Tirhugh's poetess releases her second book

A County Derry writer has praised the support of the local community which she says has allowed her to publish her second book.

Ellen Morren's collection of poetry, entitled 'Enquire Here Within Vol. II', comes just over six months after the publication of her first book.

The South Derry woman's second instalment once again is inspired by Ellen's childhood growing up in Tirhugh, located between Swatragh and Slaughtneil.

Divided into five sections, themes such as love, life and the future, death and nature are explored throughout the book, and as Ellen explains in her post script: “I have tried to include a little bit of everything for everybody.”

Poems such as 'Hope' and 'Look to the future' are positive and uplifting while 'At my hand' and 'Fading' evoke sadness and loss.

Meanwhile, the beauty of nature and wildife is explored in poems such as 'The flowers bloom' and 'Wee birdie'.

The collection of poetry is sure to resonate with locals familiar with the area and will also evoke some fond memories.

For Ellen, who lives in Maghera, seeing her second book in print is 'a dream come true'.

“It feels absolutely amazing to have had two books published, I never in my wildest dreams ever thought that I would have one published,” she said.

“It's all thanks to the local and wider community who have given me nothing but support that I have been able to publish my second book.

“The profits I made from my first book sales went straight into self publishing my second, as my first was also self published.”

For now, Ellen's books are sold locally in Maghera but she has ambitions to branch out into online sales in the future.

“I hope to write more in the future, as long as people keep enjoying my work I will keep writing as I have so many more poems written, I am always writing something and a phrase soon becomes a sentence and then gradually develops into another poem. Someone recently said to me that 'poetry is now your vocation'.”

Inspired by many writers, Ellen places Michael Cunliffe and Ella Wheeler Wilcox amongst her favourites.

However, it's the feedback from locals which really inspires her to continue with her passion.

“The more poetry I write, the more feedback I get,” she continued.

“Comments such as 'brilliant', 'very talented', 'just comes naturally' and my particular favourite 'you can hear your voice through that book' helps me to get that little bit better in the hope that my work resonates with people the more who get to read it.

“With the knowledge in hand that people enjoy my work, I hope to branch out further afield and possibly Amazon will be my next port of call.”

She added: “I base my words still on all I see around me and the numerous books I read, a lot from Maghera Library where I did a poetry reading last month and hope to do more in the future as I believe it's important to support your local library and all that they do for us, more than we realise.”

'Enquire Here Within Vol. II', which was printed by Magherafelt-based DJ Print, is currently on sale in Crawfords Maghera and Maghera Historical Society, priced at £5.