We’ve all had the occasional struggle with words. Be we writers by choice, ambition or otherwise, everyone does write (or type) and, while some may argue that today, pretty much anything goes in terms of the written word (I allude here of course to ‘txt spk’ and other such social jargon – yes, I’m calling it […]

The final event I was to enjoy at the On Home Ground Poetry Festival was a reading by the esteemed Belfast-born poet, Michael Longley, another close friend of Heaney’s, who paid his own special tribute to the writer. Having visited Seamus’ grave in Bellaghy the afternoon before he came to the festival, Longley said – “I […]

The recent On Home Ground Poetry Festival at Laurel Villa in Magherafelt convened a wealth of writing talent over the course of the weekend and one lively literary event was the conversational interview between broadcaster William Crawley and writer Bernard MacLaverty. Both heavyweights in their respective fields, it certainly made for an interesting evening. Indeed, Crawley began by […]

I may be a little late in posting about this but… the wonderful thing about the events of the recent On Home Ground Poetry Festival is that they offered timeless insights into the work of our local writers. And so, to the talk delivered to a packed-out Poetry Tent in Magherafelt from Professor Pat Loughrey, who […]

On this, National Poetry Day, the theme is that of water-based poems so… I’ve decided to share something from another of my favourite poets – William Blake. The Clod and the Pebble ‘Love seeketh not itself to please, Nor for itself hath any care, But for another gives its ease, And builds a heaven in […]

Just a little note to say that, having had a few internet access problems recently… I shall be up and running again by the weekend with the remainder of the On Home Ground Poetry Festival reviews. I might even post more than once… with pictures too! FacebookTwitterGoogle+BufferPin It

Poets from as far afield as Australia and New York joined a host of local writers to pay tribute and celebrate the life and work of Seamus Heaney on Friday evening. The Poetry Tent at Laurel Villa in Magherafelt was meant to have seen the late and great Heaney officially open the weekend of literary […]

Having started a new job as a sub-editor this week (i.e. cutting back news stories and the like) and with a much longer commute to Belfast, brevity is the name of the game for me at the minute… My time is much more limited and, particularly in terms of writing, I’ve been thinking more than […]

Just a quick note to say that the September issue of A New Ulster is now available to read online here and I am delighted to see my poems inside it! A great opportunity for writers to showcase their work. In other news… (and deviating slightly from the usual, er, serious content of this blog!), I […]

‘The first thought is the one everybody has. The second thought is where your writing should begin…’ As part of the creative writing course I previously attended, we looked at ‘rendering speech’ in writing. For some writers this can come naturally, for others, not so much. The key point however is to write as one […]