City Library now open through lunch-time on Saturdays

We are pleased to announce that the City Library in Augustine Street now remains open during lunch-time on Saturdays.

The City Library, which up-to-now closed at lunch-time on Saturdays, will now be open on Saturdays continuously from 11.00am through to 5.00pm. The complete opening-times for the City Library are here.

Bealtaine Festival in Tuam Library

During the month of May, Tuam Library celebrates the Festival of Bealtaine, a celebration of creativity for older people, a festival designed to embrace life long learning.

On Tuesday 1st May: Author and Broadcaster John Quinn will read from his work in the library at 2.00. A session will also take place at 11.00 for the book club who are reading ‘Sea of Love, Sea of Loss’ for this month’s book.

John Quinn was a well-known broadcaster with RTE Radio for over twenty years, for which he won numerous awards. He is an established children's author whose work includes 'The Summer of Lily and Esme' (which won the Bisto award in 1992) and 'Duck and Swan'. His first adult novel 'Generations of the Moon' tells the story of a family saga of sectarian strife along the Border from 1926 to 1975, a powerful story of nurture working against nature. His non-fiction publications relate mostly to his radio work, 'My Education' interviews 39 people on their formative years. His gift as a maker of programmes...described as 'Interviews of rare clarity, sympathy and sophistication; doctumentaries of extraordinary atmosphere, perception and narrative grace...'

Following the untimely and tragic death of his wife Olive in 2001, he bared his soul to help others in his personal documenary on their lives together, 'A letter to Olive' . 'A letter to Olive' is published under the title 'Sea of Love, Sea of Loss'

Tuesday 15th, Tuesday 22nd and Tuesday 29th May: Seniors Tai Chi will take place at 11.00 and Beginners Meditation will take place at 12.00 in the library. For more details, please contact the library at 093 24287.

Age Action is running computer classes for beginners, every Tuesday from 10.00 11.00. To book a place, please contact Age Action at 091 527831.

All events are free to attend.

Japanese Artist exhibits his work in Spiddal Library

An exhibition by Hiroto Hakamada, a visual artist from Japan, is currently running in the Public Library in Spiddal

Born in 1968 in Okayama, Japan, Hiroto studied oil painting in Musashino Art University, Tokyo. Subsequently he studied photography and film making in Tokyo. He has held several solo exhibitions and group exhibitions in Japan. This exhibition in Spiddal is his first show in Ireland.

The grounds of his artworks are made of lead and red clay from Okayama - his hometown in the west of Japan. He printed black-and-white photographs taken in Ireland, Italy, Syria, Jordan, Singapore, China and Japan directly on the grounds. He also drew his inspiration from his childhood memories: an image of a small village deep in the mountains in Okayama where his father was born and bred, his relatives who still live there and their daily life in the mountains.

The exhibition runs until Sunday 29th of April. Spiddal library opening times are here.

THREE POETS IN A MUSEUM

Three Galway-based poets, Crannóg magazine's Sandra Bunting, playwright, poet and painter Patricia Burke Brogan, who is a member of Galway Writers' Workshop and poet and publisher Ciarán Parkes, Marram Press, will pay homage to the new Galway Civic Museum over the next couple of weeks by wandering around its exhibits and rooms and reacting to what they see through poetry.

The project, initiated by the Western Writers' Centre - Ionad Scríbhneoir Chaitlín Maud - will culminate in a series of nine poems, three poems from each writer, to be framed in an exhibition in the new museum.

"My hat is off to Breandán Ó'Heaghra of the Museum, who took to the concept immediately, and to Sandra Bunting, who worked without hesitation to gather the poets," says Fred Johnston, the Centre's manager. "Without these elements, it couldn't have happened. It was a simple idea and therefore an attractive one." It is important, he continued, that Galway's contemporary literary world is commemorated as a living element in the new Museum.

The new Galway Museum was officially inaugurated in December 2006.

Exhibition of new works in Tuam Library

Artist who depicts the current tensions between Man and Nature exhibits in Tuam Library.

The Cows Beyond, an exhibition of new works by Eithna Joyce opens on Thursday 26th April at 6.30p.m. in Tuam Public Library and runs until May 5th.

Eithna is an emerging artist and Galway County Libraries are very pleased to host her first solo exhibition since her success in ev+a 2007, Ireland’s pre-eminent annual exhibition of contemporary art. She was selected from over 500 entries to be part of 32 Irish and International artists currently on show in Limerick until 24th June. She is one of only two Irish artists who received a curatorial award from Klaus Ottmann, this years adjudicator for the ev+a exhibition.

"What are we doing to the environment and what are we leaving for the next generation?" These are the issues which Eithna Joyce ponders.

Eithna draws on a blank canvas with pen and ink and then paints in oils mixing realistic and abstract images to create a tension within the picture, mirroring the current tensions we find between man and nature.

Flosca Short Story Competition
and
Flosca Irish Language Poetry Competition

This event will feature readings by poet Louis de Paor and novelist Mike McCormack, with an introduction by Caroline Walsh, Literary Editor of The Irish Times.
Flosca Teo is a new web-based publishing company, founded by writers, with the mission to provide outlets for new work by writers in Ireland and abroad. Our website, http://www.flosca.com/, offers forums for writers to post and discuss new work online.

The April 29th reading marks the opening for submissions to the Flosca Short Story Competition and the Flosca Irish Language Poetry Competition. We will be accepting short stories (3,500 word limit) as well as original poetry written in Irish language (100 line limit). Each first, second, and third place winner will receive cash awards, as well as publication in our Prize-Winners’ Chapbook, to be launched in 2008.


Flosca was founded by fifteen writers who met while attending NUI Galway's MA in Writing programme. Members of Flosca come from Alaska, Ontario, Mayo, Offaly, Nevada, Sussex, Cork, Sligo, New York, Illinois, Clare, California and of course, Galway. We joined forces to create Flosca Teoranta in 2006 with the support of dar s na Gaeltachta. Our aim is to support writing of literary merit and to promote the best international writing in different forms – poetry, fiction, non-fiction-- through whatever channels are available to us, whether through the website or print publishing, depending on what is most appropriate. Flosca also aims to identify gaps in the competition market including Irish language, debut writing and the longer short story.

*[fluh-ska] --noun: the Irish genetive singular for flux: a flowing or flow; the flowing in of the tide; continuous change, passage, or movement; the rate of flow of fluid, particles or energy; a quantity expressing the field of force in a given area

Death of Kurt Vonnegut : Libraries and Books

Influential author Kurt Vonnegut has died at the age of 84 after suffering brain injuries in a fall in New York.
During a career lasting more than 50 years, he wrote the classic anti-war novel, Slaughterhouse Five, detailing his experiences of the Allied bombing of Dresden in 1945.

Here he is writing in 2005 from his A Man Without a Country: A Memoir of Life in George W Bush's America, published by Bloomsbury.

'I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength, who, all over this country (the United States), have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and destroyed records rather than have to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House, the Supreme Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or the media. The America I loved still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.And still on the subject of books: our daily news sources, newspapers and TV, are now so craven, so unvigilant on behalf of the American people, so uninformative, that only in books do we learn what's really going on.'

Vonnegut said he was often surprised to have lived for so long, having been a heavy smoker. He once joked: "I'm suing a cigarette company because on the package they promised to kill me, and yet here I am."

Cúirt International Festival of Literature

The 22nd Cúirt International Festival of Literature in Galway will take place from Tuesday 24th - Sunday 29th April 2007.


The programme for 2007 was unveiled recently.

On 25 April, the prose masterclass will be hosted by MJ Hyland, who was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Carry Me Down.

The poetry masterclass will be hosted by Bostonian writer Nick Flynn on 27 April, and poet Brendan Cleary will host the performance poetry masterclass on the same day.

Pete Mullineaux will be MC for the fifth annual Cúirt International Festival of Literature Poetry Grand Slam with guest performer/judge Brendan Cleary.

The full schedule of readings, events and masterclasses is available here

Over the Edge Reading in Galway City Library

The next Over The Edge: Open Reading takes place in Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street, Galway on Thursday, March 29th, 6.30-8pm. The Featured Readers are Michael Gorman, and four members of the Dark Gate Writers Group, Sean Donegan, Margaret Cullagh, Bernadette Tierney & Donal Grehan.

Michael Gorman was born in Sligo and educated at Summerhill College and University College Galway. His poetry collections include Postcards from Galway, Waiting for the Sky to fall and Up She Flew. One of his poems, The People I Grew Up With Were Afraid, was chosen by Pauline McLynn for inclusion in the anthology, Voices and Poetry of Ireland. He teaches poetry on the MA in Writing at NUI Galway. Michael Gorman is a hugely charismatic reader of his work; his readings are everything a good poetry reading should be.

Sean Donegan has published poems in Poetry Ireland Review, Time Haiku and the anthology, The Backyards of Heaven. A selection of his haiku will appear in an anthology to be published by Pillar Press, Kilkenny next year. He is a member of The Dark Gate Writers Group.

Margaret Cullagh is originally from Tipperary, but currently lives in Galway. She is the facilitator of The Dark Gate Writers Group. She is a writer and creative writing tutor and has read her work at both the Westside Arts Festival and the Project 06 Festival.

Bernadette Tierney is a Galway native. She was a volunteer worker for many years with the Simon Community. Her poems have appeared in Riposte. She is a member of The Dark Gate Writers Group.

Donal Grehan is originally from Mountmellick in Co. Laois and has been living in Galway for 20years. He writes poetry and short stories. His poems have been published in Bealtaine. He is a member of The Dark Gate Writers Group.

As usual there will be an open-mic when the Featured Readers have finished. This is open to anyone who has a poem or story to share. New readers are always especially welcome. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details contact 087-6431748

More Galway events in Library Ireland Week

Here are further events taking place during Library Ireland Week in libraries throughout County Galway.

Galway City Library
Tuesday 6th March 10am – 12am. Exhibition of Ceramic Work by local VTOS Students.The students will demonstrate glass painting

Tuesday 6th March 11.30 – 12.30. John Quinn, well known author of The Summer of Lily and Esme and other titles will talk to students.

Wednesday 7th March & 8pm. International Women’s Day will be marked by Amnesty International, public discussion on "Trafficking Violates Women’s Rights". Diarmuid Hogan, NUI Galway will chair the discussion.

Thursday 8th March ‘6.30. Fred Johnson, Writer and Manager of the Western Writers Centre will talk on the Uses and Abuses of Literary Workshops.

Friday 9th March @ 7 pm. Dermot Healy, Author of A Goat’s Song and The Bend for Home will read from his work.


Loughrea Library
Tuesday 6th March @8pm. Jo McDonagh, past President of the GAA will talk on the history of the GAA.

Tuesday 13th March 8.30. Concert of Choirs

Sunday 4th March @ 8pm. Maynooth Guitar Ensemble


Ballinasloe Library
Monday, March 12th @8pm. A lecture on the Battle Of Aughrim by Dr. Harman Murtagh.This is the 7th in a series of 9 lectures organized by the Historical and Archaeological Society of Uí-Mháine during the winter months.

Márta 6-17. Taispeántas éalaine ó réamhscoileanna an cheanntair le haghaidh Seachtain na Gaeilge agus Lá'L Pádraig

Europe Direct Centre open days for adults and children...call in and see how the Europe Direct Centre works, access the Europa website, browse through our selection of brochures and leaflets.

Galway events in Library Ireland Week

Here are some more events taking place in Galway Public Libraries during Library Ireland Week.

Clifden Library
5th – 10th March. Exhibition of Art and Craft Work by Local Artists

Thursday 8th March at 8pm. Holistic Health : Enjoy a cup of herbal tea and a chat with Terry Conroy An Bhean Feasa Health Store.


Saturday 10th @ 12am. Pet Care: Maureen Finneran from Animal Rescue will give a talk on pet care.

Athenry Library
Wednesday 7th March @ 8pm. Explore the mystery and benefits of Acupuncture with Mitra Rahmani a licensed acupuncturist from China.
Sarah Toward-Choi a qualified and experienced Iyengar Yoga Teacher will talk about Yoga.

Roundstone Library
Saturday 10th March 2pm. Fancy Dress Parade; All children are invited to dress up as their favourite book character.

Eyrecourt Library
Thursday 8th March. A Handbook for Local Community Heritage Groups will be launched by Cllr Michael Mullins, Mayor of the County of Galway, @ 7pm

Oranmore Library
1st – 10th March. People and Nature Photographic Exhibition ( Images of Galway)

Thursday 8th March. Biodiversity in County Galway; Elaine O’Riordan, Project Manager, will talk on the subject @ 7pm

Library Ireland Week 2007 in Galway

Library Ireland Week 2007 takes place from 5th to 11th March.
The Week celebrates and highlights the role of libraries, librarians and information professionals.

During the week various events will be taking place in libraries throughout County Galway. Details of which will be posted here over the next few days.


Tuam Library
Tuesday 6th March. Mime and Mask Workshop with Midi Corcoran 10-11 & 11.15-12.15

Wednesday 7th march. Library Open Day : all are invited to the Library, to browse, learn, have a cup of tea and a chat. Toddler group also meeting in the Library in the morning.

Friday 9th March. Galway City and County Childcare Committee and Galway County Libraries Toy Resource Project will be launched at 5pm by Mr. Frank Fahey, T.D., Minister of State, Dept of Justice and Law Reform.

Friday 16th march. To celebrate Seachtain na Gaeilge:
Irish Drama Workshops with Priscilla; 10.00-11.00 & 11.15 – 12.15


Headford Library
Wednesday 7th March. Elaine O’Riordan will talk on Biodiversity and
Dolores Keane will talk on Organic Gardening

Thursday 8th March. Gordan Darcy, Celebrated environmentalist and author will give two workshops looking at aspects of the local environment. 10.00 – 12.30pm


Westside Library
Tuesday 6th March @ 6.30pm. A night with Stan - the story behind the pictures of Stan Shield’s recently published book of photographs – Stan’s Galway.

Wednesday 7th March @ 6.30 pm. A night of Classical Music – a Quartet playing a mix of classical favourites.


Portumna Library
Thursday 8th March at 7pm. Launch of Exhibition of Paintings by Local Artists. 5th – 10th March.

Monday 5th March @ 7.30. Talk and Demonstration on Holistic Health and Complementary Therapies with Trish and Rachel.

Wednesday 7th March @ 7.30pm. Library Reading Group Open Meeting

Over The Edge in Galway City Library

The next Over The Edge: Open Reading takes place in Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street, Galway on Thursday, March 1st, 6.30-8pm.

The Featured Readers are Enda Coyle-Green, Alan McMonagle & Aideen Henry.

Enda Coyle-Green lives in County Dublin. Widely published in magazines and anthologies, her work has also been broadcast on RTE Radio 1 and Lyric FM. Prizes for poetry include a Hennessy Award nomination in 2002. Her first collection, Snow Negatives, received the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 2006.

Alan McMonagle lives in Galway. His work has appeared in Southword, The Cuirt Annual, west47online and Crannog. Last year he took second place in the Sean O'Faolain short story competition and was also short-listed for the Fish Story award. He is currently pursuing an MA in Writing at NUI Galway.

Aideen Henry lectures at NUI, Galway. She began writing poetry quite recently and has had poems published in West 47 and Crannog magazine. Aideen has taken part many times in the Over The Edge open-mic. She is currently attending a poetry workshop at Galway Arts Centre.

As usual there will be an open-mic when the Featured Readers have finished. This is open to anyone who has a poem or story to share. New readers are always especially welcome. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars.

For further details contact 087-6431748.Over The Edge acknowledges the financial support of Galway City Council and The Arts Council

Library Success Stories 2

The Library Association of Ireland's Youth Library Group in conjunction with the Libraries in Northern Ireland are hosting a Library Success Stories 2 on Tuesday 17th April 2007 in the Iontas Arts & Resource Centre, Castleblayney, County Monaghan.

A very successful and well attended Library Success Stories Day was held on Monday 14th November 2005 in Omagh Library, County Tyrone.

Aim of the Day: A forum for the exchange of ideas and good practice in libraries
Who is it Aimed at: Frontline and support staff involved in developing or delivering projects, programmes and activities in local libraries.
What the Day consists of: It will consist of paralled workshops highlighting a range of very successful projects and activities.
End Result of the Day: Staff from different library authorities and across the border, will talk to each other and exchange ideas and good practice. Get some positive reinforcement that there are alot of worthwhile things going on in our libraries. Produce firstly in hardcopy the projects, programme and activities discussed for each participating county and secondly online - via a website with passwords etc.

Please email me to get a template for you or your staff to fill in about any project, programme or activity. (Please fill in each project, programme, activity seperately) If the template could be filled in and emailed back to me before Friday 23rd February. If you would like for your library authority to participate in this day, please forward the names of the staff to me before Friday 2nd March. Each library authority can send up to 3 staff maximum.

On behalf of the Youth Library Group, I cannot stress enough how important a day such as this is for frontline staff as I myself participated in the first library success stories in Omagh and it was wonderful to hear such fabulous innovative ideas, and most of them done with little or no money.

Deirdriu McQuaid
Youth Library Group Secretary
Library Association of Ireland

Library Ireland Week 2007

Library Ireland Week 2007 takes place from 5th to 11th March.

The Week celebrates and highlights the role of libraries, librarians and information professionals. A working group consisting of members from sections and groups of the Library Association of Ireland is currently co-ordinating events around the country and among the various library sectors. Posters, bookmarkers, a logo and a website will all feature in this year’s publicity campaign.

The LAI would like library staff in all sectors to participate in Library Ireland Week by organising an event or events. Examples of events held in 2006 include exhibitions, tours, author visits, recitals, competitions and readings. Events coinciding with LIW or which would normally be held on a weekly/monthly basis can be included in the promotion. Libraries will soon be able to register their events on a Library Ireland Week website.

Do you have a 'story' to tell about your library that would be of interest to local/national media during LIW? Are you willing to 'champion' LIW in your area – to encourage participation, to collate information about activities, or to organise a photograph of library staff from different sectors. If so contact bboardman@libraryassociation.ie

Iraq Diary of Saad Eskander

When the Saddam regime was toppled in 2003, the Iraq National Library and Archive in Baghdad was set alight and looted. Much damage was done, in particular to the library’s archive collections.

In early December 2006, after consulting the heads of his departments, Dr Eskander, the Director of the Iraq National Library and Archive re-opened the Library and Archive even though the security situation remained as bad as before.

The British Library has posted the diary of Saad Eskander, noting that it "describes the perilous and tragic situation that the Iraq National Library and Archive is operating under and which led to the institution's temporary closure" at the end of November. Eskander's concerns are simply security and survival; what most other librarians consider first-order challenges are, in Iraq, much lower priorities.

Newbery and Caldecott Awards 2007

American Library Association announces literary award winners:



John Newbery Medal For the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature.

The Higher Power of Lucky written by Susan Patron, is the 2007 Newbery Medal winner. The book is illustrated by Matt Phelan and published by Simon & Schuster/Richard Jackson
Three Newbery Honor Books were named: “Penny from Heaven,” written by Jennifer L. Holm and published by Random House; “Hattie Big Sky,” by Kirby Larson, published by Delacorte Press; and “Rules,” by Cynthia Lord, published by Scholastic.





Caldecott Medal winner Is awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.



Flotsam, illustrated by David Wiesner, is the 2007 Caldecott Medal winner. The wordless book is published by Clarion.

Two Caldecott Honor Books were named: “Gone Wild: An Endangered Animal Alphabet,” written and illustrated by David McLimans, and published by Walker, and “Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom,” illustrated by Kadir Nelson, written by Carole Boston Weatherford and published by Hyperion/Jump at the Sun.

First Over The Edge: Open Reading of 2007

The first Over The Edge: Open Reading of 2007 takes place in Galway City Library, St. Augustine Street, Galway on Thursday, January 25th, 6.30-8pm.

The Featured Readers are Elaine Feeney, Mary Mullen & Todd Swift. The reading is a special occasion for co-organisers, Susan Millar DuMars and Kevin Higgins, as it is the fourth anniversary of the series, which began in January 2003.

Elaine Feeney was born in Galway in 1979. She teaches English at St. Patrick’s College, Tuam. She has performed and read her poetry at various readings and festivals, including the Cuirt Festival Poetry Slam. Elaine has poems forthcoming in both The Shop and Nthposition.com. According to 2005 Patrick Kavanagh Award Winner, Dave Lordan: “Her performances are notable for their fearless confrontation with the controversial truth of women’s lives in the new Ireland.”

Mary Mullen is an Alaskan-born writer who has lived in County Galway for the last decade. Her work has been published in We Alaskans, Sunday Miscellany 2003-2004, The Stinging Fly, the Cork Literary Review, Galway Now, West47online, the Anchorage Daily News, and a chapbook ‘The Whole Building Could Be On Fire’. She is working on a collection of personal history essays and short stories. Mary is a graduate of NUIG’s MA in Writing.

Todd Swift is the Canadian-born author of three poetry collections, Budavox, Café Alibi and Rue du Regard. He currently lives in London. Todd is an editor of many poetry anthologies, including 100 Poets Against The War. He also compiled the recent audio CD Life Lines: Poets for Oxfam. His latest publication is Natural Curve, a pamphlet of poems from Rubicon Press, Alberta. He has co-edited a major collection of essays on Anglo-Quebec Poetry, Language Acts, to be launched spring 2007 in Montreal. His New and Selected Poems, 1987-2007, edited with an Introduction by Kevin Higgins, is forthcoming from Salmon Publishing in 2008.

As usual there will be an open-mic when the Featured Readers have finished. This is open to anyone who has a poem or story to share. New readers are especially welcome. The MC for the evening will be Susan Millar DuMars. For further details contact 087-6431748.Over The Edge acknowledges the financial support of Galway City Council and The Arts Council

On Friday, January 26th, starting at 8.pm., Aosdana poet and founder of the literary magazine, Cyphers, Macdara Woods will read from his work at The Imperial Hotel, Eyre Square, Galway. Admission is €8 and €5.

Born in Dublin City in 1942, he has been publishing his work since the early 1960s. His poetry collections include Decimal D. Sec Drinks in a Bar in Marrakesh (1970); Early Morning Matins (1973); Stopping the Lights in Ranelagh (1987); Miz Moon (1988); The Hanged Man Was Not Surrendering (1990); Notes From the Countries of Blood-Red Flowers (1994); Selected Poems (1996); Knowledge in the Blood: New & Selected Poems (2001) and The Nightingale Water (2001).

His work has been translated into more than one dozen languages. Two books of his poems have been published in Italian, Biglietto di Sola Andata (1998) and Con Pesaro City ai Miei Piedi (1999), which included an audio CD with readings by the author and music by the Italian group Militia.

In 1975, he co-founded the literary journal Cyphers with Eilean Ni Chuillean in, and Leland Bardwell and Pearse Hutchinson, and he continues to serve as its editor.

Galway County Council Arts Grant/Bursary 2007

Galway County Council promotes, develops and supports the vibrant Arts sector in Galway County and offers several grants and schemes annually, which groups and organisations can avail of.

PUBLICATION ASSISTANCE GRANT : This grant is to assist writers to publish their own original work. This grant is for new work and innovation in creative writing. Application forms are available from the Arts Office, Áras an Chontae, Prospect Hill, Galway Tel: 091 746875 or email: bcunningham@galwaycoco.ie Fully completed application forms for all of the above schemes/ grants must be returned not later than 4p.m. on Wednesday 31st of January 2007 to the Arts Office, Áras an Chontae, Prospect Hill, Galway.

TYRONE GUTHRIE AWARD This is a special bursary award for two artists, selected by open competition, to spend two weeks in residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig, the artists’ workplace in County Monaghan. Each bursary covers all board and lodging expenses for a two-week period, plus the use of a studio if necessary. This Award is open to all art forms. Application forms are available from the Arts Office, Áras an Chontae, Prospect Hill, Galway Tel: 091 746875 or email: bcunningham@galwaycoco.ie

Fully completed application forms for all of the above schemes/ grants must be returned not later than 4p.m. on Wednesday 31st of January 2007 to the Arts Office, Áras an Chontae, Prospect Hill, Galway.