Stonecoast in Ireland

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STONECOAST IN IRELAND

What is Stonecoast in Ireland?

Stonecoast in Ireland is a lively and innovative program allowing current Stonecoast MFA students the opportunity to take one of their graduate school residencies in Ireland. For each residency, ten students are selected to meet in Ireland with Stonecoast faculty and prominent Irish writers.

Where Do the Residencies Take Place?

Summer residencies are held in Dingle on the scenic west coast of Ireland. Students, faculty, and visiting Irish writers stay together in the beautiful Coastline Guesthouse which overlooks the harbor and mountains. Recent field trips have included a visit to the Blasket Island Centre and a boat trip to the spectacular Great Blasket Island, home to an extraordinary renaissance of writing in the 20th century.

Winter residencies are held in Howth, a beautiful seaside town just outside Dublin. Participants are housed in The King Sitric Guesthouse and Ann’s B&B, two excellent accommodations that look out towards Howth’s pier, a lighthouse, and the striking island of Ireland’s Eye. Field trips include a visit to the James Joyce tower in Sandymount and the massive W.B. Yeats exhibition in the National Library of Ireland.

What are the Residencies Like?

Expect to be totally immersed in Irish literature and the beautiful Irish landscape, while you map out the course for your next semester of writing. While offering a unique cultural opportunity, residencies in Ireland maintain the same rigorous academic discipline as the Stonecoast program in Maine. We’re a smaller group than in Maine, which leads to a more intimate climate, and appreciative students have remarked that the Irish residency manages to be somehow simultaneously laid-back and intense.

Visiting Irish authors and Stonecoast faculty offer an intensive slate of seminars, workshops, and readings. In our first year and a half, Stonecoast’s Ted Deppe, Annie Finch, Suzanne Strempek Shea, and Michael White have been joined by Irish poets Eamon Grennan, Paula Meehan, Kate Newmann, and Joan Newmann; fiction writers Dermot Bolger, Anthony Glavin, Claire Keegan, and Martin Malone; nonfiction writers Theo Dorgan and Gabriel Fitzmaurice; traditional storyteller Liz Weir; Trinity College professor emeritus Vincent McBrierty; and musicians Áine Uí Laoith and Eilín Ní Chearna.

What else should I know?

Tuition and the cost of room and board are comparable to the cost in Maine. Airfare is each student’s responsibility, though we are happy to advise students on keeping costs down.

Students are chosen primarily by seniority, though other factors, such as the need to balance workshops, are also considered.

Students select mentors from the full Stonecoast faculty for the next term.

Students who wish to come early or stay afterwards have a great opportunity to explore Ireland and Europe!

Future Ireland Residency Dates

6-13 July 2007, Dingle

14-21 January 2008, Howth

Summer 2008, TBA

Winter 2008, TBA

How Do I Apply?

The rosters for the Dingle residency in July 2007 and the Howth residency in January 2008 are complete. However, the waiting lists are very short and if you would like to be considered as a backup, please contact Ted Deppe (contact information below). An invitation to apply for the summer 2008 residency will appear on the Stonecoast listserv during autumn 2007.