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IF YOU WANT to see how much you can achieve if you put your mind to something, just talk to one of the members of the Waterford Youth Arts’ creative writing group.
A gang of like-minded teens aged from 14 – 19, when they realised that there were no literary festivals in Ireland set up for teens by young people, they decided to do the work themselves.
That was only at the beginning of this year, and next week we will get to see the fruits of their labour: The LIT, a new festival of reading and writing for young people in Waterford.
The organisers – Érin O’Hanlon, Amber Dowling, Daisy Drohan, Heather Eogan, Isabel Tiernan, Joy Curtis, Keeva O’Neill, Dylan O’Hare, Libby Marchant, Mary O’Donoghue, Nicola Cooney, Seán Dunne, Nicole Burke and Alana Daly Mulligan – are proof that not only do young people love reading, they know exactly what’s going on in the Irish literary world.
The Lit YWF / Twitter
The Lit YWF / Twitter / Twitter
They – with the help of their creative writing mentor, Eimear Cheasty – have gathered some impressive names for the festival, like Kevin Barry, Lisa McInerney, Claire Hennessy, Erin Fornoff, Dave Lordan and Colm Keegan.
They were able to fund the festival thanks to grants, and the young writers are looking after the website, bookings and social media themselves. The festival will run from 10 to 11 November 2017 with lots of events and workshops for young readers and writers (aged 15 – 19), including open mic poetry, writer’s block workshops, and even a special Irish Rail train trip from Dublin to Waterford.
On 11 November, the 10.15am Dublin to Waterford train will host a dedicated carriage for the LIT’s Writers in Training. Along the way, writers Stephen James Smith and Colm Keegan will work with young people on creative writing, before they all stop off for the festival. On the journey back, there’ll be even more creative writing to come.
‘We know what young people want to engage with’
Alana Daly Mulligan told TheJournal.ie that the festival will feature unique workshops where young people can engage with some of Ireland’s top literary talents. It was an incredible opportunity for them to reach out to people they’re fans of to ask them to take part.
“We are complete book nerds – we’ve read their books,” said Daly Mulligan. “We are all massive fans of these people. It was kind of surreal in a sense to get to talk to our heroes, especially Irish heroes who are doing so much for literature.”
What makes the LIT different from other festivals for young people? “We know what young people want because we are young people,” said Daly Mulligan.
And adults organise great festivals but I don’t think you understand the heart of a young person in 2017 as much as a young person living in 2017 does. We know what young people want and want to engage with, and the writers they are interested in.
She said they have worked with “fantastic” adult facilitators in organising the festival. “We had all the ideas and then they said ‘ok, this is how you go about it,’” she explained.
Daly Mulligan is a spoken word artist and poet, who started off working with Waterford Youth Arts in its filmmaking and acting strands. She said she’s particularly taken by the fact that Irish writers are engaging with political topics at the moment.
“There’s so much poetry out there right now and there’s so many things to be political about,” said the 19-year-old UCC student. “From my angle personally, I would be really into the politics of writing: how we can use our words and literature to make a comment on something that might not be right in our country. There are so many writers out there doing that at the moment.”
“Ireland has time and time again proved that we are at the forefront of creating unique storylines and stories that are impacting young people.”
The Lit YWF / Twitter
The Lit YWF / Twitter / Twitter
She said the festival caters for writers coming up with original ideas and original stories, and allowing young people to learn and to create.
The creative writing group who organised the LIT meet every Saturday from 2 – 4pm, with the younger group meeting the same day from 10 – 12pm. Writing is “addictive”, said Daly Mulligan.
“It’s really nice to be in a space with young people who care about what you care about,” she said. “In secondary school you do English in class and you’re writing what your teachers want you to write and reading what they want you to read. There’s nothing like being with a group of young people who are passionate about what you write and care about the stories you want to create – they are nurturing creative writers.”
For more, visit The LIT’s website. The LIT is funded and supported by the Arts Council, Irish Writers Centre, Waterford City and County Council, Poetry Ireland, Irish Rail and Waterford Youth Arts and supported by Waterford Library Services.
Turkey has been threatening this for a while… These people want to get to EU countries mostly France and Germany and former EU country the UK, but Europe is not assisting the Turks, it’s only a matter of time again…. and many of these could be ISIS fighters wanting to return home…. They need to be accessed with proper documentation and all finger printed, just like the EU does with African refugess/asylum seekers.
@Paul O’Sullivan: the EU needs to hold firm against this Turkish blackmail
@Paul O’Sullivan: and where is the database with all the fingerprints of the ISIS fighters?
@SFAnkleTapper: there is none…. Asylum seekers only have to give their fingerprints at the point of application for Asylum. Many of the ISiS fighters will be returning to their home countries UK /Belgium /France men of Arab origin who destroyed their documentation who will be moonlighting as Syrian refugees. Hence my point a record needs to be kept of these individuals.
If they are genuine they have nothing to hide. The fingerprinting is to keep a record of any future incidents.
@Paul O’Sullivan: so no prevention.
@SFAnkleTapper: I agree a disaster isn’t it.
Turkey is chomping at the bit for a land grab & war with Syria, The SAA are battle hardened and have the support of Russia, Erdogan will get his ass handed to him along with his aspirations for Turkish conquest.
Greece should take no more refugees with militants in the mix. The Greeks of Lesbos and Chios have made it clear they will take no more.
@Raven: That’s all well and good, but if the Turks are brought into a War it could lead to them at war with Iran, that will result in an attack on the toxic state of Israel. That will bring in the US and Nato…
Turkey has been asking for assistance with this a long time. The refugess dont want to be in Turkey they want to be in the EU. That’s the problem..
@Paul O’Sullivan: has its stands. Very large amounts of refugees /migrants from the middle east who are mostly Muslims have landed on Europe’s shores and have gain entry into Europe mainland . There is many issues with integration with the local populations,these people would be arriving from strict Islamic society’s.they would have sever problems with western cultures and liberal values. could these people not be relocated to mostly Moslem countries where their culture and religious values would be respected and inforced
@Paul O’Sullivan: Sure, They have been asking for help, but what is the reply from Saudi, The Emirates etc? This is causing social issues within Europe, but you won’t hear about parallel societies, non integration, crime stats via MSM.
@Raven: oh I agree with you Arab nations have never really looked after struggling Arabs..Saudi Arabia is one of the most despicable countries on the planet, if they had no oil they would have nothing…
@Bobby wilson: Agree with you totally, but Europe may need to provide something to keep them out….
@Bobby wilson: think it’s mainly you that doesn’t respect *muslim values. Why does a religion need to be *enforced on anyone? If you’re not Muslim then what does it matter to you?
Standard rhetoric from you eh lad.
@Paul O’Sullivan: You say the refugees want to be in the EU, but where they really want to be is at home in the communities they grew up in and live in. Tens of thousands of ordinary people are being murdered and used as pawns by the Turkish regime and others to further their objectives in the region.
@Paul O’Sullivan: “if the Turks are brought into a War”
Turkey is at war with Syria.
In the past 2 weeks the Turks have destroyed 5% of Syria’s armour, kiled 100s of Syrian government troops, and today they shot down two Syrian jets and destryed several air defence systems.
Here’s is video footage of Turkish troops firing an anti-aircraft missile from a rooftop, shooting down a Syrian government helicopter 2 weeks ago (could so easily have been Russian), with Al Qeada aillied fighters cheering in the foreground (loud warning):
https://twitter.com/Adnan_Alhusen/status/1227857701604069376
Turkey released 10 minutes of footage of them blowing up Syrian army tanks and troops with drones, recorded over the last 2 weeks in Idlib:
@Dermot Foley: so how do you preposed for myself and the Irish people on the island of IRELAND and main land Europe respect our new Muslims populations as refugees /migrants into their towns and cities. like in some parts of Britain where sharia laws are recognized by courts of lands like in their own home lands ..etc …as someone who live and work in a Islamic society over a period time it is completely different way of life if your not a Muslim and saying it very mildly
@Paul O’Sullivan: why does the Irish people and Europe have to offer them anything ! Why not the world how many refugees arrived in Japan which is one of the richest countries in the world….what’s happening in the middle east is very complex is centre around religion its bother fighting brother…
@David Jordan:
So Turkey being a member of NATO would mean NATO are at war with Syria.
@Dermot Foley:
Some rhetoric there at the Greek border, wouldn’t you agree.
https ://twitter.com/BasedPoland/status/1234038726952673281?s=20
@Raven: * So Turkey being a member of NATO would mean NATO are fighting with al Qaeda.
Here’s Turkish fighter jets sky writing over a Turkish base in Syria…
@Bobby wilson: you want sharia law recognised like parts of the UK!?!?
YOU go and live there and take anyone else who wants to be in that toxic cult with you please
@Simon McGunner: definitely not! But their are people out their from liberal west who are proposing that we must look into ways to accommodate Muslim refugees /migrants into the host cummunites. in ways that make their religious practices are valued and respected in equal to western values.
@David Jordan:
I have a link here to a video from yesterday where Turkish military personnel are beating and torturing captured Syrian military personnel, cannot is as it will be deleted by the mods. Not s love heart in sight. Turkey have no business having bases in Syria.
They need to get out, maybe the Russian Navy vessels en route will help them along.
@Bobby wilson: We saw your comments on the balgaddy lucan mosque. your obviously some Islamic crusader. That cult is responsible for FGM and a lot of other sick activities. Look at Rotherham in the UK all those children molested and not protected by the law. We just got he Catholic church under control we don’t need this cult in the West.
@Simon McGunner: I am trying to point out what happens when you have large scale Islamic immigration on to island of Ireland and main land Europe too and the world for that matter, to the local non Islamic populations and how relationships break down between the cultures .because of the strict religious Islamic believes come up against thec non Islamic believes ..that I believe Islamic populations should be relocate themselves to majority countries where their believes and culture is respected and enforced by the state.
If people have made it to Turkey they were refugees and are now in a safe country. If they are now looking to come to an EU country then they are migrants.
@SFAnkleTapper:
*Economic migrants, and if they are storming the Greek border, which thousands have, then they’re called illegal immigrants.
@Raven: correct.
@SFAnkleTapper: Looks like the Greeks have had enough, Greek military personnel and hardware are en route to the borders/. transit points with Turkey, Lesbos locals have burned down the UN migrant centers so no more can be received and today with Erdogans announced threat that he’d release refugees to Greece, Soros NGOs of German origin showed up on Lesbos only to be ran off and told to leave by the local Greeks. More blood and misery that originated with Merkel.
The problem is the war.
The solution is not to just put these people into Europe.They are not entitled automatic entry to Europe, like anyone else.The Greeks need help from EU to keep their borders and people and way of life as they see fit.
What is the response of oil rich middle Eastern countries to this crisis? There are camps suitable for housing millions in Saudi Arabia for example.
Can EU not help build camps in Turkey and when the war is over most people would go home no ?
Yes Turkey may need some help with this refugee side of the war they are in , like the €6 billion from the EU which is probably now spent.
They are seeking aid and at war.
They do deal very generously with millions of refugees from Syria and do need help.
have your say