You might love reading, whether you're into novels, blogs or celebrity magazines. But how do you go about putting pen to paper? The Writers in Schools project hopes to help, reports Gráinne Faller 'In transition year the only limit is your imagination, as the career of Ruth Gilligan shows. The former Fair City actor wrote her debut novel, Forget, as a TY project. Now in her second year at Cambridge, she shows no sign of slowing down and has just published another book'

We Irish may not be the most illustrious of nations - Germans may snigger up their sleeves at our shortcomings, and laugh at our nouveau-riche gaudiness - but when it comes to literature we are world class. From Oscar Wilde to WB Yeats, and from James Joyce to Samuel Beckett, we have produced more than our share of literary giants, and the trend shows no sign of stopping, with the likes of Seamus Heaney flying the flag abroad.

Be it the literary fiction of John Banville or the expert plotting of Cecelia Ahern - whose PS, I Love You is being turned into a film starring Hilary Swank and Lisa Kudrow - we seem to have a way with words that leaves other countries trailing in our wake, whatever the genre.

But it's not just about the big shots. We're a nation of storytellers. Or at least we used to be. Grandparents tend to be great ones for the stories. Time will tell whether that is yet another aspect of Irish life that has been sacrificed to this Celtic tiger of ours.

If Khan Kelly, a student from Co Cork, is anything to go by, however, we have a long way to go before we lose our way with words. Khan is in fifth year at Beara Community School, in Castletown Bere. He writes poetry and has a whole book of verses written. He had never really tapped into that talent until last year, when he was in transition year and the school organised a Writers in Schools residency with a local poet, John O'Leary.

Now in its 30th year, Writers in Schools is one of the longest-running arts-in-education programmes in the country. Run by Poetry Ireland and funded by the Arts Council, it pays part of writers' or storytellers' fees when they visit schools, either for one-day workshops or for residencies of eight to 10 weeks, during which the writers take groups of students for writing workshops. According to Anna Boner, the scheme's development officer, about 30,000 young people participate each year.

Beara Community School has hosted residencies for many years. Paddy O'Connor, its principal, says: "We offer the programme to TY students first of all, and then, if there are any places left, we offer them to fifth years."

Normally the workshops take place on school premises. Beara Community School tries to treat them like seminars, however. The students go to a room in a local hotel, where tea and coffee are provided during their break from the workshop. "We find that students are more relaxed and take it seriously if we make that kind of effort," says O'Connor.

"I thought it sounded interesting," says Khan, "but I never thought I'd enjoy it so much. I've written loads since last year." Khan's classmate Rachel Sheehan was also in the TY group last year. "I always enjoyed reading and interpreting other people's work," she says. "But I wouldn't have been the most imaginative person. I never thought I could write like that."

Over the weeks the students were brought through different exercises to get their creative juices flowing. Sometimes they worked in groups, sometimes alone. Lisa Sheehan explains: "We played a couple of word games starting off, and it went on from there." Rachel says: "As the weeks went on I found myself getting more and more ideas. It was great."

An important aspect of Writers in Schools is that it's available to Gaelscoileanna as well.

Coláiste De hÍde, in Tallaght, played host to the poet Áine Ní Ghloinn last year. She had worked with the fifth-year students on a large project based around Leabhair Mór na Gaedhlig, a contemporary artwork that has been described as a 21st-century Book of Kells. It brings together the work of more than 200 visual artists, poets and calligraphers from Scotland and Ireland.

Having made a positive impression on her group, Ní Ghloinn was invited back for four workshops with TY students.

"It was great," says Megan Ní Dhomhnaill. "I remember on the first day we were asked what a poem was. Everyone was talking about rhyme and metre. Then we were told to go into groups and write one sentence about a particular theme. We put all the sentences together, and somehow it worked."

"Poetry can be sort of intimidating, I suppose. A few people were like, 'I can't do this,' " says Lí-Áine Ní Riain. "When we realised that poetry really can be anything, that there's no right or wrong, I think people relaxed."

Scott De Búrca wasn't expecting much from the class. "I thought it'd be really boring," he says. "When Áine Ní Ghloinn explained what we'd be doing I thought it sounded very interesting . . . She showed us how easy it could be."

The author Siobhán Parkinson is something of a veteran of Writers in Schools. She has led both one-day workshops and residencies, from primary school to third level. "I much prefer the residencies," she says. "With a single visit it's really a taster. There is more of an emphasis on you, as somebody who has written books. It generates a bit of excitement. But with the 10-week residencies the students really get to know you. It's about them and their work. That's the best part of a residency."

The beauty of the programme, be it a single visit or a residency, is that it allows students to experience writing in a nonacademic way. "I stress that it doesn't matter what they write," says Parkinson. "As time goes by people grow in confidence. At first they are almost cowering. Nobody wants to be chosen to read. Who'd blame them? You're asking them to empty the contents of their head, their heart, their soul on to a page for people to pick over. People are respectful, though, and by the end the students are clamouring to share their work."

All the same, it is awkward to begin with, as Emma Murphy of Beara Commun-ity School explains. "My first time reading something to the group was very nerve-racking, but the whole thing was so relaxed and calm it didn't last long."

Rachel Sheehan agrees. "It's difficult at first. You're reading out something you've written, and you don't know how people will react. You don't know whether they'll understand you."

Emma didn't really like English or poetry before the workshop. "I suppose I didn't really understand it," she says. "I have a great interest in it now."

Indeed, although the emphasis is on the process, the workshops and residencies do have a goal. At Beara Community School, for example, the students have a night of song and poetry. Their parents are invited along, and everyone gets to read a piece of work. Local poets are invited as well. In fact the school can count Leanne O'Sullivan, one of Ireland's brightest young poets, among its past pupils, and she has returned on occasions such as this to read some of her work. "She's a real inspiration," says Emma. "To be so young and have books published is amazing."

"It was great to read our own work at the very end," says Lisa.

"I was the first person to go up so I was very nervous," says Khan. "People complimented my poem afterwards, so that was great."

The students at Coláiste de hÍde made a book from their work. Megan believes the experience will inform her Leaving Certificate work. "In English and Irish, for example, you're taught to break a poem down and look at different bits of it. This taught us to look at the whole poem and to try and understand it before doing any of that," she says. "There were people in the group who wouldn't ever have read a poem outside school," says Lí-Áine. "Now they do. It just shows you what a bit of understanding can do."

For more details of Writers in Schools see www.poetryireland.ie/education

Not sure how to start writing? Here are some ideas for finding inspiration

If you are more of a reader than a writer, why not set up a book club? The consensus is that you need between about four and 15 people to form one. The idea is to choose a book for the group to read, then meet once a fortnight or once a month to discuss it over tea and biscuits. A book club can work with or without a teacher, although the presence of a teacher may well add to bigger groups, as they can act as a chairperson of sorts, provoking conversation and ensuring that everyone gets a say.

In transition year the only limit is your imagination, as the career of Ruth Gilligan (right) shows. The former Fair City actor wrote her debut novel, Forget, as a TY project at St Andrew's College in Booterstown, Co Dublin. Now in her second year at Cambridge University, she shows no sign of slowing down and has just published another book, called Somewhere in Between.

How about a yearbook? Although it can be a very expensive exercise, the internet has cut the cost of producing one considerably. With an internet connection your school can avail of a service provided by Book Builder, a company that provides template pages and teacher support for yearbooks and event books. Students can drop text and photographs into any of 70 online page templates and compile a yearbook from that. As the project is online, you could collaborate with schools all over Ireland - and even in other countries. When the book is finished, the students take orders, and the company will print as many yearbooks as are needed. There is no minimum order, and the books are of a high quality. The programme is web based, so your school doesn't need to buy software. The initial charge of €200 can be put towards any orders at the end of the year. See www.book-builder.ie.

How about journalism? Are you and your friends the next big rock critics, photographers, news reporters, cartoonists or investigative journalists? If that end of things appeals to you, the Irish Times School Mag

Competition is going ahead again this year, with an e-zine category for the technologically able. See www.irishtimesschoolmag.ie for all the information you'll need to enter.