Helena Mulkerns

Helena Mulkerns is a short fiction writer and freelance journalist, whose debut title, "Ferenji", was published in 2016 by Doire Press, and shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards.

The title, "Ferenji", is a word originating in old Arabic meaning foreigners. Civilians working in conflict and post-conflict zones, are known by this nickname in countries from Ethiopia to Vietnam. The collection delivers glimpses of life in the field — warts and all — with a vibrant blend of pathos, dark field humour and satire. Adding to the new genre of contemporary post-conflict literature, it lends a voice to the little-heard international civilian presence.

The book has been broadly acclaimed by writers such as Colum McCann, who described it as: "smart, nuanced, provocative"; Sarah Gilmartin in The Irish Times called it, "an engaging and highly readable collection", Dermot Bolger listed it in his favourite books of 2016, writing that it is "finely written and astutely observed". Nuala O'Connor also listed "Ferenji" among her favourite 2016 books, calling the collection, "beautifully written and topical" and Emer Martin has described Mulkerns as "an international voice that resonates with a deep empathy."

Helena was based in Paris and New York before spending a decade as a Press Officer for UN Peacekeeping Operations in Central America, Africa and Afghanistan. More than two dozen of her short stories have been published internationally – in anthologies from Croatia to Australia – and she has been shortlisted for America’s Pushcart Prize, the Hennessy/Sunday Tribune Literary Awards and the Francis MacManus Short Story Award in Ireland. She edited the anthology “Turbulence - Corrib Voices” in 2003 (with an introduction by Mike McCormack), and then in 2013, “Red Lamp Black Piano” (with an introduction by Patrick McCabe), a collection featuring writers who appeared in The Cáca Milis Cabaret, an Arts event she curated for twelve years. Both books are available on Amazon and include work from writers such as Susan Lanigan, Patrick Chapman, Emer Martin, Dermot Bolger, Eoin Colfer, Erin Fornoff, Dave Lordan, Sarah Maria Griffin, Peter Murphy, Billy Roche and many more.

Helena is working on a new collection of linked short fiction set in Paris and New York, and a novel set during the early days of the recent pandemic.