Fermanagh Arts Festival

Last week was a busy one for Fermanagh Writers. We had no sooner performed at Erneside Shopping Centre, reading our poetry as part of All Ireland Poetry Day, then we were in the spotlight again.

On Saturday, 6^th October we hosted an afternoon of readings at Enniskillen Library as part of FLive. During the Fermanagh Arts Festival’s mini-fest a couple years ago we hosted an Open Mic afternoon but this is the first time we have participated in the main festival. We were delighted by the response of the audience and the festival organisers to our writings.

We had an attentive audience in the library foyer and we also piqued the interest of everyone who slipped past us into the library. Before the end of the afternoon all the seats were filled and people were standing at the back listening to us.

Marie Connor, one of our committee members, gave her last reading with our group before she and her husband move to warmer climes in the south of England. She enchanted the audience with a gentle tale reminiscent of the stories she writes for Ireland’s Own and The People’s Friend.

Gordon Williams gave a very animated reading. Books flew across the table and around the room as he shared his thoughts about some of the tomes in his personal collection.

The short stories and poems were funny, poignant, exciting and nostalgic. Readings by

our members are always a diverse affair. Pete Byrne took a humorous look at the complexities of Northern Irish society from an alien’s point of view, Tony Viney looked at modern life from a World War II veteran’s perspective and Dianne Trimble stepped into the realms of Mills & Boon fiction. The listener never knew what was coming next. But when we looked out at the faces in the audience it seemed that they were enjoying it.

Fermanagh Writers would like to thank Flive for inviting us to participate in the festival.

Several members of FCWG (photo courtesy of Impartial Reporter)

Welcome to Loughside Literature, the Fermanagh Creative Writing Group’s blog. We are a small but active writers’ group with a core of eleven or twelve members who meet regularly in Enniskillen. It’s difficult to define our group. ‘Diverse’ best describes us.

We are a multicultural group with members from England, Canada and Germany as well as Ireland, north and south. We also have a good mix of men and women from both Northern Ireland’s predominant communities. The interaction between both genders, locals and ‘blow-ins’ who have a wide range of viewpoints ensures that the group is a stimulating one.

We work in a variety of occupations ranging from professionals in the medical and social work fields to clerical and maintenance personnel. One of our members is a fulltime sports journalist and another is a further education tutor. One member is taking a break from full time work to recover from a stroke while others are retired.

The founding members initially met at writing classes facilitated by Seamas Mac Annaidh and run by Fermanagh District Council’s Art of Regeneration programme. When the classes ended we did not want the opportunity to meet with fellow writers to share our writing and receive constructive criticism to end. So we formed the group in March 2009.

Some of us were new to writing when we joined Seamas Mac Annaidh’s class, never penning anything before. Others have regularly had material published in newspapers, magazines and anthologies. One member self-published a novel prior to joining the group. Besides the professional sports journalist, several other members write as part of their work, contributing non-fiction articles to professional publications.

Like everything else about out group, our reasons for writing are as diverse as our members. Some members want to explore their memories of experiences in their lives, some simply enjoy telling a good story while others write primarily with the aim of getting published.

During our first year we stepped into the limelight at several public events. In October 2009 we hosted the Enniskillen Literature Weekend in conjunction with the Fermanagh Arts Festival. Visiting poets Miriam Gamble and Kevin Quinn were featured at a Poetry Reading in the Clinton Centre on the Saturday and Readings By Writers featured our own members at Russell & Donnelly Café on the Sunday. The same weekend we participated in Voluntary Arts Ireland’s Up 4 Arts afternoon, reading our work to often bemused passers by in The Diamond, Enniskillen.

Several of our members attended a writing workshop facilitated by Ted Deppe in Rossnowlagh the same month. Afterwards we participated in their Readings Evening at the Sandhouse Hotel.

We read from our work at the Enniskillen Castle Museum during the Fermanagh Arts Festival mini-fest in February 2010.

In Loughside Literature we’ll share some of our writing and what we are learning along our writing journey. We’ll also keep you up to date with news about our group and its members. We hope you’ll pop back often to see what we’re up to.

Fermanagh Arts Festival

Fermanagh Writers At FLive

Welcome to Loughside Literature