Young Shannon writers give voice to their creations

Twelve post-primary students from Shannon will read their recently written short stories to an audience of their parents, teachers, library staff and Shannon Town Councillors at Sean Lemass Public Library, Shannon on Thursday evening the 14th of May at 7.30pm. The students, from St. Caimin’s Community School and St. Patrick’s Comprehensive School in the town, have been engaged in a series of creative writing classes, the first of which began on the 9th January 2009. The project, which came about as a result of co-operation between Clare County Library, Clare County Arts Office and Ballyvaughan-based publishers Móinín, gave post- primary students a unique opportunity to work with Ré O Laighléis, one of Ireland’s most famous and prolific writers, and to develop their writing skills under his tuition and guidance. The participants’ work was inspired, read and evaluated with constructive suggestions for its amendment and development by Ré on a continuous basis over a six week period of writing workshops. Ré O Laighléis is the biggest selling contemporary author in the Irish language. His novel Gafa (Móinín, 2005) has recently featured on the Leaving Cert syllabus and works of his, such as Ecstasy & other stories (Móinín, 2005), Hooked (Móinín 1999/2007) and his Burren titles are read widely by the general readership and at second and third levels, not just here in Ireland, but also throughout Britain and North America.