Local authors reflect on the Civil War in new anthology of writing
Contributors Oonagh Kearney, Derek Coyle and Peter Murphy share a laugh during the launch
A BOOK about the Civil War featuring some of the best local writers was launched recently in Carlow.
was launched in Carlow Library, marking the completion of the work carried out by Carlow County Council’s Decade of Centenaries Committee, which started in 2016.
Authors, poets and playwrights from across Co Carlow were invited to reflect on the theme of civil war and use their individual expertise to create a short piece of writing – in a variety of formats – to illustrate how this emotive theme can be used as inspiration for their creativity. The resulting publication is a reflective and thought-provoking body of work that explores the devastating division, sorrow and hope that can be found in such conflicts, both among those that lived through them and the generations that followed.
The launch started with an address from Carlow arts officer Sinéad Dowling, who called to mind the trying days of the Covid pandemic, when this project, a collaboration between the arts office and library service, began. Sinéad hailed the wonderfully deep pool of artistic talent that the county can both produce and attract, and thanked the collaborators for their contributions.
The book was then launched by Decade of Centenaries chair cllr Charlie Murphy, who gave historical context to the Civil War in Ireland and the many ‘what if?’ questions that the conflict poses.
There then followed a most enjoyable recital of prose, poetry and song from contributors Peter Murphy, Jessica Traynor, Marc-Ivan O’Gorman, Darren O’Donohue, Fiach Moriarty, Derek Coyle and Oonagh Kearney. Each performer presented their work in a very insightful and engaging manner. Running through all of the excellent performances was the strong and challenging theme that gave rise to the anthology in the first instance: the concept of a society at war with itself.
The book is now available, compliments of Carlow County Council’s Decade of Centenaries Committee, at all Carlow library branches and was published with support from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
