UN Declaration of Human Rights stories

If you live in Ireland, not only are you very fortunate but you also have daily access to THE IRISH TIMES newspaper.

As this year marks the 60th anniversary of the thirty articles of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, a series has begun in The Irish Times every Saturday, edited by Roddy Doyle, where a different Irish writer responds to one of the articles in prose, fiction or poetry. The series began 2 weeks ago with Seamus Heaney and my own story, The Round Hall, was published last Saturday (in response to Article 10). 28 pieces are to follow from other Irish writers and they will ultimately be collected together in what will no doubt be a handsome anthology.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that the draft of The Round Hall which was published last week was slightly in error. It was the story that I sent in, however I had made a few subtle changes to the centre of the piece and it was that draft which was supposed to be published. Unfortunately, through no one’s fault, an error was made.

No matter. When the stories are collected together later in the year a slightly reworked version of this story will appear. In the meantime, those of you in Ireland should really get a hold of the paper every Saturday.