Trim launch of Boyne Readings and Open Mic

Meath"s only open mic series is to be launched in Trim next week by the Boyne Writers Group. The monthly readings will take place in the unusual setting of The Village Hall in the Knightsbridge Village on the Longwood Road. Announcing the launch, Boyne Writers Group chairman Paul Egan said they hope to attract people from a wide area - from all over Meath and from surrounding counties. 'The series is, as the name suggests, an open forum where people read or perform their own material to other writers and to the general public,' he said. 'Our own members have participated in open mics in places as far away as Galway and Limerick, and we"re excited about the prospect of having one in Meath.' As well as an open mic session, each evening will also feature guest writers who will read from their own work. For the launch, on Thursday 16th April at 8pm, the featured readers will be Bective poet Frank Murphy and Trim-born novelist Pat Dunne. 'At the open mic, everyone is welcome to read their own work and time will be allocated according to the number of readers,' said Mr Egan. 'Visitors - both readers and non-readers - are very welcome.' The series, which will be held on the third Thursday of each month, will be known as the Boyne Readings and Open Mic. Admission is €5, which includes tea/coffee and biscuits. Enquires to Paul Egan on (086) 862 6943 or Michael Farry (086) 828 3314. The first of the featured readers, Frank Murphy, is a Meath poet who has published two books of poetry, 'The Marginal Line" (2005) and 'Excursions" (2008). His poems have been highly commended and shortlisted in a number of competitions and he is a member of the Meath Writers Circle since 2001. In the foreword to Excursions, Frank writes: 'Poetry is a hall of mirrors in which one image is reflected in another. It is neither a lighthouse in a bog nor a messenger service. It just is.' The other featured reader, Pat Dunne, is an internationally-selling author with four novels published to date. His first book, 'Die Keltennadel", was published in Germany in 2000. 'A Carol for the Dead", the first in a series of thrillers featuring the Meath-based archaeologist Illaun Bowe, has appeared in paperback in English and, in addition, has been translated into 11 other languages. Pat Dunne worked with RTE as a radio producer from 1979. He left RTE almost six years ago to pursue a lifetime"s ambition and become a full-time writer.