author
& playwright
Elaine Desmond is an award-winning writer. Based in Mallow, Co. Cork, she has had two plays produced, and her short stories have been shortlisted for the Bridport and Fish Short Story prizes. One of her short stories came second in the Colm Tóibín International Short Story prize as part of the Wexford Literary Festival. Her work frequently takes inspiration from her travels in Africa, India and throughout Europe.
Full details of Elaine’s academic work can be found here.
Author
Elaine Desmond
words
That Inspire
“The secret energy in a gaze would have been unthinkable. He wanted that which had been so fleeting to become solid. The only way he knew to make that happen was to write it down. Should he have let it pass so that it would have faded completely. This, the story of his life?”
Colm Tóibín, The Magician
theatre
“The sole duty and justification for art is social criticism.”
Tom Stoppard, Travesties
‘I think you become invisible as you age. Unless we do mad things with our hair or something. Then we’re seen alright. But there’s a definite invisibility.’
At Your Age?!
‘… sitting here talking to you like this, you know with everyone together…[it’s] like I count and I’m strong and I’m fighting back.’
A Footprint of Roses
Amma
Short Story
Amma is set in India. It is based on a newspaper article, a tiny clipping in a corner of a page, which I came across while researching for my PhD. Amma was shortlisted for the Fish Short Story Prize in 2019 and for the Bridport Prize in 2018. (It was one of 96 stories out of 4377 to be shortlisted for the Bridport Prize).
Devi is the divine mother of the Hindu world.
She is a cosmic force, addressing the creation
and destruction of worlds.
Politics
Elaine’s creative writing, newspaper articles and academic work are often hard-hitting and tackle difficult social issues.
Life
As well as celebrating art in all its forms, Elaine’s work raises awareness of global issues through explorations of the everyday.
Yoga
Being a practitioner and advocate of Yoga, Elaine was delighted to write a number of articles for Yoga Therapy Ireland.
Get in Touch
Contact Elaine
If you would like to get in touch with Elaine or enquire about collaborations and rights to produce her plays simply email Elaine at info@elainedesmondwriter.ie