While I was rehearsing and performing my People Wipe Me shows in January and February this year, I was doing another gig that was lighting up my world. I spent seven Friday mornings in the company of a group of delightful second-year arts students at Waterpark College in Waterford.
Stories And Laughter
A couple of those Fridays came straight after my People Wipe Me shows, and I was able to come down nice and gently the company of this creative, crazy crew. We had mighty crack, and we also created stories.
During those Fridays, their stories came together, stories of their grandparents and great-grandparents, stories of emigration and immigration, love and loss, triumph and disaster, laughter and tears.
And those stories culminated in this book.
Here's a pic of the book the students and teachers produced. It's called Stories from the Past and it has a blue cover, with a picture of a house and a bird on it.
The real hard work on the book began after I left. Their teachers, Brid Kenneally and Deirdre Cahill, helped them put together the book, assisted by two transition year editors. Deirdre helped with the words and Brid assembled and laid out the artwork.
The Book Launch
On Tuesday night last, the teachers and young authors were able to celebrate their success with a book launch at their school, complete with tea and cake. A well-known author from Cork, Tadhg Coakley, launched the book for them.
Tadhg was generous to the students, making sure that each one got a mention. He praised them for being published authors and talked about the value of writing and reading in nurturing creativity.
Fruits Of Our Labour
And I got a wicked fuss made over me. I was presented with flowers and a card, and the students were all mad for me to sign their books afterwards. I felt like a right celeb. I'm just mad for glory!
But the real thrill was knowing that my work had an impact, that it mattered to the school and to the students, who are now at an age when adults are desperately uncool.
Cheesy, I know, almost as cheesy as my 'mouldy cheese' storytelling hat, which was a hit with the students.
Here's me in the storytelling hat I use to break the ice with workshop groups. It's a tall grey hat, but because it has little spots on it, some people, like these young students, think it looks like mouldy cheese.
My thanks go to the teachers and school staff for making me feel so welcome and supporting me in my BLAST artist's residency. But ultimately, the kudos has to go to the budding authors, these creative souls whose future looks bright. Here they are.
Here are the young authors, sitting on the steps of the school, twenty-three souls in total. Their names are printed below the picture, and if you want to know their names, you can contact me.
I'm pure mad about giving writing workshops. If you'd like to find out more about how I help people become better writers, you can drop me a mail on derbhile@writewordseditorial.ie or phone 0876959799.