I fell in love in Doolin

Reflecting on the University of Limerick Creative Writing Winter School 2025

Photo by Elliot Voilmy on Unsplash

I’ll admit to having felt a bit flat about my writing, of late. I was tired, a little bored with what I was doing, doubting myself and the quality and meaning of my work.

Not good.

I needed something to light the spark again, because as insular as I can be, as in love with my own company as I often am, I cannot grow as an artist in isolation. My mind eats itself, and my creativity wilts, shedding shrunken leaves that might once have been brilliant had it not been for lack of light. I need other creatives to bring that light into my life, I need their presence and the joy of community, of the sense of common purpose that only they can give me. It’s one of the reasons that Laura and I started Frazzled Lit together, and it was one of the many reasons I was in Doolin last week, for the 2025 University of Limerick (UL) Creative Writing Winter School.

Just in case anyone forgot who I was!

Picture this recipe: a stellar group of facilitators from the UL Creative Writing faculty, a sprinkling of guest tutors, and a group of twenty-eight superbly talented writers, poets and playwrights, all gathered in a small hotel in a remote Irish village (Doolin, Co. Clare) on the wild Atlantic coast, with wonderful food, the glowing hospitality of Hotel Doolin, warm and comfortable rooms, and more than enough love and delicate pastries to chase the winter away. Three and a half days passed in an intense blast of creative energy and inspiration, and now I am home and my mind is on FIRE!

But these are just words, and I am still failing to capture the essence of what it was like, so let me try again by reflecting on how deeply affected I was by the experience.

I was reintroduced to the wonder of what we do as artists, granted the freedom to play with my writing, encouraged at every turn to get messy and attempt, in form, language and concepts, to reach beyond my current capabilities and arrive at a new place with my writing. All this, in concert with my fellow participants, led me back to a deep love of what I do as an artist, and what my peers are doing with their work.

Yes, that’s it; what I mostly felt was love!

I’ve never been part of such a tightly bound group of creatives, one that was so encouraging to the individual while being devoted to the welfare of the whole. My sense is that we were one, bound by the fellowship of common purpose, travelling together on a great journey that culminated in our Open Mic event, at which we got to perform our work, and I got to play MC (I was one of three). The work I heard that night was mindblowing, unforgettable, beautiful, courageous, tender… everything that art could possibly be, it was right there before us in the joy of a perfect moment, forever etched into my heart. I fully expect some of the bonds I formed in Doolin to endure a lifetime, and nothing could make me happier.

At our Open Mic event, performing the opening to my novel On Waters So Still

But you want some specifics, don’t you?

Winter School featured tutorials from:

• Sarah Moore-Fitzgerald - Professor, author, absolutely wonderful lady, and a total powerhouse of creative wisdom. She’s been shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize, The Calderdale Book Awards, Scotland’s Red Book Awards, The Irish Book Awards and CBI book of the year. Her seven novels have been widely translated and are published by Orion and Hachette.

• Donal Ryan - Associate Professor, Man Booker longlisted author for The Spinning Heart. His novel Heart, Be At Peace won the 2024 An Post Irish Book of the Year Award and the 2025 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction. Donal is my favourite author, and one of my literary heroes. I recommend you not only read his work, but study it very closely.

• Neil Hegarty - Guest tutor. Neil is one of Ireland’s finest authors, his work spans many forms, and his writing is simply sublime. Also, he is an absolutely wonderful and generous man.

• Kerry Neville - author of Momma May Be Mad, and faculty member in the creative writing program at Georgia College and State University. Kerry is a delightful lady, and she reopened my mind to the joy of wonder.

• Emily Cullen - Assistant Professor, and the inaugural Meskell UL-Fifty Poet in Residence. She is one of Ireland’s most celebrated poets, and has published three wonderful collections of her work. Also, a more generous lady one could not hope to meet!

• Eoin Devereaux - Professor of Sociology at UL, poet and post-punk musician. Eoin radiates more love and warmth than a July sun, and made us all feel at home and welcome. His debut poetry collection, Gardening Leave, is simply sublime!

• Sheila Killian - Professor Emeritus at UL, author of the incredible Something Bigger, and an inspirational tutor.

• Mary O’Malley - Multi-award winning poet, she has published many collections and is one of our national treasures.

As well as the amazing tutorials, I had a one-on-one feedback session with Donal Ryan on the opening of my most recently completed novel. Like, oh my absolute gosh!

I had breakfast with Neil, Kerry and Sarah.

I conversed with Sheila and Eoin, and was rendered much needed assistance by Emily in the form of life-saving vitamin C.

I got to be a writer among writers, and was bathed in so much creative energy that I glowed.

Seriously, it blew my mind!

I’m still processing it all, trying to return to normal life, but nothing will be the same post-Winter School because the entire landscape of my creative cosmos has changed. I see differently, think differently. I don’t know how to explain it other than to say that a light has been turned on inside of me, one I didn’t even know was there.

I fell in love with my writing again in Doolin.

And this is, perhaps, where my story really begins!