A Week of Workshops and Wonder
News of a brilliant poetry event and more brilliant workshops to come.
A Mighty SpeakEasy Event
Mighty is the right word to describe how SpeakEasy went last Friday night. Everything worked. Eleanor Hooker's poetry packed a punch, and Eva St Maria's soulful songs complemented it beautifully. The event attracted a very healthy crowd, further boosted by Eleanor Hooker fans.
A whopping 17 people read at the open mic. I MCed it, and also read the piece I posted here a couple of weeks ago about fields. I wrote this piece largely for my own amusement, but it also appeared to greatly amuse the crowd on the night. My head is now swelling gently.
Here’s Eleanor Hooker reading at SpeakEasy in Phil Grimes Pub, Waterford. She wears a grey trousers and grey jumper, and she has short blonde hair.. She’s holding books and papers to read from. You can also see the heads of people listening to her.
A Week of Workshops
I'm giving a feast of workshops this week. I'm finishing the last two sessions of the BLAST schools residency today and tomorrow, and then on Saturday I'm giving my day-long workshop for budding celebrants (divided into two two-hour slots.) I will bore you all with the details of those workshops next week.
A Gift of a Book
People are afraid to give gifts of books to bookworms, but I can assure you they're a delight to receive – nothing warms my heart more. I received a very helpful book called Minding Your Mental Health by Dr Donagh Ward, and it's full of resources to help us manage those pesky emotions of ours. Donagh self-published the book, and it's available from his website if you want to buy it.
Tell Your Story – Writing.ie
Writing.ie is a writing website that offers valuable resources to writers looking to publish their writing. At the moment, it's taking submissions for its Tell Your Own Story section.
You're invited to submit your memories, or your thoughts about writing. Submissions are free, and while you won't be paid for your work, the site is read by publishing professionals, so it could be a platform for your writing, or at the very least a publication credit.