My love of writing....

My love of writing began as a child. Often before going to sleep, I would make up words to some well known tune. As a teen, I wrote poetry in notebooks and kept them in a drawer. Later, I moved to London and discovered the coffee houses, where people performed their own poetry and songs. With knees knocking, I read my first poem out loud in front of a small crowd! I had landed in a creative hub and so much of my writing was inspired by listening to others and by reading. When it was still in fashion, I used to love writing letters. What a beautiful way to convey life's story...Why not write a letter now to someone and surprise them!

Later, back in my native Cork.......when challenged to concoct some bedtime stories for my two young kids, I discovered a new talent – writing for children by just listening to them and immersing myself in their world. Never gifted with a sharp memory, I wrote some of my stories down, and thus began a new love...writing radio drama. 

TV, Radio drama and Theatre

Having co-created and subsequently worked with a fantastic team of writers  on a 10 part TV drama series for young people, Am Abú! I am delighted to share that this is now in post-production and will be broadcast on TG4. 

For Radio, The Lonely Flower and The Adventures of the Stripy Pyjamas are just two of numerous radio dramas for children, which I wrote and produced. They were all broadcast on RTE Jnr Digital Radio. Recently, I adapted one of my drama scripts into a children’s book, due to be published in the near future, so watch this space! Want to read some extracts from my scripts, just go to the radio page and you will find links to many there. 

I co-wrote and produced an adult theatrical drama for Ocean of Notions Theatre company - Path through the Dark, The Story of Nano Nagle which went on to do an international tour. Check out the theatre page for more on this. 

Poetry

My most recent poetry project, FuaimMná is presented as an audio trail in one of my local parks, The Glen River Park. Inspired by stories of many women who lived on or near the park, I created poetry and prose to share with park users via sound installations.  This project is part of a wider Arts  project Gleann 'a Phúca  and can be found online here should you care to listen to the poems and find out more about the project.

​After a long break from performance poetry, I attended Ó Bhéal's poetry night in Cork recently and reading my poems there was just like putting on a familiar glove.  I won their five word poetry challenge that same night much to my delight! 
 
My poems have been published in a number of books, including Where the Hazel Falls, An Anthology of Modern Irish Verse (2006) and Irish Lifelines, An anthology of poetry by Irish women survivors in London (2008). I am currently working on my first solo collection entitled  'Reflections of the Half-light' and have been busy writing poems for children for the first time! I will reveal some of these very soon!

I began my creative journey as a poetry performer in the coffeehouses of London. I first lured  my poetry from a bottom drawer onto the stage of a well-known London acoustic music and poetry club, Ructions.
I went on to co-run a weekly acoustic music and poetry performance club in London called Thalia’s.  I also facilitated some poetry writing workshops for Survivors Poetry London.