Three years after appointing its first arts officer and adopting its first arts plan, Offaly County Council has published its first anthology of writings from the county.
Out the Clara Road is the title of the anthology, which brings together writings by people from Offaly and by those who have adopted the county as their home.
In his foreword to the publication the Offaly county manager, Mr Niall Sweeney, described the work as a focus for the creative energy of local writers which makes a significant contribution to the county's growing cultural reputation.
It had provided, he said, not only a unique opportunity to bring to the community new and established writers, but had also given the wider readership a flavour of the wealth of writing talent which exists in the county.
"The variety of styles and subject matter in the pages also reflects the diversity of literary talent which exists in our county, and will, we believe, guarantee its widespread appeal to all lovers of the written word," said Mr Sweeney.
The task of deciding who should be in our out of the anthology fell to Offaly's writer in residence, Ms Rita Ann Higgins, who said earlier this week that it had been one of the most difficult tasks she had ever undertaken.
"There is so much talent in the county and unfortunately there was a limit on what could be used. It was very difficult to decide who should be in or who should be out," she said.
Ms Higgins, who has just completed her term of office, said that she had used the local press to invite people to send in their contributions.
Some of those who responded had never written a line before but others were professional or semi-professional.
"My job was to make, assemble and order the orchestration of voices that answered that call and I think that every author here made a primary act of faith in themselves," she said.
There are poems and writings from over 35 people, the best known being Marina Carr, the Offaly playwright. An extract from her most recent play, The Bog of Cats, is included.
The youngest writer is Carol Kavanagh, who is only 13 years old, comes from Ferbane and hopes to be a writer. Her poem is called Freedom.
There is also a poem written by an "El Biffo", described in the biographical notes as a teacher in Killina Secondary School in Rahan.
The anthology also features black and white photographs taken by Mary Dunne of High Street, Tullamore.
Out the Clara Road can be obtained in local bookshops or from Offaly County Council.