Chapters and Verse Themed reading - Kings and Heroes

dublin | arts and media | event notice Sunday August 24, 2008 18:55 by Sarah Lundberg - The Seven Towers Agency sarah at seventowers dot ie

In Aid of the Save Tara Campaign, in Cassidy's of Westmoreland St, Dublin 2

There will be a €3 charge into this event and all money raised will go to the Save Tara Campaign
With Noel Ó Briain, Ross Hattaway, Seamus Cashman, Catherine Ann Cullen, Eamonn Lynskey, Oran Ryan, Barbara Smith. Patrick Chapman.

Seamus Cashman is a writer poet and activist and was the founder of Wolfhound Press, Ireland's largest literary publisher. In 2006, Seamus visited Palestine to see the situation there for himself. The series of poems he wrote while ther reflect his experience of the situation and also form part of his latest collection And that Morning Will Come. a collection of new and selected poems published by Salmon.

Ross Hattaway was born in Wellington New Zealand, but has lived in Ireland since 1990. He has had many varied jobs and currently works as a civil servant. His first collection of poetry, The Gentle Art of Rotting was published by Seven Towers in 2006. This will be Ross' first reading in Dublin, after touring Lithuania as part of the Poetry Spring Festival 2008 and seeing his work translated into Lithuanian.

Patrick Chapman is an Irish poet, author and scriptwriter born in 1968. He lives in Dublin. His poetry collections are Jazztown, (Raven Arts Press, 1991), The New Pornography, (Salmon Poetry, 1996), Breaking Hearts And Traffic Lights, (Salmon Poetry, 2007) and A Shopping Mall on Mars, (BlazeVOX, 2008). His collection of stories is The Wow Signal, (Bluechrome, 2007). He wrote the Doctor Who audio drama, Fear of the Daleks, (Big Finish, 2007), starring Wendy Padbury as Zoe and Nicholas Briggs as the Daleks. Mark J. Thompson directed.
Chapman's first film script, Burning The Bed, was based on his published short story, which appeared in The Irish Times in 2001. It was directed by Denis McArdle in 2003 for Songway Films/Fantastic Films; and starred Gina McKee and Aidan Gillen. Burning The Bed was a prizewinner at the 2004 Worldfest film festival in Houston, Texas, and was named Best Narrative Short at the DeadCenter film festival in Oklahoma City.
Chapman's short story, A Ghost, won first prize in the story category of the 2003 Cinescape Genre Literary Contest.
In 2001, he collaborated with the artist Gemma Tipton on an acclaimed series of art exhibitions and a book, The Foot Series. This featured photographic works by Tipton, with text by Chapman.
In 2004, he appeared as himself in a self-penned cameo in the radio play, "The SIlver-Tongued Devil", written and produced by Roger Gregg for Crazy Dog Audio Theatre. The play was broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1.
In 2005, Louise Jameson performed a version of his poem, Sea of Tranquillity, adapted for her by the author, on the MJTV disc, The Actor Speaks 5: Louise Jameson.
Along with the novelist and poet Philip Casey, he co-created Irish Literary Revival, which presents out-of-print works by Irish or Ireland-related authors, with their participation.

Catherine Ann Cullen was born in Drogheda, Co Louth. She is a regular contributor to RTE Radio 1's Sunday Miscellany and A Living Word as well as producing current affairs, arts and features. She lives with her partner Harry and daughter Stella in Kimmage, Dublin. Her first collection, A Bone in My Throat, is published by Doghouse.

Eamon Lynskey has had poems published in many magazines. He was nominated for the Sunday Tribune/Hennessy Literary Award for New Irish Poetry in 2006 and one of his poems will feature on the 2009 OXFAM calendar. His first collection Dispatches and Recollections was published in 1998 and he is currently working onhis second. As well as writing in English, Eamonn has also translated works of Italian poets Montale and Valeri and written in Italian – he holds, (among other qualifications!) a Diploma in Italian Lauguage and Culture from the Italian Institute, Dublin.

Noel Ó Briain was born in Kerry, grew up in Dublin and now lives in Camolin, Wexford. He is a playwright and poet and a former head of drama at RTE. He has worked for many years in theatre, radio and television as an actor, producer/director, designer and script editor.

He played the part of Cranly in the premier of Hugh Leonard's Stephen D (an adaptation of Joyce's Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man) at the Gate Theatre. He also played the part of the IRA officer in the premier of Brendan Behan's An Giall in the Damer Hall in Dublin and designed the set for this production. The play was later translated into English as The Hostage and staged at The Royal Theatre Stratford by Joan Littlewood.

He has produced and directed many plays in the Damer Hall under the auspices of Gael Linn. Among others these included Gunna Cam agus Slabhra Óir by Seán Ó Tuama and Aggiornamento by Chriostóir Ó Floinn. He also designed the sets for these and many other production. He has directed Ulick O'Connor's Noh Plays at The Project. As a Radio Producer his drama productions have been selected as RTE's entries for the Prix Italia.
He has won a National Jacob's Award for his production and adaptation of Seán Ó Tuama's Judas Iscariot agus a Bhean.

He has worked as Producer, Director, Series Producer and Script Editor in numerous television one-offs, series and serial drama, often combining several of these skills in one production. These have included The Riordans, Bracken (which launched the career of Gabriel Byrne) Glenroe and Ros na Rún among many others. He also produced and directed the controversial series The Spike until it was withdrawn by RTE itself after complaints from the League of Decency and State interference. He has participated in a documentary in the Scannal series on RTE which deals with well known Irish scandals – including The Spike! (to be transmitted in Autumn 2008). He has won the Celtic Film Festival Drama Award for his production of Tom Murphy's screenplay, Brigit. He has devised and conducted numerous screenwriting courses. Among these was the initial course for the development of new writers for the series Ros na Rún on TG4. He has conducted several screen acting courses both independently and for the Gaiety School of Acting. His poetry and short stories have been published in a number of literary magazines including The Kilkenny Magazine and Poetry Ireland. They have also been broadcast on radio in the short story slot and on Sunday Miscellany. His poetry collection Scattering Day 21 Sonnets and Other Poems was published by Seven Towers in 2007.
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Noel has two plays currently available:
The Land of She: An adapted for theatre translation of Brian Merriman's Cuirt on Mhean Oiche, this hillarious play is written for five parts.

He has also completed a short verse play inspired by Synge's Deirdre of The Sorrows, entitled Áinle and Árdán Are Already Dead.

Oran Ryan is a novelist, poet and playwright from Dublin. He has had poems, short stories and literary critical articles published in various magazines. His first two novels, The Death of Finn and Ten Short Novels by Arthur Kruger were published by Seven Towers in 2006. He is currently working on his fifth novel and had three plays and two screenplays in pre-production. Oran won a 2008 Arts Council Bursary Award.

Barbara Smith holds a BA Hons. Literature just completed, 2007; and will continue with Queen's University Belfast, with a MA in Creative Writing. Her debut collection of poetry, Kairos, is just published by Doghouse Books. She has poetry and essays published widely and lives in Dundalk, with her partner and six children. Other publications include Poetic Stage (1998).Barbara blogs at http://intendednot2b.blogspot.com/