Boyne Writers' Reading in Longwood this Easter Sunday

 

Boyne Berries 1916 - Cover Design Rory O'Sullivan

As part of Meath's 1916 centenary events the Boyne Writers' Group will give a poetry reading this Easter Sunday between 4 and 5 p.m. at Longwood Fair Green. We hope to preview Boyne Berries 1916 at the event.

Longwood Fair Green - Family Day - Celebrating Community 1916 -2016. Remembering Thomas Allen and Eamonn Duggan. Easter Sunday Family day for 1916. Celebrating community, families and children and those who contribute to Irish life.

The Forward Prize 2016

 

Thanks to Crannog Magazine  who have nominated my poem 'Look Back in Wonder' for The Forward Prize  for a single poem. The poem was published in Crannog 39 last summer. It's a very tough competition but it's good to be nominated.

 

It's been a productive weekend, one poem and one 2000 word short story written. I enjoyed the story immensely so maybe I should begin another one. Yet maybe a poem will come first.

 

Centenary in Poetry and Prose

Okay here we go. In advance of the launch of Boyne Berries 1916 on Thursday, 31st March at 8 p.m. I'm going to do a short review of Centenary in Poetry and Prose, published by The Meath Writers' Circle and edited by Frank Murphy of The Tara Poetry Blog.

The journal features work by members of The Meath Writers' Circle, some pieces by members of the Boyne Writers and two poems by Tom French, who will launch Boyne Berries 1916. All-in-all the local communities of Trim, Navan and its environs are well represented. I notice that Francis Ledwidge and Padraic Pearse have poems in here too; The Lament for Thomas MacDonagh and The Wayfarer.

Bird-hearted Bard of Boyne by Fr. Patrick Deighan shows some lovely turn of phrase. I enjoyed I Thank You For My Tomorrows by Michael Sheils and Monica Sherlock's Enough Said and The Dream. Myra Lalor's Rules of Execution is chilling but well written. There's lots to find nestled between the pages of this publication.

The cover image is great, it is a sculpture called Cuchulainn and Ferdia by Ann Meldon Hugh. Cuchulainn and Ferdia were brothers-in-arms I suppose. Congratulations to The Meath Writers' Circle. You can read more here The Tara Poetry Blog

Boyne Berries 1916 Submission Call

The submission period for Boyne Berries 19, which will be a special issue commemorating the centenary of the 1916 Rising, will open on Sunday, 15th November 2015 and close on Sunday, 03rd January, 2016. The magazine will  be published in late March of 2016.

 

What does 1916 mean to you now? Can you picture life one hundred years ago? Is romantic Ireland dead and gone? What would those figures, those celebrated heroes of our past make of Ireland today if they could step out from the shadows? Is this a time to truly reflect? I don't want to put words in your mouth but I'd love to know what you think, what you feel, what you imagine...

 

I am keen to read work from writers in the Meath area but national and international submissions are also welcome.

 

Send up to 3 poems per poetry submission. Poems should be no more than 40 lines long. Fiction and prose submissions should be no more than 1500 words. Please use Times New Roman 12 and single spacing. Please include a short biographical note about yourself. Submissions should be placed in the body of the email and attached as a word document attachment. Submit to orla.a.fay@gmail.com only.

 

Submissions which fail to adhere to the above criteria will be ignored.

Love of Distance

Love of Distance

I remember that, when I was in the house
of my mother, in the farmland,
I had a window that looked out
onto meadows; a distant wooded border
hid the Ticino and, farther away,
there was a dark strip of hills.
Then, I had seen the sea
just once, but I harbored
the bitter nostalgia of a lover.
Toward evening, I gazed at the horizon;
squinted my eyes; and with my eyelashes,
caressed edges and colors:
the strip of hills turned flat,
trembled, became blue: to me it seemed the sea
and I liked it better than the real one.

Antonia Pozzi

(24 April 1929)


Translated by Nicholas Benson

18th Boyne Berries Launch

Paddy Halligan & Paddy Smith

Steve Wade, Michael Farry & Sinead MacDevitt

 

 

Thursday night last saw the successful launch of Boyne Berries 18. A huge thanks to all the contributors who attended and made the night a success. Congratulations to all involved. Boyne Berries 18 can be purchased from Antonia's Bookstore, Trim, from Spar, Trim and online via http://boyneberries.blogspot.ie/

 

 



 

Boyne Berries 18 Launch

Boyne Berries 18 will be launched tomorrow night at 8 p.m. in the Castle Arch Hotel, Trim, Co. Meath. The cover design is by Rory O'Sullivan, a long time member of the Boyne Writers. I'm not going to just say I enjoyed editing the magazine but I will say the following: editing the magazine seems like a blurry dream now but in fact a lot of work went into making the finished product a reality.

 

This autumn issue brings together contributors from Meath, Louth, Dublin, Cavan, Carlow, Cork, Derry, Antrim, Galway, Kerry, Liverpool, New York and California. The Boyne Writers group would like to thank Meath County Council Arts Office for their generous assistance in funding this issue.

 

Boyne Berries 18 will be launched by Antonia Daly. Antonia is originally from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. After achieving a degree in Civil & Structural Engineering at DIT Bolton Street she went on to work in the Engineering sector until 2005 when she followed her dream of opening a bookshop in Trim, Co. Meath. Antonia's Bookstore is now celebrating it's tenth year in Trim.

Come along to the launch if you fancy stepping into the imaginative world of poetry and prose for an hour or two. All welcome.