Eigse Poetry Workshop

Poet Rita Kelly will give a workshop for emerging poets and writers on Sat. May 22nd in Carlow. Works from this workshop will be showcased at the Emerging Poets Showcase on Mon. 14th June during Éigse. The workshop costs €7 for the day and has limited places. Contact the office on +353 (0)59-9140491 or email info@eigsecarlow.ie to book your place.
I presume this means the participants read their work during the festival in June. Its very reasonably priced for a workshop with such an experienced writer, so needless to say, I've booked myself in.
Rita Kelly's publications include five collections of poetry, the latest being Turas go bun na Spéire from Cló IarChonnachta, 2009 with a new English poetry collection due for release in 2011. Her work has earned various awards, most recently the prestigious Patrick & Kathleen Kavanagh Memorial Award.

Kildare Readers Festival
John Connolly and Stuart Neville were fantastic on Saturday night, both very talented and generous writers. What I didn't know about John Connolly was how funny he is, will write a post about the talk soon, it was very informative, witty and especially relevant to writers. (Thanks to the organisers of the Kildare Readers Festival!) There was a substantial queue to get books signed after the event so we were given little post-its to write out the dedication and make it easier for the author at the other end. I imaginatively wrote "Niamh", and stuck it to my copy of "The Whisperers." My sister, on the other hand, wrote, "To Olivia, My inspiration." An amused(?) John Connolly was very genial and wrote the dedication, "To Olivia, my inspiration. Sure what would I do without you?"