We were delighted to host an evening of Poetry & Prose with our Young Writers group last week. It was a fantastic night filled with writing talent with 12 young writers reading their new poetry and prose.

Susanna Galbraith, poet and editor of Abridged Magazine, hosted the evening. She was such a wonderful warm host, asking the group many interesting questions around their inspiration and methods of writing. It was fascinating to hear the Young Writers’ insights into their writing process.

Here’s a quote from Aliyah, one of the participants about her writing journey:
“When I was younger I used to spend all my time making up stories, just talking to the cows! But I realised when I got to school that I could start writing them down. The more I started reading, the more I wanted to write – which grew into more of a love!”

A big thank you to everybody who shared their work over the evening, and also to Susanna Galbraith for all her kind words and encouragement.

This creative writing project offers a developmental framework for two groups of young people from Derry and Donegal to develop authentic and meaningful stories and youth narratives through poetry, prose and spoken word. Through a series of workshops with Associate writer Mary Branley, young people are encouraged to develop their individual voices in response to their cultural landscape and as a reflection of their own ideas and interests.

Read more about our Young Writers group here.

We would like to thank our partners Donegal County Library Service and Libraries NI for their support with this project. This cross border initiative is funded through the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund, with support from the Arts Council of Ireland.