‘Cork is a city of readers and writers’

THERE was a large turn-out at Waterstones recently for the launch of the second edition of literary journal, Howl. co-founded and co-edited by Cork writers, Lauren O’Donovan and Róisín Leggett Bohan.

The new edition of Howl comprises short stories, poetry and non-fiction (including some Irish language writing edited by Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh) from 56 contributors, selected from a staggering 2,000 submissions.

Some 14 contributors read from their work at the launch. As well as locally-based writers, they came from Manchester, Belfast and Dublin.

With very little funding, Lauren told The Echo that producing the journal is very much “a labour of love”.

We absolutely love working on it but even bringing it out, once a year, takes work all year. Whatever about the editing and putting it together, we have to do accounts, promotion and social media.

With funding season coming up, Lauren and Róisín will be applying to the Arts Council as well as the arts offices of Cork county and city councils.

“We got a small grant from City Council last year for which we’re very grateful. It partly funded some of our printing costs.” (To print 500 copies of the book costs approximately €2,000.)

The enthusiastic editors, who hope to show the Arts Council that they have a track record in publishing, currently part-fund Howl with their own money.

They also brought out a journal, The Same Page Anthology, at the end of their first year of UCC’s Masters in creative writing. Normally, the post-graduate students do a work placement but because of the pandemic, this publishing venture was expedited virtually.

“A small gang of us approached the head of the course. We said we wanted to launch a publishing house and make our own work experience. So we published the anthology, 43 writers contributed to it.

“We were funded by the UCC School of English and the Boole Library for the printing costs. Every penny we made from the sale of the journal went to the Sexual Violence Centre Cork.”

Lauren and Róisín were bitten by the publishing bug.

“We are admirers of the Stinging Fly and Banshee. We wanted to continue publishing new writing. We’re not in a position to pay contributors yet. 

There’s a lot of journals out there at the moment, but unfortunately, the life cycle of a literary journal seems to be two to four years. You can definitely see why because it’s a lot of work.

There is, says Lauren “a renaissance in creativity.”

“Cork is a city of readers and writers. Maybe it’s a spin-off of Covid. I know myself that when I was locked down, I joined a number of online writing groups, connecting with people through Zoom.”

Lauren, whose undergraduate degree is in computer science and whose day job is in the freelance digital sphere, won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award this year. She spent ten years in Vancouver before moving back to Cork with her husband and young child a few years ago.

Róisín, who trained as a nurse in Cambridge and works in community healthcare, recalls meeting Lauren on the first day of signing up to do the Masters in creative writing.

“It was a meeting of minds...We were sitting on a bench outside the president’s office in UCC, talking about how we loved writing and have a passion for new writing.”

Being a nurse that writes is relatively unusual.

“But there are many people who work in different aspects of care that are creative. There’s Lani O’Hanlon who does amazing work, working in hospices and looking at creativity as a means of working through illness. She is based in Waterford and features on ‘Sunday Miscellany.’ She has a new poetry collection coming out soon.”

Róisín says Cork is a supportive city for writers, citing the work of Paul Casey from Ó Bhéal who organises monthly poetry nights as well as the Winter Warmer Festival of poetry. She also mentions the Munster Literature Centre and its festivals, organised by director and poet, Patrick Cotter.

“You’ve got people like Patricia Looney from the city library who is amazing at showcasing work such as Poetry in the Park. And Waterstones are very supportive. There’s also the Cork World Book Festival. And there was Fiction at the Friary. 

So there’s a lot of great activity and a lovely community. It’s about supporting each other.

While there is a certain amount of competition among writers, Róisín says: “At the end of the day, we’re all in the same boat. It depends on the judges on a given day and what they find endearing.”

Róisín writes short stories, flash fiction, essays and poetry. She won the Flash Fiction award in the Munster Literature Centre’s journal, Southword last year.

“I won an award with an essay through Atlantic Currents published in the US. I’ve been shortlisted for loads of awards including Fish and Red Line. My work was highly commended by Cúirt a couple of years ago. I’ve been published in New Irish Writing at the Irish Independent.”

While Róisín would love to be a full time writer, she would also like to continue her editing work with Lauren and to keep ‘Howl’ going.

“I love the editing work, but funding-wise and to pay the bills, it’s extremely difficult. Having said that I get an awful lot from my day job, that sense of being involved in someone’s journey.”

The submission deadline for Howl is in early 2024.

www.howlwriting.ie.