Research Talk - 12th October, 2022

The second research talk I attended took place on October, 12th and was conducted by the author Rita Kelly who was discussing her short story collection. Rita Kelly is an Irish poet who was born

Rita Kelly- Image from Portáidí

1953 and is from Ballinasloe, County Galway and has published collections in both Irish and English.

It was evident from the beginning of the talk that Rita Kelly is gifted with words. She was an especially engaging speaker and it’s clear she is accustomed to reciting her work because she had a way of keeping you entranced while she spoke. Through her work, Kelly achieved a PhD by prior publication which she described as a long process that was not easy.

It's clear Kelly's passion is within the short story not only because that's what the talk focused on but she went on to discuss her love for the form and how she wanted to not only write but to enjoy it. Kelly cites Cork as the home of the short story while Munster as a whole was seen as rich. While the collection consists of a number of short stories Kelly focused on two as representative of her style. In one, she writes about Ireland, school and catholicism while the other focuses on external descriptions of nature such as the moon.

Rita Kelly not only discussed her only work but bestowed invaluable knowledge and personal wisdom upon us such as her view of "ghosting ideas". Where in you might considering the idea of having children or not and in that situation one concept is ghosted. Kelly also went on to cite some personal backstories as the emotion in her stories often came from her own life. She described visiting her father in a mental hospital, seeing him crawling around the floor following treatment but never telling her mother of what she had seen so as not to worry her. Another memorable piece of information was that Rita Kelly got married at 19 to Eoghan Ó Tuairisc another Irish writer and poet who was 53 when they wed. Rita Kelly lead a very interesting life and it is reflective in her work I think. Not only that but it's evident that her life and the experiences she had have taught her many lessons that she shared with us during the talk.

Not only was the talk extremely interesting from an academic point of view, listening to Rita Kelly discuss her work and her writing, but beyond that the advice and wisdom she shared with us was indispensable.