As a young writer, there is nothing quite like seeing your work in print – the thrill of a poem or story of your own creation tucked in among the pages of The Irish Times, surrounded by the work of fellow writers. Every year, the Fighting Words supplement provides a space to showcase the work of young writers. This is only a small portion of the incredible writing produced in Fighting Words each year, between workshops, Write Club, and various other projects. But it is a sample that captures the creativity, collaboration and delightful devilment that is present each day in the Fighting Words centres across the island of Ireland.
I was blown away by the inventiveness and the confident command of language displayed in these pieces. A range of interesting settings are evoked, from bustling bingo halls and mysterious academies of death in the snowy mountains, to lamplit bars frequented by pirates. There is an infectious imaginative pulse in the work, an inspiring originality seen in stories such as A Seasoned Painter, where Sam O’Toole captures, with wit and humour, the life of a man who paints the leaves to change with the seasons.
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The stories and poems in this supplement cover a wide range of subjects and give a sense of the issues facing young people in Ireland today, including parental pressure, self-love, displacement and discrimination. In All Men are Equal, Olamide Seriki presents a powerful political poem with great command of rhyme and rhythm that is both an overview of racism throughout history and a rallying call to action today.
Throughout this supplement there is also a strong sense of the energy, excitement and potential of youth, as captured wonderfully in Wiktoria Willer’s Sunny and Smoky – “the beginning of a journey, the fumblings of early adulthood ... And they will echo, because every canyon started out as a river and every river started out as a fickle stream.”
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The imagery evoked in the poetry is striking, from the beautiful evocation of a sweet summer family scene in A Moment Caught in Time, to the adventure and magic of Rowanberries. The Irish-language poems included have a similar strength in terms of capturing the beauty of the natural or man-made world, from the seaside to the swimming pool.
Tá sé go hiontach go bhfuil scríbhneoireacht álainn ag tarlú as Gaeilge ar fud na tíre. Chomh maith leis na dánta aoibhne, tá scéalta lán le teannas ar nós Strainséir, agus cinn cruthaitheacha agus cliste, ar nós Cev agus Cadhla. Tá a thuilleadh ceardlanna ar siúl ag Fighting Words as Gaeilge anois, ag tabhairt níos mó deiseanna do dhaoine óga a gcuid chruthaitheachta a léiriú inár dteanga dúchais.
This supplement also includes work produced as part of the 100 Years Project, workshops to commemorate the Decade of Centenaries. These stories engage creatively with ideas of time, from stories set during the Civil War, to imagined cities a hundred years into the future. Even in work not specifically created in these workshops, there are many instances of young people grappling with history and the weight of the past on the present.
A notable example of this is Leela Kingsnorth’s Rag Bundle (He Said), a powerful exploration of complicity and storytelling. In this, Kingsnorth captures so beautifully a sentiment which echoes through this supplement: “the defiance of youth which speaks through ages”. Here is the next generation of Irish writers, bold and brilliant, speaking through these pages.
