WOMEN RULE WRITER: DROMINEER LIT FEST

Monday, 6 October 2014

DROMINEER LIT FEST - PICS AND MINI-REPORT

Cottage at Dromineer, beside Lough Derg

I had a lovely time in Dromineer, Co. Tipperary - what a pretty place. The festival was well attended and very friendly. All thanks to Eleanor Hooker, Bernie McGrath and team for the invite and the warm welcome.

Boats at Dromineer, Lough Derg

Mary Jane Holmes - a friend - who is a writer and editor, and heavily involved with Cork's FISH, won the Flash Fiction prize, and poet Michael Farry came out on top in poetry comp. Big congrats to both of them.

Flash fiction group - pic by Geraldine Wisdom

My flash fiction class were an enthused bunch and we passed a happy couple of hours talking short-short stories.

Michael Murphy, me, Thomas McCarthy, Liz Nugent, Kobus Moolman & Maureen Kennelly

I really enjoyed the Meet the Authors event at Nenagh Arts Centre, where we talked about a book that had influenced us (I chose Edna O'Brien's 1970 novel A Pagan Place) and we read a little from our own work. I was in stellar company: the sublime Thomas McCarthy, the wonderful Liz Nugent, the sweet-and-lovely Michael Murphy and the impressive Kobus Moolman. Great people all. And Poetry Ireland's wonder-director Maureen Kennelly steered us along. It was a great event.

Signing after the Meet the Authors event - pic by Geraldine Wisdom

And our B&B was the swoon-worthy Ashley Park House near Nenagh: a 17th century house with a colonial style exterior, resident peacocks and enormous rooms. We had a suite, with a white muslin-draped four poster bed, working window shutters and a lake view. So beautiful.