Recently, Alana Daly Mulligan was in touch with us to let us know that Molly Twomey is one of the headliners for Lit Fest 2025. 

Started in 2017, Lit Fest is Europe's first and only youth-organised festival for readers and writers. Running from 7-9 November and featuring writers including Derek Landy, Adiba Jaigirdar, Meg Grehan & Molly Twomey to name a few. Lit Fest's programming has events open to the public and workshops for people aged 14-19. 

Alana won the scholarship in 2020 and Molly was highly commended in 2019. Both writers have gone on to be creative powerhouses in terms of output and imagination. It is always lovely to hear from writers associated with the scholarship and great to see them working together, 

PWe were delighted to have the chance again to hear Ellen read her wonderful work at this year's School of English Awards night. Ellen was presented with the first Eoin Murray Memorial prize medal, which was really lovely to see. She also brought along a copy of This is what it's like to be in love with life, where she is contributor. It was great to chat to Ellen and her parents, and to catch up with some of those working in the School.

We very much look forward to following Ellen's career and to our future meetings.

We had this year's tribute night in the Spailpín Fánach on September 4th. It was the 10th anniversary of Eoin's passing and we had the anthology and pin available for purchase. It is our one fundraising event of the year and as always we are very grateful to all those who came, supported, purchased or donated. 

It was a celebration in poetry and music and we were lucky to be joined by this year's Scholar, Ellen Ní Chonchúir, and Highly Commended poets, Aoife Imray and Claire Dineen. 

Big thanks to Bryan Rudd, aka Sunshine Primo, for taking video. And as always, big thanks to Rob, Eamonn, Adam, Aengus, Tom and Eoin's host of amazing friends for making it all happen.

You can watch all videos at here.

A new Reading Nook is now open on the third floor of the Boole Library in UCC. We were so touched to hear that the library moved to dedicate it to the memory of Eoin. We had this print of a painting of Eoin framed for the space, with the inscription "We were lucky to have him for 23 years".

We have donated some of Eoin's extensive library to the Reading Nook, as well as a few copies of his own book and the latest anthology. 

The space itself is a corner site with large windows, looking out on trees and the busy campus. It is a calm and meditative space and we think Eoin would have loved it. Many thanks to Danny Denton, Alan Carbery, Elaine Harrington and Shona Thoma for making this a reality.

Going into 2025, we spoke about what we might do to mark the ten year anniversary of Eoin's passing. Danny Denton, who we really couldn't manage without, had the idea of publishing an anthology of work supported by the scholarship and connected with Eoin. Over the summer, Danny Maria and Carraig Print worked hard to edit, design, typeset and print the book in time for the tribute night in September. From a list of possible titles, we went with "This is what it's like to be in love with life", taken from Eoin's poem "The night I met the Duffys". It is a poem full of youthful messing and joy and we felt it was a fitting title, reflective of Eoin's philosophy of joy in the small things. The cover image chosen is a photograph by Orlagh O'Brien, a photo taken in Ballyphehane on a bright spring day, where textures of walls and shadows of cables highlighted the beauty in the everyday. 

In the line of Love and Flies (Eoin's zine of poetry and accompanying art), we also invited visual artists connected to the scholarship to submit work. Eoin loved creative expression and collaboration in all of its forms and we are happy to reflect this in the book. 

It was really amazing to see the list of contributors coming together, some incredible rising stars of Irish literature, and some long-time giants. Contributors in order are: Eoin Murray, John Treacy, Ellen Ní Chonchúir, Muireann Ní Sheoighe Eachthighearn, Kel Menton, Dara Hanley, Molly Murray, Cónal Creedon, Freyja Hellebust, Claire Dineen, Daithí O Mathúna, Marij Bernart, Tess O' Regan, Molly Twomey, Martha Hegarty, Michelle Delea, Teresa Orazio, Emily Linehan, Joy Curtis, Ali Bracken Ziad, John McCarthy, Rose Keating, Luke Condon, Sadhbh Moriarty, Erin Murray, Maria Murray.

The wonderful Martha of Mink has designed this beautiful pin as a marker of Eoin's 10th anniversary this year, and as a fundraising endeavour for the Scholarship.

The line, "Love like you have no brain", comes from Eoin's poem "A young man deliberates on love and what to do with it". Is this terrible advice?! It keeps resonating either way.

The design of the pin and accompanying card is inspired by Eoin's notebooks. The pin font is based on his handwriting and the shape suggests a torn piece of paper. Eoin's signature is included on the front and back of the pin. The card includes scanned passages from his notebooks, arranged to evoke the exploratory, experimental and generative nature of Eoin's writing process.

We imagine supporters of the scholarship recognising each other by the unusual shape of the pin and the lovely glint of light on the different textural surfaces.

These various actions of remembrance are always bittersweet. An amount of heartache arises as we connect with the grief in a new way. We are so happy to have these pins available, to remember Eoin and to connect with each other. We thank Martha for all her work in making these happen and look forward to seeing them in the wild.

“A remarkably self-assured writer, with impressive range and depth to her poetry and prose, resulting in deeply personal yet universal meditations on life and living. "Goodbye blue Monday" finds glimpses of strange beauty in everyday gestures and moments. "Spring" deploys rhyming couplets with a deft lightness that breathes life into well-worn forms and tropes. In general, the writing is alive with excitement and surprise, generated by careful and bold use of language and fired by an impressive, informed imagination. It is also beautifully introspective, with rich and evocative imagery underscored by dreamlike detachment.”

There was 26 applicants and we had two highly-commended writers who were recognised for their excellent submissions:

• Aoife Imray
• Claire Dineen

The annual tribute night is set to take place on the 4th of September this year. It is 10 years since Eoin's passing and we have a few ideas on how to mark this anniversary, which we will post here in due course.

"I am overwhelmed with love... this must be the cost".

Marij reads one of her very beautiful works at this year's tribute night. Once again we came together in the Spáilpín Finch and had a wonderful night of poetry and music, surrounded by friends and family and new and old scholarship community members. It was, as always, a beautiful night.

You can see a list of performances here.

We received 29 applications this year and after careful reviewing and discussion with the panel of judges (Ian Maleney, John Fitzgerald, Liz Quirke and Eamonn Mulholland), the final outcome was as follows:

1. Marij Bernard (winner)
2. Tess O Regan (highly commended)
3. Luke Condon (highly commended)

It is great to see two highly commended scholars, an indication of how high the standard was this year and the extent to which the judges deliberated. We hope this recognition encourages all of the scholars in pursuing their creative goals.

We are once again so happy to see Eoin's legacy and the scholarship move forward and we are excited to meet and listen to the word of Martje, Tess and Luke at the Tribute Night this coming summer.

We thank all those who entered this year, as well as the panel of judges and administration staff in UCC who facilitate this scholarship every year. We say a particular thanks to Danny Denton for the enthusiasm and efficiency with which he manages this every year. 

On the 25th of October we attended the annual School of English welcome event. As always it was a lovely evening in the very cosy and welcoming staff common room in UCC. It was another opportunity for us to meet Freyja (pictured here) and her mother. Freyja read some new work we hadn't heard which was a real treat. It was also great to see Danny Denton (also pictured above) and catch up over the past few months. Danny is a writer and lecturer in UCC. He has provided great support to the scholarship and is instrumental every year in making sure it continues to happen. 

​Thank you again to UCC for the invite. This years Scholarship application process will open soon and as always we look forward to the high calibre of submissions.