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Writing4all – The Best of 2010
by The Members of Writing4all
Format: Paperback
Publication date: 26th May 2011
ISBN: 978-1-908282-92-7
Price: €11.95
Writing4all.ie is an online community that exists to promote and encourage creative writing. With over 3,500 members, it is fast-becoming a crucial outlet for new writers – both in Ireland and internationally.
Each year, thousands of stories, poems, and articles are posted on the site and read by the friendly members of the Writing4all community, who offer supportive feedback and constructive advice. And every month, the Writing4all editing team read every piece of work posted to the site, before choosing the best writing from across three categories: fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
In your hands you are holding the best of the site’s writings from 2010, together with the winning entries to the second Writing Spirit Award.
It’s a cliché to say that writing is a lonely business, and a further cliché to talk about the looming fear of the empty white page. But these things are clichés for a reason; quite simply, it’s hard to get started, and it’s even harder to keep going.
This book, therefore, is a testament not only to the obvious talent and ability that exists on the site, but also, to the perseverance and commitment of its contributors. Drawing, as they do, from such a broad range of backgrounds, it would be disingenuous to suggest that the following writers all share the same concerns for any particular issues (though, even at a quick glance, one can see that death, God and the past figure heavily) but yet, there is a common thread connecting all these people together, and it is this: each author has found the time to step outside of themselves and put pen to paper, finger to keyboard, in order to connect with other writers, other readers, other minds.
From surreal tales of childhood, to tender depictions of love and loss; from angry, poignant poetry, to funny reflections on the everyday; these stories, poems and non-fiction pieces constantly challenge the reader to think again, to question the commonplace, and to see the world anew.
Writing Spirit Award 2010 Winners
Fiction
1st Place
Between Night and Morning by Danielle McLaughlin
2nd Place
Hickory Hill by Rachael Foster
Poetry
1st Place
Robyn Rowland
Lunar lullaby
Departure, Connemara
Changing weather
Variations on the Dark 1: Bearing gifts
Variations on the Dark 2 : St John’s Wort.
Variations on the Dark 3: recidivist
Known by heart
Benediction
2nd Place
Tony Devlin
Entering the Silence
Anarchist of Love
Happy Release
Night Office
Omega Man
3rd Place
Clare O’Reilly
Bog Woman
365 Bed Time Stories
Self Catering Ireland
Four Year Speak
Thirst
Writing4all Monthly Fiction Winners
Meeting Death by Richard Meade
Her Reflection by Catherine Day
Grow Fins by Dave Farrington
Like ducks to water by Margaret Cotter
My Santa Suit by Chris Birrane
If There Is A Future by Gerry Boland
Tigers by Dave Farrington
The Hitting Stick by Alan Barry
Ursula by Kate Williams
Tokens by Dave Farrington
Writing4all Monthly Non-Fiction Winners
Confessions of an Ex-Geek by Henry Gaudet
These are my friends and this is what we do on Mondays by Rose Kelleher
SS Ambrosio & Carlo – A Roman Sundayby Tony Devlin
Never at Home by Lauretta Scalzo
My Father Died Today by Susan Morgan
The Cognitive Dissonance of Volunteering by Kevin Conroy
Debating the Impact of Same Sex Marriage on Traditional Values by Amanda Marie Proctor
Red-Blooded Redneck by Mitch Lavender
Why I Write by Henry Gaudet
First Love by Richard Meade
Writing4all Monthly Poetry Winners
R is for Remedial by Sue Morgan
Lara by Atila Racz
Travelling by Barbara Boyd-Anderson
When I am a Deserted Island by Kevin Conroy
Morpheus (Roman God of sleep and dreams) by Chris Birrane
VI by Colm McDermott
Picture Postcard by Margaret Cotter
Dungolman River by Joe McEvoy
Remembering My Father As We Approached Gethsemene (Friday April 13th 1979) by Rachael Stanley
Village by Gordon Macleod
To Asgard by James Doyle
