A Girl's Writing Is Never Done (c) Shauna Gilligan 2026
I am delighted to have facilitated a series of creative writing workshops with an amazing group of writers in Kildare Town Library as part of Kildare County Council Brigid 1500 Celebrations.
We would love for you to join us for a curated selection of poetry, prose, music and movement on Thursday, 5 October from 7pm.
Book your free KRF 2023 ticket here
The Writing Our Way to Brigit/Brigid Project is supported by Kildare County Council, Brigid 1500, Arts in Kildare, Kildare Library Service.
Tearing Stripes off Zebras is an anthology of new literary writing by thirty-three women who, at one time or another, have participated in the WEB writers’ group, which grew out of a series of creative writing workshops facilitated by Eavan Boland in the 1980s. The workshops were the brainchild of Arlen House founder Catherine Rose, who appointed Eavan Boland as Creative Director.
This anthology of new poetry, prose and drama, edited by Nessa O’Mahony, is dedicated to the memory of Eavan Boland.
I am delighted to have writing in the anthology which includes poetry, prose and drama by Ivy Bannister, Sheila Barrett, Louise C. Callaghan, Susan Connolly, Colette Connor, Mary Rose Callaghan, Celia de Fréine, Catherine Dunne, Philomena Feighan, Shauna Gilligan, Antonia Hart, Phyl Herbert, Pat Hickey, Joan Leech, Antoinette McCarthy, Ann McKay, Marilyn McLaughlin, Liz McManus, Lia Mills, Sara Mullen, Patsy J. Murphy, Helena Nolan, Clairr O’Connor, Mary O’Donnell, Beth O’Halloran, Nessa O’Mahony, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Anne Roper, Susan Schreibman, Monica Strina, Dolores Walshe, Breda Wall Ryan, Máiríde Woods
Please consider ordering it from your local bookshop or you can pre-order it from Waterstones here!
9781851323005 paperback
9781851323104 limited edition hardback
The anthology, which will be launched on 16th September 2023 in dlr Lexicon, has been funded and supported by Creative Ireland and by dlr Libraries.
reading and listening to music: the triumphs of being not myself
Susan Sontag, Pilgrimage
It started with my mobile – old, about four, five years old – which had reached its storage limit. And I thought, that’s right. Too much and too many. So instead of adding storage – more, more, more – I started letting go. Removing. Deleting. Images. Files. Applications. Accounts. Email lists. Subscriptions.
I began to hear the space, to feel my thinking, to let things be. I returned to reading for the act in and of itself, without a question in mind, without a purpose or a deadline. A gift of time. Let the body chose the words it needs: what calls? The cover – the title – the cover image – the first line – a page opened at random and a word?
And it continues. The shedding. And in doing so, a containment of sorts. An affirmation. Re-affirmation. Con-firmation. What is it we tell ourselves we need – or can release – with all this virtual and physical stuff? To remind ourselves of who we are? Or to be someone else?
Above, a photograph of books currently in progress or recently read:
While I have disconnected myself from Twitter/X, and will, into the future, very occasionally use Instagram and Facebook, you can still connect with me through this blog.
Shauna Gilligan Writer 