In good writing company

It's been a good writing week, with several good times spent in good writing company.

On Wednesday I was delighted to be asked to take part in the launch of 'USA-NI 250 Liberty' poetry jukebox curation at Belfast's Linenhall library.

I shared the stage with poets Paul Maddern and Kathleen McCracken, when we read the poems we'd each written in response to the 250th anniversary on the Declaration of Independence and talked with Maria McManus about our writing process. 

It was an honour to be asked to take part in this poetry project, alongside the eminent poets featuring  in this jukebox curation. My poem 'Letter to America - August 1776' is inspired by the publication of the Declaration in the Belfast Newsletter.

You can see the original newspaper on display in the library and you can listen to us reading our poems by visiting the jukebox in the library until the end of this year, or you can hear them here:

Poetry Jukebox Soundcloud

During the week I hosted our SCBWI Ireland online event with Sara Grant considering 'How to hook your reader in your opening pages.' The hour and a half workshop flew in while we picked up tips from Sara and received feedback on our work. I'm looking forward to delving into her book and applying more of her tips to my work.

Yesterday I arrived home to find my copy of 'Dust and Divinity' the new anthology from World History Encyclopedia had arrived. My story, 'Fidelity' (shortlisted in the 2025 Ink of Ages competition) is included alongide that of one of my writing pals, Mairi.

I'm looking forward to dipping in to these amazing stories.