The winners of the inaugural Dock/ Reading Room Short Story Competition came into our performance space in December and we recorded them reading from their winning stories. We are delighted to present them here in podcast form for you all to enjoy.
Winner Neil Tully; The Road was Full of Mud
The Road Was Full of Mud was inspired by the west of Ireland countryside on commutes to Boyle and the idea that common ground can almost always be found in the bigger picture, however deep our differences may seem.
Runner up: Louise Cole; When the Tide Turns
Louise's story was inspired by a walk on the beach at Strandhill in County Sligo, where she often spends time observing people. One day, she watched a woman who had her eye on a group of teenagers, and this story emerged after she let my imagination loose with what if…?"
Runner up: Donal Conaty; A Man Does Nothing Meets No One
Donal's story draws on a general tendency he has in his writing to explore the deterioration of the self in the world we live in. Given that these are discomfiting, dislocating times, in which even the most self-assured among us might experience doubt, it flowed readily from this competition’s prompt about 2020 being a year which has focused our attention to what is at the core of who we are.