Annual Writers' Weekend
A course in short story writing
Saturday 31st July - Sunday 1st August 2010

…..Till Homer’s ghost came
             whispering to my mind
He said: I made the Iliad from such a local row.
Gods make their own importance’.
             
From Epic
                                             Patrick Kavanagh

Workshop Director: Mary O'Donnell

Introduction
The Patrick Kavanagh Centre is the venue for this weekend of creative writing workshops in which acclaimed poet and author, Mary O’Donnell  will direct participants.

The Centre which is dedicated to Patrick Kavanagh, one of Ireland’s best loved poets, is located in the picturesque and tranquil village of Inniskeen which nestles among the Monaghan drumlins. Over the centuries, this ancient landscape has been an inspiration for legends and a home to poets and proved to be such a rich source of inspiration for Patrick Kavanagh, prompting him to ‘dabble in verse’. The locale hasn’t changed since Kavanagh’s time, providing the perfect backdrop for this weekend of literary activity.

Theme: Earning Space on the Page
This course is suitable for complete beginners but also for those who have written or published some creative work, either poetry or short fiction. It aims to help participants to develop their own resources in order to work on new material from draft to completion after the course. Although the work of participants is central to this weekend, there will be time to read and discuss contemporary writing with a view to examining other methods and techniques.

Questions may arise such as: How do I find a subject? Do writers research aspects of their own work, and if so how? How many drafts should I write before the work is finished?  And on a philosophical level in today’s economics-bound society, the question of the writer’s role will (I hope) also arise. This is a practical course that aims to help you go forward and develop a deeper capability of approaching your art and craft.

Saturday, 31st July 2010			Sunday, 1st August 2010
10.00am	Workshop 1		11.00am	Workshop 3
12.30pm	Lunch		12.30pm	Lunch
2pm-5pm	Workshop 2		1.30pm	Depart Inniskeen

Workshop Director: Mary O’Donnell
Mary O'Donnell was born in Monaghan, educated at St. Louis Convent Monaghan and later at St. Patrick's College Maynooth. She holds a BA in German and Philosophy (Maynooth, 1977), has studied German to MA level and received a first class honours Higher Diploma in Education at Maynooth (1983).

During the last twenty years her career has reflected various interests. She has been a teacher of English, German and Drama; she worked with the development agency Concern; she has been a translator and worked in journalism as The Sunday Tribune's Drama Critic for three years, following on which she freelanced for a further three years.

She presented and scripted three series of poetry programmes for the national broadcaster RTE Radio. She has a particular interest in poetry in translation and during 2005 and 2006 researched, scripted and presented the RTE Radio programme 'Crossing the Lines', a series which focused on European poetry and included readings from the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Greece, France, Germany, Spain, Norway and Finland. Today, she teaches creative writing with various groups and for four summers worked on the faculty of the University of Iowa's summer writing program at Trinity College Dublin. She is currently a poetry mentor with Carlow University Pittsburgh (PA).

In December 2001 she was elected to the membership of Aosdana, the multidisciplinary organisation of Irish artists which is administered by the Irish Arts Council (An Chomhairle Ealaine). Aosdana honours artists engaged in literature, music and the visual arts who have made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland.

She is a member of the Irish Writers' Union and has served for three years as an external representative for arts and culture on the Governing Authority of the National University of Ireland, Maynooth.

 

Download the Writer's Weekend information flyer & booking form here >> (File opens in PDF format)

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