Rachel Andrews came to interview me for Lyric FM when I went to read at the wonderful Ó’Bhéal Poetry event in Cork City. In this interview I speak about my new collection which will be published by Arlen House this coming Autumn, the Poetry Jukebox and also the LabelLit project. Thanks Rachel, and thanks Ó’Bhéal…
Guerrilla Poets- the evolution of a (small) revolution – Part 1 – 2011 – 2016
LabelLit and it’s evolution, from France, Ireland, Sweden & Portugal to England, Wales, and the Czech Republic.
#PoetryDayIRL 2017 & LABEL-LIT
Label-Lit is a micro-literature response to the world. The purpose is to share small works of literature, on luggage labels, in public spaces. Image by kind permission: Bernarde Lynn The aim is to share the written word, so whether it is poetry, a maxim, a gut response, a shout out, the quiet voice, a comfort,…
Label-Lit- Info-Video
Hi everyone, here is a short information video, made by my friend, the Portuguese writer Inez Lampreia, in Lisbon, Portugal, about the Label-Lit Project. You can watch the information video here: https://vimeo.com/204550531 There are blogs about most of the interventions in the Label- Lit project on the Label-Lit wordpress page. See here: https://labellit.wordpress.com So far,…
Label-Lit and Young Writers’ Lab SWEDEN
Another first for the Label-Lit Project. My friend and colleague, Portuguese writer Ines Lampreia has been doing intense work with young writers in Sweden. All of the writers attend a school in Tranas. Ones, supported by the teacher and facilitator Ulrika Satervik have been undertaking a sustained project of writing. Ones has used Skype and…
and then some magic…….
Last night, I got first one and then a second message on Twitter. Two Irish sisters, got in touch by using the hashtag #Label-lit. Edel had found her label on the handle of the door of the tower to the Astrological Clock in Prague. She sent me a twitter message and a photo of her…
and then Leonard Cohen died…
11th November – There ain’t no cure for love, Belfast Dublin, Prague. Poetry isn’t often so rock n’roll, but I was heading to Prague from the 11th – 14th November with poet colleague and friend, Deirdre Cartmill. More about the purpose of that trip anon – it is exciting news poetry-wise and more about…
Art Can Save the World -10th November 2016
I was going to Dublin for the day. In the aftermath of the US election, I was still reflecting on a response. I left labels at Bus Aras in Dublin and at the Europa Bus Station in Belfast. I was asked for my passport by a Garda, who got on the bus between Newry and…
Fires for the cold….John O’Connor Writing School, Armagh
I was facilitating the series of workshops for this inaugural John O’Connor Writing School – I had the same group of 12 participants over the three days of the festival. We worked from a series of small phrases of a single Mary Oliver quote. “For poems are not all words after all, but fires for…
Paul Muldoon’s Picnic, Armagh
It’s not every day you get to do a gig with Paul Muldoon, Horslips, Deirdre Cartmill, Martina Devlin, Peter McVeigh, Stuart Neville, Ann Enright, Michael Longley – but I did at the inaugural John O’Connor Writing School in Armagh. It was the first time Paul Muldoon hosted one of his famous ‘picnics’ outside of New…
Cirque des Oiseaux Exhibition
A hand-made book of the long-form poem Peregrinations, which was originally published on Poethead https://poethead.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/something-for-sunday-morning-by-maria-mcmanus/ The nook was one of a number of inclusions in the exhibition of the Cirque des Oiseaux Project, which was the core of my ACES Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The exhibition which was hosted in Down Arts…
Culture Night 2016
I have an affliction – and it is that much of my work is long form poems – it means I rarely write anything that meets the criteria for competitions or publication in journals – most things are simply too long. Aill na Searrach/ The Leap of the Foals which was published in my second…
