Writing the latest chapter in Waterford

Waterford Writers Weekend, which runs from Mar 21-24, is a relative newcomer among literary festivals.

However, as it enters its third year, it is starting to gain traction: This year’s programme promises a mix of readings from local and nationally known authors, workshops with writers and publishers, as well as debates and discussions.

Keynote speakers include Kate Kerrigan, who will discuss her Ellis Island trilogy of novels, and Jimmy Magee, who will muse over his long and illustrious career in the world of sports. Other contributors include Tarquin Blake, author and photographer of Abandoned Mansions of Ireland, and Debbie Deegan, who has written about her charity with a book of the same name, To Russia with Love, which has helped more than 5,000 Russian orphans.

Director Ferdia McAnna and RTÉ’s Clare Dowling will discuss script-writing and there will be discussions on the uses of social media and blogging.

Two participating authors at very different stages of their respective writing careers are Waterford native Dave Duggan and Dubliner Mary Grehan. Duggan has had a long and varied literary career, the highpoints of which include his screenplay for the Oscar-nominated short film Dance Lexie Dance; two novels, The Greening of Larry Mahon and A Sudden Sun, as well as radio and stage plays. Although his full-time 20-year career as a writer may inspire a degree of envy, he has long since learned to view his chosen craft without the benefit of rose-tinted glasses.

“People suppose that I have escaped the 9-5, but of course I haven’t,” he says. “Writing is essentially hard work and I put in long hours. Notwithstanding the magic that can emerge from the process, the act of writing isn’t necessarily magical in itself. The only way to write a book is to sit down and write a book. Then reread it and rewrite it until it is right. It isn’t as if Joyce sat around twiddling his thumbs and this amazing work called Ulysses mysteriously appeared. It isn’t an easy process and I have the greatest admiration for anyone who has a go, but you don’t necessarily have to possess genius to write. When you have written something, show it to someone who can advise you. Then start writing something new.”

Duggan’s formative years were spent in Waterford and Irish life forms the cultural backdrop to his work, but he doubts whether Irish writers can be considered a separate genre. “It is a title that people other than writers use to classify authors,” he says. “Given Ireland’s spectacular success in the literary sphere, being an Irish writer can be something of a double-edged sword. International readers may bring their own preconceptions of what an Irish writer should be to your work and that can be intimidating. We can’t all write like Joyce.”

His preferred choice of scale is usually the extended family. “I do find it fertile ground,” he says. “Everyone is always telling everyone else how they should behave, in a way they wouldn’t with other people. I like to think of my work as rooted somewhere, but reaching everywhere. As the primary unit of the human species, family issues are universal and can therefore resonate with an international audience even if there are cultural differences be-tween the author and the reader.”

One of his more interesting challenges, given the many forms his writing takes, is matching an idea to the correct format. “Something tickles my interest,” Duggan says. “A notion becomes a line, a paragraph, an image, and when those impulses grab enough energy then you look for the right form in which to present it. That is also a question of market forces and funding. I suppose you have an impulse to create and that can take the cultural form of a book or a play or a screenplay. For someone else it could be sculpture or art. The question is how to get that work to connect with the wider public.”

Mary Grehan’s first novel, Love is the Easy Bit, will be published in April and is the culmination of five years of work. “I trained as a ceramic artist and manage the Waterford Healing Trust in the city,” she says. “When I was a child my father gave me a Garda notebook and told me to record my thoughts; I guess he saw a writer in me then, even though it took a long time to come to fruition. I remember renting a house and saying to myself that I couldn’t get a television until I had written 10 pieces. They never materialised. Then, finding myself at something of a crossroads in life, I went to a life coach. I admitted that I had always believed somewhere deep inside me, that I would write a novel. Seeing it written down in black and white, I couldn’t deny it.”

She is now working on her second novel and admits she gets a little antsy if she doesn’t write every day. “I suppose the book becomes a melting pot for a lot of your everyday experiences,” she says. “Despite its title, my first book is not a romance and there are plenty of dark elements in there. I came to care about my main character but she is very self destructive so I had to continually write bad decisions for her. Occasionally I was tempted not to; but you have to stay true to your character.”

Having finished an early draft of the novel, she attended a publishing workshop at the 2011 Waterford Writers Festival and subsequently worked with a mentor who encouraged her to get published. “It was a long gestation period and a huge number of rewrites, but I got there in the end,” she recalls. “One of the great things about a writers festival is that you temporarily escape from what is essentially a solitary occupation. It recharges the batteries. I have a friend who once heard Anne Enright encourage writers to give up housework when writing and she quotes it to me ad nauseum. That type of encouragement from someone of her stature can be just what you need to push on and finish.”

* waterfordwritersweekend.ie 051 849983.