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This episode aired first on Saturday 11th June 2022. The guests were Mary Moynihan, Julian Matthews, John Buckley McQuaid, Daniel Wade, Mai Black and Fin Hall, produced and hosted by Damien B. Donnelly. Below are details and links to all the guest stars…
Mary Moynihan
Mary Moynihan, She/Her, is an Award-winning Writer, Director, Theatre and Film-Maker, Interdisciplinary artist, Human Rights Defender, Lecturer and Artistic Director, Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality, Connecting citizens to the arts, human rights, climate justice and gender equality. Mary’s work has won a number of awards including the Allianz Business to Arts Awards, a GSK Ireland Impact Award, a Dublin Bus Community Spirit Award, a National Lottery Good Cause Award and the #ArtsAgainstCovid award. Mary Moynihan, MA, is an award-winning writer, director, theatre and film-maker, an interdisciplinary artist and Artistic Director of Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality, incorporating Smashing Times Theatre and Film Company and the Smashing Times Youth Arts Ensemble. Mary is Artistic Curator for the annual Dublin Arts and Human Rights festival implemented by Smashing Times and Front Line Defenders in partnership with organisations including Amnesty International, Fighting Words, ICCL, NWCI, Irish Modern Dance Theatre and Poetry Ireland, funded by The Arts Council. The aim of the festival is to showcase and highlight the extraordinary work of human rights defenders in Ireland and around the world, past and present, and the role of the arts and artists in promoting human rights today. The festival creates a space to share, celebrate, remember and promote the arts for human rights, bringing together artists, activists, communities, citizens, families and all those interested in using the arts to promote and celebrate equality for all. Mary specialises in transformative arts practice, using interdisciplinary, socially-engaged arts practice to promote equality, human rights, gender equality, diversity and peace, developing cutting edge arts-based projects with a range of organisations in Ireland, Northern Ireland and across Europe. The work takes place at local, national and international levels, connecting citizens to the arts, human rights, climate justice, gender equality and peace. As Artistic Director of Smashing Times, Mary was awarded the Business to Art Special Judges Daa Arts Award at Bord Gáis Energy Theatre and was awarded a GSK Ireland Impact Award, a Dublin Bus Community Spirit Award, and a National Lottery Good Cause Award. In April 2021, Acting for the Future – Creative Arts for Health and Well-being Hub, a project designed and led by Mary Moynihan, won the prestigious #ArtsAgainstCovid award, from the Arts in Health International Foundation. Company patrons of Smashing Times are First Lady Sabina Coyne Higgins, Senator Joan Freeman, founder of Pieta House, Ger Ryan, actor and Tim Pat Coogan, writer and historian. Founding patrons were writers Maeve Binchy and Brian Friel.
Follow Mary on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Mary__Moynihan
Find out more about Mary and Smashing Times at https://smashingtimes.ie/
Julian Matthews
Julian Matthews is a former journalist from Malaysia who is published in The American Journal of Poetry, Beltway Poetry Quarterly and Borderless Journal, among others. He stumbled onto poetry by accident five years ago at a workshop run by Cat Brogan of Northern Ireland. That happy accident has turned into a rabid compulsion. He is still extricating himself from the crash. Welcome to his recovery.
You can find Julian on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/trinetizen
If you wish to support his continued unhealthy vocation, please paypal.me/poetjulian
Find out more about Julian at linktr.ee/julianmatthews
Daniel Wade
Daniel Wade is a poet, playwright and fiction author from Dublin, Ireland. His debut collection ‘Rapids’ was published by Finishing Line Press in August of 2021, whilst his historical-fiction novel ‘A Land Without Wolves’ was published by Temple Dark Books in October of the same year.
Find Daniel on Twitter https://twitter.com/danwadewriter
Find out more about Daniel at https://linktr.ee/WildFireBoy91
Rapids is available from Finishing Line Press https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/rapids-by-daniel-wade/
A land without Wolves is from Temple Dark Books https://www.templedarkbooks.com/a-land-without-wolves
Mai Black
Mai Black lives in Suffolk, England and is the founding member of Suffolk Writers Group, offering a range of courses in creating short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. Mai has been published in Best Magazine, The Fens, and The Telegraph. She has also contributed to a range of educational materials for schools. These poems are taken from her first poetry collection which she wrote over lockdown and published last October. The book features the ghostly voices of famous historical figures such as Shakespeare, Genghis Khan, and Abraham Lincoln. Historically-accurate biographies are included at the back of the book.
Mai is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/maiblackwriter
You can buy Thirty Angry Ghosts on Amazon
John Buckley McQuaid
Born in Dublin and based in Denmark for many years, John Buckley McQuaid is a professional musician who has toured all over Europe, from pub and music venues to art museums, theatres, schools, prisons and festivals. In addition to writing songs, he writes lyrics and fairy tales. He is also a visual artist (photography, painting and illustration) and makes videos and short films. He played his first paid gig at the Foxrock Folk Club in Dublin in 1969, busked and played around Dublin until 1972 when he left for London. He moved to Denmark in 1973, where he turned professional musician in 1979. He has travelled extensively from New York to Tokyo, from Madrid to Berlin and is quite prolific, writing daily in the backroom of a quiet café in Aarhus, Denmark, where he lives. Much of his writing contains social comment, challenging the prevalent general malaise.
His sixth album, “This Is Where I Keep My Dreams” released in 2021, is a collection of 12 original songs about Ireland, addressing such issues as the Magdalene Laundries, the Vulture Funds and the Irish Diaspora throughout the world, often dealing with aspects of Ireland’s uncomfortable past. His latest single, ‘’Homeless Hotels’’ was released on the 31st of January this year and is dedicated to the homeless and victims of abuse everywhere and Ireland in particular.
RELEASES:
Recorded Pain (Vinyl) 1979 Thanks (McQuaid & Thuesen) (Vinyl) 1980 Stations In The Sky (Vinyl – fold out cover with fairy tale &12 songs)1985 Call It Love (Vinyl) 1990 No Heroes EP (CD) 1998 Valentine’s Days 2017 (E-book containing 29 songs & 29 videos) This Is Where I Keep My Dreams (12 songs – Digital Release) 2021 Homeless Hotels (Single – Digital Release) 2022
Fin Hall
Fin Hall, the New Pitsligo-based poet and artistic organiser extraordinaire. Fin is the host of Like A Blot From The Blue, a poetry and spoken-word event transcending the boundaries of the physical and digital welcoming in hundreds of creatives from across the globe as well as a regular open mic night at The Blue Lamp.. Fin is a profoundly experienced poet with a career spanning decades. On-stage, Fin performs with a beautiful sensitivity. He isn’t afraid to broach upon themes of old age, hope, love, and loss but reserves a potent and fiery attitude against injustice. Fin is also a filmmaker, collaborative writer, performance poet and this year, as well as adding a second regular venue for his Blot shows, will be producing the New PitsLigo Spoken Word Festival
He has one solo collection , Once Upon A Time There Was, Now There Isn’t, 2 Collaborative, Joined Up Writing 1 and 2, where over a 200 writers from around the globe are part of it ( book 3 is almost done) and has well over 20 pieces published both online and in books fromAustralia, China, India USA, Canada and U.K. at the moment he is also getting ready to publish a book by 70 different writers aged over 70, and next year he will have his second collection out, but this time his daughter will be part of it.
You can find Fin on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/fin.hall.14
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Damien B Donnelly, Producer, Host and Poet
Damien B Donnelly is a 46-year-old Irish, adopted, gay, writer and podcast producer who spent 23 years living in Paris, Amsterdam, and London, returning to Dublin in 2019. In 2020, his debut pamphlet Eat the Storms appeared on the Poetry Book Society Winter List 2020/21 and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize followed by a Stickleback collection, and second Pushcart Prize nomination, in Jan 2021, both published by The Hedgehog Poetry Press. He produces and hosts the poetry podcast Eat the Storms, now in its 5th season with 300+ international guests on over 12 platforms. In the Jitterfritz of Neon, a poetry pamphlet co-written with Eilin de Paor, was published in Jan 2022 followed by his first full collection Enough! in July 2022, for which he was awarded an Agility Award by Arts Council, Ireland. The Fingal Arts have funded his next collection Back from Away, due in 2023. His poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous journals, both online and in print. In May 2022 he opened submissions to the inaugural issue of The Storms, a journal of poetry, prose and visual art.
He is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/deuxiemepeau and instagram at both @damiboy and @weshallalwayshaveparis
You can purchase his pamphlets at his website https://deuxiemepeaupoetry.com/
Backing music for Eat the Storms is from Purple Planet Royalty Free Music, with thanks…
https://www.purple-planet.com/
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