In the intimate and relaxed surroundings of Kennedy’s Pub, Icarus, Trinity’s literary magazine and Ireland’s oldest creative writing journal, launched the third issue of the year, marking the last issue of its 67th volume.
The last issue under editors Leo Dunsker and Will Fleming, the issue featured works by members of the Trinity community as well as featured writers Randolph Healy, Kit Fryatt, Billy Mills and Sarah Hayden. Fryatt, a Dublin poet and a lecturer in Dublin City University’s (DCU) Department of English, read a portion of her work “Pros of the Transsiberian & Little Flint of the Ronson”, which has been published in the issue. Her reading of the work translates Blaise Cendrars’s poem, “Prose du Transsibérien et de la petite Jeanne de France” into English from the perspective of his imaginary companion.
A number of student contributors, including Ed Salley, Sophie Fitzpatrick, Sean Pierson and Michelle Nicolau, read their work to the assembled crowd, each met with enthusiastic applause. Some read more than one work which had been published in the issue, proving the magazine’s ethos of staying true to the best of Trinity’s literary talent at any given time.
The physical edition was strewn around the room for attendees, with its front cover designed by Nathanaël Roman, complementing the two earlier editions of the volume, by the same designer. Divided up into two sessions of readings, allowing time for attendees to talk and mingle, the night offered plenty of opportunities to appreciate the work on offer.
The issue, noticeably larger than those previous, allowed the team to feature more of Trinity’s talent and provide more space for important works. Speaking to The University Times Dunsker expressed his pleasure that the larger publication allowed the team to publish works that were “over five pages long” and to feature writers that had never been published before. In their editorial, Dunsker and Fleming note that they are “happy to have published a number of writers ‘outside’ Trinity who, through their work as editors, organizers, and critics, have helped poetry to be read”.
Finishing up the evening, Fleming thanked those in attendance and those who had submitted over the year, with Dunsker offering the best of luck to the editors of the magazine’s 68th volume, Fitzpatrick and Pierson.
