In the footsteps of Heaney
Nigel McLoughlin, a prize winning Northern Irish poet is launching his 5th collection of poetry at Laurel Villa guesthouse in Magherafelt on Saturday the 15th August at 3pm. Nigel on this occasion will read selected poems from his new book: Chora: New and Selected Poems. Signed copies of the book will be available to purchase at this event [free admission]. This book launch follows the visit of the poet Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney to Laurel Villa earlier this summer.
Nigel McLoughlin was born in Enniskillen. A poet, translator, editor and teacher, his poetry and translations have been published in many journals and anthologies. He co-edited Breaking The Skin, hailed as the most important anthology of new Irish poets for a decade and he recently became editor of Iota magazine. He has twice been short-listed for the prestigious Hennessy Award, placed in the equally competitive Kavanagh Awards and The New Writer Poetry Prizes. His poetry collections include: At The Waters’ Clearing; Songs For No Voices; Blood and Dissonances. He will be reading from his new collection Chora: New and Selected Works published by Templar Poetry. This will be the only opportunity to hear Nigel in Northern Ireland before he returns to work at the University of Gloucestershire where he is a Reader in Creative Writing and Course Leader on the MA in Creative & Critical Writing.
Laurel Villa guesthouse, which has been recently featured on BBC Northern Ireland’s Northern Exposure programme, is situated at 60 Church Street, Magherafelt, Co. Derry. Described as a multi storey treasure trove of poetry, where regular poetry evenings are held throughout the year, this launch of Nigel’s poetry at the guesthouse definitely adds some more treasure to the trove.
