This 142-page anthology presents poetry, essays and short fiction by thirteen writers. It was originally published in 2003 as part of Helena’s Master’s Degree in Literature and Publishing completed at the National University of Ireland, Galway. It was the first full book to be edited and published by a student of the degree. It’s now available online and in Kindle and eBook formats (scroll down for outlets).
Since the Masters in Writing at the University had begun the same year, Helena envisaged a collection of work featuring the writers taking part in the new programme. Irish author Mike McCormack, writer in residence at NUIG in 2003, and who taught the fiction module of the course, wrote a forward to the tome, describing it as: ‘a welcome addition to the cultural landscape of the west.”
Hotpress magazine called it: “dark, funny and sometimes off the wall …” and Books Ireland described it as having “an internationalist feel,” with its writers hailing from Ireland, Australia, India, Britain, Poland and the United States.
In the introduction, McCormack notes: “Anthologies of new writing are some of the more delicate, lovingly nurtured blooms on the cultural landscape. … Tuning into them makes you complicit in a healthy underground. It marks you out as curious, unsatisfied with the current wisdom, anxious to hear voices in utero, avid to catch imaginations on the wing. Turbulence is a classy addition to this tradition.”
The book was launched at Biquet’s bistro in Galway in July 2003, and was re-published in a tenth anniversary edition in 2013. For a list of contributors, photos and availability scroll down:
CONTRIBUTORS TO “TURBULENCE – CORRIB VOICES” ARE:
Adrienne Anifant, Barry Ferns, Benjamin Coombs, Catriona Mitchell,
Gerard Hanberry, Helena Mulkerns, Marion Moynihan,
Misja Weesjes, Roshanara Voetzsch, Sandra Bunting, Sheila Phelan,
Stephen Shields, Susan Lanigan
You can purchase the book on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, and other online outlets
and it can be ordered internationally through any bookstore through Ingrams, Gardners etc.