New winter anthology to launch in Thurles and Clonmel next week

Like many good ideas, publishing a winter anthology was stimulated by strong caffeine as two writer friends shared a coffee in late August.

Maura Barrett and Brian Clancy have traversed the difficulties of that oft-time solitary vocation.

The NUIG Kilkenny writing programme graduates turned to a trusted mentor in John McKenna, who eventually acted as ed itor to Winter Miscellany, a fine new collection of short stories and poetry.

They reachedout to others from the Tipperary and Kilkenny region, and in addition to their own work,fiction and poetry from Paul Maher, Pat Griffin, Jasper Murphy, and Paul Keating completethe lineup for this collection.

The stories and poems are all winter themed, and they are eclectic in their variety and narrative approaches.

There is adventure on every page as we witness the entire spectrum of human emotions and experience. The characters get into all manner of scrapes.

One swings for an ex with a hurley, one witnesses his own funeral, and another navigates the shady streets of 1980s Moscow.

These deftly crafted stories are complimented by haunting winter-themed artwork by the students of CTI in Clonmel.

With glowing reviews from Donal Ryan and Conal Creedon, the Southeast Scribes will be launching the book in the TUS Campus Thurles on December 15 at 7.30pm.

There will be other launches in Clonmel on December 12 and Kilkenny at a later date.

This edition is the first of four that will align with each season of the year.

Southeast Scribes are on Facebook. Books can be purchased pre-launch online via a PayPal account to southeastscribes@gmail

.com.