News

Fantastic Fictions is a showcase of work from a great partnership with Libraries NI – new writing inspired by books we love with selected primary schools across Northern Ireland. 

Fantastic Fictions invited children from Primaries 5, 6 and 7 to write short stories sparked by their favourite books, with the aim of encouraging teachers and pupils to engage with creative writing and reading. New characters, unexpected plots and surprises are anticipated and local librarians can’t wait to read and share this new writing! 

Earlier this year, Fighting Words and Fighting Words NI were invited by Ordskælv, our friends and sister organisation in Denmark, to take part in the Global Writing Lockdown. The project was envisioned as a way of bringing us all closer together even as we were forced to remain apart. It was an opportunity to reach out and share perspectives amidst the uncertainty and worry of the global pandemic.

We invited YOU to send in your writing about the lockdown and the response was fantastic, with submissions from all over the island of Ireland and from all ages. The anthology we present here is a wonderful, heart-warming collection of writings and stands as an emblem of the strength and solidarity to be found in writing and creative expression through this most trying year.

Fighting Words and Great Lighthouses of Ireland invited 7-12 year-olds to become Young Storykeepers.

Your lighthouse-inspired stories are incredible!

1,256 Super Submissions!

In May 2020, Fighting Words and Great Lighthouses of Ireland invited submissions of original writing inspired by lighthouses from young writers aged 7-12. We received stories, poems, illustrations, song lyrics and even stop-motion animations for what we call the Young Storykeepers initiative. They are simply fantastic!

Over ninety Primary 6 students from St Patrick's and Seaview Primary Schools (North Belfast) together with children from Nettlefield and Knocknagoney Primary Schools (East Belfast) and St George's National School in Balbriggan (County Dublin) joined to hear their final composition ‘The Race to Banana Land’.  Each of the schools had contributed their own unique chapter to the adventures of a totally unforgettable character -Punkey the monkey -and his friends.