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The 2012 London Book Festival will consider books in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Italian in the competition. Both published and unpublished works are accepted- this festival features a wide variety of categories. The prize for the 2012 London Book Festival Author of the Year is $1500 in U.S. funds and a flight from your city of entry to the awards ceremony, to be held in January, 2013 in London. For more information please click here. The deadline for this competition is November 25, 2012.

The Fermoy Poetry Festival will be occuring 02-06 August, featuring poetry workshops, poetry trails, poetry readings, live music and book launches. The festival will feature poets Tsead Bruinja, Jan Glass, Noel King, Kim Moore, Louis Mulcahy and more. Plese click here for more information.

The publishing world is experiencing a tense transition, in terms of finding the appropriate relationship between the publication of hard copy and digital formats. The strengthening role of digital publishing, with regards poetry, can be clearly seen by the influx of literary ezines. It is out of this emerging context that Solar Winds and Ions raises its flag.

Where digital publishing has been notably innovative and important to poetry is with the explosion of literary ezines. Websites like ‘issuu’ have created a very user friendly and slick means by which people can easily publish material on the web. These sites, with their low entry costs, enable more people to explore and participate in literary publishing.

Solar Winds and Ions is my fourth poetry collection with Lapwing Publications. It is a PDF file that contains the five poems. People are free to print, download, host or email this file to any interested parties. (Note: The file is NOT free to use, if for commercial purposes.)

You can download the book here.

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1. The Registrar of Irish PLR has announced that the final date for receipt of new PLR registration forms for the Irish PLR year 2011 is Friday September 2nd, 2011 at 5:00 p.m.

2. If you are already registered for Irish PLR, please note that the final date for receipt of additional book forms for the Irish PLR year 2011 is Friday September 2nd, 2011 at 5:00 p.m.

Further information on registering additional books can be found at
http://www.plr.ie/2011/07/10/registering-additional-books/

3. Books registered after that date will be included for PLR year 2012.

Starting in May, Galway Arts Centre presents a daytime class for all those beginner and continuing creative writing students out there, both facilitated by Susan Millar DuMars. Susan Millar DuMars writes both poetry and fiction. A collection of her stories, Lights In The Distance, was published last year by Doire Press; she has published two collection of poetry, Big Pink Umbrella (2008) and Dreams For Breakfast (2010) both with Salmon Poetry. She is also co-organiser of the Over The Edge reading series which specifically promotes new writers.

The class is suitable for both beginning and continuing creative writing students, working in either poetry or fiction. Students will spend their week responding to writing exercises designed to inspire, rather than inhibit. In class, they will receive gentle feedback on their work from their classmates and from the teacher. The class takes place on Monday afternoons, 2-3.30pm, commencing on Monday May 9th and runs for eight weeks.

The cost to participants is 90 Euro with an 80 Euro concession price. Booking is essential as places are limited. For booking please contact Galway Arts Centre, 47 Dominick Street, phone 091 565886 or email victoria@galwayartscentre.ie

Jonathan Barry’s 15^th Solo exhibition of paintings runs this Spring at The Dublin Writer’s Museum in Parnell Square, during March and April 2011. The artist who specializes in painting famous scenes from literature, returns to the venue with a new body of work including new paintings from the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle.

These include scenes from A Study In Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes,and The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.

Horror fans will relish new scenes from such Gothic classics as The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, Jane Eyre, and Oh Whistle, and I’ll Come to you my Lad, by M.R.James.

Lovers of science fiction novels will appreciate new scenes from The War of the Worlds by H.G.Wells, and Narnia fans will enjoy pictures from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S.Lewis.

Faoi iamh gheobhaidh tú an clár don Chéad Chomhdháil Idirnáisiúnta ar Litríocht Ghaeilge na nÓg, a thionólfar i gColáiste Phádraig, Droim Conrach, ar an 8-9 Aibreán 2011. Bheinn buíoch díot dá scaipfeá an t-eolas seo & beidh fáilte roimh chách.

Below please find the programme for the First International Conference on Irish-Language Children’s Literature, which will be held in St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, on 8-9 April 2011. All are welcome to attend.

http://litriochtnanog.blogspot.com/

Cló Litríocht is a new publishing company that specialise in the creation of eBooks. Cló Litríocht have the latest in digitizing technology and offer the service at the most competitive rates. This service can make your book available to a worldwide audience almost immediately.

Shakespeare’s classic Macbeth is now available as Gaeilge as An Brón-Chluiche Macbeit.  Translated to Irish by S. Labhrás Ua Suilleabháin in 1925, the Tragedy of Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s darkest plays where an honourable man’s ambition to be king, results in acts of tyranny and greed.
Labras Ua Suilleabhain was a native of Bantry, Co. Cork and completed this work of translation in 1925.  Cló Litriocht was introduced to the work by Labhrás’s son Eugene who is an accountant in Silicon Valley.   Eugene and the other members of Labhrás’s family are delighted to see their father’s work back in print and in eBook format.
The timing of the launch of this eBook is no coincidence.  With Seachtain na Gaeilge upon us, this title epitomises efforts to make the Irish language more accessible by bringing together classic literature and the Irish language using the latest technology.
Ebooks are seen as the new frontier in many eyes. The eBook market in the US has grown significantly over the past number of years with the sale of eBooks on Amazon.com outselling paperbacks by 3 to 1 in 2010.
Cló Litriocht, part of the Bard na nGleann group, has been helping authors deliver their titles in eBook format for almost a year.  Popular titles include Tomás Mac Siomóin’s “An Tionscadal”, Maidhc Dainin O’Shea’s “Idir dhá Lios” and Nicholas Williams’ Irish translation of “Alice in Wonderland”, all of which are available on Litriocht.com.
Most recently, Cló Litriocht published, in ebook format, a selection of Ballingeary Historical Society journals dating back to 1993.  These journals provide insight into the local, historical and social activities of a small community in West Cork in any given year.  Their availability as an eBook, on Localbooks.ie, provides the community, both at home and abroad, with rich literature about their locality.
Cló Liriocht was set up by West Kerry native Tom Fitzgerald, MD of Bárd na nGleann Teoranta. Bárd are always seeking out new ways to use technology to promote the Irish language with Mr. Fitzgerald adding that “publishing companies like Cló Litriocht will help Irish language authors reach their audience in a new and innovative format. This is a unique way for authors to become a bestseller at a fraction of the print publishing costs.”
An Brón-Chluiche Macbeit is now available for download from Litriocht.com, the world’s largest online Irish language bookshop.

Cló Litriocht, part of the Bard na nGleann group, was set up in 2010 and currently provides digital archiving and publishing solutions.  Its aim is to help authors and publishers convert their titles to digital format either for archiving or to allow them distribute their titles as eBooks.

The Bárd na nGleann group (www.bardnangleann.com) is based in Béal Átha’n Ghaorthaidh Co. Cork, with a subsidiary, Bárd na nGleann International, in San Jose, California. The Bárd was ranked as the 5th fastest growing technology company in Ireland in the Deloitte Fast 50 in 2005. Bárd was also named as the Cork SME Company of the Year 2004.

Waterford Writers’ Weekend celebrates writing, reading and creativity. Running over three days, March 18th to 20th 2011, the lively and engaging programme is filled with workshops, readings, book signings, poetry, fiction, events for children and teens, entertainment and the long running Seán Dunne Young Writers’ Awards. The programme of events is available at www.waterfordwritersweekend.ie

talks and seminars will feature speakers such as former Taoiseach Dr. Garret Fitzgerald, RTE’s business editor David Murphy, author and columnist Martina Devlin, poets Thomas McCarthy and Leanne O’Sullivan, authors Ed O’Loughlin, Peter Murphy and many others. Participate in writing workshops including an introduction to creative writing, writing for theater, and learn the tricks and tips of how to get published. Over the weekend come to an Open Mic session, listen to music, attend craft exhibitions, taste the wonderful food of Waterford and so much more – the  promotional video is available on YouTube.

Workshops and readings can be booked at 051 849975 or by emailing writersweekend@waterfordcity.ie

The 2011 Dublin Book Festival will take place 2 – 6 March in Dublin’s City Hall and other venues around the city. Author events will be held  in a variety of venues throughout Dublin City including the National Library of Ireland, The Gutter Bookshop, Cube at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin City Libraries and, as with previous years, Dublin’s City Hall.

Guests include over 80 of Ireland’s leading authors, poets, journalists and thinkers. This year’s festival has been extended to five days of readings, debates, interviews and workshops.

To view the full programme and information regarding bookings, please visit the Dublin Book festival website or see their Facebook page