Horses for courses - 2016 Here I Come

I’ve discovered that I’m at my happiest in a classroom. There’s nothing nicer than sharing a big room with a large table and lots and lots of like-minded people. As a writer, it’s been one of the great joys of life to be able to work with other writers to develop their voices; it reminds me of all those wonderful teachers who made such a difference to me over the years. Katie Donovan will forever have my gratitude for being the first professional writer to tell me that I had something worth developing – my own voice. I took a course with her at the Irish Writers Centre in 1994 or early ’95, and her encouragement gave me the courage to persevere and to take risks.

So that’s why I’m so excited to have the chance this year to extend my range of teaching to new areas. I’ll be co-teaching a course on poetry with the wonderful Peter Sirr at Borris House this April; the course is being organised by the superb Margaret O’Brien and Nollaig Brennan of The Story House, and you can get more details on http://www.thestoryhouseireland.org/#!our-next-course/c573

I’m also visiting Listowel Writers’ Week for the first time this year, and will be facilitating a 3-day beginners creative writing workshop. I’ve heard wonderful things about Writers Week, so am thrilled to have the opportunity to experience it first hand. There are more details of this on http://writersweek.ie/creative-writing-workshops-2016/

And of course I’m teaching once again at the Irish Writers Centre, where my popular Finding Your Form course will be running again this Spring. More details on http://irishwriterscentre.ie/collections/beginner/products/finding-your-form-with-nessa-omahony-spring-2016.

So plenty of reasons to be cheerful this year – and that’s just the ones I already know about.