Launch of Boyne Berries # 7

Seems like every time I travel down to Trim, the weather is awful and last night was no exception. Still, it was a journey well worth making as there was a good crowd there for the launch of Boyne Berries 7, the literary journal of the highly talented Boyne Writers Group.

Ciaran Mangan, Meath County Librarian, performed the launch and gave a very enjoyable talk of the role of the library in local studies and affairs, which made me wish I lived 200 yards further north!

Contributors were then invited to read in the order they appeared in the book, which meant I went first. This actually suited me fine because normally if I have to read, I'm peppering with the fright until I've finished, so it was grand to get it out of the way.

This week I've hardly been able to string two words together, so under the circumstances I was very pleased to get through it relatively unscathed, just a couple of lengthy hesitations.

The journal itself is a delightful read, poems, memoirs and prose pieces from as far afield as New Zealand. I have to say I love Paddy Smith's work and he has such a lovely reading voice too that every nuance comes across. Oh God, to read like him! But the group as a whole is extraordinarily welcoming and friendly to such outsiders as myself, as well as being a quite amazing collection of talented writers.

The journal is available here.