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Terence Winch's new book, Falling Out of Bed in a Room with No Floor (Hanging Loose Press), is now available.
Advance praise
Whether they arise from the actual or the conceptual, Terence Winch's poems are plugged directly into real experience, and they convey the quiet authority of what is true. He writes with a sure hand and fine sense of the playful slipperiness of language.
---Billy Collins
The title of Terence Winch's newest collection says it all: the wonderfully droll, self-deprecating, hard-hitting and deliciously comic narrator of these poems knows only too well what life exacts from us. A trivial event like losing one's watch and replacing it brings on the rueful recognition that "it ran so fast, / I had to live every day / as if it were tomorrow." It's a dilemma we all face. No rest for the weary! In a sequence of dazzling and poignant memory poems about love and death, friendship and family trauma, Winch once again displays his uncanny ability to take the most ordinary of incidents and endow them with radiance. One reads Falling Out of Bed in a Room with No Floor with a steady shock of recognition. Here WE are!
---Marjorie Perloff
REVIEWS:
Part satyr, part fierce angel, Winch manages a voice so full of tenderness and delicious drollery that you know you'd be lucky to spend time with this guy in a pub. They say we like other people who make us feel good, who make us laugh, and these are poems that aim to provide the kind of deep enjoyment and entertainment we need. They aim to, and they do: the voice of these poems moves seamlessly through free verse and traditional forms (villanelles and a sestina, even), through the dream-life's nightmares and the real world of public transit, through memory and tomfoolery, wit and despair; the virtue these poems always embrace, however, is camaraderie. You can imagine Whitman enjoying these poems, just as both Billy Collins and Marjorie Perloff have said they do. ---David McAleavey (in an Amazon review)
Read David Lehman's piece on the new book at The Best American Poetry blog.
For Earle Hitchner's essay on the book, "Poet Terence Winch Pours a Potent 'Fifth'"---go to the Irish Echo [n.b.: end of piece is missing here].
See Michael Lally's post on Falling Out of Bed in a Room with No Floor at Michael's blog, Lally's Alley.
Read Laura Orem's take in the Innisfree Poetry Journal.
To order Falling Out of Bed in a Room with No Floor, click on CONTACT.
SCROLL DOWN TO "PERFORMANCES" for INFORMATION ON THE BIG CELTIC THUNDER CONCERT ON MARCH 16 IN BALTIMORE
Co-founded by Terence Winch, Celtic Thunder played its first gig in May of 1977 at the Harp Pub in Baltimore, and went on to become one of the most influential traditional music groups in the U.S. Called "a great Irish band" by the Village Voice and "one of the best Irish folk acts in America" by The Washington Post, Celtic Thunder has released three albums over the years. The band's second CD, The Light of Other Days, won the prestigious INDIE award for Best Celtic Album. In addition to touring Ireland and playing innumerable concerts, ceilis, and pubs in the U.S., Celtic Thunder also performed at the White House twice during the Clinton administration.
Under no circumstances should the real Celtic Thunder be confused with the PBS t.v. production (and related CDs) that started in 2008, which features a variety of commercial Irish and non-Irish material sung by an assortment of male vocalists and others, collectively calling itself "Celtic Thunder."
Celtic Thunder's three albums are generally available through Amazon and other on-line sources. A compilation of Terry Winch's compositions, featuring many of Celtic Thunder's best-known songs and tunes, is now out. See below for information on ordering the recording, called When New York Was Irish. Meanwhile, a website with information on the recordings and performances of the original Celtic Thunder is now up and running.
Now Available: Celtic Thunder Music has released a CD anthology called When New York Was Irish: Songs & Tunes by Terence Winch, Featuring Celtic Thunder & Narrowbacks. The album's 16 tracks showcase Terry Winch's best-known compositions, including "When New York Was Irish," "In Praise of the City of Baltimore," "Hooley with the Herd," "The Best Years of Our Lives," "Saints," and several pieces that have never appeared before on a recording, including "The Irish Riviera." The CD is now available from Trade Root Music Group, an excellent distributor of traditional music. See their listing for When New York Was Irish.
"Terence Winch is known as a poet and fiction writer, and has penned a bonafide folk hit with When New York Was Irish, the eponymous title track of this album.... The song reminds us that scholars looking for Irish music were searching the wrong places....Winch captures the vibe of Irish-American life in the latter quarter of the 20th century: its jigs, reels, barn dance tunes, stories, and rhythms."
---R. Weir, Sing Out!
Terence Winch's Boy Drinkers, from Hanging Loose Press (click & scroll down)
PUBLISHER'S PRESS RELEASE:
The latest work from this acclaimed poet, musician, and fiction writer reaches down to the roots of the contemporary Irish-American experience. In Boy Drinkers, Terence Winch---with singular poignancy, wit, and clarity---draws on his upbringing in the Bronx in the 1950s and '60s to bring to life an Irish Catholic world of guilt and choice, debt and legacy, and the betrayals of belief that shake the self to the core.
Winner of the American Book Award for his poetry collection Irish Musicians/American Friends and of the Columbia Book Award for The Great Indoors, and grant recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fund for Poetry, and the Maryland State Arts Council, Terence Winch is recognized as a significant presence in the literary community. Winch---also known as a songwriter with his celebrated band, Celtic Thunder---has been featured on NPR's "All Things Considered" and numerous times on Garrison Keillor's "Writer's Almanac."
Praise for Boy Drinkers:
Here is a new look at the Irish diaspora, where the sound of glasses clinking is as familiar as the smell of incense at a Catholic Mass, where Terence Winch prays, "If the spirit has its own life, let the noises /it makes be as silent as the multiplication / and subtraction of time, and not / the rattle of a cough in the dark." Boy Drinkers looks with sober eyes at the people, tragedies, and traditions that shaped any of us who grew up in a community where alcohol and God were equally able to bring us to our knees. With his musician's ear and Irishman's humor, Terence Winch pokes fun at the Holy, makes sacred the mundane, and redefines the meaning of "grace." ---Meg Kearney
Terry Winch writes the kind of poems that make you want to kick back and listen, and say to hell with what you were supposed to be doing. These vignettes of growing up Irish Catholic in New York City during the '50s and '60s evoke a world that seems long gone, in many ways with good reason. In a voice that manages to be understated, precise, and casual all at once, Winch exposes us to a set of characters struggling with a world that's changing too fast not only for them, but for anyone. These are poems you'll remember. Clear-eyed, unsentimental, and hilarious, they'll also break your heart. ---Mark Wallace
Reviews of Boy Drinkers
- "In Boy Drinkers, Terence Winch continues his compelling record of a time, a place, and a people.... The remarkable thing about Winch's Irish-American writing is that it is radically local and inductive in the sense that Charles Olson preached localism. ...An Irish-American classic." ---Jack Morgan, The Irish Literary Supplement
- "These witty, narrative poems are light, brave particles of truth." ---John Jacob, Rain Taxi
- "Vivid..., deft...,subtle, poignant---Few contemporary American poets have built with Winch's skill an entire book around the alienating desolation of a religious faith and working-class poverty." ---Bill Mohr, The New Review of Literature
- "Terence Winch is a poet and founding member of Celtic Thunder, the storied Irish music group. Boy Drinkers is his mesmerizing new collection of autobiographical poems about growing up Irish-American in the Bronx."---Dylan Foley, The Newark Star-Ledger
- "Winch's nostalgic new collection about growing up Irish Catholic in New York in the 1950s and 1960s...packs the undeniable punch of memories dragged up and pried away from whatever might have obscured them from view."
---Kevin Nance, Booklist
- "Winch seamlessly weaves comedy and tragedy, the personal or conversational and the highly lyrical.... What one discovers is a universality of feeling: the pleasure of being admitted to a world of strangers who speak your language."---Anna Ziegler, Smartish Pace magazine.
To order Boy Drinkers, click on CONTACT.
Terence Winch's That Special Place: New World Irish Stories is an acclaimed collection of non-fiction stories about Irish music and the musicians who make it, published by Hanging Loose Press.
About That Special Place: New World Irish Stories
- "You can see the sights, taste the air, hear the sounds, and smell the atmosphere (no matter how smoky and boozy) in all his stories. A delightful read!" ---Dirty Linen magazine
- "In That Special Place, Terry Winch reminds us again that he is the voice of Irish America." ---George O'Brien
- "Terence Winch's work is a joy to read. ...He brings a fiction writer's eye for epiphany to his nonfictional storytelling.... Winch's book is full of the soul's stories, and it will occupy that special place in readers' own memories." ---Earle Hitchner, The Irish Echo
- "The narratives...focus on the wild, the profane, and the often simply crazy world of the itinerant performer and are often hilarious. That Special Place represents...a vital contribution to Irish American writing."
---Eamonn Wall, The Irish Literary Supplement
- "A small but powerful collection of stories and lyrics.... The author's compassion for all his characters shines..., as well as his ability to observe and unthread the smallest nuance of human word, emotion, or behavior. Perhaps it's his musician's ability to tie the strings of life together without missing a beat." ---Kathleen Cain, The Bloomsbury Review
- "In a world of bad writing, I open The Crab Orchard Review and find your wonderful, startling prose. What joy it gave me to read those three stories [later included in That Special Place]. The day will be good because of reading them. I will search out and praise my own Celtic roots and believe that literature is possible."---Ellen Gilchrist [personal letter, 1996]
in front: Terry Winch, Brendan Mulvihill, Jesse Winch; in back: Linda Hickman, Eileen (Korn) Estes
PERFORMANCES:
Narrowbacks, with former All-Ireland champ Brendan Mulvihill on fiddle; Terence Winch on button accordion; Jesse Winch on bodhran, bouzouki, harmonica, and guitar; Linda Hickman on flute, whistle, and vocals; and Eileen Estes on vocals and guitar, will perform in concert for the 34th Irish Evening of Music and Poetry, sponsored by the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society (Hocopolitso), on FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2012. The new location is the SMITH THEATRE on the campus of Howard Community College, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, MD 21044. Fabulous footwork from the Culkin School of Irish Dance will be part of the band's performance. The evening begins at 7:30 pm with a reading by Irish-German writer Hugo Hamilton, whose memoir The Speckled People is a contemporary classic.
See Hocopolitso's site for more information.
For St. Patrick's Day Eve,
Friday, March 16th, 2012, come to Baltimore for:
The Original CELTIC THUNDER
A Reunion!
With driving rhythms, fresh melodies, and literate lyrics, Celtic Thunder was the soundtrack of Baltimore's Irish gatherings beginning in 1977. They went on to become one of the most influential bands of their time, touring Ireland, playing the Clinton White House (twice!), and being named "one of the best Irish folk acts in America" by The Washington Post. For this special reunion concert, original members Jesse Winch (bodhran, bouzouki), Terry Winch (button accordion), and Linda Hickman (flute) are joined by Dominick Murray, the band's premier singer, and fiddle great Tony DeMarco to reconstitute the group's line-up ca. 1982. 8pm. $20, $15 mbrs. Adv. tix. sug. Creative Alliance at The Patterson 3134 Eastern Ave, Baltimore, Maryland, 21224-3963. See the Creative Alliance's site for more information.
Visit the Irish Inn at Glen Echo, Maryland, every Monday night to hear great music (in an informal, session-like setting) from the Irish Inn Mates---Jesse Winch, Tina Eck, Mitch Fanning, and Betsy O'Malley, with occasional guests, including Terence Winch and Brendan Mulvihill. From about 7 pm until 10 pm. See the Irish Inn's site for details.
READINGS:
Terence Winch will be the guest of honor at the New School's Poetry Forum, hosted by David Lehman, on Tuesday, April 10, 2012. 6:30 to 7:45. Alvin Johnson/J. M. Kaplan Hall, 66 West 12th Street, NYC, room 510.
Along with a multitude of fellow writers, Terence Winch will be participating in a monster reading to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Hanging Loose magazine & press. April 25 at the Brooklyn Central Library, located at the intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway on Grand Army Plaza. See the library's site for details.
Terence Winch served as poet-in-residence in 2009-10 for the high schools of Howard County, Maryland, visiting each school (as well as Howard County Community College) to talk with students about poetry, read his work, and introduce them to the work of other writers. For an excellent story on his high school visits, go to the website of The Baltimore Sun.
PUBLICATIONS:
In "Capital Verse and Capitol Music of Terence Winch," Earle Hitchner, columnist for America's leading Irish newspaper, The Irish Echo, focuses on TW's writing and music in his essay for the Feb. 9, 2011 edition. Go to the Irish Echo to read the text of this excellent piece.
Thanks to Steve Kowit, Serving House Journal has reprinted some of Terence Winch's poems. Go to SHJ's site to read the poems.
Terence Winch's poem, "Objects of Spiritual Significance," which first appeared in The New York Quarterly, was been chosen by Amy Gerstler for inclusion in Best American Poetry 2010, now available in bookstores & online.
The British journal Magma is now available, featuring several poems by Terence Winch, one of which is highlighted on their website.
The PIP (Project for Innovative Poetry) has chosen Terence Winch as a Winner of the PIP Gertrude Stein Awards for Innovative Poetry in English. Visit the PIP site to see the entry on the award.
Terence Winch is now a regular contributor to the Best American Poetry blog--- Check out the BAP blog for his posts about Ted Berrigan, Daniel Cassidy, Eileen Myles, Geoff Young, The Fast Flying Vestibule (the old-timey band TW was part of in the 1970s), Mike Tyson and Oscar Wilde, Ray DiPalma's new magnum opus,the poetry of Irish tune titles, Michael Lally, the memorial service for David Franks, the great blizzards of 2010, St. Patrick, the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland, David Lehman's new book on Jewish composers and Mick Moloney's new CD of Irish-Jewish collaborations, actor Michael O'Keefe's new book of poems, Sherman Alexie, the work of Indian poet Diane Burns, Tim Dlugos, Liam Rector, Elizabeth Sewell, Doug Lang, et al.
On his influential blog, Mark Wallace provides a generous introduction to Terence Winch's work. Go to Mark's blog for the full text.
The Innisfree Poetry Journal's inaugural installment of a feature called "A Closer Look," which focuses on the work of one writer, offers a selection of work by Terence Winch. See the Innisfree site.
See Michael Lally's inimitable blog for his generous remarks on Terence Winch's songs: Lally's Alley.
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