Galway’s youngest writers bring life to new tales

Date Published: 09-Jun-2010

By Antoinette Giblin

From granny’s dancing shoes to dwarfs in battle and escapades in spooky houses with magic doors, Galway’s most creative young imaginations were brought to life in the Write A Book – Scríobh Leabhar competition, in which nearly 5,000 of the county’s primary school children were given an opportunity to express themselves on paper.

“My book is called ‘Wonderland’. It’s a world full of sweets. There are clouds made out of marshmallows and all the buildings are made out of chocolate. The rainbows are sweets too,” explained 11 year old Madeleine Quinn, from Ballinderreen National School.“I want to be a writer when I grow up, maybe like Michael Morpurgo. It lets me express myself. I love ‘Alone on a wide wide sea’.

”As first-time authors, children from junior infants right up to sixth class wrote, illustrated and bound their books which were then swopped with other schools and assessed by the adjudicating teacher with the help of the class.

“The teachers are mentors, editors, guides and general guardians of the project. Having completed books in their own schools, they then have to adjudicate on books from other schools. The kids help them. They can be quite critical. After writing their own books, they certainly know what to look out for,” commented Mary Smith, Project Co-Ordinator and recently retired Principal of Scoil Chaitríona in Renmore.

Now in its ninth year, the competition which aims to improve literacy in primary schools by encouraging reading and writing, also forms a very practical part of the creative writing module.

At a packed-out awards ceremony, which was held in The Radisson Hotel, over 220 budding English authors were awarded prizes for their work and a further 220 prizes were handed out to the all-Irish authors who narrated their stories using their native tongue.

“Sometimes it reminds me of a graduation. It’s a family event as well. In primary school, if English and literature are promoted well enough, it tends to stick with them. That’s why this works well for the teachers as well as the kids. They learn and have a huge sense of achievement. The sheer number of entries this year was astonishing. There is so much talent out there in our schools,” said Bernard Kirk, Director of Department of Education-funded Galway Education Centre, the organisers of the event.

And, as the proud book writers descended from the stage in awe of their shining new medals, one-by-one they scanned the contents of their goody bags to ensure that they did not contain brussels sprouts – the joke tip-off from the energetic master of ceremonies, Paul Sleem.

Read more in this week’s Connacht Tribune