Join VOGUE + Sam Edelman + Yours Truly...

You have good taste. And you like hot shoes. Do you need any other reason to join me this Saturday at this VOGUE special event celebrating Sam Edelman's sick new Spring 2011 collection?

I'll be hosting. You'll be shopping. It will be a guaranteed amazing time.

Saturday, April 2
12 - 3 p

Nordstrom at The Grove
LA, CA

See you there!

xo * Jessie B. R.

Perez Hilton...children's author!?

The manchild who has made fun of every celeb on the this green Earth, has drawn cocaine smears on the mug shots of Hollywood's fast set, and made jabs at others' weights, lifestyles and levels of diminished talent, is now publishing a book. A children's book. A children's book that "celebrates individuality and self-acceptance, and is inspired by Hilton’s desire to promote equality in readers of all ages."

I have no words. Only this cover art. Please go ahead and design your own caption. Because I am completely and utterly speechless.

The town whose claim to fame was Split Pea Soup.

Santa Barbara is the kind of town--the kind resided in by rowdy University students and a tamer set of wealthy retirees--that one comes to either to relax or to engage in the most touristy of activities.

One such activity is wine drinking. But when traveling with my mother, an avid non-drinker, we were left to other, less fermented journeys.

In the town of Buellton, one will find Pea Soup Andersen's--an inn, a restaurant, and the claimant to Split Pea Soup innovation.

In next door Solvang, visitors can engage in all the delights of a Danish Village which hasn't changed since its founding in 1911 save the addition of perhaps 3 dozen more gift and candy shops. When I'd passed through Solvang in my first and last trip to Santa Barbara, I'd discovered that the restaurant responsible for the famed Danish dessert, Aebleskiver, closed at 3 pm.

I was resolved to make it in time this time. I didn't. But determined to try the Danish donut, we made a mad dash for the Red Viking Restaurant, the only other resto in town to fry up the doughy balls. While the dessert underwhelmed me, the victory of finally obtaining it did not.

Solvang is famed for nothing beside its donuts and pancakes. But while outsiders don't know it for anything else, Solvang-ites are apparently well aware of the delights of the outside world. The local memorabilia shop features a life size (aka pint size) cardboard cut out of the one, the only Justin Bieber, a child I'm fairly certain has never made it to the quaint village of Danish architecture and plentiful tourist traps.

'On the Nail' Reading Thurs 7th April 2011

'On The Nail' Reading @ The Locke Bar, Limerick

Thurs. 7th April 2011 8.00pm



Organised by The Limerick Writers' Centre this popular monthly reading and open-mic continues to attract audiences with a mix of poetry, prose and music.



This Month (April) our Guest Readers are Susan Miller DuMars and Michael Farry.



Susan Miller Dumars teaches creative writing at various Galway venues. She also organises literary events, including the Over the Edge open readings, begun in 2003. She also teaches special needs groups as well as the general public. She published her first full book of short stories in December of last year. The book Lights In The Distance from Doire Press has thirteen stories, most of which have been published individually.



Michael Farry was born in Coolaney, Co. Sligo in 1947. He attended Rockfield National School and St Nathy's College, Ballaghaderreen. He trained as a primary teacher in St Patrick's Training College, Drumcondra, Dublin 1966-68. He has been writing poetry since 2004 and has been published in a number of small magazines and has been commended and shortlisted in a number of poetry competitions. He is a founder member of Boyne Writers Group.

Everyone is invited to take part in the open-mic after the main event, poets, storytellers, musicians and writers . Even if you don't write you are welcome to bring something along to read. The night begins at 8.00pm and admission is free. So join us on the night and make this event something special.

NOTE: Our special authors book table will again be in operation, so if you want your book, CD's etc publicised make sure you are represented on the table. Contact Dominic Taylor at 087 2996409 to make arrangements.



The Limerick Writers' Centre acknowledges the support of The Arts Council of Ireland.

Further information contact: Dominic Taylor 087 2996409 email

limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com web http://onthenailreadings.blogspot.com

To view videos of Feb reading go to: http://www.youtube.com/onthenailreadings

'On The Nail' Thurs 3rd March 2011 @ The Locke Bar

'On The Nail' Reading @ The Locke Bar, Limerick
Thurs. 3rd March 2011 8.00pm

Organised by The Limerick Writers' Centre this popular monthly reading and open-mic continues to attract audiences with a mix of poetry, prose and music.

This Month (March) our Guest Readers are Keith Armstrong(UK), Gary Miller (UK) and Simone Mansell Broom (Wales).

KEITH ARMSTRONG was born in Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, where he hasworked as a community development worker, poet,librarian and publisher.
GARY MILLER, internationally acclaimed songwriter, performer and recording artist, first rose to international prominence during the mid eighties and throughout the nineties as principal songwriter, lead singer, guitarist & mandolin player with The Whisky Priests, the internationally renowned folk-rock band with a worldwide cult following that he founded in 1985 and fronted with his twin brother Glenn (“the Jimi Hendrix of the accordion”) – “the Joe Strummer and Mick Jones of the Folk World”.
SIMONE MANSELL BROOME spent her early childhood in Tenby. She returned to Wales at the end of 2006 and now lives on a Carmarthenshire farm, co-running a small centre for groups, workshops and courses - Ceridwen. Since 2006, Simone’s been successful in numerous poetry competitions, published in anthologies and magazines, broadcast on BBC Radio 4, Radio Wales and elsewhere, performed all over Wales and beyond, won poetry slams and represented Wales in BBC Radio 4’s performance poetry competition.

Everyone is invited to take part in the open-mic after the main event, poets, storytellers, musicians and writers . Even if you don't write you are welcome to bring something along to read. The night begins at 8.00pm and admission is free. So join us on the night and make this event something special.
NOTE: Our special authors book table will again be in operation, so if you want your book, CD's etc publicised make sure you are represented on the table. Contact Dominic Taylor at 087 2996409 to make arrangements.

The Limerick Writers' Centre acknowledges the support of The Arts Council of Ireland.

Further information contact: Dominic Taylor 087 2996409 email
limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com web http://onthenailreadings.blogspot.com
To view videos of Feb reading go to: http://www.youtube.com/onthenailreadings

'On The Nail' Reading Thurs Feb 3rd 2011

'On The Nail' Reading @ The Locke Bar, Limerick
Thurs. 3rd Feb 2011 8.00pm

The next monthly 'On The Nail' literary reading takes place Thursday 3rd Feb 2011 at 8.00pm in The Locke Bar, George's Quay, Limerick
.
Organised by The Limerick Writers' Centre this popular monthly reading and open-mic continues to attract audiences with a mix of poetry, prose and music.

This Month (February) our Guest Readers are author PJ Taylor and poet Ciaran O’Driscoll. PLUS Launch of Revival Literary Journal 18.

PJ Taylor, a self employed carpenter in Limerick City, has told stories to his children, friends and customers of his childhood growing up in Limerick for over three decades. After years of burning the midnight oil PJ finally completed ‘Between The Three Bridges’. After this initial success, P. J. now takes you through the next seven years. The result ‘Who’s Sorry Now?’ PJ will reads from his new memoir, so be prepared to shed a tear or two and have another good laugh

Ciaran O’Driscoll was born in Co. Kilkenny and lives in Limerick. He has published eight books of poetry including Moving On, Still There: New and Selected Poems (Dedalus Press, 2001) and more recently Surreal Man, a chapbook of 21 poems (Pighog, 2006), and Vecchie Donne di Magione, a dual-language edition of poems in an Italian setting (Volumnia Editrice, 2006). In 2001, Liverpool University Press published his childhood memoir, A Runner Among Falling Leaves. He has won a number of awards for his work, among them the Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry. In 2007, he was elected to Aosdána.

Everyone is invited to take part in the open-mic after the main event, poets, storytellers, musicians and writers . Even if you don't write you are welcome to bring something along to read. The night begins at 8.00pm and admission is free. So join us on the night and make this event something special.
NOTE: Our special authors book table will again be in operation, so if you want your book, CD's etc publicised make sure you are represented on the table. Contact Dominic Taylor at 087 2996409 to make arrangements.

The Limerick Writers' Centre acknowledges the support of The Arts Council of Ireland.

Further information contact: Dominic Taylor 087 2996409 email
limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com web http://onthenailreadings.blogspot.com
To view videos of Jan reading go to: http://www.youtube.com/onthenailreadings

'On The Nail' Reading Thurs 6th Jan 2011 8.00pm

'On The Nail' Reading @ The Locke Bar, Limerick
Thurs. 6th Jan 2011 8.00pm

The next monthly 'On The Nail' literary reading takes place Thursday 6th Jan 2011 at 8.00pm in The Locke Bar, George's Quay, Limerick
.
Organised by The Limerick Writers' Centre this popular monthly reading and open-mic continues to attract audiences with a mix of poetry, prose and music.

This Month (Jan 2011) our guests are poet Teri Murray and author James Lawless.

James Lawless was born in Dublin and divides his time between County Kildare and West Cork. His first novel, Peeling Oranges, a paternal quest set in the Liberties of Dublin and Franco’s Spain, was published in 2007 by Killynon House. Awards include the Scintilla Welsh Open Poetry competition in 2002, the Cecil Day Lewis Play Award 2005 for What Are Neighbours For? and a Hennessy Award nomination and the WOW Award for short stories in 2010. A second novel, For Love of Anna, a story of love, ideology and corruption, was published by New Generation in 2009 as was his book on modern poetry, Clearing The Tangled Wood: Poetry as a way of seeing the world, which was published by Academica Press, USA ( ‘a linguistic ballet, learned and lively on behalf of poetry’ - John Montague), and for which he received an arts bursary award. A new suburban novel, The Avenue (‘A work of passion and truth’ - Declan Kiberd)

Teri Murray began writing in the 1980s and was the winner of the Wicklow Drama Award in 1987 for a children’s play. In 1991 she was commissioned by artist Brian Maguire to write a series of poems to accompany his paintings, Behind Bars – Public and Private.
Her work also featured in Round Peg, an anthology by Clothesline Press, Dublin in 1991. She was editor for Scratches On The Wall, an anthology of Limerick writers produced by Tholsel press in 1995. Since then her poems and short stories have appeared in various magazines.
A Time Under Heaven, her play about the history of Limerick was performed by The Quarry Players and ran for a week at the Belltable in 1996.
Her first collection, Coddle and Tripe, with the late Liam Mulligan was published by Stonebridge in 1998. Poems From The Exclusion Zone appeared in 2001 also from Stonebridge. Later that year she was the winner of a poetry competition which took place during the Eighse Michael Hartnett in Newcastlewest, Co Limerick.
A childrens book, Eddy The Teddy and The Big Fat Nana was published in 2003 followed in 2007 by her third collections of poems, The Authority Of Winter published by Stonebridge.
She is currently editor of Revival Poetry Journal. Where The Daghdha Dances: New and Selected Poems her newest collection from Revival press confirms her as one of the most accomplished poets writing today.

Everyone is invited to take part in the open-mic after the main event, poets, storytellers, musicians and writers . Even if you don't write you are welcome to bring something along to read. The night begins at 8.00pm and there is free admission and free finger food for everyone attending. So join us on the night and make this event something special.
NOTE: Our special authors book table will again be in operation, so if you want your book, CD's etc publicised make sure you are represented on the table. Contact Dominic Taylor at 087 2996409 to make arrangements.
Further information contact: Dominic Taylor 087 2996409 email
limerickwriterscentre@gmail.com web http://onthenailreadings.blogspot.com
To view videos of readings go to: http://www.youtube.com/onthenailreadings

'The Limerick Writers' Centre' acknowledges the financial support of The Arts Council of Ireland.