The campaign will heat up considerably in the Autumn, which of course is already here. It's a crucial issue and one on which the forces of darkness, cowardice, and silliness - those responsible for Ireland's absurd abortion laws - simply must be overcome.
My suggestion is this: wouldn't it be great if there was an anthology of poems, stories, novel extracts, and maybe some non-fiction openly in support of the Repeal the 8th Amendment Campaign.
My suggestion regarding a title for such a book is that it should simply be called 'Repeal'. To have the desired campaign supporting effect, it would need to be put together over the next few months and perhaps published just before Christmas or, perhaps more realistically, in the early New Year.
There is a precedent. In 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, The O'Brien Press published the Irish Writers Against War anthology, which included poems, stories, novel extracts, and non-fiction by over forty Irish writers, north and south, many of them very prominent.
The publicity around the publication of a similar anthology on the issue of abortion would be very useful to Repeal the 8th Amendment Campaign.
I'm not in a position to bring this about. But if it such an anthology of work by Irish Writers For Repeal of The 8th Ammendment were to come into existence, both myself and my wife Susan would actively support and promote it in every possible way.
What do people think?
