Garrett Keogh, Mary Fleming, Eamonn Nolan and the Gap
Arts Festival Committee. Katherine Byrne, Anne-Marie
Stafford and all the staff at Ballythomas National School.
Ffion Scott Davies & Dolores Davies. Rory & Stephen Doonan.
Maggie & Basim in Loggan. The Gap Pub, G.A.R.A. & Patrick
Stack. Kilanerin Community Centre, Kilanerin Men’s Shed
and Peter O’Connor. Fr. Denis Browne & ...
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Carmel Kinsella lives in Toberpatrick. She came to the area when
she married Laurence Kinsella in April 1967. Carmel enjoys
baking and worked in Institutional Catering in public schools.
This is her first time giving Creative Writing a go.
Avae Sweeney lives in North Wexford. She was born in October 2007.
As well as telling stories, Avae loves to go on adventures and to swim.
Alex Swe...
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FOREWORD
When i go into the school at Ballythomas, for a meeting
of the Board of Management, or when we’re setting up
the stage for the Gap Arts Festival, or for one of the Festival’s
workshops, I’m fascinated by the drawings and paintings, the
model-making, and the stories and poems and projects that
line the walls.
We didn’t do painting or drawing when I was in school. I remember one day in Primary,...
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INTRODUCTION
The idea of an Intergenerational Creative Writing Project
came to me as I was walking in the woods, at the foot of
Annagh Hill.
I had worked with children many times in Coolfancy and
Tinahely, as well as when I was researching my plays The
Thaw and Hunting the Strawberry Tree. Over the years, I
had worked with groups of adults umpteen times: Traveller
groups in Wicklow and Wexford, older peop...
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Copyright Information
All authors retain copyright in their stories.
All rights reserved © 2019
The Gap Arts Festival and Wexford County Council
are permitted to reproduce the work.
Please contact gapartsfest@gmail.com regarding
permission to reproduce or reprint.
Design by Mary Fleming Design, 086 8059039
Printed by Wexford County Council.
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THE GHOST IN THE KITCHEN
BY BRENDA BARRY
When, one summer, Ma, Da, little brother and I were on
holiday in my grandparents’ house, I saw a ghost.
I didn’t know at the time that I was looking at a ghost. I was
about four years old and terrified of the dark. My grandparents’
house was a Victorian redbrick on the South Circular Road in
Dublin. My impression of Victorian houses is that they were
always dark. And it was a...
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THE DEN
BY RUA DE FAOITE
It wasn’t my idea.I wish it had been because it was my garden. But no, my friend came up with the idea. A den. A base. Our secret hideout, where we could escape to whenever we wanted. There is a row of trees at the front of my garden. Some small, some tall and a gigantic Sycamore tree, right at the centre, two or three times the height of my house. Myself, my friend and my yo...
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MELTING MOMENTS
BY BRIGID KINSELLA
“Answer that bell,” commands Susan, the night sister in a busy London hospital. It’s three a.m.
Beth started training to be a nurse in 1970. This is her
first time on night duty. The ward has full glass panels from
ceiling to floor, with no blinds. It was previously used for
patients getting treatment for tuberculosis.
Beth hides behind the sluice room door, pee...
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ILL GOT, ILL GONE
BY CARMEL KINSELLA
In Tipperary, where I come from, they say the Devil’s children have the Devil’s luck...When I was growing up in Portroe, my home was in the townland of Ballingeer, and there was always a few of us
coming home together after school. I was the eldest at that
time because my older sisters and brothers had moved on.
Well this day, a few of my sisters and my brother were with
me...
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THE BABYSITTING NIGHTMARE
BY CAOIMHE MCGONIGLE
‘Stop pushing me!’ Róisín screamed.
‘I’m not even touching you,’ I cried.
‘Now you’re pushing me!’ Aoife shrieked.
‘Get out! We’re here now and I don’t want to hear you for
another second!’ Mam snapped.
We froze but started to crawl out of the car eventually. Mam
was quite surprised at how we quietened down so quickly, but
tried to keep a firm face. Once we we...
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