|

Rathmines Writers Workshop
launch Encounters - a collection of short fiction, stories and prose,
all turning a fresh eye on events ordinary and extraordinary. Readers
will find out, for instance, how Dublin City councillors learn the
truth about St Patrick, about a close encounter with a young
murderer, a bolt for freedom from a family holiday, a strange meeting
in the African bush, terrifying souvenirs in San Sebastian, robbery in a
Rathmines thrift shop: only some of the encounters with humans. There's
also an ingenious scam with a racehorse, the transformation of a piece
of ginger, and the reminiscences of the Derra na flann chalice, and much
more. The encounters are humorous, scary, poignant ironic and above
all, unpredictable.
Launch by John Gormley, T.D. Minister for the Environment,
Heritage and Local Government.
Rathmines
Town Hall, 7.30pm
Thursday, November, 27th.
With
Encounters, readers who love the short story form will be reassured. It
is alive and well in this vibrant, varied and arresting fiction. Hall
and Cavanaugh, Guckian and O'Connell, Conway and Clarke have pooled
their talents to produce an evocative collection that is atmospheric and
flicks and darts like a tongue of flame to catch the many moods of this
new century. Some of the writers are already well-established on the
Irish literary scene. One at least has published a novel,
others are published poets. Few are first-timers in print and and the
range of styles explored ensure the reader's interest is held. This is a
celebration of voices which offer freshness and urgency, and suggest
that the DNA line of short-story telling that began in the deepest part
of our history, and was developed by Frank O'Connor and others, is
moving full-tilt in the early years of the twenty-first century."
Mary
O'Donnell, November 2008
|