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#WeAreWithItaly // Lia Mills

A heartwarming message of solidarity from Irish writer Lia Mills.

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«To all my Italian friends and your beautiful, ravaged country:

We have a custom, in Ireland, of placing a lit candle in a window as a beacon for travellers, guiding them home. It says: we are here, we know you’re out there, you will find your way back, even through the darkest of nights.

When you began to share images of yourselves defying the coronavirus with your irrepressible, recognisably Italian spirit, you lifted our hearts as well as your own. You are further along this road than we are but we are on the same road.

You showed us how to stand up in the face of the unimaginable and smile; then you went further and urged us to sing as well, to each other and to strangers. You showed us that there are many kinds of mask and that we can wear them with brio and attitude. We watch, appalled, as your agony grows and we can do nothing except wait – as you waited –for our own to strike. But we grieve with you, we miss you.

It’s hard to imagine now but a time will come when this nightmare is over and we can come together again in the light of a new day in a new world, where we all understand the importance of solidarity and humanity. Until then, we are here, we know you are out there, we will all find a way through this darkest of nights.
Looking forward to that day,
With love,
Lia»

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Lia Mills writes novels, short stories and essays. She has worked on several public art commissions. An experienced writing workshop facilitator, she was writer-in-residence at Farmleigh House 2015-2016 and Arts Council Writer Fellow at University College Dublin for 2016.

Her third novel, Fallen, set in Dublin 1914-1916, was the Dublin: One City One Book selection for 2016. For the first time Dublin City Libraries and Libraries NI (the Library authority of Northern Ireland) teamed up for a joint, Two Cities One Book festival (Dublin & Belfast).

Her first novel, Another Alice (1996) was nominated for the Irish Times Irish fiction prize. Her second novel Nothing Simple (2005) was shortlisted for the Irish Novel of the Year at the inaugural Irish Book Awards. In Your Face (2007), a memoir of her diagnosis of and treatment for oral cancer, was named as a favourite book of 2007 by several commentators.

In 2013 she co-edited Word of Mouth: coping with and surviving mouth, head and neck cancers with Dr. Denise MacCarthy (available to download free from the Dublin Dental University Hospital website, and as an e-book).

Born in Dublin (where she is based), she lived in London and America before returning to Ireland in 1990.

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A few weeks ago we launched #WeAreWithItaly, an open call to collect messages of solidarity to be shared on the IIC social media channels, for Italy and indeed all parts of the world confronting the Covid-19 emergency. Anybody with an existing connection to Italy, or who wishes to join the tributes that have been pouring from all over as means to breach the distance in this time of separation, is welcome to follow these simple steps:

• Make a video recording with their smartphone OR write a message and choose a picture to go with it;
• Send the material to iicdublino@esteri.it, using the platform WeTransfer if necessary.

We believe it is extremely important to foster unity in the extraordinary situation that we all have to confront right now and we would be happy to receive your contribution, which will be uploaded to our social media to endorse a powerful message of social cohesion.