SATURDAY AT ALLINGHAM 2015

MINECRAFT AT COLÁISTE CHOLMCILLE

12.00-1.30       Under-10s (Sold Out)

2.00-3.30         Under & Over 10s (Sold Out)

WRITING & POETRY WORKSHOPS

11.30am          Children’s Writing with Olive Travers, Coláiste Cholmcille, €5

11.30am          Writing Workshop: Denise Blake, ‘Writing From Memory’, Dorrian’s Hotel, €10

2.00pm            Manchán Magan – Seminar, Dorrian’s Hotel, €10

4.00pm            Jane Clark – Seminar, Dorrian’s Hotel, €10

(There are spaces still available on the Denise Blake, Manchán Magan and Jane Clark workshops. Pay on arrival)

SCHOOLS FICTION & POETRY AWARDS

3.00pm            Primary Schools Fiction & Poetry Awards, the Abbey Centre, FREE

4.00pm            Secondary School Fiction & Poetry Awards, the Abbey Centre, FREE

ADULT FICTION & POETRY AWARDS

7.00pm            The Abbey Centre

CRAFT WORKSHOPS AT COLÁISTE CHOLMCILLE

12.00pm          Leather Techniques with Siobhan Corr, Coláiste Cholmcille, €20

2.00pm            Blacksmithing with Jonathan Ball, Coláiste Cholmcille, €20

2.00pm            Stone Sculpture with Brendan Mc Gloin, Coláiste Cholmcille, €20

FILM & RADIO AT THE ABBEY CENTRE

2.00pm            James Gavigan presents a Miscellany of Irish Shorts, Abbey Centre

3.00pm            James Murray-White presents independent films

4.00pm            Marc Menamin, Radio Documentaries

BOOK LAUNCH

5.00pm            Mark Geagan, the Abbey Centre

HISTORY

All Day           The Stevens’ Family Exhibition of historical artefacts, the Abbey Centre, FREE

6.00pm            History Ireland Hedge School with Tommy Graham: 1916 Outside Dublin, the Abbey Centre, €5

MUSIC

8.15pm            Chanele Mc Guinness, Great White Lies, Ian Smith, Jane Clarke, Manchán Magan, Coláiste Cholmcille Choir, the Abbey Centre, €10

11.00pm          Festival Club: Great White Lies, Stephen Murphy (performance poet) and festival guests – ALL WELCOME, FREE ENTRY.

FRIDAY AT ALLINGHAM 2015

11am-2pm: THE DESIGN WORKSHOPS, the Abbey Centre

4pm-6pm: 'INSPIRE CREATIVITY' SEMINAR, the Abbey Centre, FREE

With design and traditional craft practitioners speaking about their creative practice and visions, you will hear about projects such as the blacksmith/glass blower and his Islamic Art Gallery installation, to the potential of DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) in Donegal, as well as the projects and visions in jewellery, furniture making, culture tech, minecraft Edu and cybernetics & creativity.

7pm-10pm: 'Engage Enterprise', the Abbey Centre, FREE

- including Wes Sewell, Mark Boyle, a panel discussion on the creative economy in the North West, and a live set by the Wood Burning Savages

8.30pm: the Emerson Lecture - Joe O'Loughlin, the Abbey Centre, FREE

Donegal Historical Society present the Emerson Lecture with Joe O’Loughlin: “The catchment area for Ballyshannon Technical College of which the late Louis Emerson was headmaster included South Donegal, North Leitrim and West Fermanagh. I have endeavoured in this talk to give a general history of the area over the centuries. I include several stories of interest that have not been previously published. Many students from the local towns who attended the ‘Tec owe their success in life and the skilled trades they acquired under the leadership of Louis Emerson. On behalf of former students I wish to acknowledge the important part he played in their lives.”

10.00pm: Songwriting Contest - Live Final - Dicey Reilly's Bar, €5

12 finalists compete for the grand prize of €1000, with MC John Meehan and judges Cathy Jordan, Ian Smith and Chanele Mc Guinness.

10.30pm: Wood Burning Savages/designatmagee reunion, the Bridgend Bar, FREE. All Welcome!

Next Friday Night - WOW

At 7pm next Friday night - The doors for "INSPIRE CREATIVITY - ENGAGE ENTERPRISE" will open at the Abbey Centre, Ballyshannon. A unique opportunity to listen to and see the work of one of the film industry visual effects greats, Wes Sewell. 
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0786609/

Wes is part of a fantastic lineup that will include Mark Boyle (The Moneyless Man) in conversation with Sean Perry, The Wood Burning Savages, and the 'Creative Economy in the NW' panel discussion chaired by Elaine McGee (BBC) with Paddy Nixon (Ulster VC), Paul Hannigan (LYIT President), Noel Kelly (VAI Chief Exec), Colin McKeown (ID2015) and Michael Tunney (LEO). This event is non ticket and is free of charge. Seats will be on a first come first served basis.

Full LineUp

Allingham 2015 Songwriting Live Final: 12 Finalists Announced

12 FINALISTS IN ALLINGHAM 2015 SONGWRITING CONTEST

The 12 finalists who will compete for the prize of €1000 in the Live Final of the Allingham 2015 Songwriting Contest on Friday Nov. 6th at 10pm in Dicey Reilly's are (in no particular order):

Alan Kavanagh - Just a Juke Box Away

Geraldine Gilmartin - Song for Sligo

Brigid O'Neill - You're Never Going to get to Heaven

The Hatchlings - Choir in the Belly of a Fallen Bird

Niamh Mc Kinney - Down Near the Sea

Jacqui Sterling - Holy Ghost

Sarah Buckley - Magic Powers

Harry Mc Gilloway - Vintage Wine

Alana Flynn-Picken - Breathe Easy

Marzella - Stones

Andy Cox - Free Fall

John Finn - Never to Return

Over 50 songs were entered into the competition, and while the standard was very high, only a few can proceed to the Live Final in Dicey's on Friday Nov. 6th. The event is open to the public and promises to be an evening of top-quality music covering a range of styles as all 12 songs will be performed live in front of judges Cathy Jordan, Ian Smith and Chanele Mc Guinness, with John Meehan as MC. Tickets are €5 on the door.

Allingham 2015 Poetry & Flash Fiction Winners

ALLINGHAM 2015 POETRY AWARDS

First Place – “First the Feathers” by Amanda Bell

Poetry judge Jane Clarke describes “First the Feathers” as "a stunning poem that draws us back to read it again and again. It's vivid description in powerful language makes something that could be gruesome in something strangely beautiful, “The wings I open like a book:/press down, stretch out the elegant pins,/scissor through the shoulder joint - /use a knife for the sinews and skin.” The poem is well-paced and the subtle ending is strong because it contrasts with the distanced, dispassionate voice up to then.”

Amanda Bell is a member of the Hibernian Writers Group. Her work has been published in journals and anthologies including The Stony Thursday Book, The Stinging Fly, Crannóg, and haiku journals Presence, Blithe Spirit, Cattails and A Hundred Gourds. In 2014 she was shortlisted for the Cúirt New Writing Prize and the Strokestown International Poetry Competition, and in 2015 she was shortlisted for the Fish Short Memoir Prize and the Redline Poetry Competition, and highly commended in The Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award. She works as a freelance editor (www.clearasabellwritingservices.ie). Recent publications include The Lion Tamer Dreams of Office Work: An Anthology of Poetry by the Hibernian Writers, Alba Publishing, 2015.

Second Place – “Sunday Night” by Angela McCabe

 

Jane Clarke comments that "This poem is tender but not sentimental in powerfully evoking a time and a place and celebrating friendship. The authentic voice, concrete details and the resonating sounds, “pink candlewick spreads,” “the record player”, “put five shillings into the electric metre/ and take the Bakelite phone/ off the hook.”, create an atmosphere of warmth and simple pleasure that engages our memories and our hearts. The final line is superb, coming as a surprise and conveying so much about their lives and their attitude to what they did and didn’t have."

Angela McCabe was born in Coalisland, County Tyrone. The poems in her first collection, 'Honeymoon in Coalisland', tell of her rich and varied experiences growing up in her native Tyrone, the adventures of her travels, and the people and culture of her adopted Leitrim. Her second collection is nearing completion. Her mentor, the late Dermot Healy, wrote, ‘Angela is always listening and watching. In quiet elegies curtains are made, cows sink into their shins in mud; stitching and mending are always on the go. Colours abound. Kitchens fill with memories. In a rare collection of domestic and landscape, Angela enters the spiritual world with great physical and musical resonance.’

Third Place – “The Home Place” by Breda Spaight

Judge Jane Clarke says "This is a poem of emotional complexity with a wistful, observing voice conveying the child’s sense of envy and threat. It details changes in the landscape to mark changes in the emotional landscape; the growing fear of losing the mother to her home place. “She is going home/no longer truly ours;/even the light steals her.” There is vivid imagery, “cautious cats sat like camels on the window-sills”, “above half-length lace curtains, a puppet show./ Her troupe takes her coat.” Colour and light are used well, right up to the understanding that is found in the final stanza."

Breda Spaight is a poet and novelist from Co Limerick. Her poetry is published widely, both at home and abroad. She was a guest reader at the Paris Book Fair (2002), and has an M. Phil. in creative writing, Trinity College, Dublin. Her current poetry is inspired by her mother’s life, focusing on the era when Ireland transitioned from a traditional society to a modern one.

---

ALLINGHAM 2015 FLASH FICTION AWARDS

 

First Place – “An Uncommon Occurrence” by Amanda O'Callaghan

 

Manchán Magan writes: “Opens strongly with novel use of the future tense and just enough sharp detail to give the astute reader a sense of place, while still discombobulating us a little. An almost cinematographic use of space leading the reader into a compact, claustrophobic area before widening out into loose fuzziness again. An enviably assured use of language: “You’ll see a moth trapped, backlit, dead.” The stream of consciousness flow feels perfectly true and believable – a rare achievement. The story ends with a beautifully rendered scene of a luminous encounter that balances the sadness before. A moving and accomplished piece of writing whose strength lies in its apparent simplicity.”

Amanda O’Callaghan is an Australian writer. A former advertising executive, she has a BA and an MA in English from King’s College London. She has a PhD in English from the University of Queensland, where she studied Robert Louis Stevenson. Amanda’s short stories and flash fiction have appeared in a number of journals including Review of Australian Fiction and Seizure, and in the short story collection Amanda Lohrey Selects. She has won the Aeon Award for Short Fiction. Amanda holds Irish citizenship and has had a long association with Ireland. She lives in Brisbane.

Second Place – “Viennese Whirls and Pineapple Creams” by Safia Moore

 

Manchán Magan writes: “A heart-rending moment of social history deftly shaped into a potent Flash Fiction story. An entire life is elegantly crafted into a moving and enlightening insight into a lost world. The accuracy of the historical references anchors and focuses the reader towards an incident that is emotionally stirring and leaves reverberations in the mind. The craft of the story, the skilful rendering of its central character and the genuine emotional impact of the theme mark this out as a fine piece of writing."

Safia Moore is from Co. Down and works as a freelance writer, editor, reviewer and creative writing tutor.  She completed a PhD on the poetry of Seamus Heaney and Michael Hartnett at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, but only took up fiction writing four years ago.  Safia has published flash fiction, short stories, reviews, interviews, and critical articles, in various journals including The Incubator, Haverthorn Magazine, and Severine.  She is a regular contributor to The Honest Ulsterman.   Safia's fiction has won or been shortlisted for a number of prizes and she is the 2015 winner of the Bath Short Story Award. Blog: www.topofthetent.com  Twitter: @SafiaMoore

Third Place – “Dog Tags” by Amelia Kelly

 

Manchán Magan writes: “The story immediately offers an evocative and crystal clear sense of place and time, while the central character’s point of view brings important information about their character and outlook. The details are judiciously selected, highlighting key insights into the situation, which add extra impact to the central moment of drama. Enough detail is provided to keep the reader curious, while never being fully certain of the situation. The tale deftly widens its parameters to encompass a different era, before taking a skilful turn in another direction entirely. This is a surprising and emotionally impactful expression of Flash Fiction.”

Amelia Kelly lives in the Tenters in Dublin with her boyfriend Ollie, and Billy Pilgrim the cat. She has a PhD in Speech Technology and works in a start-up company creating speech recognition software for early childhood literacy. In her spare time she can be found reading, playing piano, flying aeroplanes, and learning languages. She is currently working on a screenplay and a murder mystery dinner party. This is her first award for fiction.