Launch Pad

The Scaldy Detail 2011 is now available to purchase online at www.scalltamedia.com.

On the launch night, there was a wonderful atmosphere in Enniscorthy library where all were honoured to have Colm Tóibín launch this new anthology, of which he spoke so highly of, and it was extremely heartening to see such a crowd at the event.

Colm Tóibín said of the anthology: “There are moments when you’re reading this of absolute pure recognition, where you can enter someone else’s spirit and be with them on that journey. In reading this anthology, you get that sense of things being named for the first time, being placed in a context for the first time, of being offered to the outside world. It was an absolute delight to read this.”

Scallta Media wish to extend their thanks to Jarlath Glynn, Joan Lambert and everyone in the library, and to the contributors, readers, supporters, and the wonderful performers on the night: Margaret Breen, John Kelly, Dervla Tierney, Patrick Kehoe, Suzanne Power and Caroline Busher. It was great to hear their work come alive.

Colm Tóibín to formally launch new Collection of Creative Writing from Co. Wexford.

Local publishers, SCALLTA MEDIA are delighted to announce that The Scaldy Detail 2011 will be launched by Colm Tóibín on January 5th, 2012, in Enniscorthy Library at 7:30pm.

Published by Scallta Media, this new and exciting publication of new creative writing will be available to purchase online after the launch at www.scalltamedia.com. Retail price is €10.

Said Paul O’Reilly of Scallta Media, “The response to the request for submissions for this issue of The Scaldy Detail has been overwhelming. We received so many high-quality submissions that it would have been easily possible to produce a volume of double this length. However, now that funding is no longer available for such ventures as ours, we were forced to make difficult decisions. We are certain that you will enjoy the fruits of our writers’ labours. There’s plenty more where this came from.”

Said the editor of the compilation, Eamonn Wall, “Our writers have their fingers on the pulses of both our history and our present, let us hear and read what it is they have to say today.”

All are invited, admission is free, and refreshments will be served.

To see the cover of the new edition, and read this press release online, please visit www.elaunchpad.org.

Founded in 2007, SCALLTA MEDIA is an independent publishing initiative located in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, that has been created to discover, promote, publish, record and release original creative work.

To date Scallta have published literary works and voice and music recordings and have a growing availability of on-line sales of niche productions. Scallta Media also incorporates the “Ulstersongs” catalogue of rare traditional music works.

Scallta Media are available for interview at

087 929 6623 – Paul O’Reilly
001 314 516 5589 – Eamonn Wall

The Scaldy Detail 2011 - front

The Scaldy Detail 2011 - back

Submissions included are:

Mogue Doyle … Minnie on a Mission
Dervla Tierney … A Romantic Weekend Away
Helen Gaynor … The Colour of Sun
Helen Gaynor … Divergence
Caroline Busher … Two Worlds Collide
Victoria Walsh … Dirt, Sweat and Hooves
JP Barnes … Dead Soon Enough
Patrick Kehoe … Via Augusta
Patrick Kehoe … Sow River
John Kelly … Down the Prom
John Kelly … Here Come the Lambs
Maria Clifford … Carraig House
Maria Clifford … Old Lovers
Martina McAteer … Mammy
Mary O’Brien … Biddy the Knitter
Mary O’Brien … To the Heron
Patrick Nolan … The Red Bricks Stare
Denise Kearney Murphy … The Mercy
Brendan Redmond … Untitled Man
Angie Fox … Unsung Heroes
Afric McGlinchey … The Gate
P.J. Nolan … Sprite
Phelim Kavanagh … Wave’s in Eight’s
Norman Darlington (lead) … Crowning the Waterfall
Norman Darlington (lead) … The Fineness of Dust
Suzanne Power … Music Box
Joe Neal … Sleeper
Pat Maddock … The Little Drummer Boy
Jim Maguire … Wexford Sestina
Margaret Galvin … Communion
Denis Collins … Promises and More
Peter Murphy … A Short Poem Composed of Names Thou Shalt Not Name Thy Dog
Philip Quirke … Barefoot
Norma Doyle … Oíche Shamhna
Norma Doyle … Ó Theach go Teach
Norma Doyle … Mo Bhreithlá
John Atkinson … Setting Son
Michael Ryan … God Looks for Praise
Andy Doyle … Seasonal Rites
Niall Wall … In the Dimly Lit Ward
Carol Boland … The Blue Mountain
Margaret Breen … My Uncle John
Kay Doyle … Vinegar Hill
Eamonn Wall … A Departure/After Kao Shih
Drucilla Wall … Cat Revelation
Paul O’Reilly … The New American
Stephen O’Leary … King of the Dishcloth
John O’Gorman … Reido Goes Retiring
Barbara Tector … A New Beginning
Larry Kirwan … On Raglan Road

Launch Pad, in association with Scallta Media, are delighted to announce that there will be a 2011 Edition of The Scaldy Detail.

Following on from the 2007 Edition, it has been a long time coming. But, despite the economic wind blowing against us, it is now here, and what better time to make it happen.

For those not familiar with The Scaldy Detail, the 2007 edition was a 108-page journal of fantastic “local” writing, and was launched then by Wexford playwright Billy Roche.

Guidelines are as follows:

• Submissions are now being accepted at submissions@elaunchpad.org.
• Email submissions ONLY accepted.
• Closing date is Friday, September 30th, 2011. Submissions received after this date will not be considered.
• Ideally, writers should have a connection to County Wexford, OR, their work should encapsulate the County in some way.
• There is no payment for publication due to financial limitations.
• Each writer published in this edition will receive one complimentary copy.
• For fiction, excerpts, memoirs, screenplays, etc. there is a limit of one entry per writer, capped at 2000 words (or not much more!).
• For poetry, lyrics, verse, etc. there is a limit of four entries per writer.
• Enquiries can be directed to Paul O’Reilly at info@elaunchpad.org.
• All writers, regardless of experience, are welcome to submit.

The editor of the 2011 Edition will be Eamonn Wall, whose latest book ‘Writing the Irish West’ was just recently published. Author of five collections of poetry, we are delighted to have Eamonn on board again to steer the ship.

It is envisaged that the journal will be launched in early January, 2012, in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, at a venue to be confirmed.

To give you an idea of what made it the last time, here is the contents from the 2007 Edition:

• Mogue Doyle … Fruits For The Widow Flynn
• Liz Mellon … The Color Of Light
• Larry Kirwan … Hilly Crystal, CBGB’s And Wexford Town
• Katie Donovan … How High A Tree Could Be / The Game Of Sleep
• Andy Doyle … Generations
• Pat Maddock … A Road Since Nineteen Sixty-Three / Foxgloves
• Betty Thompson … Courtyard / Elegy For Donal McCann
• Dervla Tierney … A Career Woman
• Mary O’Brien … Purchases
• Andrew Caldicott … Under-6 Hurling / After The Opera, Johnstown Castle
• James Liddy … New Anthem
• Angie Fox … Waiting
• Drucilla Wall … Wild Orchids
• Orna Ross … A Dance In Time
• Patrick Kehoe … The Boys Of The County Mayo / Love Poem
• Denis Collins … Lost
• Norman Darlington, John W. Sexton & Carole MacRury … She Brings Me Smoke
• Gertrude Sheahan … Golden Years
• M.J. O’Reilly … Fishers of Men
• J.P. Barnes … Rattle
• Maria Clifford … The Wake
• Paul O’Reilly … A Friend And Father
• Niall Wall … The End Of History
• Sylvia Cullen … Monologue
• P.J. Nolan … By The Connigar / Hail By
• John B. Atkinson … Spring
• Hugh Kelly … Saint Senan’s Churchyard
• Paul O’Reilly … The Pikehead
• Margaret Galvin … The Wardrobe Mistress / Thin
• Eamonn Wall … Slobs
• John Kelly … The Barn / Whispering In The BeBo Dorm
• Michael Ryan … A Walk
• Margaret Breen … The River
• Philip Quirke … Dig
• Philip Casey … Long After I’m Gone

And so, get to it. We’re very much looking forward to reading your work.