Online Poetry Courses starting soon ... book your place now

"Perception is the first act of the imagination," wrote William Carlos Williams. Would you like to devote more time to perception, imagination and your poetry practice over the coming Winter weeks? Want to immerse yourself in vivid poetry that works on a number of levels while composing new poems of your own and learning approaches and techniques to expand your knowledge and sharpen your craft? I am delighted to announce that I will be running online poetry courses starting in early November and running for six weeks. The courses are ideally aimed at emerging poets or those who have some experience writing poetry and may have started to publish their poems, but advanced writers will also find stimulation and encouragement. As someone who has greatly enjoyed teaching courses on Creative Writing (to undergraduate students at the University of Melbourne and at NUI Galway) and Appreciation of Poetry (to adult learners at NUI Galway) for many years, I agree with poet, Theodore Roethke's observation that "teaching is an act of love, a spiritual cohabitation, one of the few sacred relationships left in a crass secular world." For these online courses, I am keeping group sizes small to create and maintain a warm, supportive atmosphere and a safe space for creativity to flourish. I’m also keeping costs low because of these challenging pandemic times we are all living through. We will begin at 7pm on Thursday, 5 November with duration about an hour or just over. There are a couple of spaces still available. To find out more and book your place, please contact me now on: emilycullendavison@gmail.com.

Eilís Dillon Book Club starts tomorrow...

The past week has flown and I'm delighted to announce that the Eilís Dillon Book Club is now full with 25 members having signed up. Our first session takes place online tomorrow (Thursday, 8 October) at 7pm. Taking her novel, The Bitter Glass (1958) as our main focus, the Eilís Dillon Book Club will also discuss the author's life and legacy and feature special guests each week, including her daughter, renowned poet, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, son, Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin, Anne Marie Herron, Siobhán Morrissey and Maureen O'Connor. In our first session we will ease into the book by chatting about our initial impressions of the text with a special focus on the Galway scenes and the world Dillon is creating. The Bitter Glass is an ideal choice for Galway’s Great Read, I think, for a number of reasons: 1) the book is set in Galway city and county and includes many lush descriptions of the landscape, the sea, the Connemara people, folklore and rich nathanna cainte or turns of phrase; 2) its plotline is engaging throughout, yet artfully simple – it keeps us compelled to read while the story arc is cohesive and enjoyable; 3) the time period in which the book is set – 1922 during the Irish Civil War – is resonant and, as such, addresses themes from our history that are especially notable in this second phase of the Decade of Centenaries; 4) the story is well told in prose that is clear and lucent and 5) last but not least, it is written by a homegrown talent – a true Galwegian. If you'd like to join us in spirit, we'd be delighted. The Bitter Glass is now available to read via Kindle here. (If you don't own a Kindle, you could download the Kindle app to your device). You can also read a sampler of the first three chapters of the novel for free on the Eilís Dillon website. Below is an outline of what we'll be exploring at the Book Club over the next four weeks. Happy reading!:

The Eilís Dillon Book Club is presented by Galway Public Libraries as part of Galway's Great Read funded by Creative Ireland, Galway County Council and the Decade of Centenaries.