Magazine

Damien O'Reilly, an artist featured in Moloch, has hurled himself into the publishing world with the creation of a new magazine PiNBACK.  PiNBACK is a new 40 page literature and art magazine based in Cardiff. The idea is to create a platform of expression both literary and visually for anybody willing to get their voice out there. The magazine will be available in selected shops around Cardiff, Wales and Dublin, Ireland.   Issue One is completed and will be available in shops soon. Currently PiNBACK is looking for literature of all sorts for issue two. Poetry, stories, articles and random thoughts. There is no theme or size limit. All submissions will be considered. They are also looking for artists / designers as part of their Gallery  Section. Email submissions (and any questions) to pinback.magazine@yahoo.com   Pinback is also available to buy online directly from the publishers at http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3991377

Over The Edge with readings by Ailbhe Darcy, John Corless, Tom Lavelle, Anthony Daly & John Liddy

THIS FRIDAY, July 3rd

My esteemed partner in crime, Ailbhe Darcy, will be in Galway reading at the Over The Edge Summer Poetry Special at Sheridan’s Wine Bar.  Since her relocation to Middle America her readings in Ireland have been few and far between, so do come along and catch it before she disappears again.

There is a wonderful lineup that night with John Corless, Tom Lavelle, Anthony Daly & John Liddy all reading.   You can find them all from 8pm in Sheridan’s Wine Bar, 14-16 Church Yard Street, Galway.

Ailbhe Darcy has published poems in Ireland, Britain and the US, and writes critically for a number of publications including The Stinging Fly and Verbal. She recently appeared as part of the prestigious Poetry Ireland Introductions Series, and has read at the London Irish Centre, Poetry Café, RADA, Dublin’s Liberty Hall and Keats’ House. She has just embarked on a PhD in contemporary poetry at the University of Notre Dame. Her poetry features in the recently published anthology Voice Recognition 21 Poets For The 21^st Century(Bloodaxe) and will also feature in the generation defining anthology to be published by Bloodaxe early next year Identity Parade: New British and Irish Poets.

 

John Corless lives and writes in County Mayo in the Irish Riviera. His poetry is a mix of political, satirical, ecclesiastical and rural and has been described as Paul Durcan meets The Sawdoctors. He has an MA in Creative Writing from Lancaster University (2008) and is currently researching for a PhD. He writes poetry, fiction and drama. His work has been published in magazines and collections worldwide. Some of his poems have been referred to the Attorney General for approval. His creative writing classes in the Castlebar campus of GMIT are very popular. He hopes to be a full-time writer when he grows up. Thankfully, there's no evidence of that happening yet. His first collection of poems Are You Ready? was published recently by Salmon Poetry.

 

Tom Lavelle lives in Galway and works as the finance director of a manufacturing company. He is currently a participant in the Advance Poetry Workshop at Galway Arts Centre and as part of that group read his work at last year’s Clifden Arts Week. His poems have appeared in Revival, The Stony Thursday Book, Crannóg, Boyne Berries, West 47 online and The Cuirt Annual. Tom was shortlisted for the Cúirt Over The Edge showcase reading in both 2008 and 2009 and in the 2008 Over The Edge New Writer of The Year competition. This coming Autumn he will be embarking on an M Phil in Writing at the University of Glamorgan.

 

Anthony Daly was born in Galway in 1979. He gained a BA Degree in Classics and History from NUI. Galway. He has been writing poetry for about the past decade and has published several poems in the local press. He has acted with Selkie Theatre in 2008 in their production last summer of Goodwill, as well as in several other productions and shows over the last six years. Anthony has been a many time participant in the Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam, was a Featured Reader at the March 2005 Over The Edge: Open Reading and was shortlisted for the 2007 Cúirt Over The Edge Showcase reading.

 

John Liddy was born in Youghal, Co. Cork, grew up in Limerick and now lives in Spain. His poetry collections include Boundaries (1974), The Angling Cot (1991), Song of the Empty Cage (1997), Wine and Hope (1999), Cast-A-Net (2003) & The Well: New and Selected Poems (2007). La Barca de la Arena (a translation by Francisco Rivero in Spanish of The Angling Cot) & Poisionous Pleasure(a tanslation by John Liddy from Tosigo Ardento by José Maria Álvarez) were published recently. His work has been widely praised by critics such as Desmond O’Grady and Patrick Galvin. He lives in Madrid.

 

There is no entrance fee. All welcome. For further information contact 087-6431748.

Over The Edge acknowledges the ongoing generous financial support of the Arts Council and Galway City Council.

 

http://www.overtheedgeliteraryevents.blogspot.com/

Pinback submissions

PiNBACK is a new non-profit literature and art magazine based in Cardiff.   Started by Damien O'Reilly, a wonderful artist who has contributed quite a lot of original work to Moloch over the years, it aims to create a platform of expression both literary and visually for anybody willing to get their voice out there.  The magazine will be available in selected shops around Cardiff, Wales.  

Currently PiNBACK is looking for literature of all sorts. Poetry, stories, articles and random thoughts. There is no theme or size limit. All submissions will be considered.  Send them to damienoreilly@yahoo.com

The Jabberwocky Series

  

We are bombarded with words everywhere we look. We want to make them good words.   

T h e J a b b e r w o c k y S e r i e s intends to change the way poetry is read, and who reads it, by taking it out of unopened books and off the shelf, and placing it back in the world, where it will be seen. We want poetry on walls – gallery walls, brick walls, billboards, shop shutters. We want to use the spaces used to sell things to say things. We want people to be exposed to it, and interested in it, and moved by it. It is a new way to publish, a new way to communicate, and a new way to use the city.

Available Space is the first poetry exhibition in the series. It will open on the 12^th March, and is being held in an empty commercial property on the main square in Smithfield.

The exhibition is a collaborative project between The Dodo Collective, an emerging artists’ collective working in new media, and Alan Jude Moore, a Dublin poet. It will feature one poem by Moore, presented five times by the five artists. They will use film, projection, illustration and installation, challenging the view of poetry as a staid art form, and demonstrating the concept of reading it in a completely different way.

By using a dormant commercial space, and others blank spaces like it as the series goes on, we want to begin to use they city that we have made as a place to be lived in, and let it become a canvas for art and thought.

The theme of the exhibition is this idea of urban awareness - awareness of real life taking place in a place of business, and of how we communicate with each other and our environment in the hub of a city. The title, theme and location connect to draw attention to the way in which the successes and failures of the economy affect out physical environment, and incorporate the ideas of isolation and urban anomie.

Throughout T h e J a b b e r w o c k y S e r i e s, the themes, locations and collaborators will change, while remaining faithful to the constant project of putting words on walls. We plan to involve both budding and blooming writers and artists, creating a community of ideas and a new audience to hear and see them.

The Dodo Collective is Simon Mc Keagney, Suzanne Van der Lingen, Henderson, Grace McEvoy, Luobo Gelda.

The Poet Alan Jude Moore is a Dublin born poet whose work has been widely published in Ireland and abroad. His fiction has twice been short-listed for the Hennessy Literary Award for New Irish Writing, and has published two collections; Black State Cars, in 2004 and Lost Republics in 2008, both with Salmon Poetry.  His work was recently included in MARKS, a collaborative project between the visual arts magazine Circa and Dublin literary magazine The Stinging Fly. 

Two of Alan's poems, Drift and Alphaville, featured in the last issue of Moloch.

His unpublished poem ‘Pipeline’ will be the basis for the exhibition.