It’s the ‘Write Time’ for Fingal

THE fourth annual Write Time Festival organised by Fingal Libraries is taking place this month.

Deputy Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Tom Kitt, launched the festival that’s organised by Fingal Libraries at Blanchardstown Library.

Write Time celebrates the written and spoken word in Fingal and local libraries are hosting free workshops and talks throughout the month to spark imagination and inspire creativity.

“Fingal Libraries’ Write Time Festival offers an engaging and varied programme to aspiring writers of all ages and to anybody interested in the craft of writing,” said Fingal County Librarian, Betty Boardman.

“This is the fourth year of the Festival and we are delighted that it is becoming a much anticipated event in the library calendar.”

This year’s programme features a panel discussion called ‘Yes, We Still Drink Coffee!’ a new anthology of essays by and about women human rights defenders around the world.

Orla Lehane, curator and editor, and contributors Catherine Dunne, Hilary Fannin and Lia Mills will discuss their experience of working on this project during the event.

Portmarnock based author Rónán Hession will read from his debut novel ‘Leonard and Hungry Paul’, which was described by The Irish Times as a book that will “bring you sunshine even if the summer is a washout”.

Comic fiction author Karl MacDermott will continue his ‘One Man and His Turnip World Reading Tour of Ireland’ based on his short story collection, ‘Juggling With Turnips’, described by The RTÉ Guide as, “comic cuttings from a Myles na gCopaleen imagination”.

Children's author Sadhbh Devlin will discuss her work and give practical tips on how to enjoy Irish language books with your children, even if you only have a ‘cúpla focal’.

As in previous years, the Write Time Festival offers a range of free creative writing workshops. Travel documentary-maker Manchán Magan will help transform the sights, sounds and soul of a journey into engaging prose in his travel writing workshop.

Lia Mills will talk about how to go back in time to find a story that matters now in her workshop on writing historical fiction.

If you are interested in writing young adult and children's literature, Conor Kostick will help create appealing characters and moving dramas.

Have you any family or local history stories you’d love to write? Yvonne Cullen’s workshop, From History to Story, will help you tell historical stories, big or small.

What do you need to do to give your work the best possible chance of getting published? Publishing consultant Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin will explain the blueprint from keyboard to bookshelf in her How to Get Published workshop.

Write Time events to spark the imaginations of young writers include Maeve Devoy’s workshop, The Little Detectives, where she introduces the nuts and bolts of story-telling to children aged 8-12.

Megan Wynne facilitates a fun workshop where children learn how to create interesting characters and show their personalities by what they say and do in a story.

Children and teens aged 10 + can learn to write and perform a Rap Song at the Max Lyrical Rap Workshop while poet Máighréad Medbh offers teenagers a chance to experiment with different ways of producing a poem in her experimental poetry workshop Truth or Dare.

For the full programme of talks and workshops contact your local library branch or see Fingal Libraries website at fingal.ie/libraries/ or Facebook page: @FingalLibraries.

Admission is free to all events, but booking is essential. To reserve a place, contact the library hosting the event.