Welcome to BEYOND New Irish Communities

BEYOND New Irish Communities is a programme to encourage writers of diverse ethnicities to participate in specially curated creative writing workshops. This programme may be of interest to you if you are living on the island of Ireland and:

–         English or Irish is not your first language OR

–         You are Irish from a diverse background OR

–         You are living in direct provision OR

–         You think you might be an ideal participant

–         Or a combination of the above

In short, we are reimagining our decade-old New Irish Communities programme, and throwing the door open widely to writers who wish to learn to write creatively through English and become part of our writers’ community.  Our aim is to widen access to this wonderful network of writers and facilitators in our creative space. We hope the programme will be a valuable space where writers can make connections and create new work together over time. BEYOND New Irish Communities is ideal for beginner and emerging writers. 

How BEYOND New Irish Communities Works?

What do these workshop sessions look like?

In-person curated workshop programme: From Saturday September 23rd at 11am – 1pm we are running weekly sessions in the IWC building on Parnell Square that are facilitated by experienced writers and poets working in different genres and forms.

Online workshop: While the majority of sessions take place in person at the Irish Writers Centre, each fifth session functions as a stand-alone online workshop, where a special guest will share their wisdom and experience, followed by a workshop.

Please note, it is not necessary to have attended any previous BEYOND sessions to join in, but it is necessary to sign up.

Sign up for each BEYOND NIC 2023 session below.

What do we do in these workshop sessions?

Each session lasts two hours and will consist of the following:

• Creative writing exercises

• Close readings

• Group discussion

• Critique and feedback of work

• Recommended reading

We hope that BEYOND NIC will be a valuable space where writers can make connections, learn to write creatively, and perhaps, to work together over time. However, each session functions as a stand-alone workshop, so it is not necessary to have attended any previous BEYOND NIC sessions to drop in at any point.

BEYOND New Irish Communities 2023 Session 1

Facilitators: Mark Granier and Rafael Mendes

Date: Saturday 23 September 2023

Time: 11am – 1pm

Location: In person at the Irish Writers Centre

Mark Granier has an MA in Poetry from Lancaster University, and has been teaching poetry and creative writing for The Irish Writers’ Centre’s New Irish Communities project and University College Dublin’s Lifelong Learning Department for many years. His awards include the 1997 New Writer Prize, several Arts Council Bursaries, The Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize and two Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowships.  His fifth collection, Ghostlight: New & Selected Poems, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2017.

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BEYOND New Irish Communities 2023 Session 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facilitator: Nithy Kasa

Date: Saturday 30 September 2023

Time: 11am – 1pm

Location: In person at the Irish Writers Centre

Nithy Kasa is amongst the ten poets selected for the Poetry as Commemoration for the Centenaries Programme of the War of Independence and Civil War of Ireland. Her work can be found on the University of Galway’s Archive, as well as the special collections of the University College Dublin, and others. Her debut collection of poetry, Palm Wine Tapper and The Boy at Jericho, Doire Press 2022, was listed amongst the top poetry books of 2022 by the Irish Times.

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BEYOND New Irish Communities 2023 Session 3

Facilitator: Fióna Bolger

Date: Saturday 7 October 2023

Time: 11am – 1pm

Location: In person at the Irish Writers Centre

Fióna Bolger is a poet, writer and facilitator who has lived mainly in Ireland and India. Her publications include a compound of words, Yoda Press, Delhi (2019) and Love in the Original Language, Salmon Poetry, Clare (2022). Her poems have appeared in The Brown Critique, Poetry Ireland Review, Poetry Bus, Chattahoochee Review among others. She facilitates workshops with Irish Writers Centre, Dublin, Yoda Press, Delhi, Intercultural Language Centre, Ballybough and Women 4 Women DLR. Anti-racist and trauma informed strategies inform her facilitation practice. She is interested in plurilingualism as a strategy to cross borders and create new spaces for playing and thinking in words. www.fionabolgerpoetry.com

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BEYOND New Irish Communities 2023 Session 4

Facilitator: Jean O’Brien 

Special Guest: Jess Majekodunmi 

Date: Saturday 14 October 2023

Time: 11am – 1pm

Location: Online

Jean O’Brien has facilitated many creative writing workshops in places as diverse as prisons, schools, community groups and festivals and at post graduate level. An award winning writer she received a Kavanagh Fellowship in 2017/18. She was the Writer in Residence in the Centre Culturel d’ Irelandais in Paris last November. She has six books to her name, her latest Stars Burn Regardless was published by Salmon Publishing in Spring 2022. She holds an M. Phil in creative writing from Trinity College, Dublin. Ireland. www.jeanobrien.ie

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BEYOND New Irish Communities 2023 Session 5

Facilitator: Sree Sen

Date: Saturday 21 October 2023

Time: 11am – 1pm

Location: In person at the Irish Writers Centre

From India, Sree Sen is currently based in Dublin, Ireland. Her creative works have appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, Stinging Fly, Banshee, Honest Ulsterman, Carbon pamphlet, and others. She won the UCD Maeve Binchy Travel Award 2020; received Cill Rialaig Residency 2020 and Agility Award 2021 by Arts Council of Ireland. Her debut poetry pamphlet Cracked Asphalt was published by Fly On The Wall Press in August, 2022.

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BEYOND New Irish Communities 2023 Session 6

Facilitator: Jean O’Brien

Date: Saturday 4 November 2023

Time: 11am – 1pm

Location: In person at the Irish Writers Centre

Jean O’Brien has facilitated many creative writing workshops in places as diverse as prisons, schools, community groups and festivals and at post graduate level. An award winning writer she received a Kavanagh Fellowship in 2017/18. She was the Writer in Residence in the Centre Culturel d’ Irelandais in Paris last November. She has six books to her name, her latest Stars Burn Regardless was published by Salmon Publishing in Spring 2022. She holds an M.Phil in creative writing from Trinity College, Dublin. Ireland. www.jeanobrien.ie

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BEYOND New Irish Communities 2023 Session 7

Facilitator: Cauvery Madhaven

Date: Saturday 11 November 2023

Time: 11am – 1pm

Location: Irish Writers Centre

Cauvery Madhavan was born in India and moved to Ireland thirty four years ago. Her latest novel, The Tainted, published to wide critical acclaim, was picked as An Post Book Awards’ Top Summer Reads in 2020. In the same year, it was also awarded the runner-up prize in SAHR Prize for Military Fiction and listed by The Times, UK, in their list of top 40 Historical Fiction novels. She lives with her husband and three children in County Kildare and is working on her fourth novel.

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BEYOND New Irish Communities 2023 Session 8

Facilitator: Melatu Uche Okorie

Date: Saturday 18 November 2023

Time: 11am – 1pm

Location: In person at the Irish Writers Centre

Melatu Uche Okorie was born in Enugu, Nigeria and has been living in Ireland since 2006. She has an Mphil in Creative Writing from Trinity College, Dublin. Her work has been published in numerous anthologies including, Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber & Faber) and The Art of the Glimpse: 100 Irish short stories (Head of Zeus). Her debut collection, This Hostel Life, was published in May, 2018.

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BEYOND New Irish Communities 2023 Session 9

Facilitator: Mark Granier

Date: Saturday 25 November 2023

Time: 11am – 1pm

Location: Online

Mark Granier has an MA in Poetry from Lancaster University, and has been teaching poetry and creative writing for The Irish Writers’ Centre’s New Irish Communities project and University College Dublin’s Lifelong Learning Department for many years. His awards include the 1997 New Writer Prize, several Arts Council Bursaries, The Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize and two Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowships.  His fifth collection, Ghostlight: New & Selected Poems, was published by Salmon Poetry in 2017.

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BEYOND New Irish Community 2023 Session 10

Facilitator: Suad Aldarra

Date: Saturday 2 December 2023

Time: 11am – 1pm

Location: In person

Suad Aldarra is a Syrian-Irish writer and data scientist based in Dublin. She was selected as the Common Currency writer in residence for Cuirt International Festival and English/Irish PEN in 2021 and was awarded the Art Councils of Ireland English Literature bursary. Her debut memoir, I Don’t Want to Talk About Home, was published by Penguin in July 2022 and was shortlisted for An Post Irish Biography of the Year Award.

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BEYOND New Irish Communities is kindly supported by Dublin City Council.

A Little Bit of History About New Irish Communities

New Irish Communities (NIC) was founded in 2013 with the aim of providing a creative writing space for all those for whom English was not their first language. It is our longest running programme, underpinning our commitment to diversity and inclusion values. A decade ago, Ireland was a very different place, and it was much harder for those we were trying to welcome to participate in creative writing.  The limitations of living in direct provision, or lack of access to transport, or language difficulties inhibited participation. Nevertheless, we established a small but loyal following from regular participants, with some going on to publish, win places on prestigious writing programmes, and to read publicly at IWC and other events.

Ten years on, with Ireland’s massive leap into positivity with regard to diversity, we felt it was time for our well-loved programme to be evaluated within this new context and to expand its brief to be more inclusive and to reflect the changing face of Irish culture.

In summary, BEYOND NIC keeps all that is good from the old programme and adds more curation, a greater diversity of guest speakers and facilitators, and invites a wider range of participants in this gesture of solidarity to reflect the broader demographic changes happening on this island.  This explains the new name we chose for the reimagined programme, which keeps its historical roots, but goes beyond them.

 

English is not my native tongue, it’s not for many, many more creative practitioners today. So how do we navigate an English-dominated world with our writing explorations?

Sree Sen, New Irish Communities Facilitator

At the New Irish Communities, I found guidance and orientation on the ins and outs of writing: how to use the five senses in poetry, the importance of rhythm, imagery and sound. The passing down was kind and patient, respecting the differences and limitations of each participant. However, what I most cherish in the group is the sense of community, and the shared challenge of writing in another language. Each Saturday I stepped into the IWC, I felt I belonged there; that the Irish Writers Centre welcomed and sowed Irishness with its different accents, colours, and backgrounds. So, for those who come from minority groups like me, be sure that the New Irish Communities is the right place for you to become a better writer and to find peers.

Rafael Mendes, New Irish Communities writer

I think that this group is more essential than being published. It is about the atmosphere of community. The connection, the sharing, the love of the craft.

New Irish Communities Writer

It’s the first time my work has received such recognition and I am really happy: to think that six years ago I barely spoke English.

New Irish Communities Writer