Introducing the IWC/Cúirt/ILFD Young Writer Delegates!

Kit Connolly is a bookworm who’s trying to write a book. She graduated with a degree in English from Trinity College and interned at The Paris Review in New York. She has spent the past few years doing temp jobs and travelling. She now lives in Dublin.

Alex Irwin, a freelance writer and editor from Co. Meath, studied English Literature and Anthropology in Maynooth University and recently earned an M.Sc in Multimeda from DCU. Their first published story ‘Star Walker’ appeared in the Science Fiction and Fantasy anthology Perchance to Dream in 2015. At the time of publication, it was #1 on Amazon Kindle’s Bestselling YA Science Fiction and Fantasy List. You can follow Alex on Twitter @irwinwriting.

Jess Mc Kinney is a poet, zinester and English Studies graduate of UCD. Originally from Inishowen, Donegal, they are now living and making work in Dublin. Their poetry has been previousy published in Abridged, Poethead, Mountstrous Regiment, Peach Magazine, A New Ulster and Impossible Archetype.They are co-founder of the Not4U Poetry Collective, working to platform LGBTQ+ voices in poetry by hosting events, fundraisers and publishing zines. 

The selected four young writers will be given festival passes and accommodation for seven full days of literary immersion in its events and activities. 

We are equally excited to introduce the selected IWC/ILFD Young Writer Delegates! Well done to James Hudson, Cassia Gaden Gilmartin, Ruth Ennis, Aoife Riach, Fiona Murphy McCormack and Sam Cox. These six young writers will attend the International Literature Festival Dublin launch in April and will be given festival passes to nine days of full literary immersion in its events and social life.

Born in Dublin, raised in France, then raised a bit more in Dublin, James Hudson is a speculative fiction writer exploring why we feel the way we feel about the human body. He is currently completing his MA in Creative Writing in UCD, and would like his dissertation to be a first step towards remedying the dearth of transgender fiction in Ireland.

Cassia Gaden Gilmartin is a recent graduate of Trinity’s MPhil in Creative Writing, and now divides her writing time between short stories and a debut novel. A serial arts intern, she has worked for the Irish Writers Centre, Dublin Book Festival and GCN (Gay Community News). Her short fiction has been published by Banshee, Transnational Queer Underground, Eunoia Review and The Bookends Review.

Ruth Ennis is studying Children’s Literature in Trinity College Dublin. She has written for Children’s Books Ireland, The University Observer, The UCD Caveat Lector, The Dublin Book Festival and The Blue Nib. She aspires to be a children’s author, and has a particular interest in poetry and short stories. She currently works as the Marketing and Publicity Officer for The O’Brien Press.