Two Galway writers make the shortlist for Hennessy Awards

Majella Kelly from Tuam has been shortlisted in the Best Emerging Poetry section for her poems Lichenology and Funeral.

A graduate of UCC, Majella has an MA in Modern Drama Studies from UCD and is doing a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford.

Majella, who is also a talented photographer, has been shortlisted for many prizes, including the Cúirt New Writing Prize 213, The Fish Poetry Prize 2014 and Dermot Healy Poetry Prize last year.  She won second prize in the Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition this year.

She will be joined at the event by fellow Galwegian Marty Thornton, who has been shortlisted in the First Fiction section for his work, The Mighty Quinn.

Writer and musician Marty initially trained as a painter before moving into film. He has a Master’s degree in screenwriting from the Institute of Art Design and Technology at Dún Laoghaire. Marty has written several screenplays and is working on a novel. The Mighty Quinn is his first published work.

All the shortlisted writers had their work published in the monthly New Irish Writing page in The Irish Times last year.

Marty Thornton’s shortlisted story, The Mighty Quinn, appeared in November’s Irish Times, and Majella’s shortlisted poems featured in August.

The overall winner in each category will now be chosen by a panel of three judges. Playwright and author Marina Carr, novelist and short-story writer Niall Griffiths and the editor of the New Irish Writing page editor, Ciaran Carty will decide the winners.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.