One of the strengths of UCC’s creative writing programme is the wealth of inspiration that comes from our visiting writers. The School of English in conjunction with UCC’s Boole Library offers a reading series that runs throughout the academic year allowing our students not only to hear great fiction and poetry but to engage with writers of the highest calibre in discussions of craft.
Booker prize-winning novelist and Ireland’s fiction Laureate, Anne Enright, http://www.artscouncil.ie/laureate/ (pictured above) was among several writers who visited the MA in Creative Writing programme during the academic year 2015/16. Anne delivered her inaugural lecture as laureate to an invited audience at the Aula Maxima on November 19. She also gave a master class to students.
Novelist Eoin McNamee http://www.faber.co.uk/author/eoin-mcnamee/ kicked off our reading series in October and took our student writers through the pitfalls of combining real lives with fictional scenarios discussing his blue trilogy, The Blue Tango, Orchid Blue and Blue is the Night. Cork poet and editor of the prestigious Poetry Review, Maurice Riordan http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/maurice-riordan gave a reading in early November and led a masterclass with our poetry students. January saw multi-award winning Eimear McBride http://eimearmcbride.com read from her highly acclaimed novel A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing and engage in a lively hour-long discussion about her craft with the audience at a packed reading.
Finally, as part of the national commemoration of 1916, we invited three readers with work-related to the centenary to read during our Women and the Rising events in March. Dublin author Lia Mills, https://libranwriter.wordpress.com whose novel Fallen was nominated as the Two Cities One Book for 2016, poet Nessa O’Mahony http://nessaomahony.com along with UCC’s lecturer in creative writing, novelist Mary Morrissy https://marymorrissy.com/. Lia Mills gave a masterclass on the writing of historical fiction while Nessa O’Mahony led a workshop for poetry students.
As well as our reading series, writers also give guest lectures to our students in our Business of Writing Module. This year, former Children’s Fiction Laureate and Little Island publishing director, Siobhan Parkinson http://www.siobhanparkinson.com/ and the editor of the premier US literary journal, Ploughshares, Ladette Randoph, https://www.pshares.org/authors/ladette-randolph spoke about their experiences in publishing.
For our undergraduate courses, best-selling author Louise O’Neill, http://www.louiseoneillauthor.com/, short story writer and marketing executive with O’Brien Press, Jamie O’Connell http://www.jamieoconnellwriter.com/ and arts journalist and radio producer, Rachel Andrews http://www.rachelandrews.org/ gave seminars on writing and publishing.