CULTURE: Local writers debut at new literary festival in Claremorris

The inaugural Wave literary festival, organised by publisher Atlantic Papers and the Martin Keaveney Creative Writing school, took place earlier this month. The festival was held at the D’Alton Inn Hotel, Claremorris, and saw attendees share poems, stories and essays.
One of the main features was a piece that reflecte on the 2002 Saipan football incident, by Pat Kennedy, whose work has previously featured on RTÉ’s Sunday Miscellany. Fittingly, the writer was being interviewed at the festival about the piece as Ireland and England played in Lansdowne Road.
The festival also saw the launch of two new publications – ‘The Ocean’, a new international literary magazine, and ‘Waves’, an anthology of poems, stories and essays were launched.
Contributions to both publications came from near and far, with work by several local writers based in Irishtown, Claremorris, Ballinrobe appearing alongside work from writers in Vancouver Island, Nepal, the UK and elsewhere in Ireland. For some it was a debut into the literary world, but several writers had previously been published internationally or had work featured in diverse settings, from the Farmers Journal to BBC radio.
‘Waves’ was edited by Dr Laura Healy, while Manchester poet Lauren McLean edited the first issue of ‘The Ocean’.
The Martin Keaveney Creative Writing school is starting new writing courses for all levels this month. They will be held in Claremorris (commencing Thursday, September 19); Ballina (from Wednesday, September 25), and online (from Thursday, September 26).
Martin Keaveney was also interviewed on Claremorris Community Radio last Thursday morning, offering advice for new and would-be writers on how to get started. Keaveney is the author of five books, the novels ‘Schoolboy’, ‘Delia Meade’ and ‘The Mackon Country’, the novella ‘Caravan’ and a collection of short stories on rural life called ‘The Rainy Day’.
Keaveney’s short fiction has been published in literary journals in Ireland, the UK and the US. An Associate Lecturer in Irish Literature at NUIG, he has also written for stage and screen, and his writing has featured at many international festivals, as well as on RTÉ.

For more on the creative writing courses, see www.martinkeaveney.com. For more on ‘Waves’ and ‘The Ocean’, see the Atlantic Papers website, www.atlanticpaperspress.com.