Big Smoke Writing Factory

Available as a Word document or as a pdf.

A high-res photo of the Big Smoke team is available here. Our thanks to Andy Maranzi and Mark Granier.

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The BIG SMOKE WRITING FACTORY offers creative writing resources, classes and workshops at our premises at 7 Lower Hatch Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. BIG SMOKE members are experienced creative writing teachers and practising writers bringing these twin skills to students and participants of all ages and levels of experience.

BIG SMOKE is an organisation which believes in serving the needs of both its teachers and its students to create a supportive, creative, inspiring and productive environment in which students can:

• develop their writing skills
• be placed in a class which suits their abilities and goals
• have a fun and enriching experience at each class, workshop or event
• feel comfortable and confident sharing their work and contributing to group discussions
• feel comfortable asking questions and sharing their knowledge among peers
• learn in a student-centric environment, from teachers who are passionate about writing and the teaching of writing

For BIG SMOKE teachers, who believe in quality teaching and workshop facilitation, it's a chance for us to pool our skills and to work in an environment which facilitates our development as well as that of our students. BIG SMOKE is run by writers, for writers. We collaborate on our 'general' classes - Beginning to Write and Beyond Beginners - while bringing our particular expertise in a wide variety of fields to our students through our more specialist courses.

The BIG SMOKE team believe that a workshop, class or event should be an enjoyable and beneficial experience for all involved and welcome feedback at all stages to ensure that everyone is getting the most out of their BIG SMOKE experience.

The BIG SMOKE team:

Yvonne Cullen
Maggie Smith Hurt
Nicole Rourke
Claire Hennessy
(sitting outside 7 Lower Hatch St, though they hasten to reassure you classes will be indoors!)

Photography by Andy Maranzi.

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Yvonne Cullen is an award winning, widely published writer of poetry and screenplays with a first non-fiction book due out in 2010. Her first collection of poems, INVITATION TO THE AIR won the American Ireland Fund Award at Listowel in 1997 and was published in 1998. She won an Irish Film Board award for a feature film script in 2002. Yvonne is also working on a second poetry collection, and on other prose, fiction and drama projects. Praise for Yvonne’s writing has included “A gifted writer,” John Burnside. “A world of atmosphere and filament.” Kerrie Hardie.

Yvonne has taught Creative Writing in Ireland for seventeen years, and has created pioneering practices in teaching writing and creative activity with people of all ages and abilities during that time. Reviews of Yvonne’s teaching include: “Fantastic.” “Incredibly generous!” “Her workshops are like blood transfusions!” (Telling Tales Workshops, Drogheda, Spring ’09). “Best Creative Writing Teacher in Dublin,” DUBLINER MAGAZINE BEST OF DUBLIN 2004. "She’s one of those rare people who can write beautifully, and share the skill with others,” IRISH TIMES. Yvonne’s experience runs from publishing with four year olds, to storytelling with the very elderly, via preparing her students for M.A writing programmes in T.C.D, U.C.D, Queens University and Cambridge University. And from writing in a room to writing on beaches, Yvonne has approaches, both solid and ingenious, to suit any new or developing writer.

Yvonne was for 5 years from 2003 to 2008 a core teacher at the Irish Writers’ Centre. In 2006 she edited the highly praised anthology of her students’ writing: “ALL GOOD THINGS BEGIN.”

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Claire Hennessy is the author of nine novels for young adults; all have been published by Dublin’s Poolbeg Press.

Since the publication of her first book in 2000, she has given readings, talks, and workshops in schools and libraries around the country for children, teenagers, and adults, and has spoken at conferences on topics such as writing for children, teenagers’ reading habits, and creative writing in gifted education.

Claire teaches regularly at the Irish Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI) at DCU, and designed and taught two courses concentrating on novel writing for the Irish Writers’ Centre for a number of terms. Her most recent book, Every Summer, was published in May 2009.

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Nicole trained in theatre and workshop facilitation with Tmu-Na Theatre Company, Tel-Aviv, Israel. She wrote and performed 'Fragments' which won a best play award at the Music, Arts and Drama festival, Cork 1992. With Tmu-Na, she co-wrote and performed 'Dead Hours' which received critical acclaim at festivals in Dublin, London, Edinburgh, Israel, Poland and Singapore. In 2002 Nicole received an Arts Council Travel and Training Award enabling her to travel to Buenos Aires to research and write. This resulted in a collection of Tango Monologues which have been  performed at various events. Directing credits include 'Life of Bran' and 'The friends of Jack Kairo', a one man show which has been performed throughout Europe.

Nicole is an experienced facilitator with TEFL training. She has conducted a wide variety of workshops including Creative Writing and Storytelling at the Chester Beatty library, Drama and Creativity at the Gaiety school of acting as well as Teambuilding Through Creativity for various organisations.

Nicole gives private workshops in creative writing and worked as a creative writing facilitator at the Irish Writers Centre from 2006 to 2009. She also writes and performs her own work.

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Maggie is an American poet and teacher who has written a collection of poetry and a chapbook.

She received her MFA from Hunter College in New York City where she was also a teaching fellow.

Maggie has taught workshops and classes in poetry, beginning writing, fiction and memoir at Hunter College, University College Dublin and The Irish Writers’ Centre.

Maggie was an instructor at the Hunter College Reading and Writing Center where she worked with students on their academic and creative reading and writing. She also facilitated writing workshops with New York City high school students from the inner city through a Hunter College outreach program.

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