My reflection in the mirror no longer resembles me, I have morphed into my mother. Small, rotund, dark-haired, both fiery when pushed, though Mam was far more generous than me.
In our home, Mam was a singer, a baker, a sewer. She was the one who dealt with money and decided where we’d put our trailer. She was determined that my father would not keep horses because she had so many small children. It took a strong woman to lay down the law, particularly in the area of horse ownership. On the other hand, my father took care of me until I was about ten or eleven. He helped inside the trailer more than outside. While being a man of his time, on the quiet he did encourage the women in his life, particularly his daughters, to do things outside the prescribed gender roles. He taught my sisters to drive before any other Traveller man we knew did. My mother insisted that all my sisters had some say in who they were going to marry. When one of my sisters told my father she wasn’t happy with a suitor, he listened, acted and the wedding was called off.
That’s the opening of UNSETTLED, a remarkable, 110-page memoir by Rosaleen McDonagh, published in 2021. The book explores racism, ableism, abuse, and resistance as well as the bonds of community, family and friendship. As an Irish Traveller writing from a feminist perspective, her memoir essays are rich and complex, raw and honest, and above all else, uncompromising. A passage from her introduction reads: A lot of this book charts how I was bought and sold by various service providers and how those experiences haunt me and my family. Special school, nursing home, settled housing, adult residential care, the gamut of what it is to be Irish and to have an impairment.
I highly recommend it.
*****
To business …
Dear Writer
I hope this finds you well, and enjoying your writing, and your reading.
This is the third in what I hope will be a monthly email to writers who have crossed my path in one way or another over the past decade or so. I hope that there’ll be a few items of interest to all of you, whether it’s a poem you haven’t come across before, or a short prose extract to whet your appetite, or a link to a literary journal that is looking for writers just like you, or a writing competition that seems at first glance to be designed just for you!
Competitions
Cinematic Short Story Competition
https://www.unchartedmag.com/uncharted-magazine-cinematic-short-story-contest/?utm_source=brevo&utm_campaign=CinematicSS24-%201&utm_medium=email
‘We invite writers to submit to the Uncharted Magazine Cinematic Short Story Contest from April 14 to June 16, 2024. This award is for all of our genres: Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller/Mystery (Horror), Historical Fiction, and Young Adult. Guest Judge Matt Bell will choose three winning stories from our shortlist. We’re excited to offer the first-place winner of this contest $2,000 and publication, while the second- and third-place winners will receive publication and $300 and $200, respectively.’
I am Writing
https://www.writing.ie/writing-comps/i-am-writing-competitions-2024/
I am Writing have created SEVEN opportunities to get your writing noticed by industry professionals. Whether you are writing crime, thriller, historical fiction, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, MG, YA or picture books, I Am Writing competition is for you! Each genre is judged by a professional literary agent / publisher as the sole reader so the agent or publisher reads all of the entries in their category! The agent / publisher judge for your chosen genre will read every text sample, making the competition very unique. This year for the first time, each competition will have its own shortlist, giving more of you the opportunity to get noticed for your writing skills.
The Anthology Magazine Personal Memoir Competition 2024
https://www.writing.ie/writing-comps/anthology-personal-memoir-competition-2024/
Authors are invited to share a unique life experience. Whether your memoir recounts a transformative journey, a poignant moment, or a life-altering event, we welcome your story. The Anthology Personal Memoir Competition is open to original and previously unpublished memoirs in the English language by writers of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. In the spirit of authenticity, there are no constraints on themes or writing styles. Memoirs submitted must not exceed a maximum of 1,500 words. The winner will receive a €500 and the chance to see their work published in a future issue of Anthology.
Grist’s Climate Action Fiction Contest
https://www.writing.ie/writing-comps/competition-imagine-2200-3/
Grist’s fourth Imagine 2200 climate fiction contest is now open for short stories envisioning the future of climate progress. Stories must be between 2,500 and 5,000 words. There is no cost to enter. Submissions close June 24, 2024, 11:59 p.m. U.S. Pacific Time.
*****
Miscellaneous odds and ends:
Memoir Writing Workshops
Due to popular demand (I’ve always wanted to say that!!), I’m running a repeat of my memoir writing workshops @ The Dock Arts Centre in Carrick. Wednesday mornings from 22nd May. All details here: https://www.thedock.ie/communities/writing-your-memoir
Strokestown was excellent, the best for years. I arrived home with four books, all of which I recommend:
Eva Bourke – Tattoos (Dedalus)
Geraldine Mills – When the Light – New and Selected Poems (Arlen House)
Ger Reidy – Clay (Arlen House)
Joe Woods – Veld Fires (Dedalus)
John Willmott
I’ve just learned of the passing of John Willmott, a beautiful soul who was more in touch with the natural world than perhaps anyone I’ve ever met. He was a regular on Saturday mornings some years back at the Moylurg Writers writing workshops and his writings – and his delivery of – were always wonderfully and richly lyrical and original. May he rest in peace.
*****
I’ll be back in about a month from now with some more writerly news and notes. In the meantime, keep well, and enjoy your reading and your writing. I’ll sign off with an Eva Bourke poem from Tattoos.
Gerry
SNOW OWL
I have been living too far from snow. Here it falls
as water in solid drops that don’t dissolve
at the touch of a breath.
This is a place of light swaying in sea caves. I long
for snow in drifts by the wayside,
its whispered cover-ups.
Here the streets are named after dead generals.
I feel like some forgotten oddity in the corner
of a bric-a-brac shop.
How I wish for the snow’s silence,
its alert and godly cleanliness
that blankets my failures. The snow owl
on its silent flight through the snow
is a white-on-white riddle
that enfolds me with its gorgeous wings,
a welcoming vanishing act –
its cruel beak
its golden eyes
its feathers falling like snow.
If you would like me to mention something in a forthcoming newsletter, send me the details and I’ll try to include.
*****