Ethical priorities governing my creative facilitation work

Liam HoranLeave a comment

A safe and supportive environment: My priority is to create a space where all participants feel safe, valued, and encouraged to express themselves as they wish.

Communicate transparently with all involved: In the event that any concerns arise regarding the content or nature of participants’ work, I engage with educators or relevant people to ensure open, respectful communication.

Maintain clear communication protocols: To promote clarity and professionalism, I establish a clear communication protocol with all participants. This allows for constructive
and organised interactions.

Encourage participants’ identities as writers: I am committed to nurturing participants’
self-identification as writers. From the outset, I encourage everyone to embrace this
identity, referring to them interchangeably as both “students” and “writers” to reinforce
their role as creative contributors.

You are a writer – tell yourself, I am a writer

So You Want To Write?

Liam HoranLeave a comment

I’m hosting a session in Westport’s Rolling Sun Book Festival on Sunday, 22 October, entitled So You Want To Write?

I’ll be joined by West Mayo Writers Group who’ll read from and talk about their writing.

It’s in the Clew Bay Hotel at 11.30am and admission is free.

The festival starts on Thursday, 19 October.

Check out the full programme here.

Read from ‘Second Chance & Other Stories’, by Liam Horan, published by Mayo Books Press, HERE

Buy ‘Second Chance & Other Stories’ HERE

Bursary award from Mayo County Council Arts Service

Liam HoranLeave a comment

What’s these days called ‘some personal news’ – I was delighted to have been chosen for a Mayo County Council Arts Service Artist Bursary Award for 2023.

This bursary allowed me to avail of some mentoring from the Irish Writers Centre. The mentor I chose – Mary-Jane Holmes – proved to be a real gem as she got to the heart of some of the things that most challenge me as a writer.

Publishing my debut collection of short stories – Second Chance & Other Stories (Mayo Books Press) – last year brought many benefits, not least of which was observations, feedbacks, comparisons, challenges and so forth.

I have been working for some time on what I call ‘expanding the scope’ of my writing – adding a second voice or thread to give a story an additional layer without compromising the brevity and clarity that I believe to be essential elements of the short story / novella medium.

Mary-Jane’s mentoring is helping greatly with this, as does the continued support of my existing, much-put-upon support / therapy / keep-a-man-half-right group of readers. I have also started a Creative Writing Masters (part-time, two years) at Univeristy of Limerick, where Donal Ryan and Fí Scarlett are tutors – more on this anon.

Read from ‘Second Chance & Other Stories’, by Liam Horan, published by Mayo Books Press, HERE

Buy ‘Second Chance & Other Stories’ HERE

Second Chance & Other Stories

Liam HoranLeave a comment

In this collection of 15 stories by Liam Horan, published in October 2022 by Mayo Books Press, the concerns of someone moving through the rough and the smooth of middle age come to the surface – the loss of central figures in your life, the effort to place in context your existence thus far, the nostalgia for days that can’t return and the looming shadow of your own mortality.

Second Chance & Other Stories

Horan’s engaging characters range from the mild to the provocative. They nudge you with their messages of self-realisation, optimism and quiet acceptance as they navigate real-life dilemmas: the Spanish man returning to the Irish city where he met the love of his life, the journalist retracing old steps after the death of a long-lost friend, the woman breaking free of a coercive partner to rediscover her self-worth, the sports star redefining her relationship with her sport and herself, the father for whom the break-up of his daughter’s marriage sunders his fulfilling friendship with his son-in-law and the widower venturing out into the world again.

It is a collection that deals with change. In prose that is thoughtful and measured, and in west of Ireland settings, the journeys the characters make are both real and metaphorical.

Read from ‘Second Chance & Other Stories’ HERE

Buy ‘Second Chance & Other Stories’ HERE

Hope by Liam Horan

Liam HoranLeave a comment

This story is included in the collection Second Chance & Other Stories, published October 2022. Read it below or listen here:

 

Louis found his father propped up in his chair in the day room where they hung the children’s paintings of farms and grandparents and siblings and cows and sheep and football pitches and choo-choo trains. Board games were stacked up on a table in the far corner, beside Get Well Soon and Thinking of You cards. A spray of illuvial bands draped lazily from a hook a little to the right of the TV, on a bracket high up on the wall.

He was engrossed in a programme, volume at full. Louis heard him say “Africa” in response to a question. Green and beige rugs were wrapped tightly around his legs. The sunken holder on the chair had a cup in it – that’d be tea. Plenty of milk, the way he liked it. Two sugars. And the tea gone cold, probably. The presenter bellowed “so, what would you do with €50,000?” Continue reading “Hope by Liam Horan” →

Deeply personal read reflecting many people’s circumstances – Connaught Telegraph

Liam HoranLeave a comment
Second Chance & Other Stories

“One theme commonly recurs through this fine collection of work: that of seeing beyond the present and into the weeks and years ahead. We all suffer knockdowns, none more than through the last few difficult years. At times it takes courage to stand straight. In Second Chance and Other Stories we have real, believable heroes who set out not to save the world, but to save themselves and their friends and to make a distinctly human connection even with total strangers” – Michael Kingdon, Connaught Telegraph. Read full review HERE

Access Liam Horan’s permanent company-wide Zoom meeting room

Liam HoranLeave a comment

This is how you access Liam Horan’s company-wide permanent Zoom meeting room

Three steps:

1: This is the passcode: 22Lounge

(Copy it, you may need to paste it in Step 3 below. Or, if you prefer, write it down and type it in if you’re asked to at Step 3 below)

2: Join the meeting by clicking HERE – or by copying and pasting this info into your browser: https://bit.ly/2SYNjbf

3: When you do that, you may be asked to enter the passcode. Paste or type it and away you go. Your coach will meet you in the meeting at the appointed time.

Any difficulties, contact Liam on liam@liamhoran.info