Happy first of the month!   I've a couple readings coming up in Dublin during the lovely month of June.  Kicking this off in IMMA, I will be doing a reading on Saturday June 6th as part of the IMMA Summer Rising Festival.  Other readers on the night include Claire-Louise Bennett and Sally Rooney.  For more information and tickets for the event, head here.

On June 9th, I'll be reading as part of Caves, Bears & Pages - A Night with Cave Writings + The Bohemyth + Bellville Park Pages.  It's a BYOB event, and it's free, and more information can be found here.  Readers on the night include Christodoulos Makris, Alvy Carragher, Julie Morrissy, and Elizabeth Reapy.

In other news, Dragana Jurisic: 100 Muses is currently taking place at ArtBox in Dublin.  Well worth a look.  This is the first chapter of her 'My Own Unknown' project - the full exhibition is set to take place in early 2016. 

Here's a rather lovely review from last Saturday's The House Presents.  A real treat to have been on the bill for this one, alongside Aiden O'Reilly, Maeve Glichrist and Nic Gareis, and BeRn.  

A new poem, The Pink Look, is up at The Bohemyth.  Victoria Kennefick and I exchanged poems, and took to our own separate corners to write something inspired by the other's work.  There was a reference to Hestia in the poem I was given, and I decided to run with that.  Hestia was the first of Saturn's children.  Being weary of a prophecy that foretold of his demise - at the hands of one of children - Saturn took to devouring his each of his children right after their birth.  The first to be eaten was Hestia.  She was also the last to be disgorged ('born again') when Zeus defeated his father (Zeus was the only one of his children he did not eat - he was tricked, and swallowed a stone instead).  

In researching Hestia, I stumbled upon Goya's painting Saturn Devouring His Children.  It is vile and deranged and dark - and all of that, in the best way possible.  Between the myth and the painting, I set to writing.  What result was The pink look - and you can read that here. For her part, Victoria wrote a gorgeous poem, inspired by my poem The New Woman.  It is entitled 'Shadow Bird' - I love this line: 

'we throw/the bird further from the lamp'

                                                ***

Also, yesterday was International Women's Day.  The fine folks at Headstuff.org compiled a list of 20 poems/poets, with myself there, at #19 - 'Dimitra Xidous writes the most beautiful celebrations of the female body.  She explores our sensuality and strength as women, in a way that is liberating to read'.  Others on the list include Elaine Feeney, Doreann Ni Griofa, Margaret Atwood, and Eavan Boland.

Likely a little late to be posting anything making reference to a new year (it being right smack dab in the middle of February), but this is my first post of the year - so here is to a new year, full of good writing and equally good reads.  To kick things off, I am happy to say that Peach Season has been included in the upcoming Bloodaxe anthology Hallelujah for 50 ft Women.  The anthology should be available in April 2015.   

Returning to last year, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Maryam of GOWP - you can check out the interview here.  I had a lovely time chatting about poems, and love, among other things.  

I am slowly easing back into my writing habits - small things are starting to take shape...I will be back to post about publications and readings and whatnot as they arise.  For now, I do hope the new year is being good to you - there's loads of it left, and I've decided to take my sister's advice on how to make the most of 2015 (she told me to hustle - sounds like a good plan). 

The 'bees have been travelling lately.  I visited Ballydehob earlier in October, where I read alongside writers Elizabeth Reapy and Shane Ward.  Good company and an excellent reading, not to mention many wonderful words shared and eggs had over breakfast during that lovely weekend in West Cork.  

This week twitter informed me that Keeping Bees was on its way to Paris, to sit on the shelves at Shakespeare & Co alongside books by Dave Lordan and Jessican Traynor.  I am very thankful to the person who saw fit to bring my book to Paris.  The one and only time I ever visited a friend and I stayed in an apartment where the bedrooms were up in the converted attic.  Looking out over the rooftops from one of the attic windows, my first ever glimpse of Paris, I turned to my friend and said..."It's just like Ratatouille!"

And finally...this coming Friday, I will be on the radio and in Smock Alley Theatre, along with writers Rob Doyle and Daniel Seery - part of RTE 1 Arena's Live Show and the Dublin Book Festival.  two places at the same time - you can't miss me!