Our Final Event- Launch of 'DREAM OF A CITY'

Join us on Friday 5th December at Limerick City Gallery of Art to launch an anthology of poetry DREAM of A CITY


Dream of a City will be a permanent record to the extraordinary year of culture in Limerick in 2014. The  Limerick City of Culture Visiting Writers Series wanted to mark the year and honour Limerick’s literary achievements in an enduring and printed form. Much of what happens in festivals of culture is 'written on water'; we see exhibitions and then they are dismantled, we attend concerts and the music fades in our memory.  Our aim in this volume is to leave a permanent body of poetic work identified closely with the experiences of 2014 and honouring the city and its literature.

All are welcome to this special event. Dream of a City is published by Astrolabe Press and priced at €12. 

UPDATE

   















The Trilogy is Complete ...                           The final November / December bookmark out now.

                                         Events in October and December 

 Beginner Creative Writing Workshop with Novelist Joseph O' Connor 

As part of the legacy of the City of Culture - each Visiting Writer has been giving creative writing  workshops to new writers, sharing their insights on the craft and their inspirations. So far Claire Keegan, Richard Blanco, John Liddy, Mike McCormack, Andrew Miller, Louis de Bernières  have all given workshops in Limerick City and County venues. 

 Pictured below is Novelist Joseph O ' Connor  (Frank McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick). teaching  a workshop to beginners in creative writing as part of the Visiting Writers Program.  

Louis de Bernières British novelist

The British Are Coming

Two award winning British novelists will read at the Granary City Library Limerick in the coming week, as part of Limerick City of Culture 2014 Visiting Writers Series.

 Andrew Miller will give a reading in the City Library at 8pm on Friday the 3rd of October. Miller’s novelPure, won the Costa Book of the Year Award 2012. The novel, set in pre- revolutionary France, chronicles a man's efforts in clearing an overfilled graveyard which is polluting the surrounding area. Pure became an international best seller in 2011 and was critically acclaimed.

 Louis de Bernières  will give a reading in the City Library at 8pm on Friday 10th October. de Bernières is best known for his novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin which won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best Novel.

Both writers will also conduct workshops with aspiring Limerick writers as part of the legacy program for Limerick City of Culture 2014. 

                                   Admission is free for both readings.  

Reading : Andrew Miller

Friday 3rd October The Visiting Writers Series continues with a reading by British novelist Andrew Miller. 

Location: Limerick City Library, The Granary , Michael Street, Limerick 

Time : 8pm 

Andrew Miller was born in Bristol in 1960. He has lived in Spain, Japan, Ireland and France, and currently lives in Somerset. His first novel, INGENIOUS PAIN, was published by Sceptre in 1997 and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Grinzane Cavour prize in Italy. He has since written five novels: CASANOVA, OXYGEN, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread Novel Award and the Booker Prize in 2001, THE OPTIMISTS, ONE MORNING LIKE A BIRD, and PURE which won the Costa Novel of the Year Award 2012 and the Costa Book of the Year Award 2012.

Praise for 'Pure'

Novelist Rose Tremain, writing for The Guardian, identified the novel as one of her two "Books of the year 2011".In 2012, The Observer named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels". It was shortlisted for the 2012 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction, with judges praising the novel as "a wholly unexpected story, richly imagined and beautifully structured"; and the South Bank Award in the "Literature" category.

Pure- Winner of the Costa Book of the year Award 2012

A structurally and stylistically flawless historical novel, this book is a gripping story, beautifully written and emotionally satisfying. A novel without a weakness from an author who we all feel deserves a wider readership.

Costa Book Award judges

- Culture Night 2014 - Friday September 19th

Friday September 19th is Culture night! Events all taking place all across the city and county.
Visiting Writers Limerick 2014 have organised 2 very special events .

An Evening with Claire Keegan 

Location: Adare Library, Main Street, Adare Co. Limerick

Time : 8pm on Friday 19th September 

This evening will include on stage conversation and reading with the award winning short story writer.







Reading by Author Helena Close 


Location: Friars Gate Theatre , Kilmallock Co. Limerick
Acclaimed Limerick writer Helena Close will read from her novel Pin Head Duffy followed by a Q&A.





Limerick Arts Office have produced a booklet on all 69 events taking place. These are available in libraries, museums, galleries and from the arts office. 
Phone 061 407363  email : artsoffice@limerick.ie
More information on events in Limerick and beyond : www.culturenight.ie

Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco Is In Town!

Barrack Obama's Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco begins his residency in Limerick today as part of Limerick city of Culture. Poet Richard Blanco commented: 

“I am thrilled to be Limerick City of Culture’s Writer in Residence and visit Ireland for the very first time. I’m very much looking forward to discovering its ancient landscape and meet and work with the people of Limerick and beyond, and share in the universal language of poetry.

Blanco was chosen by Obama as the fifth inaugural poet in 2012 following in the footsteps of luminary American writers Maya Angelou and Robert Frost. Blanco is the youngest, first Latino, and openly gay writer to hold this honour and was chosen as Obama believed the poet’s “deeply personal poems are rooted in the idea of what it means to be an American.”

Blanco will meet community groups in (Watch House Cross Library), Work with Limerick Writers and secondary school students and give a number of readings and talks as part of his residency (details below) 

Thursday 28th August 8pm

Public POETRY READING:  at the Granary Library, Michael Street, Limerick. - Admission Free

Wednesday September 3rd at 5pm 

TALK : POET ENGINEER AND THE POETICS OF PLACE: at the Studio Space, School of Architecture, University of Limerick (Room CG-042) Admission Free- All Welcome.

Thursday September 4th at 8pm

LAUNCH -Reading as part of launch of programme for Cuisle Limerick City International Poetry Festival.  at the Hunt Museum .Tribute reading to American poets, especially those who have taken part in Cuisle Limerick City International Poetry Festival. Admission Free

Friday September 5th at 8pm   

READING - Desmond Hall Newcastle West, Co. Limerick

Appearing along with Richard Blanco will be Limerick poet, Vivienne McKechnie,’ Local violinist, Siobhan McMahon and flautist, Clare Murphy, will complete the line-up for what promises to be a magical night in this historic and beautiful venue. The event is open to all and admission is free.