Student will commute from Germany to Cork to take up place in UCC course

A German writer who has cerebral palsy is so determined to study creative writing at University College Cork (UCC) that she will commute between the two countries.

Evelyne Cynk, from Bochum in Germany, was offered the place on the master’s at the college two years ago, but bureaucracy got in the way.

In 2021, a homecare provider in Germany had agreed to redirect to Ireland the funds for Ms Cynk’s 24-hour personal-assistance services, but then the state-funded Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) did a u-turn.

Such is Ms Cynk’s determination, however, that she will begin commuting to Ireland fortnightly, and today will be her first day in UCC.

She will be paying rent in both countries, but will put her place in Germany on Airbnb to help cover the expenses.

“I don’t know what kind of rhythm (I will have), but I plan to commute every two weeks, if that’s possible, with flights,” Ms Cynk commented.

“It will be physically exhausting, but if that’s the only possibility for me to do it for now, until I get some sort of funding from Ireland or from Germany, or some sponsor, I am willing to do that.”

For her first few weeks in Ireland, Ms Cynk will have to rent a hoist and shower chair, because her own equipment cannot be brought from Germany in time.

She has launched an appeal on X/Twitter to find out who could rent her the equipment, but, so far, hasn’t found anyone.

Ms Cynk’s first published book, Entwined, is a historical romance set in Canovee, not far from Cork city, and is based on Celtic mythology and draws on the spirituality of Ireland.

She says that Entwined, which is available on Amazon, is not her best work, but she has written other books that are close to her heart, including a trilogy of novels called Kaleidiscope – Shifting Perspectives, as well as a novella and a short story, which highlight aspects of disability.

The master’s in creative writing at UCC has had several notable graduates who have subsequently been published, including Catherine Kirwan, who set her latest crime novel at the Cork college, and Tadhg Coakley, who recently published a crime thriller.