14 November 2020
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
“The Writer-in-Residence will contribute to literary festivals in the city, including Cork World Book Festival in April 2021, as well as to promote Cork City Libraries services and resources.”
Cork City Libraries is pleased to announce the appointment of Tina Pisco as Writer-in-Residence. The Writer-in-Residence will engage communities on climate change and sustainability through writing. This appointment is funded by Creative Ireland and will run until May 2021.
Cork City Libraries contribute significantly to the artistic and creative life of the city and we are delighted to continue our support of the arts at this time when it is greatly needed.
Tina Pisco’s writing career spans a wide range of genres and mediums. Her published work includes best-selling novels, a poetry collection, newspaper columns, and a short story collection; along with articles, comics, scripts and even a cookbook.
Writer Tina Pisco. Photo Credit: Louise Barker
Tina is actively involved in Community Arts and has worked with schools, Community Arts Centres, the Travelling Community, asylum seekers in direct provision, and many other groups.
Due to Covid 19 restrictions, it is expected that most of the engagement with the public will be on-line providing a great opportunity to promote the excellent and expanded on-line resources that the libraries offer. Tina will write a monthly blog and is expected to reach out to communities through various workshops and other on-line events in the new year.
The Writer-in-Residence programme also aims to give the writer the time and space to work on her own writing.
Patricia Looney, Senior Executive Librarian of Cork City Libraries, ‘We are very thankful to Creative Ireland for enabling this appointment which is the first Writer-in-Residence for Cork City Council Libraries. Tina will engage communities and all ages on climate change and sustainability through writing and creative thinking, while also encouraging dialogue on climate change and action.’
Tina Pisco said: “I am delighted and grateful to Cork City Libraries for this appointment, notably because the brief fit so well with my current writing project. To be given the space and time to develop one’s writing is a rare gift indeed. I am currently writing my second collection of short stories. The working title is The Dithering: Tales from the Peri-Apocalypse. The goal was to create a gestalt (whether the stories are stand-alone or interlinked) that gives the overall collection a solid sense of place and time: the peri-apocalypse on our planet. My own personal journey from armchair activist to volunteering in Nea Kavala refugee camp in Greece, compounded with the death of both my parents in the last four years and a close brush with terrorism, is also very much the motivator for choosing this theme.”
The Writer-in-Residence will contribute to literary festivals in the city, including Cork World Book Festival in April 2021, as well as to promote Cork City Libraries services and resources.
Patricia Looney says ‘The appointment is well timed to support the Government’s National Keep Well Resilience Campaign by encouraging people to be creative over the coming months, and into the future as we foresee that this is the first appointment of many Writers-in -Residence for our library service.’
