"In the beginning, God created Adam. Adam stole a bite of the apple, as did Eve, but Eve went on to create, and we, as her dedicated followers in a fashion, have done so also.
Our creation is as diverse a collection of works as possible, representing everyday women from the North West of Ireland and beyond; a mixed bowl of stories, poetry, comedic works, photographs, illustrations, images and lyrics.
Its core - the heart and mind of a woman, regardless of age, religion, politics, identity or profession.
Its bite - a unique merging of all art forms deriving from the written word and image to further engage as a living, breathing art to a performance level.
Its fruition - an evolution of voices, opinions, ideas and craft."
The EVE Project began as an anthology of all-female work (in both book and CD format) involving over 55 women, in the form of poetry, fiction, music, art, photography, ceramics, drama & dance, from all over the North West of Ireland.
Collectively called the EVE Project, both book and CD were published and produced in March 2006 by Guildhall Press , Derry, celebrating and recognising all these creative mediums. The youngest contributor was just fourteen years of age with the oldest aged in her late seventies.
Since then EVE has further evolved into a living, breathing art with many of the contributors, (as either solo artists or as part of a group), now actively participating in performance poetry, spoken word, drama and music moreso than ever before and, to date, many have performed extensively throughout the province and abroad with other writers/artists unrelated to EVE.
Three of the contributors - Pamela Brown, Jenni Doherty & Abby Oliveira - have joined forces to form the successful performance poetry group, the Poetry Chicks who have performed and held creative writing workshops throughout Ireland.
Book available, with the support of Guildhall Press for £5:
Jenni, along with fellow EVE contributor, Aisling Doherty have also just recently returned, with five others from the on-line writer's group the Belfast Poets Tour Group from a six week performance poetry tour which covered all the major Australian Poetry Festivals this August - September in Darwin, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns, Perth, Fremantle & Sydney; and also just recently toured Ireland (Cork, Limerick, Galway, Dublin, Derry & Belfast) in January 2007. Chapbook available for £3/€5.
Singer/songwriter Tina McLaughlin has also very successfully kick-started one of the first Derry city mixed Open Mic Singer/Songwriters & Poets nights which occurs every Monday from 9pm in Mason's Bar, Magazine Street as well as organising live acoustic acts and DJs from 6 to 9pm every Friday in the same venue. EVE Contributers who have participated, so far, have included Charlotte Dryden (DJ), the Henry Girls (music) aswell as all those mentioned above as performance poets.
Yes; the word is up. It has jumped from the depth of the printed page and we, as a collective in the North-West, hope to go from strength to strength and popularise this discipline, thus making performance poetry/spoken word etc much more accessible, entertaining, interesting and enjoyable for the general public at large.
We would love to meet up with, and learn from, other like-minded souls; continue sharing, supporting and spreading words beyond just the mere joy of print and into the immediacy and intimacy of live performance. Feel free to drop us a note should you wish to contact any of the individual EVE contributors, or anything else for that matter.
Incidentally, we currently have a rotating exhibition of all the artwork, illustrations and photography from the book on show at various public libraries in the North-West. Selected images are also available to view below and in our pics folder here.
A number of the written works (poetry, short stories etc) from the EVE book have been uploaded as blogs.
EVE... a Celebration of Creative Women
Book: ISBN: 0946451915 £12.95
CD: 0946451923 £7.95
You can order these direct from Guildhall Press or, alternatively, request a copy by sending a private message to us here.
Thanks.
Selected Artwork & Photographs from EVE:
I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4
Guildhall Press is currently running a Writers' Challenge - Feel free to check it out.