All Writers Workplace Teen Workshops

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From the desk of Kathie Giorgio, Director, AllWriters' Workplace & Workshop LLC:

THURSDAY NIGHT TEEN WRITERS WORKSHOP!

WAUKESHA – By popular demand, AllWriters’ welcomes high school students into our creative writing community! Teen writing is an explosive new industry, both in the areas of teen work written for other teens, and written for the world at large. Whether it’s novels, poetry, short fiction or creative nonfiction, teen work should be taken as seriously as any other, and be as well written. AllWriters’ offers professional instruction covering all genres. A full staff of traditionally published authors provides feedback, guidance, help getting ready for real-world publication, and fosters a culture of encouragement and a sense of community. On September 29th, AllWriters’ is launching a THURSDAY NIGHT TEEN WRITERS WORKSHOP!

This ten-week workshop is a carbon copy of AllWriters’ most popular and enduring writing workshops, with one notable exception; we’re welcoming high school students into our creative community! This course encourages high school writers, grades 9 to 12, of all abilities and genres, but two things are required: a genuine interest in writing and a desire to write professionally for publication. Poets, novelists, short fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers are all welcome! If you write, this is where you should be. Each week in the workshop, students present their works-in-progress to the other students and the instructor for positive and constructive feedback. Students will also receive a line-by-line edit and a thematic critique of their work from the instructor, a traditionally published author with an extensive writing resume, including two novels.

The new THURSDAY NIGHT TEEN WRITERS WORKSHOP begins Thursday, September 29th and goes through Thursday, December 8th. Classes meet each week in the AllWriters’ classroom from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. For more information, and to sign up, visit www.allwritersworkshop.com and select On Site Courses from the drop down menu under Courses, or call (262) 446-0284. Space in this course is limited to 15 students! AllWriters’ Workplace and Workshop offers on-site and online writing courses in all genres and abilities of creative writing, as well as coaching, editing, and marketing services. A schedule of all classes, with online registration, is available online or by calling (262) 446-0284. AllWriters’ is located at 234 Brook Street, Unit 2, in historic downtown Waukesha, as featured in Milwaukee’s Journal Sentinel.

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AllWriters’ Assistant

summer@summerhanford.com

www.summerhanford.com

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234 Brook St., Unit 2
Waukesha WI 53188
Phone: (262) 446-0284
www.allwritersworkshop.com
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Rex Owens, Contemporary Irish Fiction

               

Murphy’s Troubles

Rex Owens

ISBN: 978-0615895048

eBook: $2.99

Print: $14.99

Buy on Amazon

Ian Padraic Murphy harbors a scandalous secret. To avenge the death of his best friend in a Belfast raid, Ian joins the Provisional IRA which he conceals for 30 years. He meets investigative reporter Eileen Donohue and friendship blossoms into a love affair. Eileen inadvertently discovers the man she thought was a reclusive novelist is actually the brain trust for the IRA. Eileen betrays her lover by disclosing his secret in Ireland's leading newspaper. Driven by guilt and remorse, Ian atones for his years in the IRA by working with Sinn Fein to negotiate the 1998 Peace Accord which ended The Troubles in Ireland. After deserting the IRA Ian's own troubles are far from over when they order his assassination. The assignment is given to his friend, IRA Commander, Kieran Fitzpatrick. Will Ian pay the supreme price for disloyalty to the IRA?

My review:

Owens has a passionate voice for the historical extremist movement in contemporary Ireland. Told mostly through alternating viewpoints, the reader is carried along with Ian Murphy, who as a young university student, is recruited and serves the next thirty years in the Irish Republican Army.

With loving exacted scenery and dialect, the author transports his readers to the Ireland of the sixties, to the underlying despair of prejudice, anger, and inequality due not to outward characteristics, but to devotion and heritage according to faith. Allegiance to a culture of religion causes sides to be taken and lines to be drawn. Owens’ fictional account of the inner workings of what it might have been like for principal players in the movement, unable to trust anyone, not even the people you grew up with, called brother, or confessed to or shared a bed with, provides a rich and satisfying read.

Out of Darkness, book 2

Rex Owens

eBook

Print

ISBN: 978-0983298489

Buy on Amazon

Author Ian Murphy battles lifelong alcoholism and chronic depression. Desperate to cleanse his soul, Ian dedicates himself to finding redemption. To confront his demons, he spends a summer hiking on Dingle Peninsula. He meets Mairin McCarthy, and finds unconditional love but still succumbs to the shadows within.

In the fall of 1998 the British government is determined to build walls in Belfast to separate Catholics and Protestants. The only peace citizens of the city can have requires walls. Murphy dedicates himself to stopping more walls from being built. He's convinced the challenge is his path to redemption.

While living in Belfast Ian learns that distrust and hatred divide the city's residents as much as the walls do. Both Catholics and Protestants accept the walls as the price of peace. The walls will be built. How will Ian Murphy find redemption and crawl out of the darkness?

My review:

Owens slips into first person for this second book of his trilogy about contemporary Ireland and the violence of religious extremism. We left Ian Murphy at the end of book one still alive after his friend is ordered to execute him. Realizing his entire life was one of self-imposed seclusion and layers of lies, Murphy tries to reach out and grasp a spark of life before he has nothing left but darkness. In the first book, Murphy wants to end it all; in this book, he’s coming out to meet the life he’s missed.

Told in on-the-spot scenery and dialog, Owens transports readers into a vicarious visit in Ireland of today, with all the nuances, smells, and sights that hide the brewing troubles. The authors has a fine voice with a message of hope that any reader in any era can grasp.

About the Author:

In 1997 novelist Rex Owens attended the first of many UW Madison Writers Institutes. The featured speaker was author was Robert Moss who talked about conscious dreaming as a way to explore the writing life. The die was cast to be a writer. In 1999 he joined a critique group led by Dr. Laurel Yourke where he learned craft the old fashioned way – by writing. 

His son brought him newspapers from Ireland. He read a story of children injured in the Peace Zone in Belfast in 1998 which became the inspiration for MURPHY’S TROUBLES. By 2003 Dr. Yourke suggested he had enough material to consider writing a novel.