A Barna man has won the annual Maeve Binchy UCD Travel Award, worth €4,000, and plans to follow the route of an epic journey taken by Lenin nearly 100 years ago.
John McHugh, from Ballard, is the son of Sean and Mary, and is currently a post-graduate student of fine arts at UCD. He is also working towards the completion of his debut collection of short stories.
Winners use the award to fund a travel opportunity to enhance their creative writing – John’s intention is to track Lenin’s journey in April 1917, from Switzerland to Leningrad.
“The sealed carriage, containing Lenin, travelled through Germany, Sweden, Finland and across the Baltic Sea, and I want to follow this exact path,” he says.
“The entire journey, which began with Lenin hearing in passing about the beginning of the revolution in Russia – a moment itself worthy of a Monty Python sketch – is bizarre, surreal, and rife with potential.
“What fascinates me about travelling is the period before you arrive at your destination, how all your thoughts are either lost in the past or drifting to the future. In the midst of travelling, the present is partially erased for the journey-goer.
“Maeve Binchy herself explored a form of this idea in ‘The Lilac Bus’, where the journey to Rathdoon acts a mode of reflection. The bus grants the characters’ sustained space to examine themselves, whereas Rathdoon and Dublin act as present points of drama. It is the quality of fluxion between past and future – musing upon past decisions whilst racing towards future ones, the present neither here nor there – which Lenin’s journey represents for me.”
The Maeve Binchy UCD Travel Award, which is only in its second year, commemorates the late author’s love of travel and her creative writing.
The Award is open to any student currently enrolled in UCD’s College of Arts & Celtic Studies.
“The Maeve Binchy UCD Travel Award is greatly cherished by our student body and the UCD School of English, Drama and Film has been delighted to develop it, with the support of the Maeve’s family.” Professor Margaret Kelleher said.
“We can see its value, not only in the many quality applications we have received, but also in the widespread welcome for a writing award that encourages imagination and supports adventure. This a very fitting way to mark the continuing legacy of Maeve Binchy and we all warmly congratulate John on his success.”
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