WOWO 28 August 2025, 7-9pm

Welcome back after the summer break! Our members are full of energy and ready to share the writing they’ve been working on. We’ve got a packed list for tonight—more than we can fit into two hours—so any pieces we don’t get to will roll over to next week.

Our editor, Frank Fahy, has been hard at work pulling together last year’s writing into the Write-On Anthology 2026. It’s now available on Amazon in hardback, paperback, and Kindle. Even better, we’ll be officially launching it alongside three new books from earlier this year: Beyond the Mountain Foot Road by Mary Hodson, Midnight Dreams by John Hodson, and Charlotte Brontë, a Medical Casebook by Dr Michael O’Dowd. The launch party takes place at the Connemara Coast Hotel on Saturday, 30 August, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. Expect author readings, books for sale, and plenty of refreshments—everyone’s invited, so don’t miss it!

Tonight we’re especially pleased to welcome two new members, Tom Boland and Tom Curtin. Fresh voices always bring new ideas and perspectives, and we’re looking forward to hearing their work.

We’re also joined by guest writer Claudio Pagano, visiting from Italy, who will open the session with his short story La Campanella.

And great news—Kathleen Phelan is back with us this evening! We’ve really missed her humour and spark over the past few months.

One last reminder: our Annual General Meeting will be held at next week’s session, on 4 September 2025. It’s a chance to share your thoughts on how we can improve Write-On, and we’ll also be looking for volunteers to help with the website and other behind-the-scenes jobs.

Now, let’s get started. Here are some short introductions to the pieces we’ll be hearing tonight. Sit back, listen, and enjoy the next two hours!

La Campanello by Claudio Pagano

A middle-aged acoustical engineer drives home through the night after two weeks away from his family. What begins as a quiet, reflective journey soon takes an unexpected turn — one that will alter his understanding of music, memory, and himself. Atmospheric and unsettling, this story unfolds with quiet intensity.

Requiem by Mary Rose Tobin

When Louise returns to Galway after decades away, she joins a local choir as a tentative step toward belonging — and unexpectedly reunites with Helen and Jen, two school friends she hasn’t seen in fifty years. What begins with shared rehearsals of Mozart’s Requiem soon blossoms into a quiet but profound friendship, sustained by music, memory, and mugs of tea. As illness slowly alters the harmony, the music deepens into something more lasting: a farewell. A tender, beautifully layered story of reconnection, resilience, and the quiet power of chosen companionship.

The Ocean Kept Your Name by Kathleen Phelan

In this elegiac and atmospheric poem, Kathleen Phelan explores the lingering ache of absence through the voice of the sea. Grief washes through each stanza in tides of memory, silence, and imagery — roses dropping like unsent letters, a house swaying in the weight of loss, and a voice barely clinging to the name of the gone. It’s a haunting meditation on presence, echo, and the slow unravel of love beyond the shoreline.

The Irish Spalpeen by Seamus Keogh

In this moving poem, Seamus Keogh gives voice to the solitary life of an Irish navvy in England. Paddy’s story unfolds through jukebox memories, backbreaking labour, and the ache of exile — a man who worked, drank, and prayed in snatches, but never quite found home. With stark imagery of steel, stone, and hostel beds, the verses echo his longing for Mayo, for Aghagower, for belonging. Both lament and tribute, it captures the resilience and heartbreak of Ireland’s forgotten labourers abroad.

The View from Glenfield by Kathleen Phelan

When Miss Carr arrives in Glenfield to take up a teaching post, her clipped speech and city manner set her apart from the start. The village watches, judges, and absorbs her quietly — children change how they write, locals share mutterings, and the priest pays a smiling visit. Kathleen Phelan’s first short story is a study in subtle tension, showing how a stranger’s presence can unsettle a place without ever causing a scene. Atmospheric, spare, and quietly powerful, this debut piece marks a remarkable shift from poetry to prose.

The Tallest Boy by Frank Fahy

A quiet street, a passing glance — and a moment that lingers for years. In a house full of noise, Tommy carries a silence no one sees. A sudden act shifts the ground beneath him, leaving a mark that time won’t erase. As memory blurs and the world moves on, one question remains… And one day, the door opens.

The Sacred and the Natural by Helena Clare

Cory is a woman of logic — a planner, a problem-solver — but her return to Ireland pulls her into something far older and more elusive. After a haunting encounter on the Connemara coast and a lullaby that stirs ancestral memories, she begins to sense a deeper purpose to her journey. Darby’s cryptic letter, her grandmother’s whispered protection, and a dream of being claimed or saved — all lead Cory toward Glencoe, where an unfinished story waits to be unearthed. In lyrical prose, Helena Clare blends natural and supernatural, past and present, fact and feeling, in a meditative story about memory, protection, and the quiet call of something sacred.

A Normal Couple – Part 2 by Olga Peters

In this quietly gripping wartime episode, we return to Leo and Emma Gebhardt in Berlin, 1943. As Leo steels himself to tell Emma he’s been conscripted, their plans are interrupted by an unexpected visit from their landlord, Herr Liepmann — a man with shadowy business dealings and a rare packet of American cigarettes. The evening unfolds with understated tension, coded conversations, and the unspoken risks of life under a totalitarian regime. This rich and finely crafted extract from Olga Peters’ novel A Normal Couple draws us deeper into the world in conflict, blending domestic intimacy with the ever-present danger of war.

The Unique Story of Mary and John by Tom Boland

When schoolteacher Mary hears a familiar voice on the radio promoting a novel titled The Novel of Our Lives, she’s plunged into a whirlwind of memory and fury. The voice belongs to John — the boy she loved at seventeen — and the book, it seems, may be about her. As she reels from the implications, Mary finds herself reliving old wounds, digging into his public persona, and debating whether to confront the past or bury it again. Told with sly wit and emotional depth, this opening part sets the stage for a layered and provocative tale about memory, authorship, and the blurred boundaries between life and literature.

Poem	The Ocean Kept Your Name	Kathleen Phelan
Poem	The Irish Spalpeen	Seamus Keogh
Short Story	La Campanella	Claudio Pagano
Short Story	Requiem	Mary Rose Tobin
Short Story	The View from Glenfield	Kathleen Phelan
Short Story	The Tallest Boy	Frank Fahy
Short Story	The Unique Story of Mary and John	Tom Boland
Novel Extract	The Sacred and the Natural	Helena Clare
Novel Extract	A Normal Couple Part 2	Olga Peters
Discussion	Review/ Launch Details Anthology 2026	All Members