Kildare writer wins prestigious literary prize

A Kildare writer is celebrating having won the Memoir section of the Write by the Sea annual writing competition, awarded last month at the Write by the Sea Literary Festival in Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford.

Brenda Drumm is from Newbridge Co Kildare, and is a former presenter of the Arts Show on Kildare's KFM radio station.

Along with the other winners, Brenda was presented with her award and was given a chance to read her work at the official opening of the festival in Kilmore Quay, Wexford on Friday September 26.

Her winning memoir piece of 1,000 words is called 'In Heaven There Are Beaches', with the official judging commentary noting: “For the reader there is no looking away. The skill of the writing ensures we stay with the narrator and are moved by writing that treats a most difficult subject with both tenderness and an unflinching rigour.”

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“I have always written short stories and journal pieces. I write everyday in my work in the field of communications whether it is articles, reflections or short content for social media. It can sometimes be difficult to find leftover words after a busy day of writing and editing but I have always tried to write something for myself each day after work. I find it helps to make sense of a day”, Brenda says to Kildare Live about her win.

“I have written short stories over the years but I always feel that my fictional characters are a bit rubbish and they’re not believable. Whereas when I’m writing memoir it’s about me. It’s not a vanity thing, but I know that what I’m writing is real, and it’s true. There’s maybe therapy in committing some of this to paper and letting it fly.”

Winning in the Write by the Sea competition came somewhat of a surprise to Brenda, she says, as she admits that she does not normally enter literary competitions.

“I was really surprised when I was first long-listed, and then short-listed over the summer. Honestly I thought it would stop there - that was enough of an honour for me to make the shortlist. 
When the email arrived in early September, telling me I had won first place, I was surprised and delighted. That quickly turned to slight terror when I realized I would have to stand on a stage and read my piece”, she says.

Brenda admits that in preparation for the event in Wexford – which saw writers like John Banville, Claire Keegan and Paula Meehan take to the stage – she rehearsed the piece but would inevitably get upset upon reading her piece, such was the nature of the text.

“My memoir piece is based on my life experience and is set in the not too distant past and begins with me sitting at a Rome airport reading a text and a draft poem from my adult daughter. The poem she wrote and sent to me recalls a time in the more distant past- almost twenty years ago - when I was seriously ill over many months, and when my daughter was a small child.

“My memoir conveys some of Emma’s childhood responses to visiting me in hospital and observing my convalescence and recovery. It was an illness that took me to the brink of life, and has made me grateful for each day since.”

Brenda's memoir is one of candour and honesty; she admits that while the piece is “stark” at times, it is also a “celebration of survival” and of the unique relationship between a mother and her children.

Brenda's piece will be published in literary journal 'The Waxed Lemon.' 

She has also been invited to read her winning memoir piece at the Waterford Writers Festival over the October Bank Holiday Weekend. 

She is currently working on a full-length memoir.