This month Trasna is featuring writers participating in Words Ireland National Mentoring Programme. Every year, 22 emerging writers are selected for the program in the areas of literary fiction, creative non-fiction, children’s/YA fiction, and poetry. Each are paired with mentors. Featured this week is poet Martina Dalton. On participating in Words Ireland,…
With wry humour, Irish novelist Alan McMonagle writes of the challenges of living through COVID-19. EVEN THE RAINBOWS ARE SOCIAL DISTANCING by Alan McMonagle Somewhere in Bedfordshire, England a ninety-nine-year-old man is hobbling lengths of his garden to raise money for the UK’s National Health Service, and here I am,…
Michael Casey’s latest book is There It Is: New & Selected Poems, which is available at loompress.com or amazon.com. He lives in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts. Remembrance . a pretty girl on my street wanted to be a writer and was taking home economic courses because women are not…
The following by Linda Hoffman was originally posted on her own blog, Welcome to Apples, Art, and Spirit!, and is reposted here with Linda’s permission. Spring Nettles: Gifts from the Great Mother By Linda Hoffman Squatting in a patch of stinging nettles with my foraging basket, and rubber gloves, I…
Joseph Pauletto grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago before studying journalism at Boston University. His writing includes music criticism, as well as literary research and journalism. In high school, he was the station manager of WGBK radio, ran varsity track and cross country, and played jazz guitar. A…
Our sensibility recognizes the divine in Nature and Ceremony. With vision and voice, Fergus Hogan’s lyrics intensify the connection and set it afire. ****** FERGUS HOGAN READS FROM ‘BITTERN CRY’ ****** Three Stones for a Decision there’s a path through the woods round the lake where I pray that I…
The following by Linda Hoffman was originally posted on her own blog, Welcome to Apples, Art, and Spirit!, and is reposted here with Linda’s permission. The Mystery of Swallow By Linda Hoffman While in our individual quarantines we hear of mysteries revealed across the globe: In India, people can see…
A Smorgasbord of Heart and Mind By Jacquelyn Malone Atlantic Currents is a celebration in print of two cities, Cork, Ireland, and Lowell, Massachusetts. Cork has been designated as a City of Learning by UNESCO and Lowell has applied for membership with coaching from colleagues in Cork. But that honor…
The launch of Trasna coincides with the feast of Bealtaine, which marks the start of summer in Ireland. Hopefully Trasna will also be the start to something great. Our first piece comes from Sligo author Joe McGowan who explores the pagan and Christian traditions surrounding May 1st. When we were…
(web photo courtesy of juneautours) Glacier by Tom Sexton We stood on the deck of a ferry at dawn fifty years ago and felt the cold breath of a glacier that was mirrored in the icy water. Harbor seals disappeared as we approached. When the air…