Category: Writing News

Writing News, Writing Workshops

The Write Time: A Celebration of Creativity & Writing in Fingal

I’m delighted to be taking part in the wonderful Write Time Festival run by Fingal County Council. Join me in Blanchardstown Library (15th September) or in Malahide Library (22nd September).

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In China flash fiction stories are called ‘smoke-long’ stories. They promise
“to let the reader relish the sights and sounds of an entire make-believe
world before he or she has time to finish one delicious cigarette”.
(Shouhua Qi)

This two-hour workshop on flash fiction is for writers at all stages of their
writing career – from beginner to published author. In this workshop, Shauna
Gilligan invites you to examine the craft of flash fiction, or short-short fiction, or
‘smoke-long’ fiction focusing on plotting and planning as a way into the creative
process by firstly reading from examples, and then using these pieces as a
basis for your own writing”.

Many writers and artists are participating in The Write Time the best thing – for library users! – is that the workshops are free. Read the Write Time brochure here and book yourself in!

Writing News

Reading The Future – Dublin celebrates 250 Years of Hodges Figgis Bookshop

I am delighted to be one of 250 writers included in the anthology Reading The Future: New Writing from Ireland. 

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Edited by Alan Hayes and published by Arlen House to mark the 250th anniversary of the Hodges Figgis Bookshop in Dublin (wow, 250 years!), the anthology was launched on Thursday 26th April complete with traditional music and fabulous wine and canapes.

The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, gave a wonderful speech in which she likened the anthology to the bookshop itself and reminded us how literature not only reads the future but also provides a space and place for us to re-imagine and re-create.

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Hodges Figgis had a wonderful window display of books by some of the included authors and I was thrilled to spot my novel Happiness Comes from Nowhere.

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You can read more about the anthology and Hodges Figgis in The Irish Times here.

Writing News

Mel Ulm explores my story “Thirty-Five A Night” (published in Crannóg, 47)

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I’m delighted to hear that Mel Ulm has featured my story “Thirty-Five-A-Night” (published in Crannóg 47) on his literary blog The Reading Life. 

It’s always interesting to see the gaps that appear between authorial intention, reader comprehension and then the reader’s analysis. Cultural references are also key to understanding fiction and in this case, Mel picks up on the importance of the ending – which is where the key is to the age of the protagonists.

You can read his post here and I’d recommend staying a while and browsing through Mel’s incredible collection of posts on fiction (and poetry) from all over the world.

Read my story “Thirty-Five-A-Night” in Crannóg 47