Irish Teenager Published on National Stamp

By Jason Boog 

A teenaged writer in Ireland has been published on stamps around his country. We’ve embedded the special stamp above, containing a complete 224-word story.

Composed by then 17-year-old writer Eoin Moore, the short short story was created in Dublin’s Fighting Words program for young writers.  Kids in the program submitted their work, trying to convey “the essence of Dublin” with just 224 words.

The stamp celebrates “Dublin’s permanent designation as UNESCO City of Literature.” You can purchase the stamp at this link.

The city will host the Dublin Writers Festival from May 20th- 26th , a literary event that spans the entire Irish city.

You can read the complete story below…

The thick clouds cover up the moonlight, but the city’s lights provide worthwhile illumination – above them all, the beacon burns bright atop the monolithic podium, signalling to wayfaring voyages the ancient Viking settlement.  Now, where Norsemen once stood, I look back, along the quays, streets and alleys, to where the inhabitants live their lives: eating, speaking, and breathing their city into existence.  It gives me cause to wonder, as I stroll aimlessly along the cobbled paths, about those who have traversed them before me, by carriage or before there were even cobbles to walk upon.  I feel their lives and mine are somehow connected, that we all were at one point a part of this city, living pieces of its grand, striking framework.   Every High King and scholar, every playwright and poet, every politician and every rebel, every merchant, student, and busker who ever set foot in the city holds or held onto a chunk of this city’s soul; every one of them stepped to the city’s heartbeat.  I listen to the streets at night and I can feel the city’s lifeblood pumping through me; I can feel myself flowing through it.  All of us who travel those arteries step on the words, actions, and lives of those who travelled them before us. The city embodies the people, and the people embody the city.

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