A few days ago, a friend from home reached out and asked if I’d had any “pinch me” moments since arriving on the island. My immediate response was that this entire experience has been a pinch me moment. I thought back to receiving the semi-finalist email, the phone call when I made it to the finalist pool, and then the moment Trina said I won the scholarship. I was in shock. All I could say was, really?!
I’ve dreamed of moving to Ireland to write since I was a teenager. Every day that I wake up and remember that my job is to read and to write and to go to class is a pinch me moment. I’ve been here for two months, but in many ways, it still feels surreal.
Belfast is an incredible city to be an artist. A few days after I arrived, I signed up for an improv class, and last Friday I had my first performance (ever!) at Lavery’s, an iconic local pub and comedy club. On Monday nights, I perform my original music at The Sunflower, another amazing pub and music venue. Last month, I had the opportunity to read my poetry (another first!) at an open mic run by the Queen’s Literary Society.
The Irish people seem to have an innate and powerful grasp on effective storytelling, and I want to soak up as much of it as I can. Last month, I attended an event called Tenx9 at The Black Box. Nine people share ten-minute stories, and let me tell you, these stories were AMAZING. I laughed, I cried. I mean, half these people weren’t “writers” in any traditional or professional sense; they were just incredible storytellers with a total mastery of suspense and comedic timing. I was seriously blown away!
All my classes are in the Seamus Heaney Centre, a newly renovated home for writing students at the MA and PhD level. In addition to housing the post-grads, the centre offers endless community writing events. On Tuesdays, I go to “Write Night,” a workshop for writers all around Belfast.
My favorite workshop so far is called “Here and There,” taught by author and Queen’s alumna, Shahminee Selvakannu. The monthly course explores ideas of home, migration, displacement, and belonging, and honestly, I really needed it. As wonderful as the last two months have been, it hasn’t been easy to be away.
My feeling of homesickness was exacerbated by the loss of my Nana, who died of pancreatic cancer the day after I arrived in Belfast. Nobody was more excited about my year in Ireland as my Nana, whose dad emigrated from the island as a teenager. It’s hard to believe that this time last year, I was taking a short story class with my Nana. She was a great writer herself, my biggest cheerleader, and always the first person to lay eyes on my work. She’s always seen me as the person I’m becoming, and while this loss is a devastating one, it’s also given me a reason to show up. Nana had complete and total belief in me as a writer, and I’m following that belief like a guiding light this year.
