Fighting Words

Fighting Words was set up in 2009 by Roddy Doyle and Seán Love, and the whole thing rests on one decision: every programme is free of charge. Primary and secondary school workshops, after-school sessions for youth groups, workshops for adults including older people and people with disabilities, Transition Year placements, and summer camps in Dublin for ages eight to seventeen, each week built around a different form, from playwriting to graphic fiction.

The workshops are run by trained volunteer writing mentors, all Garda vetted. In its first decade it reached over 120,000 children and young people, and it now runs from a dozen locations around the country.

They do not publish a street address on the site, so book or enquire through their own page rather than turning up.