Dingle shop seeks budding authors

Write up my street!

Corca Dhuibhne's young creative talents are being summoned in West Kerry this week as Baile an Mhuilinn's Siopa Londis Ui Fhlaithearta (O'Flaherty's-Londis Dingle) invites students aged five to 18, to write a short story about their community. Thirty of these will then be selected to appear in a special book to be published in September. Along with the honour of being published, the winning student's schools will also receive 5,000 euro for books. The competition is part of a national drive by Londis to find 30 short stories for this book, with all proceeds going towards the Barnardos Children’s Charity. Students between the ages of five and 18 are asked to submit a short story drawing on the theme of community, no longer than 1,000 words. A semi-finalist will then be selected from each county and from those, acclaimed children’s author Sarah Webb will select the top 30. "We know that there is a lot of talent when it comes to writing in West Kerry and hope that as many students as possible take part" said PJ Fitzgerald of Londis-Dingle. Entry forms, downloads, plus supports for teachers, sample stories, plus writing-tips from Maeve Binchy are available online at www.londis.ie. Completed stories may be posted or dropped into O'Flaherty's Londis on the Ventry Road, Dingle before the closing date of May 29th.

Telephone 066-9150628 for more information. Pictured, PJ Fitzgerald of O'Flaherty's Londis-Dingle launching the Write Up Your Street initiative which is inviting young authors to submit a short story with the top thirty being published in a special book this September. Visit www.londiswriteupmystreet.com for more info.