A TRALEE-BASED author has been elected President of Shilling Speakers, an online international Toastmasters club, with members from 14 countries.
Anthony Garvey said; “The diversity at the club is amazing with six countries represented on our committee alone. We have four TEDx speakers, 11 Distinguished Toastmasters (the highest level a Toastmaster can reach), and 16 advanced members, but we also have 9 complete newcomers. The club is open to speakers of all levels. There are six members from Ireland, including another excellent speaker who has made Tralee his home, Sean Lyons, former President of Listowel Writers’ Week.”
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Shilling Speakers, a purely online club, hold fortnightly meetings on 2nd & 4th Wednesday of the month, at 7:30pm Irish time,12 months of the year.
“Everyone who joins our club gets assigned a mentor to work with them to improve their public speaking and presenting skills,” Garvey continued.
The next meeting of Shilling Speakers is on Wednesday, 27th July. The registration to receive the Zoom link can be found here: https://bit.ly/Shilling2022
THE popular Gravespeakers’ series of children’s books, which has developed a cult following in the South West of Ireland, is one step closer to coming alive on the big screen.
A 3-5 minute animated trailer of the first book in the series, Gravespeakers: Maria, is under development by a team of students at the IT Tralee, in County Kerry.
Tralee-based author Anthony Garvey, will work closely with final year animation students, Niall O’Shea and Darragh Horgan, under the watchful supervision of Marty Boylan, Lisa McElligott and Rosie Dempsey, from the IT Tralee’s Creative Media Department.
There are six books in the Gravespeakers’ series, aimed at children between 8-12 years of age. Garvey says a film or TV deal for the Gravespeakers’ series was front of mind when he began writing the book series three years ago:
“I decided to build a following for the books by visiting over 50 primary schools in 18 months,” Garvey said. “The reaction was phenomenal. I didn’t want to get bogged down with contracts and negotiations, so I self-published the series, sidestepping discussions with agents and publishers, allowing me to focus exclusively on delivering the finished product.”
Each Gravespeakers book tells the story of a different child, as they discover their special gift: they can communicate with the dead!
“Darragh and I will tell Maria’s story on the eve of her 18th birthday, as she revisits key moments in the book from her childhood,” said IT Tralee student, Niall O’ Shea. “We were drawn to the project because of its clever combination of dark and light and because of our ability to bring those themes to life on screen. The idea is to use the trailer to showcase the potential for the book series, but also to enter it into film festivals around the world.”
Marty Boylan, a lecturer at the IT Tralee and the course leader for animation, said the project was one of several collaborations underway between the college and businesses:
“We encourage our students to work with industry, SMEs and non profit organisations on challenging and rewarding opportunities,” Boylan said.
“Animation, Visual Effects, and Motion Design was only recently established at the IT Tralee in 2015, with our first crop of graduates emerging last year. All of the students from our class of 2019 are currently employed in the industry which reflects well on the quality of the course and the lecturers.”
TRALEE-BASED award winning presenter and author, Anthony Garvey, launched his new children’s book yesterday at Douglas National School, in Killorglin.
Aimed at 7-11 year olds, ‘Gravespeakers: Jack’ is the fourth in a seven-book series. Each of the Gravespeakers’ books tells the stories of a different child who discover they have a special gift on their twelfth birthday, they can communicate with the dead.
The first four books feature Maria from Tarbert, Ruth from Ballybunion, Crispin from Dingle and Jack from Killorglin. The final three books in the series will be released in 2018.
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“The books are spooky without being scary and are for children who love feeling the hairs on the back of their neck stand up while listening to ghost stories around the campfire,” said Anthony Garvey. “I have done readings in over 30 primary schools in Munster and the reaction has been very positive.”
The new book is inspired by Millstreet’s Joanne O’Riordan, one of ten people worldwide born with Tetra-Amelia Syndrome.
Like Joanne, Jack, the twelve-year-old hero of the book, was born without arms or legs, but refuses to allow it to hold him back or define him as a person, preferring to focus on what he can do instead.
Set in Killorglin in County Kerry, the latest book tells the story of Jack McCarthy, who must save Killorglin’s famous Puck Fair from imminent disaster in just 30 hours.
Anthony is currently running a competition on www.gravespeakers.com. The winner will become the main character of book 5 in the series.
They will contribute to the direction and shape of the story and help with the marketing and social media promotion of the book. All the competition details are available on the website.
For more on the books and where to get them, contact Anthony on 087 79 79 2 79 or anthony.garvey@quinngarveypr.com.
.Anthony Garvey with pupils from An Clochán school on Monday.
A TRALEE-BASED author launched his third children’s book on Monday, in the scenic surroundings of An Clochán National School at the foot of Mount Brandon where the book is set.
‘Gravespeakers: Crispin’ is the third book in the series by Anthony Garvey – the others are Gravespeakers: Maria and Gravespeakers: Ruth – which is aimed at boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 11.
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Anthony revealed there will be three further books in the series with book four, Gravespeakers: Jack, inspired by the life of Millstreet’s Joanne O’Riordan.
The main character is wheelchair bound and like Joanne O’Riordan suffers from Total Amelia Syndrome, a rare disorder characterised by the absence of all four limbs.
One child will win the chance to become the star of book 5 in the series. All they need to do is do a short review of Gravespeakers: Crispin and it could be them! Details can be found on http://gravespeakers.quinngarveypr.com/competition/
To buy the book log on to www.gravespeakers.com. The book costs €10 and is available from Anthony direct for a signed copy (087 79 79 2 79) or on Amazon.
“I run creative writing workshops in 14 primary schools in Munster and the reception the kids are giving to the Gravespeakers’ books is phenomenal,” said Anthony. Here he is at the school in Cloghane on Monday attempting to do a reading, but he doesn’t get too far…
.Anthony Garvey (second left) with Ruth McCarthy (heroine of the Gravespeakers book), her father Sergeant Mick McCarthy her mother Aileen McCarthy and sister Grace McCarthy..
AN award-winning Tralee-based presenter and author Anthony Garvey has launched a new children’s book in time for Christmas.
Aimed at 7-11 year olds, ‘Gravespeakers: Ruth’ is the second in a six-book series which will be released over the next 18 months.
This book is set in Ballybunion and features competition winner Ruth McCarthy, daughter of the local police sergeant, Mick McCarthy.
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Anthony, who runs his own PR company and is a member of Tralee Toastmasters, launched the book in Scoil Iosagain in Ballybunion, Ruth’s primary school. In the fictional story Ruth discovers on her twelfth birthday she is one of six children in Kerry who can communicate with the dead.
“The books recreate the feel of a ghost story at Halloween and children adore them,” author Anthony Garvey said. “I have done book readings in over 30 primary schools in Munster and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Anthony is currently running another competition on www.gravespeakers.com. The winner will become the main character of the final book in the series.
They will contribute to the direction and shape of the story and help with the marketing and social media promotion of the book.
Signed copies of the book are available in time for Christmas for €10 by contacting Anthony on 087 79 79 2 79 or emailing him at: anthony.garvey@quinngarveypr.com. Signed copies of Gravespeakers: Maria are also available for €10.
.Anthony Garvey and Tricia Healy after coming first and second respectively at a Toastmasters Divisional Final at the weekend.
A TRALEE toastmaster will compete in the UK and Ireland Humorous Speech contest final in Dublin in three weeks time.
Children’s book author and PR expert, Anthony Garvey, won the division toastmasters contest in Limerick at the weekend with a speech “Act Your Age”.
Anthony had to win Club (Tralee), Area (West Limerick, Killarney, Tralee) and Division (Clare, Limerick, Cork, Kerry) to get through to the Dublin final.
Second place in the competition was Trica Healey from Tarbert. Best of luck in the final Anthony!
.Anthony Garvey is one of three people giving an 8-week Presentation and Public Speaking Course in the Meadowlands Hotel, Tralee next month.
THREE award-winning speakers and presenters, Anthony Garvey, Sean Lyons and Justin McCarthy, will deliver an 8-week Presentation and Public Speaking Course in the Meadowlands Hotel, Tralee next month.
The course will run from 10.00am to 12.00pm every Saturday morning beginning on October 3.
“Many people get nervous presenting in front of an audience and on this course you will learn how to improve your presentation skills in a safe and encouraging environment,” said course tutor Anthony Garvey.
“Presenting confidently is important in many areas for example, at work, in college and for job interviews.”
The eight-week course covers a wide range of topics including managing nerves and stage fright, using humour effectively, structuring a speech, presenting with flair, thinking on your feet and connecting with an audience.
“Effective communication skills are important in all walks of life,” said Sean Lyons, one of the course tutors. “Each week we will listen to some of the world’s best speakers and learn how to structure, develop and deliver interesting presentations and speeches.”
The course costs €495 and is strictly limited to 12 people.
“We will also be looking at how to avoid death by powerpoint,” said Justin McCarthy, one of the course tutors. “And we will be revealing how you can make the best use of emerging technologies from webinars and Skype, to haiku and prezie.”
More details about the course can be found on www.confidentpresenting.com or by calling Anthony Garvey on 087-7979279.
THE saying goes that in debating if you can’t convince them, then you must just try to confuse them.
This may be the case for most, but not for one local man after he convinced judges and progressed through the latter rounds of a speaking/debating competition.
Anthony Garvey (click here for our previous story on this) a prominent member of ‘Tralee Toastmasters Club’ (TTC) yesterday won the ‘Division A Final’ of the International Speech Contest in Mallow and is now one step closer to the ‘Grand Final’ that will be held in Las Vegas in August.
There were six competitors in the competition yesterday, with only the winner progressing to the next round.
Anthony will now take part in the ‘district’ round that will take place in Nottingham on May 16.
There will again be six competitors in this round and again, the winner will progress from here to represent the UK and Ireland in Las Vegas.
His topic was on his experiences as a student, this topic will then change if he makes it to the grand final when he will have to construct a new speech in just a few short days.
Congratulations Anthony on the win and best of luck in May!
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Winner Anthony Garvey on the left and Kevin Lee (District 71 Lt. Governor Education and Training) on the right.
THEY say that in the art of debating or public speaking that you should never raise your voice, only improve your argument.
This is exactly what one local man did as he triumphed in the later rounds of a speaking competition.
Now he’s in with a chance to go to Las Vegas…if he talks his way through two more rounds.
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Anthony Garvey who is the current club president of the ‘Tralee Toastmasters Club’ has won the ‘Area Finals of the International Speech Contest’ that is held annually.
Anthony is originally from Dublin but is now living in Tralee.
The ‘Toastmasters’ club is for those who wish to improve their public speaking skills or who wish to take part in a new and different kind of social group.
They run an international speech contest every year where over 30,000 competitors enter from all over the world. This is then whittled down to just 81 who use their dulcet tones and skills to battle it out to be part of the nine people in the grand final in Las Vegas in August.
To qualify as one of the nine you need to win the club, area, division, district and semi-final competitions that are held across the country over the year.
Anthony has won the ‘Area Contest’ with his speech about his experiences as a student and so he will now progress onto the ‘Division Contest’ which will be held in Mallow in two weeks time.
If he is successful here then he will move onto the ‘District Competition’ to be hosted in Nottingham in May with the winner from that progressing onto the grand final in Las Vegas, Nevada in August.
There has been only one Irish overall champion in the competition and that was Marie Pyne from Ennis in Co Clare way back in 1985 so we want to wish Anthony all the luck that we can for Mallow in two weeks time!
