Saturday 26^th September 2026
10.00 am – 4.00 pm

Near the time of the Autumn Equinox, as the days begin again to noticeably shorten, this writing day will be an opportunity to reflect, take stock, and write whatever is in your head that wants to be written. We will spend the day in the mellow setting of Ballyeamon Barn and in a community of fellow writers. We will read short extracts from published writers to generate ideas, and offer prompts and suggestions for stimulation. All levels of experience are welcome, from published writers to first-timers, poets, fiction and memoir writers alike. Come with writing materials and an open mind, prepared to write.

Tea, coffee and lunch will be provided.

Facilitator Bernie McGill is the author of novels The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet. She is the winner of the 2023 Edge Hill Prize for her short story collection This Train is For. She is a Writing for Life Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund and an Honorary member of the Linen Hall Library in which building her writing archive is held. Her work has been widely anthologised and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. She works as a Writing Mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre. Her first short story collection, Sleepwalkers was re-published in 2025 by No Alibis Press.

‘Fall, leaves, fall’ is the title of a poem by Emily Brontë