DCU's MA Creative Writing Alumni in 2022 wins prestigious Wilbur & Niso Smith New Voices Award
DCU's Rachel Ramirez-Ward, who graduated from the MA Creative Writing programme in 2022, has won the prestigious Wilbur & Niso Smith New Voices Award for her manuscript-in-progress, Edo, which began as her MA dissertation here at DCU.
The School of English and Darran McCann, the Chairperson of the MA in Creative Writing congratulates Rachel saying
She richly deserves this recognition winning the 2024 New Voices Award - she's an exciting new voice.
Rachel Ramirez, with her manuscript-in-progress, Edo, is a 2024 New Voices writer.
Trauma can linger for generations. Edo tells the story of a father and daughter’s trauma, spanning decades and continents.
1982. A suburb in New York. When Virginia, a Filipino nurse, finds an injured pigeon on the ground, she is reminded of her estranged father, Edo. At home that night, Virginia begins to read his unopened letters, determined to make peace with the past.
1970. A village in the Philippines. Edo sits on his front porch, his pet pigeons feeding from the lid of a basket near his feet. In his mind, he is recalling the day, years ago, when Japanese soldiers rolled past his porch on bicycles, signalling the start of a war that would upend his life.
In the end it is not just trauma that lingers, but strength, love, and perseverance.
About Rachel: Born and raised in New York, Rachel is a Filipino American fiction writer and business lecturer. Following graduation from Barnard College, Columbia University, she studied at Trinity College, Dublin, where she now lives with her family.
She started writing seriously during Covid, completing an MA in Creative Writing at Dublin City University. Focused on the Filipino diaspora and immigrant experience, much of her writing is inspired by her family and upbringing.
Her short fiction has been published in The Los Angeles Review, The Wrath-Bearing Tree, and West Trestle Review. Rachel is one of the emerging writers featured in Breaking Ground Ireland.