Fiona Keane and Fin Keegan created SixPens in 2010 as a means of connecting with writers . We gathered in rooms on Winter nights, at weekend retreats in Old Rectory Retreat (2010–19) and periodic classes and workshops. We can evaluate, edit and publish your book, coach and mentor…and more.
Fiona Keane is a:
- Creativity Coach with a lifetime of experience fighting Resistance and Impostor Syndrome and a strong impulse to help others overcome their obstacles to making art.
- “I felt you could solve any problem thrown on the table! I was on a high afterwards! I just felt seen and heard in such a profound way. You give such dignity and importance to the call of art.”
–Visual Artist Cas McCarthy - “It was amazing and the way you addressed my issue of ownership of characters, well let’s just say I have been waiting my whole life to hear what you said last night. Thank you for giving me the freedom to release some of these characters without censorship.”
–Writer Michelle B.
- “I felt you could solve any problem thrown on the table! I was on a high afterwards! I just felt seen and heard in such a profound way. You give such dignity and importance to the call of art.”
- Songwriter (Click here to hear one of Fiona’s songs, “Lonely Game” on Soundcloud).
- Playwright: In 2018 Lucky Town, A Musical was added to Youth Theatre Ireland’s PlayShare and in Feb 2019, was featured as Play of the Week.
- “Congratulations on the superb production of Lucky Town, a wonderful piece of musical theatre. I’ve never seen youth theatre engage with universal themes of home, community and love in a way that seemed so vibrant and fresh and relevant to teenagers! All their wonderful individuality seemed to make them so comfortable on stage.”
–Orla Murphy, Architect & RTE Presenter.
- “Congratulations on the superb production of Lucky Town, a wonderful piece of musical theatre. I’ve never seen youth theatre engage with universal themes of home, community and love in a way that seemed so vibrant and fresh and relevant to teenagers! All their wonderful individuality seemed to make them so comfortable on stage.”
- Drama & Public Speaking Teacher
- “Fiona is a joy to collaborate with. I have learned so much that I can use myself in my classroom.”
–Teacher Feedback
- “Fiona is a joy to collaborate with. I have learned so much that I can use myself in my classroom.”
- Fiona’s work has been performed in
- Cleveland, Ohio (July, 2011, 2012),
- Dublin (Filmbase, Project at the Mint)
- New York (Theatre for the New City).
- Her articles have appeared in America′s Elite 1000 (Cadogan, New York), World of Hibernia and the Student Press Review.
Fiona has a Master′s (MFA) in Playwriting from Columbia University, a BA from Trinity College Dublin, and a Diploma from the Gaiety School of Acting, where she also later taught. Fiona completed the PGDE at NUI Galway and brings writing, drama and public speaking courses into schools.
Fiona′s many jobs have included Real Estate Appraiser in Las Vegas, Script Evaluator at New York Theatre Workshop and Writing Teacher at the College of Southern Nevada.
It is something of a passion of Fiona′s to help people work through their “resistance” (we all seem to have it) and release their creativity. Get in touch: hq@sixpens.com
Fin Keegan is a writer, editor and (lapsed!) radio broadcaster, described as “a sharp and insightful journalist” by Alicia Barney (Newsweek, Slate). His creative writing has been described as “exuberantly satiric and acid-edged” by the Irish Daily Mail and “riotous…brilliant”, by MetroLife Dublin.
Before returning to Ireland some years ago, he was a radio producer and occasional host on Nevada Public Radio KNPR in the United States. Prior to his radio work, he taught at the University of Nevada UNLV and edited the Contemporary Civilization Reader (2002: 9th Ed), published by the Core Curriculum Office of Columbia University for the use of the more than one thousand undergraduates.
His writing has appeared in/on the The Irish Times (archived version here), BBC World Service radio, the Amsterdam Quarterly and the Dublin Review of Books (archived here) among others. Plays have been performed in Dublin, Las Vegas and Cleveland. His poems were shortlisted for the Overton Poetry Pamphlet Prize in 2024 and both the Fish and Bournemouth Poetry Prizes the year before. Fin holds a BA from Trinity College Dublin and an MFA from Columbia University.