Transition Year English Evening 2019
Tuesday evening saw the 26th annual TY English Evening, the longest-established Transition Year event in the school’s calendar. It was presented by the Head of Department, the Sub-Warden, who welcomed his predecessor, Mr John Fanagan, as the guest speaker. He also remembered with fondness Professor Terry Dolan, who died recently, and who for so long was an established visitor at the Evening.
A variety of writing was heard, and afterwards Mr Fanagan commented on the pieces: Aiyuni O’Grady’s personal piece looked back at holiday experiences on Lough Corrib (‘a vivid sense of place’), Maybelle Rainey read ‘The Silver Night’ (with ‘excellent pace and strong voice’), Éile Ní Chianáin’s ‘Learning to Dance’ about a young puffin was ‘a beautiful observation of nature’, Gioia Doenhoff’s ‘Being Underwater’ ‘got across a sense of tension in a very creative way’, Oscar Yan’s ‘The Wells of Silence’ from the eco-fiction module was ‘very thoughtful and philosophical’, Ellen Homan’s entertaining ‘Day in the Life of the Person Beside You’ achieved humorous effects with ‘a light touch’, Raphaela Ihuoma’s ‘A Casket with John and Me’ was ‘very different and very controlled’, Eva Dillenberger’s ‘Perfect’ on images of the female body was a strong piece, and finally Sinéad Cleary’s piece on Ted Bundy and ‘murder-chic’ was ‘really effective, and very hard-hitting.’
Finally, Mr Fanagan announced winners of the Premier awards: Imogen Casey, Éile Ní Chianáin, Sinéad Cleary, Gioia Doenhoff, Raphaela Ihumoma, Charlotte Moffitt, Oscar Yan.
