Local writers debut at Mayo literary event

POEMS, stories and essays were shared over the weekend at the inaugural Wave literary festival organised by Atlantic Papers publishers and Martin Keaveney Creative Writing at the D'Alton Inn Hotel, Claremorris.

One of the main features was a piece which reflected on the 2002 Saipan football incident. Ironically, the writer, Pat Kennedy, who previously featured on RTÉ's Sunday Miscellany, was being interviewed about her work as Ireland and England played in Lansdowne Road.

During a unique TV show style event, The Ocean, a new international literary magazine, and Waves, an anthology of poems, stories and essays, were launched.

Contributions to both publications came from several local writers based in Irishtown, Claremorris and Ballinrobe with other works included from writers from Vancouver Island, Nepal and several other parts of Ireland and the UK. For some it was a debut into the literary world, but several writers had previously been published internationally, with work appearing on BBC radio and in the Farmers' Journal.

Waves was edited by Dr. Laura Healy with Manchester poet Lauren McLean editing the first issue of The Ocean.

New writing courses for all levels from the MKCW school are designed by author Martin Keaveney and are commencing in Claremorris (Thursday, September 19), Ballina (Wednesday, September 25), and online (Thursday, September 26). See more at https://martinkeaveney.com/.

Martin will be speaking on Claremorris Radio 94.1fm on Thursday at 9.30 a.m. about how writers can get started.

Waves and The Ocean are published by Atlantic Papers, see https://atlanticpaperspress.com/.