The much-celebrated John Hewitt International Summer School will run in 2025 from Monday 28th July – Saturday 2nd August at the Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre in Armagh.  The theme this year, inspired by John Hewitt’s poem ‘The Colony’ is ‘Our country also: difference and belonging’.  The Summer School will feature writing workshops, author readings and talks, panel discussions, exhibitions and evening performances, as well as an open mike and creative writing showcase. The full programme is available at the John Hewitt Society website.

Bernie McGill will facilitate the Short Story Writing workshops taking place on Monday 28th, Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 31st July from 2.45 pm to 4.45 pm. (Attendance is required at all three workshops. Fee: £75.) Full details and booking at the Market Place Theatre.

Bernie will be in conversation with internationally acclaimed author Tessa Hadley at the Market Place Theatre, Armagh on Friday 1st August at 1.30pm. Tessa Hadley has penned eight novels including Accidents in the Home (longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award) and more recently, The Past, Late in the Day and Free Love. She has published four short story collections: Sunstroke, Married Love, Bad Dreams and After the Funeral which won the 2024 Edge Hill Short Story Prize, following her previous win with Bad Dreams in 2018. Her most recent book, The Party, was published to critical acclaim at the end of last year. She won the Windham Campbell Prize for Fiction in 2016, and The Past won the Hawthornden Prize for 2016. (Tickets £12.) Booking and details at the Market Place Theatre.

Tickets are available for all individual events; daily tickets are priced at £45; weekly tickets (excluding workshops) are £240; weekly tickets (including a workshop course) are £305.

Bursary applications for the John Hewitt International Summer Scheme covering admission to all events and workshops are open until Wednesday 14th June. Full bursaries include accommodation. Half-bursaries without accommodation are available to those from the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon (ABC) Council Area. For full information on eligibility and how to apply visit the John Hewitt Society.

See you there!

Bernie McGill is the 2023 winner of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize for her collection This Train is For, published by No Alibis Press. Her first short story collection Sleepwalkers, originally shortlisted for the Edge Hill, has just been republished by No Alibis, now including a new short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4. She is the author of two historical novels: The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House.