SPEECH BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE NORTH TIPPERARY SHORT STORY COMPETITION AWARDS
SPEECH BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE NORTH TIPPERARY SHORT STORY COMPETITION AWARDS WEDNESDAY, 18 JULY, 2001
Is mór an onóir agus pléisiúir dom bheith anseo libh agus go raibh maith agaibh as fáilte fíorchaoin a chur romham.
I am delighted to be here with you this evening at the presentation of the inaugural North Tipperary Short Story Competition Awards. I owe a special thanks to Martin Mahony, Deputy County Manager for the invitation to celebrate this programme which continues Tipperary’s great tradition of literary excellence. This county boasts an extraordinary literary heritage in both languages – from the poetry of Mathghamhain Ó Hifearnáin in the 16th century and Padraigín Ó Haicéad in the 17th century, to the poetry of Liam Dall Ó Hifearnáin and the novels of Clonmel born Laurence Sterne in the 18th century. It was Liam Dall Ó Hifernáin who called Ireland ‘Caitlin Ní Uallacháin – that romantic personification which is so familiar to us all. More recently famous Tipperary writers have surprised and enchanted a contemporary audience with their writing and poetry – gifted, talented writers like novelist and journalist, Liam Ó Riain, and novelist Anne Haverty.
This generation has witnessed the radical and continuing transformation of Ireland, its people and its fortunes. A vital driver of that transformation has been unlocking the potential of our people, opening up the channels which have allowed the free-flow of our own genius, our own gifts and talents. So many human beings remain in ignorance of their gifts, they never get the chance or take the chance to find out what they are made of but that is not true of the people who are involved in this project.
It takes great courage to put pen to paper and give expression to one’s private thoughts. The act of creation is a very special one – an act of great courage in which the writer exposes his or her soul for our approval, risking the demoralising effect of rejection. Of his own experiences, Olin Miller once wrote “Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators” – hardly words to inspire many of the gifted writers here today. Thankfully, the difficulties experienced by Olin Miller did not discourage Emma Cooke, the first writer in residence in North Tipperary – a woman with both the creative genius in her own right, and also a vision to forge lasting links between those who enjoy writing and those who love the written word.
Today is the culmination of part of that vision, this Awards ceremony marking the completion of the first Writer-in-Residence Programme in North Tipperary. All of you who have participated in the residency of workshops and consultancy sessions, whether you submitted your work to the competition or not, have every reason to be proud of the way you have built on tradition and added a new layer to that heritage. I congratulate Melanie Scott, Martin Mahony, the Arts Council and the North Tipperary County Council for their commitment to the promotion of the arts through this fine initiative. Yours is important work, much of it done behind the scenes, a lot of it hard, relentless slog until a day like this makes it all worthwhile. The talent we celebrate this evening is the result of your hard work, and long after these awards have faded to memory the work of this initiative will be continuing in the hearts and minds of those who have been encouraged and affirmed by it.
The success of the Writer in Residence programme is in the stories submitted to this competition – stories which lay quietly, silent, inside all of you and are now told out loud through your writing. No two stories are the same. Each one challenges us to accept with joy the enormous diversity all around us, to be grateful for it and to encourage curiosity about it. What better way than that to encourage us to write our own story and to read the stories of others.
I commend everyone involved in the Programme and in organising these Awards, but most of all I congratulate you, the winning writers of this Competition. I wish you every success in all you plan in the years ahead.
Guím gach rath agus séan ar bhur gcuid oibre san am atá le teacht.