Children's Event

The Town With No Stories

Is a puppet show specifically for 5-10 year olds and champions the cause of the story book.  Basic plot -  in a town were the Mayor is the owner of the battery factory he orders that all books are removed from the local library.  And to ensure that children don't waste their time reading books, he declares them banned, so children spend more time on PSP's and DS's using his batteries.  But like all things in life, things don't always go according to plan.  When there is a problem at the battery factory, Jack discovers Booky at the local library, who introduces him to exciting characters that live on the pages of books.

Monday 4th Lucan Library @ 3.30
Wednesday 13th Clondalkin Library @ 3.30
Thursday 14th Ballyroan Library @ 3.30
Tallaght & Whitechurch - Class Bookings Only.

Enquiries to 01 4597834 or email
pfitzgerald@sdublincoco.ie or chiggins@sdublincoco.ie

Booking is essential - please contact LOCAL LIBRARY

Flash Fiction

Today is the last day to submit to the Leaf Flash Fiction Competition.

If you don't have a piece of Flash Fiction ready to go, today is the DAY! (30th September 2010)

Leaf Books Micro-Fiction & Travel Writing Competitions http://www.leafbooks.co.uk/New/For%20Writers/CurrentCompetitions.html#MF
Leaf Books invites you to submit micro-fiction (max 300 words) on any subject imaginable.
Winning and outstanding entries will be published in the Leaf Writers' Magazine. These, and further commended entries, will also be published in an anthology.
First prize: Winner receives £150 and a free copy of the Leaf Writers' Magazine and the anthology
Enter online: pay via paypal (they take credit cards if you don't have a paypal account). The button will take you to paypal and then you just email your work as an attachment to contact@leafbooks.co.uk. Entry £3 for a single entry, £10 for up to 4 entries
Closing date 30th September

Free Competition!

Part of the postings on this site will include Writing Competitions, both poetry and prose that are open to people who reside in the Republic of Ireland and a have another essential quality, that of being free to enter!

With this in mind, see details below regarding a competition celebrating inspirational teachers.

I doubt there is a person who has been brave enough to put pen to paper, that has not been influenced in some way by a teacher who believed in them.  This is your opportunity to pay them back by writing a 500 word prose piece just about them.  Any further details can be found at the following website http://www.thesupergeneration.com/

 

Celebrating Inspirational Teachers

Great teachers instill a sense of confidence and a love of learning in young people. They inspire them to achieve their personal best. The Super Generation wishes to highlight and celebrate the work of such teachers and is currently creating a book containing personal accounts of the impact of these outstanding teachers.

Seeking Your Story

The Super Generation seeks a personal account of how an inspirational teacher positively influenced your life. Your story should be e-mailed to: info@thesupergeneration.com
Please include your name and contact details, for verification purposes, though these will not be published at your request. Photos of the individuals involved may also be submitted.The writers of all published stories will be invited to the book launch and entered into a draw for a Dell Laptop Computer.

Lucan Festival - Poetry & Prose Readings 2010





Amazing, first day with a blog and I'm on my second posting! 

I guess this is like the way I approach most things in life, with huge bursts of enthusiasm at first and then a much needed levelling out as time progresses. 

Anyhow I did warn all you crazy souls that have bombarded me with reasons why I should blog for soooo...... long, that the danger of it becoming addictive was real and scary!

But enough of that, the reason for the second posting, (and I promise it will be a short one) is because last week, 4 of us from Lucan Writers braved the elements of dark skies and bucketing rain to read in Lucan Village for the Festival.  The event was organised by renowned poet Eamonn Lynskey, and our very own poet extraodinare, Niamh Bagnell.  It was a very good night and hopefully one of many to come.  I won't waste your time giving you any more info, as it is well documented at Eamonn's blog site, see link below:

http://tvivf.wordpress.com/2010/09/

Writer's Retreat

  

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Our walk in Kippure Estate

Firstly let me advise that some of the prerequisites for being able to fully participate in this weekend included an unhealthy desire for chocolate, jellies, sticky pink toffees and of course the biggest obsession of all, Xfactor!  It is important to note for record purposes, that there was an enormous increase in the level of creativity post the Saturday night show, as some members who remarkably had not up to that point experienced such a phenomenon (I know it is impossible to believe), had their world expanded with a treasure all 'would be creative people' need to explore







Writing Fuel



Dedication!





The weekend was held in Kippure Lodge, and there were 8 of us in total.  We kick started the weekend with a random pick from a deck of cards and we each wrote a short piece based around our chosen card.  I got the 3 of Spades, and because sometimes I like to be a minor rebel, I wrote not about the number 3, but 'trees' in an orchard.  One of the lines included something I read in a book last year, about how it takes a great and generous man to plant a tree,for it's full beauty will only be revealed to the earth long after the man is gone. It struck a cord with the philosophical side of my personality!







 

The Energetic Writers!

We did about 10 different exercises in all over the weekend including rap style poetry, group poetry, flash fiction and speaking in public, managing to get the odd healthy walk in our beautiful surroundings. We also explored a new phenomenon on the Saturday night, (after Xfactor of course), that of 'hot seating'.  Basically, it is an exercise that facilitates your exploration of a character in a poem, short story, novel, play etc.  You are very simply placed in the 'hot seat' (in this case a pine farmhouse chair with a big white pillow), and are bombarded with questions about your character.  I might add that once you are in the hot seat, you become the character and must answer in the character's voice.  Everyone took part, and the exercise took on a very theatrical persona.  We all discovered things about our chosen characters that we did not know before, and I think it is fair to say, that the characters became more alive, not just for the person in the hot seat but for all those lucky enough to be introduced to the wide and varied bunch that we call our fictional beings. It is important to note here that the following morning, some of the younger members of the group found the gruelling exercises too much to bear and felt that the dedication to the art of writing impinged on their dedication to sleep!



Sleepy Youngest!

 The best part of the weekend of course was the company, and seeing as how it was made up of members from The Lucan Writers Group, it was a great success, for they had the power not only to endure the lack of heating on a very cold Friday night in Wicklow, but they could also draw on their creativity to create their own form of heat! Anyhow, I had one of the best weekends, I have had for a long time.

 

If you want to know more about Lucan Writers, you can visit their website at http://www.lucanwriters.ie/



Creative Fire