Listowel Writers’ Week was thought up at a chance meeting of John B Keane, Bryan MacMahon, Tim Danaher and Nóra Relihan on a street in Listowel in 1970. Mindful of the rich literary tradition of the area, they decided to establish a festival in Listowel to celebrate the “Listowel writers”, among them, John B, Bryan and Tim Danaher along with Seamus Wilmot, Brendan Kennelly, George Fitzmaurice, Maurice Walsh and others. A local celebration was organised for 1970; it was a resounding success as a result of which meetings were held and the first Writers’ Week was held in Listowel in 1971.
From the beginning, Writers’ Week set out to encourage and develop new talent. The idea of the literary workshop was brought to Ireland by Bryan MacMahon, who had directed short story workshops in the United States and the first workshops in Ireland were held at Writers’ Week.
I joined Writers’ Week in 1979. I had returned in 1975 to teach in the national school in my native Moyvane, seven miles from Listowel. I was originally dispatched to Writers’ Week as the representative of the Listowel Drama Group, with whom I acted, but was immediately appointed director of the newly composed ballad competition, which was the brainchild of local singer and ballad maker, Sean McCarthy.
To make a long story short, I was appointed chairman in 1982, a position I held for four years. The initial enthusiasm had waned and new blood and new ideas were required. We immediately reshaped the festival, cutting it by one day: henceforth it would begin on a Wednesday and finish on the following Sunday. We reinvigorated the festival, working with organisations like Poetry Ireland to bring the best of young talent to Listowel. An unknown Kazuo Ishiguro came, saw and conquered; a young Roddy Doyle too; Rita Ann Higgins at the beginning of her career. Big guns like Ted Hughes, John Montague and Eavan Boland graced us with their presence.
One area I was very keen to develop was the Irish language. It was an exciting time in the affairs of writing in Irish. Coiscéim and Cló Iar-Chonnachta had been established as fresh and vibrant Irish language publishers. They regularly launched books with us. A fledgling Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill walked among us. Gabriel Rosenstock and Michael Hartnett too. We reinvigorated An Béal Beo, a debating competition which attracted Gaeilgeoirí from all over Munster and further afield. Raidió na Gaeltachta broadcast from Listowel during Writers’ Week. Druid brought plays from Galway, Charabanc from Belfast. Our art department flourished, hosting exhibitions, national and international, of graphic art. Maria Simonds-Gooding came from Dunquin. Heady times!
All the while I was learning: I was meeting poets and other writers, critics, actors, artists, musicians and broadcasters and was inspired by them. I was writing constantly, and, when Dick Warner of RTÉ gave a lecture on writing for radio, I was emboldened to send him some of my poems, the upshot of which was that Cathal Ó Gríofa invited me to present a series of Poems Plain on RTÉ Radio 1. I was over the moon!
In 1984, Kevin Byrne and Glenda Cimino of Beaver Row Press, at the instigation of Brendan Kennelly, invited me to submit a manuscript of my poetry with a view to publication. I gave them Rainsong, my first book (poetry for adults) and to my great joy John B Keane launched it at Writers’ Week 1984. It was generally very well received though the first review that appeared, from Gerald Dawe in the Irish Press, was less than encouraging. But with the support of Brendan Kennelly and Michael Hartnett, I was determined to carry on.
I served a second, two-year, term as chair of Writers’ Week from 1991-1992 and then, my job done, resigned from the committee.
But back to poetry. I qualified as a national teacher in 1972 at the tender age of 19. (Yes! they let 19-year-olds loose on the children of the nation in those days. Not a good idea). I began my teaching career in Avoca, Co Wicklow and two years later moved to Limerick city to teach in Caherdavin, returning to teach at home in 1975. Those were good times in education. The "New Curriculum" of 1971 was up and running in our national schools. It was a child-centred and child-friendly curriculum full of new, exciting subjects like speech and drama. Creativity was encouraged in both teacher and pupil. I loved it. I was particularly excited by the possibilities of introducing new poetry, in Irish and English, to the girls and boys in my care. Then along came An tOchtapas, Gabriel Rosenstock's landmark collection of poetry for children, published in 1977. It consisted of 14 short, humorous poems in the Irish language and my pupils loved them.
At the same time I was running out of new poems to bring to my pupils so I decided to write my own. The first was Charlie MacRory, a reasonable first attempt:
Young Charlie MacRory
Has just come to school
And he never stops crying –
He's a right little fool;
But Charlie MacRory
Is no fool at all –
He got a sweet from the teacher
When he started to bawl!
Shortly afterwards I was trying to put myself in my pupils’ shoes, looking at the world through their eyes, when I decided to have a look at myself as a teacher. The result was The Teacher:
I kinda like the teacher
But he's most awful cross,
He really throws his weight about,
He sure can act the boss;
But, still, he tells us stories
And he's nice and funny too.
He's nice, but he could be nicer –
I suppose we could be nicer too!
The children loved these poems. Needless to say, I didn’t tell them that I had written them in case they would fake their response in order to please the teacher.
My first collection for children, The Moving Stair, was published in 1989. Since then I have published 13 books of poetry in English for children including Will You Be my Friend?, published by Liberties Press, which will be launched at Writers Week in Listowel on June 4th. It has been a long road, a worthwhile road and I am glad that I took it.
