GO - The Fighting Words Youth Advisory Panel

Kaila Patterson

Belfast

Member of Fighting Words NI Write Club and Young Playwrights (Spring 2022). Writer of novels and plays with a bit of poetry. Hopes to support Fighting Words and encourage young people to get creative and use their voice – on the page, stage, and to create change.

Patrick Maginnis

Co. Down

Member of Fighting Words NI for over two years. Enjoys writing poetry but loves short prose and is working through a science-fiction novel. Hopes to ensure that writing is available to anybody who wants it- all people from every generation have ‘the write to right’.

Michael Corbett

Co. Cork

I'm excited to be a part of this. I'm fairly new to Fighting Words. I was published in the Irish Times Supplement in 2022. I have a lifelong passion for writing and hope to pursue English in college next year! I usually write short stories

Éire Ní Fhaoláin

Co. Wexford

Is mise Éire Ní Fhaoláin agus táim sa chúigiú bliain i Meánscoil Gharman. I write in Irish and English in Write Club and have been published in a literary magazine and with Fighting Words. I want to encourage young writers to involve the Irish language in their creative work. Tá an-sceitimíní orm a bheith mar chuid de Ghuthanna Óga le Fighting Words.

Darragh Kelly

Co. Wicklow

Involved in Fighting Words events like Young Playwrights as well as the Edna O'Brien Bursary, volunteered at the Museum of Literature Ireland. I'm obsessed with writing and reading. I have completed a fantasy novel and am in the middle of numerous redrafts.

Eden Byrne

Belfast

I'm relatively new to Fighting Words, however I am also a young volunteer. I have been interested in writing from a young age, especially poems and short stories. I had a poem published in a poetry collection in 2019. I hope to help make Fighting Words even better for the next generation of young writers.

Rachel Wilkinson

Co. Antrim

Member of Fighting Words since 2020. I have taken part in two radio play projects and have had a radio play commissioned by BBC Radio 4! I am so excited to be a member of the youth advisory panel. I hope to make writing more accessible and achievable to everyone, and help young people feel more confident in their writing.

Wiktoria Willer

Dublin

Born in Kraków, Poland. I've loved writing since I was a little kid but only got involved with Fighting Words this summer when I took part in their playwriting summer camp. It was heaps of fun and I knew I found my people. I mostly write short stories about deeply flawed characters struggling to make sense of their place in the world, and I love reading just about anything that piques my interest.

Emily Keane

Co. Galway

I have been a member of Fighting Words Write Club for two years. I joined two Fighting Words summer camps. Last year I won the teens category for Poetry in Bloom and this year I represented Ireland in a climate crisis anthology of creative writing. I mainly write poetry and would love to encourage other teens across Ireland to get creative and start writing.

Tara McLean

Co. Antrim

I've been a member of Playwright Club for three years. I made a radio play and a play at Lyric Theatre in Belfast. I have been into creative writing since young.

Eabha Farrell

Dublin

I've loved writing for as long as I can remember and have been involved with Fighting Words in various ways for nearly ten years, from summer camps to Write Club to co-writing a play performed in the Gate Theatre. I write prose mostly, especially short stories. Fighting Words has given me so much over the years, and I'm thrilled to have a chance to give something back.