Library hosts Flash Fiction challenge for the community

“THE Flash Fiction event is a celebration of the creative community around Ballyfermot Library,” explains Mary Sheehan of Ballyfermot Library.

The library’s Creative Writers Group for adults has been meeting monthly for a year at this stage.

To celebrate the hard work of their community members, they are hosting a flash fiction event for the community.

While the event was created with the Creative Writers group in mind, the group have been happy to accept contributions from all.

They have requested that community members submit a piece of flash fiction, ranging from 750-1500 words.

The deadline for any submissions is April 30 at 8pm.

On May 6, Ballyfermot Library’s Creative Writers Group will be hosting their flash fiction celebration, in which their writers will read their piece out loud to the community.

The pieces will also be on display in the library as an exhibition.

They will host with refreshments and have requested that the writers bring along friends and family members to celebrate their achievements.

Mary reveals she soon developed an interest in organising a writers’ workshop for the library after she started working for the library in January 2025.

Her undergraduate degree is in Creative Writing, and she has enjoyed some classes at the Irish Writers Centre, so she was eager to offer a supportive workshop environment here for library patrons.

Mary started the current iteration of the Ballyfermot Library writers’ group last March, and she is “really inspired by the talent, creativity, and vulnerability of the writers here”.

For Mary, the best highlight of planning an event of this scale has been the “very warm” reception from the writers group.

She was “very hesitant” to pitch an idea that involved public speaking, but the idea of a showcase after a year’s hard work in the monthly workshops was “very appealing”.

Mary loved the idea of offering writers a space to show off their writing in a structured format.

The biggest challenge to the flash fiction event has been spreading the word and gaining community momentum for the event.

Initially, Mary worried that the writers’ group would not be enthusiastic at the idea of reading their pieces aloud or sharing their writing with a wider community outside our monthly workshop.

By spreading the news across social media as well as posters within the library, they have been able to garner more community interest.

After this, they will continue their monthly writers group in Ballyfermot Library, during which time they will be exploring different types of writing, themes and structure.

Mary is hopeful that the group can put forth a writing contest, or a similar goal-orientated challenge, to boost and promote all of the talent in the community.

She is “very grateful” for all of the support from the management staff in Ballyfermot Library.

Anne Pigott has been “hugely supportive” of any initiative Mary has had the opportunity to pitch for the library.

“This culmination of a year’s worth of dedication could not take place without her expertise and her confidence in me and in the writers’ group here in Ballyfermot,” Mary remarks.

She also feels “very lucky” to spend time with a number of creative, clever and kind writers in our monthly writers’ group, who share their moving and inspiring work.

Be sure to check out this event at 6pm on May 6 in the Ballyfermot Library for a celebration and refreshments.