Scríbhneoirí Áitiúla Fine Gall a roghnaíodh do Chlár Náisiúnta Meantóireachta Words Ireland
Chuaigh an Oifig Ealaíona de chuid Chomhairle Contae Fhine Gall i gcomhpháirtíocht le Words Ireland le haghaidh deiseanna forbartha gairmiúla a chur ar fáil chun tacú le scríbhneoirí Fhine Gall tríd an gClár Meantóireachta Náisiúnta de chuid Words Ireland.
Chuaigh an Oifig Ealaíona de chuid Chomhairle Contae Fhine Gall i gcomhpháirtíocht le Words Ireland le haghaidh deiseanna forbartha gairmiúla a chur ar fáil chun tacú le scríbhneoirí Fhine Gall tríd an gClár Meantóireachta Náisiúnta de chuid Words Ireland. Tá ceathrar scríbhneoirí áitiúla, Niamh Donnelly, Mark Kielty, Shauna Smullen agus Lisa Walsh roghnaithe ag Words Ireland chun meantóireacht liteartha ghairmiúil a fháil sna hocht mí amach romhainn ó scríbhneoir cáiliúil as Éirinn dá rogha féin.
Tar éis gairm náisiúnta a dhéanamh, roghnaíodh os cionn 40 scríbhneoir as 339 n-iarratasóir san iomlán. Mhaoinigh Oifig na Ealaíne de chuid Chomhairle Contae Fhine Gall an mheantóireacht liteartha in éineacht le Comhairle Ealaíon na hÉireann chun a chinntiú go roghnófaí na hiarratasóirí is fearr ón gcontae. Cinnteoidh a dtacaíocht go bhfaighidh na meantaithe roghnaithe an tacaíocht seo a d’fhéadfadh athrú saoil a dhéanamh saor in aisce dóibh. Is infheistíocht í freisin i gcáil liteartha fadtéarmach an réigiúin.
Dar le Emer O’Gorman, Stiúrthóir na Seirbhísí, “Mar chuid de thiomantas leanúnach Chomhairle Contae Fhine Gall d’ealaíontóirí gairmiúla, bhí áthas orainn dul i gcomhpháirtíocht le Words Ireland sa bhliain 2021 le haghaidh deiseanna meantóireachta a chur ar fáil chun tacú le scríbhneoirí Fhine Gall i bhforbairt a gcuid ceird. Mar gheall ar mhéadú an éilimh ar an deis seo, roghnaíodh ceathrar faighteoir i mbliana agus creidim go rachaidh an deontas seo chun leasa suntasacha dóibh.”
Is léir óna gcuid tuairimí lena n-áirítear na rudaí a chiallaíonn a leithéid do na scríbhneoirí a roghnaíodh, ina measc Mark Kielty: “Táim an-bhuíoch as glacadh liom ar an gclár agus as an deis mo chuid oibre a fhorbairt faoi shár-threoir mo mheantóra Oisin McGann”; agus Niamh Donnelly: “Chabhraigh mo mheantóir Ferdia MacAnna go mór liom maidir le cad a bhí á iarraidh agam a dhéanamh le mo chuid oibre a thuiscint agus conas a leithéid dhéanamh. Ach níos tábhachtaí fós, thug sé an muinín dom díriú ar bharr an fheabhais. Sílim ó chroí gurb é seo ceann de na scéimeanna tacaíochta ealaíontóirí is fearr atá ann."
Dúirt Lisa Walsh: “Táim an-bhuíoch as an meantóireacht a bronnadh orm ag Words Ireland, a thugann an deis dom a bheith faoi theagasc scríbhneoir chomh cumasach leis an údar agus file Elaine Feeney. Buíochas mór le Comhairle Contae Fhine Gall as a cuid tacaíochta." Agus dar le Shauna Smullen: “Trí maoiniú flaithiúil Chomhairle Contae Fhine Gall ar an deis seo, táim thar a bheith sásta a bheith in ann obair le Joanna Walsh, scríbhneoir a bhfuil ardmheas agam uirthi le fada. Ní amháin go dtugann an mheantóireacht seo deis ama agus spáis dom le haghaidh scríbhneoireacht nua a fhorbairt, ach tugann sí aird agus aitheantas do mo chuid saothar cruthaitheacha chomh maith..”
Séard atá sa phróiseas meantóireachta ná ceithre chruinniú idir an meantaí agus an scríbhneoir gairmiúil a roghnaíonn sé. Léann an meantóir suas le 10,000 focal de scríbhneoireacht an mheantaí roimh gach crinniú, agus ansin roinneann sé a chuid aiseolais agus comhairle chriticiúil dianshaothraithe. Tá súil againn go rachaidh na meantaithe roghnaithe ar aghaidh chun saothair mhóra litríochta a scríobh chun cáilíocht a gcuid meantóirí a mheaitseáil nó a shárú. Is cineál den teagasc idir phiaraí é a bhfuil tóir níos mó agus níos mó air sa litríocht, ag forbairt an phróisis trína chuireann an máistir a cheard ar aghaidh chuig an mac léinn.
The National Mentoring Programme is run by Words Ireland. It is a grouping of seven national literature resource organisations aimed at supporting writers and developing new audiences for literature. These seven organisations that make up the collective include: Literature Ireland, Children’s Books Ireland, Irish Writers Centre, The Stinging Fly, Poetry Ireland, Munster Literature Centre, and Publishing Ireland. Its programme is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland, but the board work on a voluntary basis. It is chaired by Michael McLoughlin, Chair of Penguin Random House, Ireland. www.wordsireland.ie
Niamh Donnelly is a writer from Dublin. Her fiction has been published in The Irish Times, The Ogham Stone, The Dublin Review, and elsewhere. She is also an arts journalist and was shortlisted for Critic of the Year at the 2019 Newsbrands Ireland Journalism Awards. She is currently working on a novel, provisionally titled Onboarding. Her writing focuses on themes such as ambition, disillusion and cultural change.
Mark Kielty is a Dublin based author who has been published in four anthologies with his writing group, Cupán Fae. In 2021, he published his first short comic in Turning Roads: Irish Folklore Stories with Limit Break Comics. He writes mostly fantasy along with sci-fi, and superhero stories. When he’s not writing, he’s playing hurling or volunteering as a basketball coach with the Special Olympics. He’s currently working on his first full length novel. In the meantime, getting distracted by sci-fi and fantasy books, Netflix, and Marvel movies, is not entirely unwelcome.
Shauna Smullen is the co-editor of The Liminal Review. She is working on a collection of short stories about the effects of physical and emotional trauma on the body. Her work has most recently appeared in The Madrigal and This is Not Where I Belong.
Lisa Walsh is an emerging working class writer from Ballymun, now living in Santry. She began writing as a participant on the Write On course facilitated by Colm Keegan, in the Axis, Ballymun in 2013 at the age of 43. Most recently, she has completed the Stinging Fly’s six-month fiction workshop 2020, as run, in association with the Irish Writers Centre. Lisa is a playwright and is in the process of developing and furthering her skills as a novel and short story writer, creating new writing based on both her experiences growing up in Ballymun and as a professionally qualified social worker. Lisa continues to develop her practice as a writer both for stage and prose. Curating and presenting new work has been a passion of hers since she discovered she has a talent to write and to tell stories from her background. Stories that are too often under-represented.