Phyl Herbert

WEB was the brainchild of Arlen House founder Catherine Rose, who appointed poet Eavan Boland as Creative Director. As an editor at Arlen House from 1978, Boland did much extraordinary work to develop, mentor and promote Irish women writers. The founders of WEB writers’ group initially met at these empowering, transformative workshops hosted by Boland, and they have been meeting continuously for almost forty years, making WEB one of the longest-running writing groups in Ireland. Over the decades, WEB writers and alumni have established highly-successful literary careers, publishing books, having plays and film scripts produced, and winning prestigious literary prizes. This anthology of new poetry, prose and drama, edited by Nessa O’Mahony, is dedicated to the memory of Eavan Boland.

In Herbert's collection, twin sisters share an uneasy reunion in a spa hotel, as secrets bubble up between them; an aging farmer wakes to an empty day, filled only with the sour legacy of betrayal; and a young woman makes a startling bid for freedom with Freddie Mercury's golden voice ringing in her ears.