When Moon and Mother Collide / Mary Melvin Geoghegan

Mary Melvin Geoghegan was born in Dublin and lives in County Longford.  She was an associate editor of the annual Eurochild Anthology of Children's Poetry (Bradshaw Books).  She has four previous collections of poetry: Say it Like a Paragraph (2012, Bradshaw Books, Cork); When They Come Home (2008, Summer Palace Press);  Abbeycartron Epiphanies (2005, Lapwing Publications); and, The Bright Unknown (2003, Lapwing Publications). She has edited three collections of children’s poetry: Ride Along Dear Grandma (2003),  A Hand in the Future (2008) with foreword by Belinda McKeon, and From The Wild Wild West (2010) with foreword by Tom Donegan, Programme Officer for Children’s Books Ireland. She has read her work extensively at venues and festivals throughout Ireland, including The Maria Edgeworth Literary Festival, Boyle Arts Festival, Force 12 Writers’ Weekend, Athlone Literary Festival, Goldsmith International Literary Festival, Portumna Literary Festival, Strokestown Poetry Festival, Poetry Ireland Introductions Series; Out-to-Lunch (Irish Writers’ Centre), Siarsceal Festival, Tigh Fili Arts Centre, Mullingar Arts Centre, O Bheal, Liffey FM, North West Words, Glenstal Abbey, Backstage Theatre, and Longford Library.  Her poems have been shortlisted for various competitions including, amongst others, The Boyle Arts Festival, Coothill Arts Festival, Cúirt New Writing Award (2015), The Fish Poetry Award (2017), The Rush Poetry Award (2017), and received the Longford Festival Award for Poetry in 2013.  She is included in the Hodges Figgis 250th anthology Reading the Future (2018) and in A Poem On The Dart (Poetry Ireland 2018). She facilitates creative writing for the Department of English at Maynooth University with students from the Masters in Drama Therapy, Writers-in-Schools Scheme, the Niland Gallery, The Dock Arts Centre, and the Arts Offices of County Longford, Roscommon, Leitrim and Westmeath.