Workshop Success and Brave Writing

A stew of writerly news, plus - what would we write about if we were brave enough?

What Would You Write If You Weren't Afraid?

I fell to wondering, as I'm wont to do, what theme or topic our writing would explore if you weren't afraid of what other people thought. I would write a short, humorous piece about why it takes women longer to go to the toilet than it takes men, and how annoying it is. I'm pretty brazen, but even by my standards, this is a pretty salty topic.

I invite you to share your thoughts about what topic you would explore in your writing if you were feeling really brave. You can email me on derbhile@writewords.ie to share your thoughts.

Vote for SpeakEasy In People's Choice Award

The SpeakEasy glory continues – our event has been nominated for a People's Choice award at the Green Room Awards organised by the Waterford News and Star newspaper. We don't run SpeakEasy as a popularity contest, but we're proud of the track record we've built up, bringing Ireland's top poets to Waterford. So, we would be honoured if you would give us a vote, and you don’t have to live in Waterford to vote.

Here's the link for you to vote. Thank you very much.

Celebrating Workshop Success

My current run of workshops is all over, bar the bureaucracy. I gave workshops for three days in a row last week. On the Thursday and Friday, the boys of fifth class worked hard to write stories about the mighty Vikings, and then read their stories for their classmates. I got lovely thank you cards from them – here's one. They were wonderful boys and I'll miss them.

This is the card that caught my eye, because of the pun on the word BLAST, which was also the name of the residency. There are lots of decorations with a Viking theme, plus a pop-up Viking helmet. And a glimpse at the bottom of one of my writing notebooks.

Then on Saturday, it was the turn of four budding celebrants in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, who created stories that celebrate life's great moments, even the saddest ones.

I gave two two-hour workshops, one devoted to helping the celebrants create love stories for weddings, and the second one to help them create eulogies for funeral ceremonies. The celebrants were warm, receptive and funny, and we shared many moments of laughter and tenderness.

Opportunities for Playwrights

To round off the newsletter, I bring you two opportunities for the budding playwrights among you. If you want to study playwriting, you can avail of the Patricia Leggett Scholarship to undertake an MFA in Playwriting at the renowned Lir Academy. Here's the link for more information and to apply.

And if you've written a play, Stagemad Theatre Company is giving you an opportunity to have your play staged in Tramore later this year. You're invited to submit a script for a 15-minute play by 31 March, to stagemadtheatrecompany1@gmail.com.