AN AITIUIL

Dearest friends,

To all those who cast their eyes over this offering and take the time to practice a fine art; that great practice of thumbing gently through a book, we the editors would ask you to take good care of what you hold. In compiling this anthology of work, we have been delighted to offer home to the work of a great many authors, friends old and new, but more importantly to attempt to learn what home means to them in a more vivid sense. This anthology is an epitome to us of life in practice and life in passion the likes of which we choose to express in our daily community as ‘Local.’

In this study of locality, being Átiúil, we wished to span the length and breadth of refuge, to peer into hearts as if they were front rooms and find families wrapped in the warmth of tender embrace. We are so happy to share with you these works of place, prose and poem, in hopes they may bring you peace or pleasure. Carry on in your strides the memory of the warmth you leave in the world in search of the beacons of family anew as we can only do in time to come.  

Home takes a great many shapes, from the shadow cast in a hallway at a long journey’s end or the smothering embrace of the one we love. It has been a life’s pleasure to peruse these works submitted and selected for this project and feel at its core the work of a community is in fruition deeply, truly. Thank you for supporting art, for caring about your home and caring about one another above all else. 

As ever: Be well and Be safe

Helen, Tomas, Una and Jack

The Editors xxx