I am inviting all students who attend my after school creative writing classes to submit a story to be published in a book this Christmas. The book will be entitled Stories For Life, Not Just For Christmas. This is a great opportunity for young writers to see their work in print. Every story that we receive will be published (as long as we receive it before the deadline of 2nd …

Victoria Lunin (11 yrs) has come third in Listowel Writers’ Week Writing Competition for Youth ages 12 yrs and under. Victoria attends my classes, workshops and summer camps in Malahide. She writes beautiful stories and is completely committed to her writing. Victoria’s story is what I call a One Moment Story – about a very important moment in a character’s life. We often practice One Moment stories in class and …

I am running a new four day camp for teenagers (13 -18 yrs) from 25th -28th June. The aim of this course is to give teenagers the necessary skills to write creative composition in the Junior and Leaving Cert English examinations.It is suitable for teens mad about writing, teens with learning difficulties such as dysgraphia and dyslexia, gifted teens and every other type of teen in between. Each day we …

I am so thrilled to let you know that Victoria Lunin (11 yrs) has come third in Listowel Writers’ Week Writing Competition for Youth ages 12 yrs and under. Victoria attends my classes, workshops and summer camps in Malahide. She writes beautiful stories and is completely committed to her writing. Victoria has been invited to the Awards ceremony in Listowel at the end of May. There she will sit alongside …

There are three categories for individuals to enter and the story can be whatever you want to write about: funny, serious, scary or adventurous. Each story should be original and unique to the student. The story cannot have been published before e.g. in students’ Christmas book. •7-10 yrs old – up to 400 words (with an illustration or picture, if you want!) •11-14 yrs old – up to 750 words …

I have received a thank you letter from Focus Ireland. 🙂 This is to all of the writers who submitted a story to “Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover,” and everyone who bought a book. 🙂 Dear Supporter, I am writing to thank you for your wonderful gift of €510.00 you pledged to Focus Ireland’s Urgent Winter Appeal today. Your generosity and kindness mean so much to me and …

I’d wanted to go to The Harry Potter Studios in London for ages and even though. I’d seen photos I couldn’t imagine exactly what I’d do there. What would I see? So for those of you who are thinking of visiting The Harry Potter studios, this is how it was for me. I stayed the night in London before hand and I’m glad I did. It meant I was rested …

It’s that time of year again, when Listowel Writers’ Week is running its literary competitions. There are competitions for poetry, plays and short stories. My students have done incredibly well in these competitions in recent years. Here’ hoping they do again this year! Below are the details for the Young Writers’ Competitions: The Kerry County Council Creative Writing for Youth 2018 CLOSING DATE 1st March 2018 Prize Fund: €2,000 Categories: …

Congratulations to the sixty-seven writers (who attend my classes in Malahide, Skerries and Blackrock) who contributed a story to ‘Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover.” This collection of stories is a great success. It is now on sale in The Skerries Bookshop, Malahide Parish Centre, Skerries Mills and from my website. It costs €10 and the full price goes directly to Focus Ireland (as we have now covered our …

This month Megan Wynne is celebrating ten years of running her creative writing school in Skerries. It began with three students around a kitchen table in the Skerries bookshop. Now one hundred students attend classes in Skerries, Malahide and Blackrock every week. Students regularly win national writing awards and excel at English in school. So how did it all come about? In 2007 Paddy MacNeill had recently taken over the …

I am inviting all students, who are currently attending my writing classes, to submit a story to be published in a book this Christmas. This project is a wonderful way for young writers to see their work in print. SUBMISSIONS If your child is currently attending one of my classes, and would like to submit a story for the book (nobody has to), it needs to be typed up and …

For February mid-term I treated myself to a week-long writing workshop with The Story House in Lisnavagh House in County Carlow. My kind and generous mother-in-law had died three weeks previously, I was sad and in need of a rest. I had visions of sleeping in a huge fluffy bed, eating massive Irish breakfasts and dabbling in a bit of writing. I didn’t know much about the retreat except that …

My summer camp schedule has recently changed as my co-teacher Hazel Cassidy is leaving for an exciting opportunity in the U.K. Hazel has done a great job with her classes in Malahide and she will be greatly missed by me and her students. All summer camps are now being taught by me. There are two camps running in Malahide, instead of three. The dates are: 11-15th July 7 -12 yr …