October 9th sees Creative Writing Course at NUI Galway

galway | arts and media | press release Wednesday September 10, 2008 14:27 by Western Writers' Centre, Galway - Western Writers' Centre - Ionad Scríbhneoiri Chaitlin Maude, Galway westernwriters at eircom dot net 27 Nuns Island, Galway 091.533594

Fred Johnston hosts writing course for Autumn

Author and critic Fred Johnston kicks off his popular Adult and Continued Education Creative Wrtiting Course at NUI Galway on Thursday, October 9th.

Fred Johnston (LitPix - 2008)

Writer and critic Fred Johnston begins a new course of Creative Writing at NUI,Galway as part of the Adult and Continuing Education programme there, starting Thursday evening, October 9th. The course will cover the notions of what poetry is and how it should be approached, the writing of poetry, and the writing of prose. It is suitable for beginners and those who have begun to publish and will include modules on reading poetry. Inquiries on the course should be made to the Adult and Continuing Educatiuon Department, NUI Galway.The founder of Galway's annual literature festival, Cúirt, Fred Johnston was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1951, Fred Johnston was educated there and Toronto, Canada. Heived for a time in Spain and Africa. Educated St Malachy's College, Belfast. He moved to Dublin in 1968, Galway, where he worked for some years as a fulltime journalist, writer and sub-editor: Irish Press, This Week magazine, (1970), Woman's Choice (Creation Grp, Dublin), and Belfast Telegraph (sub-editor) He spent two years in public relations in Dublin where he was Father of the NUJ Chapel here for a time. Edited Westword Magazine, Galway and, for a time, two literary pages in The Galway Advertiser, Galway. In 1972 he received the Hennessy Literary Award for prose in 1972, judges V.S. Pritchett and James Plunkett, followed by Sunday Independent Short Story and Poem of the Month awards in 1981 and 1982 respectively. He co-founded, with Neil Jordan and Peter Sheridan, The Irish Writers' Co-operative in the mid-Seventies. Has published four novels, eight collections of poetry (True North, Salmon Poetry, published April 1997), had three plays performed. A collection of short stories, Keeping The Night Watch, published (1998). Atalanta, novel, published 2000. Being Anywhere – New & Selected Poems, published 2001 (Lagan Poetry, Belfast). He received a Literature Bursary, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, 2000; Prix de l’Ambassade 2000; Literature Bursary, Arts Council of the Republic, 2001 and other years. His most recent novel is, ‘The Neon Rose,’ based in the Paris legal world, published by Bluechrome UK earlier this year to acclaim from The Irish Timees, and a new collection of poetry from Cinnamon, UK, ‘The Oracle Room,’ appeared October 2007. Poetry and short stories have been published widely, in this country, the US, Australia, Canada, broadcast by BBC radio, RTE, and BBC World Service. Poems have appeared, for example, in the TLS (Times Literary Supplement),The Financial Times, The Village, The Spectator, The Independent (London), The Sunday Times, The Irish Times, Irish University Review, Poetry Ireland; prose in The London Magazine, Stand, anthologised by Pan Books, and in The Literary Review (USA). Further information on published work can be supplied on request. Visits France regularly and has read and lectured there. He was writer in residence to the Princess Grace Irish Library at Monaco in 2004. He now publishes poetry widely in France and his work has appeared in a number of journals in France, including Verso, Aujourd'hui Poeme, Le Grognard, and his translations have appeared in Translation Ireland and The SHOp. New poems in French are due to appear in Translation Ireland. Main poetry reviewer with Books Ireland for many years and reviewed poetry also for The Irish Times and The Sunday Tribune and various books for The Irish Examiner, Cork, and visual arts for them also, as well as arts features; visual arts reviewer for The Sunday Times, Irish University Review, Harpers & Queen, Poetry Ireland Review. He has also written for some time for RTE's 'Sunday Miscellany' and various arts programmes. Writes on occasion for An Irishman’s Diary, in The Irish Times. Broadcast travel pieces for RTE Radio’s Sunday Miscellany and ‘The Quiet Corner,’ for Lyric FM Radio (Ireland). He is a regular contributor and literary commentator on Irish radio.He is Director of the Western Writers' Centre, Galway.