Lia Mills You Had To Be There Author Lia Mills facilitated a year-long series of writing workshops during 2003. After an open call for aspiring writers from the local community, two groups were formed and met regularly to work with Lia and other invited writers, including Booker winning author, Roddy Doyle. A selection of their short stories and poems were published in a book ‘You had to be there’. Just before publication, Alice Maher was invited to respond to the individual stories. Her drawings are reproduced throughout the book and comprised an exhibition in axis which coincided with the book’s launch. The writing group continues to meet on a monthly basis and produced a further collection of stories, ‘The Wake’, which was published and distributed to all households in Ballymun on the 9th July 2004 to mark the demolition of the first tower in Ballymun. The "Tall Stories" writing group are also publishing a new book with Sterling University's researcher for the Participation, Inclusion and Equity Network, Heather Lynch.