New workshops in poetry and fiction at Galway Arts Centre

Date Published: 30-Aug-2012

Galway Arts Centre is offering aspiring poets a choice of three poetry workshops, all facilitated by poet Kevin Higgins, whose debut collection, The Boy With No Face, published by Salmon Poetry, was short-listed for the 2006 Strong Award for Best First Collection by an Irish poet. Kevin’s second collection of poems, Time Gentlemen, Please, was published in 2008 by Salmon Poetry and his poetry is discussed in The Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry.

His third collection, Frightening New Furniture was published in 2010 by Salmon and his work also appears in the anthology Identity Parade – New British and Irish Poets (Bloodaxe, 2010). A collection of Kevin’s essays and book reviews, Mentioning The War, has just been published by Salmon Poetry. His next collection of poetry, The Ghost in The Lobby, will be published next year, also by Salmon.

Kevin is an experienced workshop facilitator and several of his students have gone on to achieve publication success. One of his workshop participants at Galway Arts Centre won the prestigious Hennessy Award for New Irish Poetry, two have won the Cúirt New Writing Prize, one has been awarded an Arts Council Bursary and yet another won the Cúirt Poetry Grand Slam, while several have published collections of their poems.

Each workshop will run for ten weeks, commencing the week of September 24.

They will take place on Tuesday evenings 7-8.30pm (first class September 25), Thursday afternoons, 2-4pm (first class September 27); on Friday afternoons, 2-3.30pm (first class September 28).

The Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon workshops are open to both complete beginners as well as those who have been writing for some time. The Thursday afternoon workshop is an Advanced Poetry Workshop, suitable for those who have participated in poetry workshops before or had poems published in magazines. The cost to participants is €110, with a concession rate.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.