This new collection, by award winning poet, Noel Monahan, searches for identity and belonging, in the shifting shadows of modern Ireland. The section on sonnets seeks a spiritual uplift out of the darkness and poems written in Irish, with English translations further the quest for meaning. “Chalk Dust”, the stunning title poem, portrays an Irish Catholic boarding school, where sons of strong farmers and rural shopkeepers are placed in the ivory hands of priests, to be educated. This long dramatic prose poem is episodic and follows the calendar of a school year, where trapped male energy erupts, under the strains of collective living and time alone allows the Chalk Dust to settle.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Noel Monahan was born in Granard, Co. Longford. He has won numerous awards for his poetry and writing. His awards include: The SeaCat National Poetry Award, organised by Poetry Ireland, The RTE P.J. O’Connor Award for drama, The ASTI Achievements Award, The Hiberno-English Poetry Award and The Irish Writers’ Union Poetry Award. He has read his work on Sunday Miscellany, RTE 1, on a number of occasions.

His poetry was prescribed text for Leaving Certificate English, 2011 & 2012. “Chalk Dust” , is Noel Monahan’s eighth collection of poetry. “ Opposite Walls”, was published in 1991, “Snowfire”, in 1995, “ Curse of The Birds” in 2000, “ The Funeral Game” in 2004, “ Curve Of The Moon” in 2010, “ Where The Wind Sleeps” 2014, published by Salmon. “Celui Qui Porte Un Veau” , a selection of French translations of Noel Monahan’s work was published by Alidades in 2014. A number of his poems have been translated into: Italian, Russian, French and Romanian. His most recent plays include “ The Children of Lir”, performed by Livin Dred Theatre and “ Lovely Husbands”, a play for young people, based on the work of Henry James. For twenty six years he has worked with Heather Brett as co editor of Windows Publications.

Recently, he has had work included in the following anthologies: Windharp, edited by Niall McMonagle and published by Penguin, Tra Una Vita E L’Altra, published by Guanda, Italy, Lost Between, New Island Press, Everything To Play For, published by Poetry Ireland, Even The Daybreak, published by Salmon, Reading The Future, New Writing From Ireland, Arlen House. Noel Monahan holds an M.A. in Creative Writing.

For a considerable number of years Longford County Council’s Arts has developed projects the purpose of which have been to encourage creative writing skills and an appreciation of literature among Longford’s primary and secondary school students.

The process has yielded some highly innovative and imaginative projects not least of which have been, the children’s collaborative novel; All Because of a Toothbrush in which over three hundred students in over thirty primary schools actively co operated to develop the story line and the characters of a charming children’s novel.

Another milestone in the nurturing of children’s creative writing was the development of our De-scribe programme. De-scribe was a two year pilot programme designed to develop and test a highly original approach to developing the creative faculties of even the very young primary school children. The development of the De-scribe programme also resulted in the establishment of four children’s writing groups in the county.

These are just two examples of an extensive, year-round programme of supports organised to encourage children’s creative writing. Through the high level of activity in this area The County Arts Office has forged an extensive network of partnerships with various stake holders in the sector such as; school’s staff and principals, parents, artists and administrators.

We therefore decided to utilize this locally based reservoir of experience and expertise to assist us in exploring new structures and techniques in the development of our writers and readers of tomorrow. Rather than going down the route of devising a work plan or schedule, which we felt was too prescriptive and rigid an approach, we decided to form a focus group from our pool of partners and to ask the group to assist us in generating a set of guidelines or reference points for the future development of our work in this area. With the financial assistance of the Arts Council we engaged the facilitator Anne Gallagher to motivate and guide the work of the focus group and we would like to take the opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to Anne and all the members of the focus group for their effort commitment and enthusiasm.

View report

Last March we, in the Ardagh Creativity Centre, hosted a very interesting evening with the archaeologies Adel Coleman who told us of the findings of her research in Ardagh. The results of a 1967 archaeological dig had been languishing in the National Archives for decades so Adel decided to writer them up.

We were so inspired by the talk that night we put out a call for writing and art inspired by the dig and the story of the skeleton of the King of the Back of the Hill alleged to be King Maine of Teabhta, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages

We were delighted with the response which includes art, photography, poetry, short stories and factual writing from adults and children.

This week sees the launch of the latest and possibly the most innovative creative writing project to emerge from Longford County Arts Office. The Describe project demonstrates new and exciting methods of developing creative writing both with children and adults.

The project techniques have been designed and piloted over the past three years in primary schools and public libraries in County Longford and according to Fergus Kennedy Longford county Arts Officer the reaction of parents and teachers to the project has been overwhelmingly positive with a total of 35 primary schools participating in the project. Schools are already incorporating the describe approach into their toolbox for creative writing and “Author and Scribe” family writing sessions, using the Describe method, are established, regular events in branch libraries.

The creative / educational process draws on a scribing technique which, according to Chris Thompson who has designed the technique and facilitated the project, “takes a partnership approach to creative writing. It is a technique that allows very young, reluctant or disadvantaged children to develop literacy skills creatively and enjoyably but it has many other appropriate applications for adults and children working together”. Scribing involves one person, acting as active listener and recorder of the author’s orally recounted story.

Fergus Kennedy points out that; “the beauty of the techniques developed through the De-scribe project is that it is flexible enough to be applied in a wide variety of contexts from the formal group context of a school room to the informality of a family kitchen. Because the project offers the means through the attractive and original user-manual and multi-media CD-ROM, to train interested adult facilitators or Scribes, and provides all the resources necessary to begin Scribing, the process is highly cost-efficient and thus sustainable over time.” Resource materials are included on the CD-ROM.

View a demo of the De-Scribe CD-ROM

Well known in Longford for their ambitious productions and talented casts, Cilleo Yew Tree Players took on a new challenge last winter – performing on the All-Ireland one act circuit.

A fixture in the local drama scene since the late 1980s, the group has a membership of approximately thirty, from school age upwards.

“Usually once a year, we would normally do a full length play in March or April,” explained group Chairperson and Director of their one-act offering ‘Brenton vs Brenton’, Damien Bennett.

“We had talked about going on the one-act circuit for a long, long time, so we applied for as many festivals as we could.”

Giving the reason for their show selection, Damien revealed; “We had done farce before in the group, so it seemed suitable to do it.”

A cast of six also meant that more people got to take in the experience of the circuit.

The group learned a lot from their first foray into the competition, Damien admitted. With an extensive set, and a large cast, the experience was often a difficult one, but one which they greatly enjoyed, nonetheless.

They had remarkable success at the festivals too. They performed at five festivals, earning second and third place in Cavan and Manorhamilton, respectively for the American spoof, which is set in an advertising agency in Chicago.

Paul McCarthy, meanwhile, was awarded ‘Best Actor’ in Carrigallen, and received numerous nominations. Sharon Finneran was nominated for ‘Best Actress’, while the rest of the cast, including Damien himself, Mary Mahon, Mick Dunne and Carmel Kennedy put on a memorable performance. Damien was also quick to praise the crew for their invaluable input.

“Without them we wouldn’t have been able to do what we did.

“We’ll absolutely try again,” Damien continued. “The overall consensus was that it was a very enjoyable and very worthwhile experience.”
Attention now turns to the group’s 2017 production, ‘Belfry’, which will take to the stage in the first week of April, directed by Micky Kenny.

The talented Killoe writer John Connell has been shortlisted for the prestigious Bord Gais Irish Book Awards – Short Story of the Year Section.

The story was published by Granta Magazine in Granta 135 New Irish Writing alongside the work of such internationally acclaimed writers as; Roddy Doyle, Donal Ryan and Colm Toibin’s.

The short story, entitled The Birds of June, is set in Longford and concerns a nurse working in the local county hospital.

The nomination as a finalist of such a prestigious competition in the company of multi-award winning writers including a Booker Prize winner (Roddy Doyle) represents a majour milestone in the creative development of one of our most talented young writers. It also reflects very well on the number and quality of contemporary Longford writers.

Our emerging artists and writers need all the support we can give them for their individual development but also for the development of the national perception that Longford is a place of talent and creativity thus making the road a little easier for all our emerging artists.

The shortlisted story, The Birds of June, can be read on www.writing.ie sponsors of the award.

The overall winner will be selected both by the judges and by popular acclaim. Therefore you can play a very real part in helping John Connell bring the title of short story writer of the year back to Longford. All you have to do is log on to: http://www.irishbookawards.irish/vote2016/

Support your local writer and remember, in this week of presidential elections, the immortal words of Sen. Huey Long “Vote early and vote often”!!!!!

Karina Charles – Longford Correspondent for Irish TV is interested in profiling the work of Longford artists on the Longford programme each Saturday evening.

If you have an item relating to your life as an artist or something to do with your practice please contact her at the number or e-mail address below.

Karina will be delighted to hear from you.

085 1030569
karinacharles2@gmail.com