John W Sexton

County

Kerry

Genre

Poet, Short-Story Writer, Children's Writer

Sessions

Reading and Q&A, Creative Writing Workshop, Master Class

Age Group

7 - 10, 16 - 18

Level

Primary, Post Primary

Languages

Works in English ONLY

Availability

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
Mornings, Afternoons

Travel

Yes

Publications/Repertoire/Productions & Background Experience

John W Sexton is the author of six poetry collections including The Prince’s Brief Career, (Cairn Mountain Press, 1995), Shadows Bloom / Scáthanna Faoi Bhláth, a book of haiku with translations into Irish by Gabriel Rosenstock (Doghouse, 2004), Vortex (Doghouse, 2005), Petit Mal (Revival Press, 2009), The Offspring of the Moon (Salmon Poetry 2013) and Futures Pass (Salmon Poetry 2013). He also created and wrote The Ivory Tower for RTÉ Radio, which ran to over one hundred half-hour episodes from 1999 to 2002. Two novels based on the characters from this series have been published by the O’Brien Press: The Johnny Coffin Diaries and Johnny Coffin School-Dazed, which have been translated into both Italian and Serbian. He has recorded an album with legendary Stranglers frontman, Hugh Cornwell, entitled Sons of Shiva, which has been released on Track Records. He is a past nominee for The Hennessy Literary Award and his poem The Green Owl won the Listowel Poetry Prize 2007. Also in 2007 he was awarded a Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry.

For teens and children he has facilitated and edited many publications, including:

Rhyme Rag #3 (2007), and was also the first editor of the online version of the journal for eighteen months from 2015. Published by Kilkenny Arts Office.
The Unfinished Book 2008-2012 and again in 2016. Published by Cork City Council and Cork City Library Service.
Ó Mo Pheann Féin (2011), Editors John W. Sexton & Eileen Sheehan. Published by Kerry Education Service/Poetry Ireland/Kerry Library.
Transmogrified Lives: Anthology of Short Fiction by Cork Teenagers (2015). Published by Cork City Library Service.

He was Story Editor for the Cork City Graphic Novel Project for six years: selecting for and editing Redshift (2009), Syzygy (2010), Interstice (2011), Fractals (2012), Discordia (2013) and Möbius (2014). All published by Cork City Library.

Session Details

Workshop sessions begin at a minimum of one hour, but two hours is preferable if this can be accommodated by the school timetable. I generally give workshops on story construction, covering the creation of a coherent plot, characterisation, motivation and description. I also give poetry workshops, looking at subject, form and style.

Age Group Details

Preferred age group: 10-18 year olds

Telephone

087 23 73 788

Email

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Website

https://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=472&a=244