The poet Kevin O'Shea's last reading before his sudden death took place at the North West Words April event in Letterkenny. Lisa Frank, from Doire Press, the publishers of his collection 'The Art of Non-Fishing,'
said recently that she was happy he had enjoyed the reading so much, as did his Cafe Blend audience that evening.
It is poignant to look back now with the knowledge that it was his last performance. The Garden Room Writers collectively have reason to be grateful to Kevin in his role of co-founding editor of
Skylight 47 because he chose to feature us in the 'Under the Spotlight' section (Winter 2014 edition) of that fine publication.
Making part of that article available here is an act of gratitude to Kevin, and a tribute to his work as poet and editor. May he rest in peace.
"The Garden Room Writers met in 2009 at creative writing classes run by Ramelton poet Denise Blake. We take our name from the conservatory where Denise gave us great coffee and nudged us along the writing path...There has been great camaraderie and support around getting brave enough to send out our work, sharing successes and rejections, and learning from each other about the writing life...Since last summer, the GWR group has kept a private blog (and) we decided to go public this summer. We did not take this change lightly. The writer Rachel Cusk described writing as the act of putting what is private into the public sphere. Over the years important levels of trust have developed between us, and this bears fruit in the support we offer each other during the transition from our safe and private writing world to the sometimes wintry stare of the outside world.
Blogging echoes writing itself, where inner thoughts are shaped and sent forth in hope of a sympathetic reader. In some way, the group nurtures that process, enabling us to keep laughing, to keep open, and to keep daring to call ourselves writers."
