DANNY MORRISON, the former national director of publicity for Sinn Féin, and now an acclaimed novelist and playwright, reads at the Over The Edge: Open Reading in the Galway City Library on Thursday February 25 at 6.30pm.
Belfast born Morrison was Sinn Féin national director of publicity in the 1980s and served time as an IRA prisoner. Until 2014 he was the chair of Féile an Phobail, the West Belfast festival. Today he is the secretary of the Bobby Sands Trust, and has written the novels West Belfast (1989 ), On The Back of The Swallow (1994 ), The Wrong Man (1997 ), and Rudi - In The Shadow of Knulp (2012 ). His other books include the prison journal/letters collection, Then The Walls Came Down (1999 ); a memoir, All The Dead Voices (2002 ); and the play, The Wrong Man (2005 ).
He edited the literary anthology, Hunger Strike: Reflections on the 1981 Hunger Strike (2006 ). His short stories have appeared in a number of publications and have been broadcast on BBC, RTÉ, and Lyric FM. He is currently working on a fifth novel, provisionally-titled, Band On The Run, and a play, The Mental.
Also reading is Ohio born Scotty Ishmael, best known for running Scotty's restaurant in Galway since 1991, with his wife Jenny. He will read from his short stories. The third reader will be California's John Valters Paintner. He writes short plays for The Theatre Room, Galway, where he won the Best Original Writing award.
There will be an open-mic after the featured readers. New readers are welcome. The MC will be Susan Millar DuMars. For more information call 087 - 6431748.
