Byddi Lee's Blog, page 2

And The Stories Keep On Coming

One of the best things about facilitating workshops is the privilege of watching people dig deep and bare their souls. Writing takes great courage, especially that hard-edged writing that sits in your chest bursting to be unleashed. It was wonderful to witness that today while I facilitated a workshop for a bunch of brave (not least because they let me be their facilitator) and talented writers.

So, on the heels of a lovely time teaching a workshop on flash fiction, it is my great pleasure to announce that submissions are now open for the next Flash Fiction Armagh!

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In February 2024, the Armagh County Museum is hosting an exhibition inspired by Armagh’s very own, John O’Connor. We are delighted to be there on Saturday the 10th of February 2024 with a Flash Fiction Armagh event based on the theme of “Come Day, Go Day”. Not only was this the title of John O’Connor’s book, but as I learned while at the event planning meeting with the museum curators last week, “Come Day, Go Day” is also a line from a song, Whiskey on a Sunday, which was a number one song in Ireland for Danny Boyle back in 1968 (before I was born… only just!)

Now, when I read O’Connor’s book, I thought the title was about seizing the day, but well, I learn something every time I visit the museum! The consensus is that the phrase “Come day, go day” is actually about wishing the days away until you get to the weekend so you can lie around and do nothing (except drink whiskey, I guess.)

Whatever way you wish to interpret it is entirely up to you – Rachel and I are looking forward to reading your flash fiction pieces however you choose to represent the theme.

The event is on Saturday 10th February 2024 at 7 pm in the Armagh County Museum on the Mall, Armagh. Tickets are £10.00 each which includes a beverage on the night.

Flash Fiction Saturday Night at the Museum Tickets

Writers selected to read will have free admission and receive a small fee.

To submit your story, email byddi@hotmail.com with ‘Flash Fiction Submission’ in the header and your flash fiction (max 700 words) in the main body of the email. Please do not send your story as an attachment.

Deadlines for submissions: 31st December 2023

Also, in case anyone would like to do some writing workshops this winter with me, I’m facilitating some one-day workshops in the Market Place Theatre, Armagh as follows:

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Novel Workshop Tickets [image error] Writing For Stage And Screen Workshop Tickets

And speaking of writing for stage… “IMPACT – Armagh’s Rail Disaster” is back in the Market Place Theatre! This time, bigger and better, in the main auditorium, 17th and 18th November 2023. This show has sold out every time we’ve put it on, so get your tickets now to avoid disappointment!

IMPACT – Armagh’s Rail Disaster Tickets

Looks like it’s going to be a busy winter! And I haven’t even begun to tell you about the exciting things afoot for the rest of 2024… so don’t forget to get your submissions in for the next Flash Fiction Armagh – Flash Fiction Saturday Night at the Museum 2024!

Byddi Lee

Flash Fiction Armagh at Long Meadow Cider Lineup Announcement

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Flash Fiction Armagh is delighted to announce the lineup for their next event in Long Meadow Cider as part of the award-winning Armagh Food and Cider Festival 2023.

The readers are (in no particular order):

Mari Lara reading Everybody Should Go Through a Hurricane

Seán McNichol reading Ours

Maria Mc Gilly reading You Left Me Behind

Andrew Lennon reading The Wolfe in the Saddle

Joseph Conlan reading Way Back When

Niamh Scullion reading Line

Pat Mc Kenna reading The Fairy Thorn

Allister Kyle reading The Postal Therapy

Emma Gibson reading Mermaid

Byddi Lee reading Sweet

The event takes place on 7th September 2023 at 7 pm, at Long Meadow Farm, 87 Loughgall Rd, Portadown, Craigavon BT62 4EG.

As well as our wonderful readers, there will be music… and food… and cider of course. So it promises to be quite a night!

Tickets (£15) are already selling well and in past years, we sold out. To avoid disappointment, get your ticket soon at this link – https://armagh-navancentre.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873634928

Thank you to ABCB Council for inviting us to be a part of this fabulous festival and for all the work they do to make our event so special. Thanks also to Long Meadow Cider for hosting us. If like me, you can’t wait until September to taste their delicious award-winning produce you can order it from them directly online – ah go-wan – treat yourself! https://www.longmeadowcider.com/products/

Byddi Lee

A Slow But Gorgeous Start On The Wild Atlantic Way

We lucked out with the weather. Well, in the Donegal weather sense, and yes, two weeks earlier would have been better but thank goodness, we didn’t leave it another week or else…

My relationship with the Donegal weather has been a stormy one. As soon as I hit the border the skies cloud over and the temperature drops. I’ve seen the temperature reading for Armagh be 21 C and sunny but in Donegal, I’m shivering in 14 C under grey clouds. Last year, in fact, we had that projected really hot day. Barra had been on the weather forecast for a week telling us that we were going to get an extreme high of 30 C (I think actually Armagh reached 32 C – we’re such overachievers here!) so I thought I’d definitely get good weather in Donegal that day. We headed off and joined My Sister who was already there. She wasn’t that pleased to see me – I brought the rain though the temperature was 24 C and we had a lovely time kayaking to the islands off Carickfinn Beach.

That was 2022.

This year My Husband and I decided to start a project we’d talked about doing for a while – drive the whole Wild Atlantic Way… not in one go… but in chunks as holiday time allowed. We were taking 5 days /4 nights this time to get as far around the Inishowen Peninsula as we could while hiking the hills, pottering along beaches and snooping around harbours and piers as our fancy took us – not forgetting the breathtaking (in terms of scary and beauty) winding coastal roads.

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The WAW starts in Muff, Co. Donegal and we found a gorgeous cabin with a hot tub a few miles up the road in Moville. My thinking was that if I got the usual Donegal weather we could just sit in the tub all week and come home like prunes!

The cabin was gorgeous and so comfortable.

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Situated a little out of town so that there wasn’t a sound at night. So much better than being in hotels with humming air con, the din of bars, restaurants and clubs, and the noise of strangers in the hallway and adjoining rooms. Yep, we’re getting old and yearning for the quiet life and are totally unashamed of it! I had some of the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long while.

Our hosts, Eamon and Roma made us feel so welcome and cared for, treating us to fresh baking and setting the log fire for us each day that fuels the hot tub.

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That hot tub was brilliant too, especially after a day of walking and exploring the beaches, harbours and piers of Donegal. The décor in the cabin was simply adorable.

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There were lots of those affirmations everywhere that spread the feel-good factor like butter on hot toast. This was my favourite – “Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be wonderful.”

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Ain’t that the truth!

When we arrived the weather turned torrential, in true Donegal style. Even though I knew this would happen, I was pissed off. We wanted to walk the shore path which began nearby that would take us the couple of miles into Moville, but the rain was hammering down. I unpacked our rain gear, laid it out on the table and said, “We brought this, we may as well use it. Let’s show Donegal weather who’s boss!”

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We were laughing at ourselves as we set off, soaked within ten minutes but the rain stopped and even if the sun didn’t actually come out, the sky brightened and we felt like we’d won!

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The walk turned out to be lovely. We found a great Indian takeaway in Moville and carried dinner back to the cabin. We put a match to the hot tub stove and ate dinner, buzzed with our “achievement” a four-mile (albeit on the flat) round trip walk despite the rain that had threatened to thwart us.

The hot tub was lovely and even though it had begun to rain again, nothing dampened our spirits – day 1 had been a success. We were on our summer hols!

The next morning (day 2) it was a stretch to believe it was summer, but we got up and put on our hiking gear. We wanted to walk the Inishowen Head Loop and as soon as we set off, the rain dried up and stayed off all day – what strange magic is this, we thought!

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It was a gorgeous walk and though we met the grand total of two other hikers, we felt like we had the place to ourselves. After the hike and a well-earned sandwich and coffee in a tiny café that was just about to close, we were in exploring-via-car mode. The winding road and step gradients meant we were able to fully charge the car battery on the downhills and go slow enough on the uphills to only use battery – nearly net Carbon zero touring! Since there was no one else on the roads the crawl to the top of the hills didn’t hold anyone back and we got to see around better. Though we were on the Wild Atlantic Way, we endeavoured to take the wee roads closest to the coast, having to turn back only once when the road disintegrated into scree that only a 4WD could manage.

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We felt like we were the ones to discover Kinnego Bay for the first time since it was empty when we arrived. A few campers and other cars joined us but there was still plenty of beach to share. Further along the coast, we found a bench overlooking a beautiful beach with a library to boot.

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We took note of our stopping point (Culdaff) and headed across the peninsula back to our cosy cabin in Moville for the second half of our Indian (the portions were huge so we got two dinners out of it) and rounded off the day in the hot tub as the rain began drumming again on the roof.

The morning of day 3, was wet. We packed the rain gear and headed back to Culdaff and resumed our driving wondering if the rain would ease off and let us hike at all.

The first stop was Bunagee Old Pier. The monsoon lent great special effects for our attempts at photography!

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But the rain did subside and allowed us to appreciate the gorgeous scenery.

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We toured along the coast until we came to the Wee House of Malin and found our favourite beach. I just love rocks, big small, jagged, smooth but especially pebble beaches… here the rocks were a multitude of different types and colours!

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Walking along these beaches, where the ground rolls beneath your feet, is a great exercise for the leg muscles so we reckoned there was plenty of training in the mile or two of flat pebble beach walking we did.

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We had lunch that day in the Sea View Tavern – easily the best meal of our trip!

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We finished the day in the Northern-most point in Ireland – Malin Head. I was surprised at the lack of tourist traps here… not even a visitor centre but a much welcome toilet bock and limited parking. We hiked out along the path to the head and I balked at the drops over the cliffs into the ocean.

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On day 4, I realised we were nowhere near my loose target of completing the Inishowen Peninsula in 4 days! But no worries – it just means we get to return here again. We began near Culoort, on another pebble beach. This one had caravans tucked against cliffs and I had the horrors of “What if there’s a tsunami?” which is a fair thought since my WIP has an Irish tsunami in it… even if it did happen 4000 years ago…

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As we walked to the far end of the beach, the cliffs became steeper and steeper until they were towering over us, with boulders overhanging – all it needed was a road runner, Wylie Coyote and some ACME dynamite!

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My Husband thought that this rock formation looked like a stormtrooper.

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By this stage, I was stressing about how we’d be rescued if the cliff collapsed with us on the ‘wrong side’ of it, or worse, under it! The joys of having a fertile imagination!

I did enjoy the rock pools though.

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We made it safely back to the car and headed to Five Finger Strand passing the cute Wild Alpaca Way!

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The drive to Fiver Finger Strand is stunning.

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These signs were a sad indication of how people would do anything to get that fabulous photograph and I dread to think about what happened leading to this signage…

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Five  Finger Strand is indeed a gorgeous beach to look at – miles of golden sand but the water is treacherous here so no dipping in to cool down (or catch hypothermia as is more likely the case).

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After a quick stop for a sandwich and a coffee at Inish Brew, we headed to Doagh Famine Village.

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It was an interesting tour and very much designed for rainy weather but weirdly the sun was out and we were soon exploring the coast, with Carrickabraghy Castle and baby calves to dress the scene.

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This was the end point of our WAW first leg. A pitifully short distance in road mileage but stunning at every bend (and there were many) of the road.

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On the way home the next day we called in at Wild Ireland.

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What a treat to see such beautiful animals. The place does and great job with conservation – not just of the animals but the grounds are beautiful native temperate rainforest habitat – showing what this Island looked like before people cleared the forests for agriculture beginning as far back as Neolithic times.

All in all, it was a fab trip – we only managed to complete about 100 km of the Wild Atlantic Way so that leaves … about 2500 km left to do (not counting the wee wriggly bits we add in between stops.) There’s plenty to keep us exploring for a very long time! How lucky we are to have this nearly on our doorstep and have access to such wonderful scenery and vistas.

Byddi Lee

Camlough Mountain

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I’ve neglected my blog this past wee while, but I’ve been inspired to write something after catching up with my friend (amazing writer and Flash Fiction Armagh reader) Kerry Buchannan’s blog detailing her sailing/boating journey from Ireland to the Mediterranean via the waterways of France. It’s a highly entertaining and (as aforementioned) inspiring read. You can catch it at https://kerrybuchanan.com/blog-2/.

At the weekend, we decided to embark on a little adventure ourselves – to climb Camlough Mountain. Camlough is in South Armagh. Okay so it’s not quite in the same realm as an exciting sail across the IrishSea and nor as exotic as meandering through the rivers and canals of France, but one person’s exotic is another person’s backyard – or something like that …so Camlough Mountain it was…

This beautiful area has just recently been designated as a UNESCO Global Geopark and with good reason. To quote from one of the signs in the area explaining this, “A dramatic place shaped by fire and ice that is millions of years in the making and the foundation for many of  our myths and legends.”

Indeed, the fire (volcanoes) gave rise to mountains and the ring of Gullion (as in the same Slieve Gullion that features in Rejuvenation Book 3) is the old caldera of a volcano. The ice wore down those great mountains into the more rounded nubs we see today during the various ice ages. The last ice age receded 10,000 years ago and since then our landscape has seen tundra, then temperate rainforests, which have sadly been depleted steadily since the rise of agriculture in Neolithic times leaving blanket bog on the higher elevations and the patchwork of green fields in the arable land.

I found the trail description online at https://www.10adventures.com/hikes/northern-ireland/camlough-mountain-walk/ and had all the information I needed to get us to the trailhead and for the easy navigation to the top of the mountain. The best bit about our walk was the sense that we had the place to ourselves. This area is firmly in the category of ‘Best Kept Secret.’ We parked at the trailhead – the only car there and headed up a tarmacked road. It got steep quickly and I’m a bit out of shape so there was that grouchy 10 minutes where the body doesn’t know what has hit it. My poor husband couldn’t walk slowly enough, and then he couldn’t walk fast enough. Finally, I admitted I was annoyed at myself for being out of shape and taking it out on him! But soon the endorphins kicked in and we were smiling again, enjoying the lovely weather and the spectacular views that accompanied us all the way up.

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The blackberries were in full bloom.

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Trees, both alive and dead were very photogenic.

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When the radio masts seemed near, we wondered if that was the top. We took a gravel road to the left, bringing us to the masts. But there was a bit more to go –– what I called, “the Valley of the Ghost Trees’.

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There were even gnarly gate posts at the start of this portion.

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This last stretch was across quite boggy ground – though because of the recent dry spell it was dry but had that bog-bounce to it. I’d imagine it would be a mucky mire in wetter weather.

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I love the fluffy bog cotton.

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The views from the top were superb.

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I wonder what the big star was about.

A lovely out and back in one hour thirty minutes made it a great kick-start to our hill walking summer plans while the endorphins and the sunshine left us glowing inside and out!

Byddi Lee

Flash Fiction Armagh at the John Hewitt International Summer School

It is with great pleasure and a fair dollop of pride that we are announcing that Flash Fiction Armagh will be part of the John Hewitt International Summer School here in Armagh this summer. The festival runs from Monday 24th July 2023 to Saturday 29th July 2023 and the Flash Fiction Armagh event takes place on Friday 28th July at 7 pm in the Marketplace Theatre. This is a showcase event with readers chosen from those who have already read over the last four years, and we are delighted to welcome back the following readers, (in no particular order):

Rachel Toner reading Not a Child of the Troubles
Gaynor Cane reading Stalker
Tim Hanna reading The birds
Rosemary Tumilty reading Ode to a Mother
Marion Mc Dowell reading Take That, Come Free
Ellen Mc Kenna reading Cast Adrift
Mark Brownlee reading Nolan’s Secret
James Simson reading Themuns
Amy Elkheart reading Dog Eat Dog
Gerry McCullough reading Not Quite Dead

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Tickets are £8 and available at the Marketplace Theatre Armagh. If you are a bursary student your ticket is included in the bursary. The closing date for application for the ABC council bursaries is tomorrow 16th June 2023, so don’t delay!

The John Hewitt International Summer School is a fabulous week for writers, readers and for Armagh in general. We love to welcome artists and students from all over and see them enjoy our wee city. It’s a special time, and I’ve forged some very valuable friendships in past years, so I’m looking forward to making new friends and reconnecting with old ones again.

There’s a launch in Armagh on Wednesday 21 June 2023 at 4 pm and all are welcome to join us.

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We have a new Flash Fiction Armagh Facebook page too, which we’ll use to keep people updated on open calls and events. Here’s the link – please like and follow us.

At the moment, we have an open call for our Flash Fiction in Long Meadow Cider as part of the Armagh Food and Cider Festival on 7th September 2023 at 7 pm. The submission deadline is 1st August 2023. Email submissions to Byddi@hotmail.com with ‘Flash Fiction Armagh’ in the subject title. For more information check out our webpage.

So all in all an exciting summer ahead for Flash Fiction Armagh. Hope you have a good summer too.

Byddi Lee

Facebook Fiasco

On the 18th of April 2023, around midday, I opened up my emails and found seven emails that had arrived in quick succession from Facebook. Unfortunately for me, they’d be sitting for about an hour. The first one, sent at 10.34 am, asked if I’d added a phone number.

I hadn’t.

It came with the message ‘…if this was you, you don’t need to do anything…’

But it wasn’t me. It’s a stupid premise because if you don’t get the message Facebook/Meta assumes it was you who made the changes.

Two minutes after that Facebook/Meta sent another message. ‘Did you just reset your password?’

No, I didn’t.

And in quick succession after that:

‘Did you just add an email address?’

‘Facebook primary email changed to piedadbariasuspro@outlook.ph.’ (Eh who is this piedadbariasuspro fella anyway?)

‘Did you just remove your phone number?’

‘Did you just remove your email address.’

And finally at 11.40 am the email – ‘Someone may have accessed your account.’

No shit, Sherlock!

When I hit the ‘Secure Your Account Now’ button, a pop-up told me a code had been sent to my phone. But my number had been changed and Facebook/Meta was sending the code to the hacker Mr Piedadbariasuspro?). Basically, this Piedadbariasuspro person had broken into my Facebook account, kicked me out and changed the locks.

When I tried to tell Facebook/Meta about this, I was taken through a series of online forms the final one being an invite to upload my photographic id to prove the Byddi Lee account was really mine. This wasn’t going to work because I use my nickname and not the name on my id. And I didn’t use my real date of birth because, doh, I was worried Facebook/Meta were not very secure… And I was right.

Never at any juncture was there an opportunity to talk with a real human being. There are no phone numbers, not even a live chat (or any chat.) When I searched ‘Facebook hacked’ online there were literally thousands of people in the same predicament. A few email addresses were bandied about, but the general consensus was that no one had ever answered these. I tried all sorts of approaches… eventually starting a new account and flagging up the old account as being hacked. Nothing worked. And Facebook/Meta refused to take down my old page saying that it complied with community standards and my complaints were unfounded…grrrrr!

My Messenger was inaccessible – all those contacts, groups, and messages – all lost.

The Armagh Writers Page I’d set up had been taken over too. The hackers had run ads on it. Fortunately, friends flagged that up and it was closed down quickly. I was still charged $90 for the ads but my VISA refunded me – cancelled the old card (and all the hassle that involves.) I was gratified to see that Facebook /Meta took the hit for the lost ad money. Small comfort.

A private group I’d set up for local writers is also in the control of the hacker. Although there are a couple of other admins, Facebook/Meta wouldn’t let us shut it down because we didn’t have the passwords anymore.

I contemplated leaving Facebook completely. But after 6 weeks, I’ve decided to go for it again.

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I need help with this, especially if you have been my friend on my old Facebook account. Please consider doing the following:

Post this blog to your Facebook/social media to help me spread the word with our mutual friends. https://byddi.com/2023/05/facebook-fiasco/Unfriend the old account – https://www.facebook.com/byddi  (mostly to protect yourself.)I’d welcome friend requests on my new account (sadly it doesn’t have the snazzy email address the old one had) https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092529934849If you were a member of the private Armagh Writers Group leave the group… https://www.facebook.com/group

I’d recommend you never save any debit/credit card or PayPal details to any social media account, or indeed to any account that doesn’t give you a customer service phone number and allow you to speak with a real human being should you need to. And don’t count on always having access to your social sites. You get what you pay for and, well, I don’t pay for my social media and so if it gets pulled from under me, that’s how it is.

I will admit to being upset about losing my old Facebook. I found the whole thing ridiculously stressful and while I searched for perspective (I mean, it’s hardly life or death) I chided myself for getting so frustrated about it all. But that’s what it was – infuriatingly frustrating. It’s time to move on and start over, and maybe, do it better this time!

Thanks in advance for your help.

Byddi Lee

And It’s Not Over Yet

We had a wonderful night on Saturday night in the beautiful venue of Aonach Mhacha as part of the AE Russell Festival. The flash fiction stories fair blew us away. The wonderful Cathy Carson, who simultaneously made our hearts swell and our eyes smart with her beautiful and masterfully crafted story Copper Pennies has generously reviewed each of the other writers over on her Facebook page. So if you are on Facebook, it’s worth hopping over to read her thoughts on it. We’ve collected her posts and shared them on the Armagh Writers’ page too.

If you’d like to watch the writers read their stories you can find them on our webpage here.

We were delighted to have music by the highly acclaimed Armagh Rhymers at the interval. These world-class traditional Irish musicians had our feet tapping and hearts leaping – especially when they announced their arrival with a blast of the Loughnashade horn!

It was another full house and we had to bring in extra chairs from the prize-winning Aonach Mhacha Café to accommodate everyone. Our thanks to The AE Russell festival for inviting us to be a part of this fabulous week – it’s not over yet and you might still be able to take part in some of the events before the end of this week (Monday 10th April 2023). The event listing is here.

AE Russell aka George Russell was born in Lurgan, Co Armagh in 1867 and was a writer, an artist, a mystic, a visionary, a genius and more. I’ve been learning a lot about him at the festival events this week and I’m intrigued. He is an inspiring and surprising character who has contributed in many important ways to the arts and culture of Ireland. He founded the National Irish Theatre in Dublin, was a pacifist who inspired Gandi, was a close friend of Pamela Travers and she has nods to AE and their friendship in her famous story, Mary Poppins. The list goes on and I am amazed at how few people have heard of him. This, I’m told, is due to his great humility and lack of ego. For more information, check out this article.

Flash Fiction Armagh goes from strength to strength as this year progresses. We’re looking forward to being part of the John Hewitt Summer School this July. This will be a showcase event with details to follow soon.

Submissions are now open for our Flash Fiction in the Orchard event at the Armagh Food and Cider Festival on Thursday 7th September 2023! The deadline for submissions is 1st August 2023. To submit please email your story to byddi@hotmail.com with the subject line “Flash Fiction in the Orchard 2023 Submission” and your story cut and pasted into the body of the email (not as an attachment please – it gets fiddly to manage!)

Apart from Flash Fiction Armagh news, my other big excitement is that the pond I made during lockdown has frogspawn…actually in less than a week they’re looking a lot like tadpoles.

So I guess that makes it officially springtime! Yay!

Byddi Lee

Lost Childhood – Flash Fiction at the AE Festival Lineup

At first, it seems a bleak theme – Lost Childhood – but it brought in a record number of entries for the Flash Fiction Armagh at the AE Festival event happening on 1st April 2023 in Aonach Mhacha. These spellbinding stories covered a huge range: disappointment, betrayal, bereavement, perspective, trauma, courage and a yearning for the people we once were and might yet be. Ultimately what emerges is the story of how we connect as humans through our vulnerability, tenderness and compassion.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but what I will say is that you will be amazed, moved and motivated by the talent that we are honoured to present at this next Flash Fiction Armagh event. In no particular order…

Rosemary Tumilty, Ode to a Mother

Mary Cunningham, Hope

Janet Devlin, The Red Anorak

Colm Mc Clean, Little Secrets Everywhere

Sharon Greene, You Are Going To Have To

Maura Johnston,  Pinched

Marion Mc Dowell, Take That, Come Free

Nigel Kelly, Stones

Charlotte Rea-Patel, Reuben

Kerry Tinman, The Longest Break Up

Cathy Carson, Copper Pennies

David Braziel, Time Out

Reserve readers are Fáinche Deeney, Doreen Duffy and Emma Gibson

There were many stories that we loved but couldn’t include. We’d like writers who submitted to know that even if your story wasn’t selected, it is valued and the work you put into it is appreciated. Thank you for sending it in and letting us read it.

Tickets (£7) are already selling fast and you can find them online here.

Date: 1st April 2023

Time: 7 pm.

Venue: Aonach Mhacha, the Shambles corner, Armagh, BT61 7LG

Hopefully, we’ll see you there – the venue is absolutely beautiful and if the weather is nice, you get a great view out over the stunning City of Armagh – very Insta-worthy!

Byddi Lee

Happy New Flash Fiction Armagh

Between one thing and another, (Covid and industrial action to be specific) I didn’t manage to attend any Flash Fiction Armagh events in 2022 at all. When my wonderful co-host, co-organiser, co-founded of FFA and friend Réamonn got a wonderful promotion to CEO of Gael Linn and wasn’t going to be able to afford the time to FFA, I wondered if it was time to wrap it up. But I had one more avenue to explore…

A phone call later, I knew there were still legs in FFA and that it has a long way to run yet.

That phone call was to the talented young Rachel Toner, who had been on my radar for a while as an emerging writer and as an Arts manager (she has an MSc in Arts Management from QUB.) A young woman, working hard to build her own career, I was worried that she might not be able to fit in coming on board for FFA, but I was overjoyed when she gave a resounding “Yes!”

Delighted to have the next generation involved with FFA, I’m confident that there are many years ahead of us of listening to great stories from new, emerging and experienced writers. Safe to say, I’m starting 2023 with great optimism and enthusiasm thanks to Rachel!

Our first event last week – Flash Fiction Saturday Night at the Museum 2023 – was a rip-roaring success.

We began with a minute to remember our dear Jay who passed away in December, and said a sad goodbye to Réamonn; ah, not goodbye really, just a slán go foil– Goodbye for now – as we presented him with a thank you card and gift voucher for Mulberry Bistro – the venue where it all began. Rachel took hold of the reins confidently and the stories were amazing. You can watch the videos of the stories at this link.

As usual, the audience was generous, warm and good craic as the photo of everyone waving shows.

We were delighted with the numbers – a full house/museum gallery. I love the museum as a venue. It is cosy and comfortable and the staff are so welcoming. All these things are ingredients for a wonderful event and I’m just lucky that I get to stir them together.

Our next event is in Aonach Mhacha (the Irish Culture Centre) at the Shambles as part of the AE Festival on 1st April 2023 at 8pm. You can get your tickets here. The theme is “Lost Childhood”  and you can submit via the contact form. Simply cut and paste your story (no more than 700 words) into the “Comment or message” section before 1st March 2023.

So Happy New Year and I hope 2023 to be a vast improvement over the last few years… Good things are coming!

Byddi Lee

Flash Fiction Armagh Presents Flash Fiction Saturday Night at the Museum 2023

After a rocky year at Flash Fiction Armagh, we are pleased to announce that the next event will take place in the Armagh County Museum on 21st January 2023 at 7pm. Tickets are £7 each which includes a glass of wine, provided by our wonderful hosts. Tickets are available at this link and have sold out quickly in the past, so don’t delay.

I didn’t actually manage to attend a Flash Fiction Armagh event in 2022 at all because I had covid for the Saturday Night in the Museum 2022. Then the Food and Cider Festival 2022 event- Flash Fiction at Long Meadow Cider Company – was cancelled due to industrial action (which has now ended.) We rolled the selected readers forward to read at the Flash Fiction Saturday Night at the Museum 2023 explaining why you won’t have seen a call for submissions as we wanted to give these readers their moment in the spotlight.

We’re looking forward to hearing readings from the following talented writers:-

Amy Elkheart reading Dog Eat Dog
Tim Hanna reading The Shooter
Jane Searle reading The Number 22
Tanya Mc Ginn reading In the Shadow of the Castle
Doreen Mc Bride reading No Justice
Ellen Mc Kenna reading Life Goes On
Emma Kane reading All Grown Up
Brenda McAteer reading Reflections
Malachi Kelly reading The Cat, The Fox and The Car
Michaela Mc Daid reading When Everything is Different

~o~

On a sad note, we were sorry to hear about the death of one of our regular readers last week. Jay Faulkner was the very first person to read at the first ever Flash Fiction Armagh back in March 2018. He was a wonderful writer and his stories reflected his tenderness and compassion for the human condition. While there will forever be an empty seat at our events, we will carry Jay in our hearts and his stories in our minds, knowing he is not that far away, especially when a Flash Fiction reader brings a lump to our throat, a tear to our tear or indeed a smile to our lips. Set down your pen, Jay, and rest easy.

Byddi Lee