BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Bernie McGill - ECPv6.15.17//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Bernie McGill
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://berniemcgill.com
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Bernie McGill
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:Europe/Dublin
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:IST
DTSTART:20200329T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20201025T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:IST
DTSTART:20210328T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20211031T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:IST
DTSTART:20220327T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20221030T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:IST
DTSTART:20230326T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20231029T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0100
TZNAME:IST
DTSTART:20240331T010000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:+0100
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:GMT
DTSTART:20241027T010000
END:DAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20231112T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20231112T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20231105T164916Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231107T172932Z
UID:2622-1699785000-1699794000@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:FREE Writing and Walking Workshop at Artlink Fort Dunree\, Buncrana\, Co. Donegal
DESCRIPTION:10.30am-1pm Sunday 12th November 2023\nJoin writer Bernie McGill for a writing workshop that takes inspiration from the history and natural environment of the site at Fort Dunree that overlooks Lough Swilly and the North Atlantic. This workshop will offer prompts and writing exercises to initiate ideas and will use as inspiration the works-in-progress in the Saldanha Gallery\, created by the artists and makers who have been working in response to the Sea Change project. We will also use as inspiration the work of writers from across these islands who have written in response to the sea. Participants will have the opportunity (weather permitting) to explore the site and to write in response to their surroundings at Fort Dunree. Dress for the weather and in comfortable walking shoes and bring writing materials\, preferably a hardback notebook (or equivalent) for note-taking outdoors. \nThis is a free workshop but numbers are limited. To book email info@artlink.ie \nInitiated through partnership work with ARTLINK Fort Dunree during 2023\, Sea Change offered three Causeway-based artists and three Donegal-based artists the unique opportunity to work collaboratively to explore our shared cultural heritage of living and working along this stunning island coastline – from the creative inspiration it provides to artists\, to our maritime heritage and also the current environmental crisis and its impact on coastal communities. \nSea Change is a long-term project which we hope will ultimately result in an ambitious touring exhibition potentially involving three venues/organisations on the island of Ireland – Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre\, Artlink and a venue yet to be identified. \nIn this pilot four-month project\, all six artists met on-site at Artlink Fort Dunree to discuss their individual practice\, discover mutual creative connections and influences and also collaborated through various mediums including technology and postal artwork/writings. \nFrom 8-15 November\, the group present elements of their ongoing project work at Artlink with a day of public participation on Sunday 12 November. \nFor full details of the Sea Change Project Showcase featuring artists Cliodhna Timoney\, Nicola Nimec\, Cathal McGinley\, Andrea Spencer and Tim Stampton follow this link to ARTLINK Fort Dunree. \n 
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/free-writing-and-walking-workshop-at-artlink-fort-dunree-buncrana-co-donegal/
LOCATION:Artlink Fort Dunree\, Fort Dunree\, Buncrana\, Co. Donegal\, F93 C424\, Ireland
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/green-chameleon-s9CC2SKySJM-unsplash-scaled-e1629562762417.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Artlink Fort Dunree":MAILTO:info@artlink.ie
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20230724T144500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20230727T164500
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20230702T104653Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230702T132223Z
UID:2586-1690209900-1690476300@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Focus on Short Fiction with Bernie McGill at the John Hewitt International Summer School 2023
DESCRIPTION:A hands-on\, fully participative writing workout that allows you to explore the writing of short fiction\, to consider where your strengths as a writer lie and who you’re writing for. Wherever you are on your writing journey\, from beginners who are not sure how to proceed\, to more experienced writers open to new ways of working\, this course will offer exercises and prompts that will help to develop your work in new directions\, within a community of fellow writers. Come with an open mind\, prepared to write. \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels (The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet) and two short story collections (This Train is For and Sleepwalkers). Her work has been widely anthologised and has been produced by BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. She is an Associate Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund. \nThese workshops at the John Hewitt International Summer School in the Market Place Theatre\, Armagh\, run on Monday 24th\, Tuesday 25th & Thursday 27th July 2023 from 2.45pm – 4.45pm. Participants should attend all three workshop sessions. Spaces are limited – advance booking is essential. Book this workshop at the Market Place Theatre Box Office. \nFull information on events and workshops at the 2023 John Hewitt International Summer School here.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/focus-on-short-fiction-with-bernie-mcgill-at-the-john-hewitt-international-summer-school-2023/
LOCATION:Market Place Theatre\, Armagh\, Market Street\, Armagh\, Armagh\, BT61 7BW\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Bernie-McGill-e1707154324597.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20230225T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20230225T140000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20230125T192945Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230125T192945Z
UID:2562-1677321000-1677333600@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Flex Your Writing Muscles
DESCRIPTION:Have you always wanted to write but didn’t know where to start? Or have you been writing for a while and find yourself in need of a little creative workout? This workshop\, led by author Bernie McGill\, aims to flex your writing muscles through exercises\, prompts and suggestions that will help to strengthen your writing practice and develop your work in a new direction. \nAll levels of experience welcome\, from seasoned writers to first-timers\, poets and fiction writers alike. The workshop will be fully participative with participants taking part in writing exercises and sharing their work with other group members. Come with writing materials\, prepared to write. \nThere will be a short break for lunch (please bring your own). \nSuitable for 16y + \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (named by Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012). Her collection of short stories\, Sleepwalkers\, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her new collection\, This Train is For was published by No Alibis Press in 2022. \nBook for this workshop on the Burnavon website.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/flex-your-writing-muscles/
LOCATION:Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre\, Burn Road\, Cookstown\, BT80 8DN\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/green-chameleon-s9CC2SKySJM-unsplash-scaled-e1629562762417.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20221020T184500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20221022T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220930T161555Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230702T105600Z
UID:2504-1666291500-1666468800@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Book Week NI Author Panel: John Self hosts Bernie McGill and Wendy Erskine
DESCRIPTION:*This event is now available to view online. \nRenowned international literary critic John Self will host a panel with authors Bernie McGill and Wendy Erskine to discuss their recent short story collections This Train Is For and Dance Move\, and the importance of the short story genre. \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels\, The Watch House\, (2017\, Tinder Press)\, nominated for the Ireland/European Prize for Literature\, and The Butterfly Cabinet\, (2011\, Headline Review)\, and one previous short story collection Sleepwalkers\, (2013\, Whittrick Press)\, shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Her short fiction has been nominated for numerous awards and in 2008 she won the Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Award in the USA. Her work has been anthologised in award-winning collections including The Long Gaze Back\, The Glass Shore\, Her Other Language\, The Danger & the Glory\, Belfast Stories\, and Female Lines. She has been the recipient of numerous Arts Council of Northern Ireland Awards\, and is a former Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund at the Seamus Heaney Centre\, Queen’s University\, Belfast. She now works as a Lector and Associate Fellow for the Royal Literary Fund\, and offers One-to-one mentoring via the Irish Writers’ Centre. This Train is For was published by No Alibis Press in June 2022. \nWendy Erskine lives in Belfast. Her debut collection\, Sweet Home\, was published by The Stinging Fly Press in Sept 2018 and Picador in 2019\, has been translated into Italian and Arabic and optioned for TV. It won the 2020 Butler Literary Award\, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize 2019 and longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2019. The story ‘Inakeen’ was longlisted for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Prize 2019. Sweet Home was Book of the Year in the Guardian\, The White Review\, Observer\, New Statesman\, and TLS. Wendy’s second collection of stories\, Dance Move\, was published in February 2022. Her work has been published in The Stinging Fly\, Winter Papers\, Female Lines: New Writing from Northern Ireland and Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber) and read on BBC Radio 4. \nThis event will be both in person and streamed online. Booking is essential. To book a place in the audience tel. 028 9050 9210 or email: chichester.library@librariesni.org.uk \nTo book a place for the live stream email: events@librariesni.org.uk \nTo download the full programme of events for Book Week NI\, including talks by Serena Terry\, Leesa Harker\, Professor Teresa Cremin\, Colin Bateman\, Rev. Richard Coles\, Donal Ryan\, Steve Cavanagh and Stuart Neville visit Libraries NI.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/book-week-ni-author-panel-john-self-hosts-bernie-mcgill-and-wendy-erskine/
LOCATION:Chichester Library\, 109 Salisbury Avenue\, Belfast\, BT15 5EB
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/b2963e4f6e178391bdd8bf41ae1bbf8e2e370ee4e1d5c154a4d0ce0ecae185e1.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20221016T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20221016T150000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220821T150802Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220821T150802Z
UID:2488-1665928800-1665932400@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:In Conversation with novelists Nuala O'Connor and Martina Devlin at Seamus Heaney HomePlace\, Bellaghy
DESCRIPTION:Join writers Nuala O’Connor and Martina Devlin for a discussion about their historical fiction novels based on the lives of real people. Nuala O’Connor’s novel Nora tells the story of Nora Barnacle\, one of the world’s most famous muses\, bringing her out from behind the shadow of James Joyce. Nora was named a Top 10 2021 historical novel by the New York Times and was the One Dublin One Book choice for 2022. \nMartina Devlin’s new novel Edith: A Novel is set during the War of Independence and focuses on Edith Somerville\, who was one-half of Irish writing sensation Somerville and Ross. Writing with her cousin Violet Martin\, she produced some of Ireland’s most celebrated literary works\, such as The Real Charlotte in 1894 and The Irish RM stories\, which have stayed in print for more than a century. \nNuala and Martina will be in conversation with novelist Bernie McGill to explore historical fiction\, responsibility to the past and the celebration of fascinating women. \nBook via Seamus Heaney HomePlace.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/in-conversation-with-novelists-nuala-oconnor-and-martina-devlin-at-seamus-heaney-home-place-bellaghy/
LOCATION:Seamus Heaney HomePlace\, 45 Main Street\, Bellaghy\, BT45 8HT\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Nora-and-Edith-scaled-e1661094363514.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20221008T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20221008T150000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220818T162317Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220819T131201Z
UID:2449-1665237600-1665241200@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:FLive Book Club with Bernie McGill and This Train is For at Ardhowen Theatre\, Enniskillen
DESCRIPTION:Whether you are an avid reader and in a book club\, or have no time to read and are simply looking for inspiration then come and join us for the FLive Book Club at the Ardhowen Theatre Studio\, Enniskillen. \nTo take part read Bernie McGill’s newly published collection of stories\, This Train is For (released by No Alibis Press on 1st June 2022)\, within your book club or individually\, then buy a ticket for the FLive Book Club and come and chat with Bernie*. \nBook online for FLive Book Club on the FLive Festival website. \n*Bernie will facilitate a Creative Writing Workshop at the Ardhowen Theatre Studio from 10 am – 12 noon on Saturday 8th October. Full details and booking on the FLive Festival website. \n  \nPraise for This Train is For: \n‘This Train is For portrays the complexities of the heart with sensitivity and acute psychological insight. Rendered in the most perfect prose\, Bernie McGill presents lives in physical and emotional transit\, uncertain of the journey’s destination\, understanding that sometimes the most important moments in our lives involve travelling not forward\, but to moments we thought we had left long behind.’ David Park \n‘Bernie McGill is one of the most accomplished short story writers in Ireland today. These stories contain powerful truths and unsettling revelations\, delivered in the gentlest voice. An absolute joy of a collection from start to finish with not a word wasted or misplaced.’\nJan Carson \n‘Wonderful stories of journeys geographical and of the inner kind.’ Bernard MacLaverty \n‘Bernie McGill brings her precise\, lyrical\, deceptively quiet style to these stories in a collection that gleams. This Train is For is the work of a decade\, and it shows; each story burnished; and a book that’s a beautiful addition to No Alibis Press.’ Lucy Caldwell  \n‘This Train is For is a dazzling exercise in compression\, and an exemplification of what the short story form can achieve.’\nNeil Hegarty\, Fortnight Magazine\n\n‘Beneath the exquisite surface – at once lyrical and plain-spoken – of each of these stories is carried a great freight of feeling that McGill handles with humanity and restraint. An excellent collection from one of the finest short story writers working in Ireland today.’ Louise Kennedy \n‘Derry-born Bernie McGill’s second collection of stories has been eight years in the making\, and it was worth the wait. There’s a welcome wit peppering the stories…  closing lines that satisfy while leaving enough open to keep the reader thinking. It’s a rare achievement that McGill makes look easy. But the best story might be the last\, In the Interests of Wonder\, which takes an illusionist’s visit to a school and invests it with sinister strangeness. It reminded me of Thomas Mann’s great allegory of power and credulity\, Mario and the Magician\, and I can offer no higher praise than that.’\nJohn Self\, Irish Times  \n‘Bernie McGill’s new book of short stories is a collection of quiet majesty\, featuring 12 perfectly crafted stories\, all exploring moments of transition in the lives of the lost and the lonely. With a compassionate skill\, these stories are like arrows in flight; we do not know where they have started from\, or where they will land but the journey itself is what is important.’\nCathy Brown\, Dig With It Magazine \n‘The past returns unbidden in Bernie McGill’s artfully unsettling This Train is For\, an intricately crafted collection of unexpected journeys through time and the stations of the heart. The book is a modern meditation on the inextricability of language and history in Northern Ireland\, a place where the naming of things\, or the not-naming of them\, encodes expression with additional layers of meaning.’\nDawn Miranda Sherratt-Bado\, Dublin Review of Books \n  \n  \n 
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/flive-book-club-with-bernie-mcgill-and-this-train-is-for/
LOCATION:Ardhowen Theatre\, Enniskillen\, 97 Dublin Rd\, Enniskillen\, BT74 6FZ\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/This-Train-is-for-scaled-e1652966897387.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20221008T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20221008T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220818T154946Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220818T162945Z
UID:2434-1665223200-1665230400@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Creative Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill at FLive Festival\, Ardhowen Theatre\, Enniskillen
DESCRIPTION:Harness the power of your imagination and creative writing skills and join Bernie McGill for a 2-hour writing workshop as part of FLive Festival at the Ardhowen Theatre Studio\, Enniskillen. This will be a practical workshop on the everyday craft of writing with the aim of sparking ideas for new work. Prompts and exercises will be used. \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (named by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012). Her first collection of stories\, Sleepwalkers\, was shortlisted for the prestigious Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her new short story collection\, This Train is For*\, was published in June 2022 by No Alibis Press. \nBernie was Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) at Queen’s University\, Belfast from 2018 to 2020. She is an Associate Fellow of the RLF and works as a Lector (for Reading Round at Coleraine Library) and Writing Facilitator for the organisation\, and is a Writing Mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre. She lives with her family in Portstewart. \nBook online for the Creative Writing Workshop on the FLive Festival website. \n*Bernie will be at the Ardhowen Theatre Studio at 2pm on Saturday 8th October for the FLive Book Club event featuring This Train is For. Full details on the FLive Festival website.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/creative-writing-workshop-with-bernie-mcgill-at-flive-festival/
LOCATION:Ardhowen Theatre\, Enniskillen\, 97 Dublin Rd\, Enniskillen\, BT74 6FZ\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/green-chameleon-s9CC2SKySJM-unsplash-scaled-e1629562762417.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220928T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20230607T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20210625T145727Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220909T121758Z
UID:2018-1664361000-1686139200@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Reading Round at Coleraine Library
DESCRIPTION:What is a Reading Round group?  \nReading Round is a unique type of reading group that differs in a number of ways from traditional-style book groups. Each group is run by a published author who has worked for at least two years in the Royal Literary Fund’s Fellowship scheme. Reading Round is funded by the Royal Literary Fund and is free for members to join. \nWhere and When will it happen? \nThe Reading Round group will meet in the Meeting Room at Coleraine Library starting again in September 2022. Provisional dates (28th September 2022 through to 7th June 2023) to be confirmed. \nWhat’s involved? \nEach week the group listens to a different piece\, or pieces\, of writing read aloud by the Group Lector. The piece might be a story or a poem though it might also be a speech\, memoir or piece of narrative non-fiction. The group then discusses the piece(s) at some length to really try to get under the skin of the text: What effects does it have on us as we read? How does it achieve those effects? Guided by a Lector\, the group considers the text in detail\, looking at tone\, choice of words\, viewpoint\, the effect of a certain image or turn of phrase\, and so on. There is no extra reading or ‘homework’ to be done either before or after the sessions. No prior knowledge of the texts is necessary\, or even desirable. All that is required of participants is a willingness to listen\, discuss and be open to new ideas. \nWho will lead the group? \nBernie McGill is the Lector for Reading Round at Coleraine Library. She was Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Queen’s University\, Belfast from 2018 – 2020. Her published work includes novels The Butterfly Cabinet  and The Watch House and the short story collection Sleepwalkers. Her new short story collection This Train is For was published by No Alibis Press in June 2022. \nWhy Reading Round? \nThe broad aim of a Reading Round group is to familiarise its members with some excellent and inspiring writing and – for those who are already keen readers – to introduce them to a wider range of literature than they might have discovered alone. Alongside this aim\, it is hoped that attendance at a Reading Round group will help develop members’ critical thinking skills. As the weeks go by\, group members may well find their reading habits changing: they will almost certainly find themselves noticing more; appreciating why the text has been written as it has; perhaps also becoming aware of how the writer of the text is manipulating their readers. The goal is not to agree or to arrive at a definitive reading of the text under discussion; it is to gain a deeper understanding. For many participants\, the group may also provide a valuable opportunity to meet with other readers in a friendly\, stimulating and relaxed environment. To get a full sense of what it is like to be a Reading Round member\, watch the video on the Royal Literary Fund website: https://www.rlf.org.uk/education/reading-round/ \nHow do I join? \nReading Round is free to join and is for anyone who lives within a comfortable travelling distance of Coleraine Library and who is aged 16+. We are looking for participants from a broad range of backgrounds. We do ask that you can commit to the 30 weeks of weekly meetings. There is a limited number of places\, after which names will be added to a waiting list. To book your place\, please email Bernie McGill at bernie.mcgill@rlfeducation.org.uk and tell us where you heard about Reading Round and why it appeals to you.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/reading-round-at-coleraine-library/
LOCATION:Coleraine Library\, Queen Street\, Coleraine\, BT52 1BE\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/books-768426_1920-e1593707412904.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Royal Literary Fund":MAILTO:bernie.mcgill@rlfeducation.org.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220917T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220917T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220819T124052Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220909T142245Z
UID:2430-1663426800-1663430400@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Reading from The Watch House by Bernie McGill at the Old Church Centre\, Cushendun
DESCRIPTION:As part of Culture Month\, Cushendun Old Church Centre is hosting an afternoon of readings with author Bernie McGill\, inspired by the North Antrim coast. \nBernie McGill’s novel The Watch House is set on Rathlin Island at the time of the Marconi telegraphy experiments in 1898. A pair of strangers arrives from the mainland\, laden with mysterious radio equipment\, and the islanders are full of dread. For native Nuala Byrne\, abandoned by her family for the New World and trapped by a prudent marriage to the island’s ageing tailor\, the prospects for adventure are bleak. But when she is sent to cook for Marconi’s men and is enlisted\, by the Italian engineer Gabriel\, as an apprentice operator\, she becomes enthralled by the world of knowledge that he brings from beyond her own narrow horizons. As Nuala’s friendship with Gabriel deepens\, she realises that her deal with the tailor was a bargain she should never have struck. \nPraise for The Watch House: \n‘McGill writes about life\, love and telegraphy with a poet’s clarity’ The Sunday Times \n‘The Watch House\, set on Rathlin Island at the turn of the 20th century\, [is] awash in old rituals and impending transformations\, in loyalties and enmities and all manner of local witchery’ Patricia Craig\, Irish Times Books of the Year \n\n\n\n‘The book is a masterclass in how to marry narrative and setting.’ David Park\, Irish Times \n\n\n\n‘A mesmerising\, clever and surprisingly brutal novel’ Belfast Telegraph \n\n\n\n\n\n\n‘Hard to put down\, this atmospheric book will stay with you long after the final heart-rending denouement\, setting McGill firmly into the panoply of modern Irish writers’ Irish Independent \n‘McGill proves once again she is a masterful storyteller . . . historical fiction at its absolute best’ The Lady \nBook for this event on the Cushendun Old Church Centre website. \n*Please note that Bernie will facilitate a Writing Workshop at the Old Church Centre on the morning of Saturday 17th September from 11am to 1pm. Booking details on the Old Church Centre website.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/reading-from-the-watch-house-by-bernie-mcgill/
LOCATION:Old Church Centre\, Cushendun\, 1 Church Lane\, Cushendun\, BT44 0PG\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/The-Watch-House-328-500.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220917T110000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220917T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220819T124154Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220909T142106Z
UID:2428-1663412400-1663419600@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Writing Workshop\, Old Church Centre\, Cushendun
DESCRIPTION:As part of Culture Month\, Cushendun Old Church Centre is hosting a writing workshop with author Bernie McGill. This will be a practical workshop on the everyday craft of writing with the aim of sparking ideas for new work. Prompts and exercises will be used. \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House* (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (named by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012). Her first collection of stories\, Sleepwalkers\, was shortlisted for the prestigious Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her new short story collection\, This Train is For\, was published in June 2022 by No Alibis Press. \nBernie was Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) at Queen’s University\, Belfast from 2018 to 2020. She is an Associate Fellow of the RLF and works as a Lector (for Reading Round at Coleraine Library) and Writing Facilitator for the organisation\, and is a Writing Mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre. She lives with her family in Portstewart. \nBooking for the Writing Workshop is via the Old Church Centre website. \n*Please note that Bernie will read from her Rathlin island novel The Watch House at the Old Church Centre at 3pm on Saturday 17th September. Full details and booking on the Old Church Centre website.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/writing-workshop-old-church-centre-cushendun/
LOCATION:Old Church Centre\, Cushendun\, 1 Church Lane\, Cushendun\, BT44 0PG\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/green-chameleon-s9CC2SKySJM-unsplash-scaled-e1629562762417.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220813T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220813T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220627T141251Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220627T141746Z
UID:2415-1660386600-1660401000@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Sand\, fire\, glass\, sea: a creative writing and glassmaking workshop at Flowerfield Arts Centre\, Portstewart
DESCRIPTION:Led by Author Bernie McGill and Glass Artist Andrea Spencer of Benefield Spencer Glass\, this half-day workshop will take inspiration from the landscape of the north coast. Following introductions and a short writing exercise\, participants will alternate in two groups between a creative writing session and a glassmaking session\, during which time there will be a break for lunch (please bring your own packed lunch). At the end of the creative writing and glassmaking workshops\, you will have created a piece of creative writing and flameworked glass\, ending the session with a sharing of work. No previous experience is necessary. \nAndrea Spencer maintains a studio in rural Ballintoy on the North Antrim Coast. Her work is inspired by nature\, drawing on natural forms and structures to create pieces which correlate with aspects of the human condition. \nBernie McGill’s most recent short story collection\, This Train is For\, was published in June 2022 by No Alibis Press. Her novel The Watch House was nominated in 2019 for the Ireland/European Union Prize for Literature.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/sand-fire-glass-sea-a-creative-writing-and-glassmaking-workshop-at-flowerfield-arts-centre-portstewart/
LOCATION:Flowerfield Arts Centre\, 185 Coleraine Road\, PORTSTEWART\, Northern Ireland\, BT55 7HU\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/STUDIO-ATMOSPHERE02-scaled.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220727T133000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220727T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220613T195253Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220613T195253Z
UID:2377-1658928600-1658932200@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Celebrating the Short Story with Wendy Erskine & Bernie McGill
DESCRIPTION:Celebrating the Short Story with Wendy Erskine & Bernie McGill in conversation with Paul McVeigh. \nWendy Erskine’s first collection\, Sweet Home (2018)\, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize and won the 2020 Butler Literary Award. In her new collection\, Dance Move\, we meet characters who are looking to wrest control of their lives\, only to find themselves defined by moments in their past. In these stories – as in real life – the funny\, the tender and the devastating go hand in hand \n“Truly magnificent. These stories buzz with life and verve and humour… reminds us how glorious the short story can be.” Danielle McLaughlin. \nBernie McGill’s latest collection of short stories This Train is For\, was published by No Alibis Press in June 2022. She has written two novels\, The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House\, shortlisted for the 2019 Irish/European Union Prize for Literature. Her first collection of stories\, Sleepwalkers was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and her short fiction has been widely anthologised in a number of publications including the award-winning The Glass Shore and The Long Gaze Back.\n“Wonderful stories of journeys geographical and of the inner kind.”  Bernard MacLaverty \nPaul McVeigh is the acclaimed author of The Good Son and Co-Founder of the London Short Story Festival. \nThis event is part of the programme of the John Hewitt International Summer School at the Market Place Theatre\, Armagh from 25th – 30th July 2022. The full programme of workshops\, talks and evening events is available to view here. \nBernie McGill will be taking the Novel Writing – First Chapters workshops on Monday 25th\, Tuesday 26th and Thursday 28th July from 2.45 pm – 4.45 pm. Full details here.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/celebrating-the-short-story-with-wendy-erskine-bernie-mcgill/
LOCATION:Market Place Theatre\, Armagh\, Market Street\, Armagh\, Armagh\, BT61 7BW\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/b2963e4f6e178391bdd8bf41ae1bbf8e2e370ee4e1d5c154a4d0ce0ecae185e1.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220725T144500
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220728T164500
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220613T190338Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220613T195843Z
UID:2366-1658760300-1659026700@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Novel Writing - First Chapters with Bernie McGill at the John Hewitt International Summer School
DESCRIPTION:In this practical and participative course on novel writing you will focus on structuring work; writing openings with impact; creating credible characters and selecting point of view\, as well as opportunities for further developing and submitting work. Suitable for writers who are beginning or developing a novel. \nParticipants should prepare a 250-word synopsis of their novel in advance. \nWorkshops will take place at the Market Place Theatre\, Armagh during the John Hewitt International Summer School on Monday 25th\, Tuesday 26th and Thursday 28th July from 2.45 pm – 4.45 pm. \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels\, The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House (short-listed for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and two short story collections\, Sleepwalkers\, and This Train is For\, published by No Alibis Press\, June 2022. \nBook for this series of workshops here. \nBernie will be in conversation with Wendy Erskine and Paul McVeigh at the Market Place Theatre\, Armagh on Wednesday 27th July at 1.30pm. Full details here. \nYou can view the full programme for the John Hewitt International Summer School\, from 25th – 30th July 2022\, including all workshops\, talks and evening events here.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/novel-writing-first-chapters-with-bernie-mcgill-at-the-john-hewitt-international-summer-school-2/
LOCATION:Market Place Theatre\, Armagh\, Market Street\, Armagh\, Armagh\, BT61 7BW\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/20210907-Bernie-print-0048-scaled-e1655146463898.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220718T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220718T150000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220614T092842Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220614T092857Z
UID:2398-1658152800-1658156400@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Reading & Signing: This Train is For at The Secret Bookshelf\, Carrickfergus
DESCRIPTION:Set in the secret garden in The Courtyard\, Carrickfergus\, The Secret Bookshelf is a hidden gem of a shop. From our showroom of new and lovely books\, browse our bespoke rooms: our geek-den\, crime-alley\, family room\, and second hand store. Come up the stairs and let us\, and the shop\, transport you into the world of books\, where we’re always happy to help with recommendations\, take orders\, or just chat about book-love. \nBernie McGill will read from her new short story collection This Train is For at The Secret Bookshelf on Monday 18th July at 2pm. \nThis new collection\, her first since 2013\, contains unpublished stories along with a number of previously published stories featured within award winning anthologies. \n‘This Train is For portrays the complexities of the heart with sensitivity and acute psychological insight. Rendered in the most perfect prose\, Bernie McGill presents lives in physical and emotional transit\, uncertain of the journey’s destination\, understanding that sometimes the most important moments in our lives involve travelling not forward\, but to moments we thought we had left long behind.’ David Park \n‘Bernie McGill is one of the most accomplished short story writers in Ireland today. These stories contain powerful truths and unsettling revelations\, delivered in the gentlest voice. An absolute joy of a collection from start to finish with not a word wasted or misplaced.’ Jan Carson \n‘Wonderful stories of journeys geographical and of the inner kind.’ Bernard MacLaverty \n‘Bernie McGill brings her precise\, lyrical\, deceptively quiet style to these stories in a collection that gleams. This Train is For is the work of a decade\, and it shows; each story burnished; and a book that’s a beautiful addition to No Alibis Press.’ Lucy Caldwell  \n‘This Train is For is a dazzling exercise in compression\, and an exemplification of what the short story form can achieve.’ Neil Hegarty\n\n‘Beneath the exquisite surface – at once lyrical and plain-spoken – of each of these stories is carried a great freight of feeling that McGill handles with humanity and restraint. An excellent collection from one of the finest short story writers working in Ireland today.’ Louise Kennedy \n‘Derry-born Bernie McGill’s second collection of stories has been eight years in the making\, and it was worth the wait. There’s a welcome wit peppering the stories…  closing lines that satisfy while leaving enough open to keep the reader thinking. It’s a rare achievement that McGill makes look easy. But the best story might be the last\, In the Interests of Wonder\, which takes an illusionist’s visit to a school and invests it with sinister strangeness. It reminded me of Thomas Mann’s great allegory of power and credulity\, Mario and the Magician\, and I can offer no higher praise than that.’\nJohn Self\, Irish Times. 
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/reading-signing-this-train-is-for-at-the-secret-bookshelf-carrickfergus/
LOCATION:The Secret Bookshelf\, 38 Scotch Quarter\, Carrickfergus\, BT38 7DP\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/This-Train-is-for-scaled-e1652966897387.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220716T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220716T133000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220422T135753Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220519T150045Z
UID:2175-1657967400-1657978200@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Creative Writing Workshop: Summer Home with Bernie McGill at Seamus Heaney HomePlace\, Bellaghy
DESCRIPTION:Join writer and facilitator Bernie McGill for a writing workshop in the Moyola Hall and Sensory Garden at Seamus Heaney HomePlace. This will be a practical workshop on the everyday craft of writing with the aim of sparking ideas for new work. Prompts and exercises will take inspiration from the words ‘summer’ and ‘home’ and from Seamus Heaney’s poem of that title. \nAll levels of experience are welcome from experienced writers to first-timers\, as well as poets and fiction writers alike. Participants will have the option to find a spot outdoors in the Sensory Garden (pictured here) to write\, weather permitting\, or indoors in the adjoining Moyola Hall. Come with writing materials\, prepared to write! \nA hard back notebook or clipboard may be useful for writing outdoors. \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet. Her collection of short stories\, Sleepwalkers\, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her new collection of short stories\, This Train is For\, is published by No Alibis Press in June 2022. \nBook at Seamus Heaney HomePlace. \n  \n 
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/creative-writing-workshop-summer-home-with-bernie-mcgill-at-seamus-heaney-homeplace-bellaghy/
LOCATION:Seamus Heaney HomePlace\, 45 Main Street\, Bellaghy\, BT45 8HT\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Unknown-scaled.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220706T200000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220706T213000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220603T131743Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220603T131743Z
UID:2252-1657137600-1657143000@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:An Arrow in Flight: A Panel Conversation on the short story at Cairde Sligo Arts Festival
DESCRIPTION:With Bernie McGill\, Sheila Armstrong and Stephen Walsh\, hosted by Jan Carson. \nIrish author Mary Lavin once famously referred to the short story as ‘an arrow in flight’\, a ‘flash of lightning lighting up the whole landscape at once’ with no need for a classical beginning\, middle and end. For our panel event on the short story\, Jan Carson will chat with three Irish writers who have all published collections of short stories this year. \nBernie McGill’s award-winning stories have been widely praised for their emotional depth and their lyrical language.  This Train is For is her latest collection. \nSheila  Armstrong is a writer and editor from the northwest of Ireland. How To Gut A Fish\, her first collection of fiction\, was published by Bloomsbury in 2022\, and she is working on her debut novel. \nStephen Walsh published his debut collection of short stories late 2021. Shine/Variance has been described as  Beautiful little studies of unspoken fear and longing and love\, told with a sure-footed delicacy rare in a debut. – The Irish Times \nBook here for this event. \nPlease note that Bernie McGill will facilitate a workshop on the morning of 6th July in the Yeats Building\, Sligo\, as part of Cairde Sligo Arts Festival. Full details for the workshop (Novel Writing: Getting Started) here.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/an-arrow-in-flight-a-panel-conversation-on-the-short-story-at-cairde-sligo-arts-festival/
LOCATION:Hawk’s Well Theatre\, 2 Temple Street\, Abbeyquarter North\,\, Sligo\, F91 EDE9\, Ireland
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/arrow-in-flight-main-image-collage-01—CAIRDE-2022.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220706T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220706T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220603T124533Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220603T132417Z
UID:2240-1657103400-1657112400@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Novel Writing: Getting Started at Cairde Sligo Arts Festival
DESCRIPTION:Do you have an idea for a novel but don’t know how to get started? Or have you started a novel but become stuck part of the way through? Would you like some guidance from a professional writer on how to continue or how to begin? This workshop\, led by Bernie McGill will incorporate practical advice on structuring a novel\, developing setting\, building characters and refining point of view. Suitable for writers who are beginning or developing a novel. Early booking is advised due to limited spaces (max. 10). \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (named by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012). Her first collection of short stories\, Sleepwalkers\, was shortlisted for the prestigious Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her work has been published in the UK\, the US and in translation in Italy and the Netherlands. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies The Black Dreams\, Belfast Stories\, The Long Gaze Back\, The Glass Shore and Female Lines. Her new short story collection\, This Train is For\, is published in June 2022 by No Alibis Press. \nBernie is a former Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) at Queen’s University\, Belfast. She now works as a Lector and Facilitator with the RLF and is a Professional Mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre. She lives with her family in Portstewart. \n‘McGill writes about life\, love and telegraphy with a poet’s clarity.’ The Sunday Times \n‘The book is a masterclass in how to marry narrative and setting.’ David Park\, Irish Times \n‘McGill proves once again she is a masterful storyteller… historical fiction at its absolute best.’ The Lady \nBook this workshop here. \nPlease note that Bernie McGill will take part in a short story panel discussion at the Hawk’s Well Theatre\, Sligo\, along with Sheila Armstrong and Stephen Walsh\, and chaired by Jan Carson\, at 8pm on Wednesday 6th July 2022. Full details here. \n 
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/novel-writing-getting-started-at-cairde-sligo-arts-festival/
LOCATION:The Yeats Building\, Hyde Bridge\, Abbeyquarter North\,\, Sligo\, F91 DVY4\, Ireland
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/green-chameleon-s9CC2SKySJM-unsplash-scaled-e1629562762417.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220625T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220625T153000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220422T132627Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220519T145724Z
UID:2167-1656165600-1656171000@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Bernie McGill & Rosemary Jenkinson in Conversation at Seamus Heaney HomePlace\, Bellaghy
DESCRIPTION:In Conversation with Emma Warnock \nSeamus Heaney HomePlace is delighted to welcome two of Northern Ireland’s finest writers in a celebration of the short story. Both Bernie McGill and Rosemary Jenkinson have released short story collections this year and have had their work anthologised in many collections. \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (named by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012). Her first collection of short stories\, Sleepwalkers\, was shortlisted for the prestigious Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies The Black Dreams\, Her Other Language\, Belfast Stories\, The Long Gaze Back\, The Glass Shore and Female Lines. Her new short story collection\, This Train is For\, will be published in June 2022 by No Alibis Press. \nRosemary Jenkinson is an award-winning playwright and short story writer. Her plays include The Bonefire\, which won the Stewart Parker BBC Radio Award\, Here Comes the Night and Lives in Translation and she was the 2017 Artist-in-Residence at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast. Rosemary’s short story collections include Contemporary Problems Nos. 53 & 54\, Aphrodite’s Kiss and Catholic Boy which was shortlisted for the EU Prize for Literature. Her latest collection\, Marching Season\, was praised by The Irish Times for ‘an elegant wit\, terrific characterisation and an absolute sense of her own particular Belfast’. \nJoin Bernie and Rosemary in conversation with Emma Warnock from No Alibis Press in what promises to be a fascinating afternoon of readings and discussion. \nBook via Seamus Heaney HomePlace.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/bernie-mcgill-rosemary-jenkinson-in-conversation-at-seamus-heaney-homeplace-bellaghy/
LOCATION:Seamus Heaney HomePlace\, 45 Main Street\, Bellaghy\, BT45 8HT\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/b2963e4f6e178391bdd8bf41ae1bbf8e2e370ee4e1d5c154a4d0ce0ecae185e1.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220624T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220624T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220611T182839Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220611T183052Z
UID:2355-1656097200-1656100800@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Reading & Book Signing at Waterstones\, Foyleside: This Train is For by Bernie McGill
DESCRIPTION:Join us on Friday 24th June at 7.00 pm when author Bernie McGill will be signing copies of her new short story collection This Train is For. \nBernie McGill’s award-winning stories have been widely praised for their emotional depth and their lyrical language. She is a writer of profound sensitivity and observation. Her masterful deployment of linguistic precision and economy enables her to plumb the depths of human experience while neatly avoiding sentimentalism. \nThis new collection\, her first since 2013\, contains unpublished stories along with a number of previously published stories featured within award winning anthologies. \n‘This Train is For portrays the complexities of the heart with sensitivity and acute psychological insight. Rendered in the most perfect prose\, Bernie McGill presents lives in physical and emotional transit\, uncertain of the journey’s destination\, understanding that sometimes the most important moments in our lives involve travelling not forward\, but to moments we thought we had left long behind.’ David Park \n‘Bernie McGill is one of the most accomplished short story writers in Ireland today. These stories contain powerful truths and unsettling revelations\, delivered in the gentlest voice. An absolute joy of a collection from start to finish with not a word wasted or misplaced.’ Jan Carson \n‘Wonderful stories of journeys geographical and of the inner kind.’ Bernard MacLaverty \n‘Bernie McGill brings her precise\, lyrical\, deceptively quiet style to these stories in a collection that gleams. This Train is For is the work of a decade\, and it shows; each story burnished; and a book that’s a beautiful addition to No Alibis Press.’ Lucy Caldwell \n‘This Train is For is a dazzling exercise in compression\, and an exemplification of what the short story form can achieve.’ Neil Hegarty\, Fortnight \n‘Beneath the exquisite surface – at once lyrical and plain-spoken – of each of these stories is carried a great freight of feeling that McGill handles with humanity and restraint. An excellent collection from one of the finest short story writers working in Ireland today.’ Louise Kennedy \n‘Derry-born Bernie McGill’s second collection of stories has been eight years in the making\, and it was worth the wait. There’s a welcome wit peppering the stories… There are closing lines that satisfy while leaving enough open to keep the reader thinking. It’s a rare achievement that McGill makes look easy. Elements of the uncanny round off the surprising features of McGill’s stories. The Escapologist opens with a strange “boy with dark wet hair” in the narrator’s room\, and spirals inward from there. But the best story might be the last\, In the Interests of Wonder\, which takes an illusionist’s visit to a school and invests it with sinister strangeness. It reminded me of Thomas Mann’s great allegory of power and credulity\, Mario and the Magician\, and I can offer no higher praise than that.’ John Self\, Irish Times.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/book-signing-at-waterstones-foyleside-this-train-is-for-by-bernie-mcgill/
LOCATION:Waterstones\, Foyleside\, Unit 7\, Foyleside Centre\, Derry\, BT48 6XY\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/This-train-is-for-355-500.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220623T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20230623T203000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220303T102342Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20221025T171420Z
UID:2141-1656010800-1687552200@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Space to Write\, Flowerfield Arts Centre\, Portstewart
DESCRIPTION:Are you a writer who’d like to meet up with other writers in the Causeway Coast & Glens area and have some time out to work in a new environment? \nSpace to Write is a free initiative through which we hope you will\, literally\, find the space and time to write. Flowerfield Arts Centre is offering writers a specific time that they can come together to network/meet and work on their writing in quieter spots in the centre – from the galleries to our reception café area to our ground floor corridor. \nWriters are invited to gather\, find a comfortable space in the arts centre and write quietly for an hour\, after which time we will meet in the café area for a cuppa and a chat before heading home. \nPlease note\, this isn’t a creative writing workshop. It offers space for individual writers to meet and network at a specific time each week and have some creative space. You may be a first-time or a published writer. You may be a writer working in any genre. You may like to take inspiration from the exhibitions in the galleries at Flowerfield\, or to continue with a work-in-progress. There will be no exercises or prompts offered\, no sharing of work or feedback given. This is quite simply an invitation to turn up and write\, and to make and renew connections with like-minded individuals in an atmosphere that is social and supportive. \nSpace to Write resumes at Flowerfield\, after a short break for essential maintenance work on the building\,  on Thursday 23rd June from 7-8.30pm and thereafter until the end of November. \nThere is no cost – we just want you to hang out and be inspired! Register by emailing info@flowerfield.org.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/space-to-write-flowerfield-arts-centre-portstewart/
LOCATION:Flowerfield Arts Centre\, 185 Coleraine Road\, PORTSTEWART\, Northern Ireland\, BT55 7HU\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/green-chameleon-s9CC2SKySJM-unsplash-scaled-e1629562762417.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220623T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220623T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220611T181618Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220611T182807Z
UID:2348-1655996400-1656000000@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Book Signing at Waterstones\, Coleraine: This Train is For by Bernie McGill
DESCRIPTION:Join us on Thursday 23rd June at 3.00 pm when Portstewart author Bernie McGill will be signing copies of her new short story collection This Train is For. \nBernie McGill’s award-winning stories have been widely praised for their emotional depth and their lyrical language. She is a writer of profound sensitivity and observation. Her masterful deployment of linguistic precision and economy enables her to plumb the depths of human experience while neatly avoiding sentimentalism. \nThis new collection\, her first since 2013\, contains unpublished stories along with a number of previously published stories featured within award winning anthologies. \n‘This Train is For portrays the complexities of the heart with sensitivity and acute psychological insight. Rendered in the most perfect prose\, Bernie McGill presents lives in physical and emotional transit\, uncertain of the journey’s destination\, understanding that sometimes the most important moments in our lives involve travelling not forward\, but to moments we thought we had left long behind.’ David Park \n‘Bernie McGill is one of the most accomplished short story writers in Ireland today. These stories contain powerful truths and unsettling revelations\, delivered in the gentlest voice. An absolute joy of a collection from start to finish with not a word wasted or misplaced.’ Jan Carson \n‘Wonderful stories of journeys geographical and of the inner kind.’ Bernard MacLaverty \n‘Bernie McGill brings her precise\, lyrical\, deceptively quiet style to these stories in a collection that gleams. This Train is For is the work of a decade\, and it shows; each story burnished; and a book that’s a beautiful addition to No Alibis Press.’ Lucy Caldwell \n‘This Train is For is a dazzling exercise in compression\, and an exemplification of what the short story form can achieve.’ Neil Hegarty\, Fortnight \n‘Beneath the exquisite surface – at once lyrical and plain-spoken – of each of these stories is carried a great freight of feeling that McGill handles with humanity and restraint. An excellent collection from one of the finest short story writers working in Ireland today.’ Louise Kennedy \n‘Derry-born Bernie McGill’s second collection of stories has been eight years in the making\, and it was worth the wait. There’s a welcome wit peppering the stories… There are closing lines that satisfy while leaving enough open to keep the reader thinking. It’s a rare achievement that McGill makes look easy. Elements of the uncanny round off the surprising features of McGill’s stories. The Escapologist opens with a strange “boy with dark wet hair” in the narrator’s room\, and spirals inward from there. But the best story might be the last\, In the Interests of Wonder\, which takes an illusionist’s visit to a school and invests it with sinister strangeness. It reminded me of Thomas Mann’s great allegory of power and credulity\, Mario and the Magician\, and I can offer no higher praise than that.’ John Self\, Irish Times.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/book-signing-this-train-is-for-by-bernie-mcgill/
LOCATION:Waterstones\, Coleraine\, 10 Church Street\, Coleraine\, BT52 1AP\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/This-Train-is-for-v2-e1654971023226.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220617T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220617T203000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220519T144257Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220613T201518Z
UID:2195-1655492400-1655497800@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:David Park & Bernie McGill in Conversation with Emma Warnock at Belfast Book Festival
DESCRIPTION:Join two of Northern Ireland’s most acclaimed writers at this year’s Belfast Book Festival as they discuss their latest releases for Novel Journeys Book Club.  \nBernie McGill’s This Train Is For is a collection of short stories; some unpublished\, some stories previously published within award winning anthologies. \nDavid Park’s Spies in Canaan is a bold and unsettling parable about guilt\, atonement and redemption. \nNovel Journeys Book Club is a partnership between the Belfast Book Festival\, Translink and independent bookstore\, No Alibis\, to champion the benefits of reading and to stay connected with their passengers and the wider public. Every month\, Translink announces a new title via social media to help passengers switch off\, unwind and support their mental wellbeing. \nBernie McGill was born in Northern Ireland. She has written plays\, a collection of short stories entitled Sleepwalkers and two novels\, The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House\, which was shortlisted for the Irish/European Union Prize for Literature in 2019. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for numerous awards and is anthologised in The Black Dreams\, The Cormorant\, Her Other Voices\, Belfast Stories\, Reading the Future\, Female Lines\, The Glass Shore and The Long Gaze Back. In 2008 she won the Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Award in the US. She is a recipient of a number of Arts Council of Northern Ireland Awards. She works as a professional mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre and as a Writer in Schools with Poetry Ireland. She is a former Writing Fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University\, Belfast. \nDavid Park has written nine novels and two collections of short stories. His novel Travelling in a Strange Land won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year. His other books include The Light of Amsterdam\, which was shortlisted for the 2014 International IMPAC Prize and The Poets’ Wives\, which was selected as Belfast’s Choice for One City One Book 2014. He has won the Authors’ Club First Novel Award\, the Bass Ireland Arts Award for Literature\, the Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize and the American Ireland Fund Literary Award. He has received a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and has been shortlisted for the Irish Novel of the Year Award four times. He lives in County Down\, Northern Ireland. \nEmma Warnock is the Commissioning Editor at No Alibis Press\, an independent publisher of fiction based in Belfast. She studied literature at Queen’s University\, Belfast and has a PhD in contemporary fiction. \nBook this event at Belfast Book Festival. \n*Please note that this year the Book Festival is operating a ‘pay what you want’ policy on all events. £7 is the guide ticket price. \nView full Belfast Book Festival 2022 programme. \n 
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/david-park-bernie-mcgill-in-conversation-with-emma-warnock-at-belfast-book-festival/
LOCATION:Crescent Arts Centre\, 2-4 University Road\, BELFAST\, BT7 1NH\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/bbf22-davidparkbernieedit-01-scaled.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220609T180000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220609T193000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220519T132936Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220519T145241Z
UID:2186-1654797600-1654803000@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Launch of This Train is For by Bernie McGill
DESCRIPTION:No Alibis Press is delighted to invite you to a live event in No Alibis bookshop to celebrate the launch of Bernie McGill’s wonderful new collection of short stories\, This Train Is For. \nThis launch happily coincides with the twenty-fifth anniversary of No Alibis Bookstore. \nAbout Bernie McGill: \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels\, The Watch House\, (2017\, Tinder Press)\, nominated for the Ireland/European Prize for Literature\, and The Butterfly Cabinet\, (2010\, Headline Review)\, and one short story collection Sleepwalkers\, (2013\, Whittrick Press)\, shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Her short fiction has been nominated for numerous awards and in 2008 she won the Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Award in the USA. Her work has been anthologised in award-winning collections including The Long Gaze Back\, The Glass Shore\, Her Other Language\, The Danger & the Glory\, Belfast Stories\, and Female Lines. \n“Beneath the exquisite surface – at once lyrical and plain-spoken – of each of these stories is carried a great freight of feeling that McGill handles with humanity and restraint. An excellent collection from one of the finest short story writers working in Ireland today.” Louise Kennedy\, author of Trespasses. \nThis is a free event but numbers are limited. Please reserve a place here. \n 
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/launch-of-this-train-is-for-by-bernie-mcgill/
LOCATION:No Alibis Bookshop\, 83 Botanic Avenue\, BELFAST\, BT7 1JL\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/This-Train-is-for-scaled-e1652966897387.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220602T090000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220604T123000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220228T143352Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220519T144730Z
UID:2115-1654160400-1654345800@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Writing a Novel: 3 Day Workshop with Bernie McGill at Listowel Writers' Week
DESCRIPTION:In these practical workshops participants will be invited to take part in writing exercises that focus on: structuring a novel\, writing openings with impact\, developing setting\, creating credible characters\, and refining point of view. We will also look at opportunities for further developing and submitting work. Suitable for writers who are beginning or developing a novel. Participants should bring a 250-word synopsis. Works in progress are welcomed. \n3 Day Workshop – Thurs/Fri/Sat\, 2nd-4th June 2022\, from 9am to 12:30pm \nDay 1. We will hear and give feedback on a selection of the novel synopses that participants have brought and look particularly at: Structuring a Novel and Writing Openings with Impact. \nDay 2. We will hear and give feedback on synopses and look particularly at: Developing Setting and Creating Credible Characters. \nDay 3. We will hear and give feedback on synopses and look particularly at: Refining Point of View and Opportunities for further developing and for submitting work. We will finish with information and discussion and a Q&A on aspects of writing. \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019)\, and The Butterfly Cabinet (named by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012). Her first collection of short stories\, Sleepwalkers\, was shortlisted for the prestigious Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her work has been published in the UK\, the US and in translation in Italy and the Netherlands. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies The Black Dreams\, Belfast Stories\, The Long Gaze Back\, The Glass Shore and Female Lines. Her new short story collection\, This Train is For\, will be published in June 2022 by No Alibis Press. \nBernie is a former Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) at Queen’s University\, Belfast. She now works as a Lector and Facilitator with the RLF and is a Professional Mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre. She lives with her family in Portstewart. \n‘McGill writes about life\, love and telegraphy with a poet’s clarity.’ Sunday Times \n‘The book is a masterclass in how to marry narrative and setting.’ David Park\, Irish Times \n‘McGill proves once again she is a masterful storyteller… historical fiction at its absolute best.’ The Lady \nAll events or shows will be filmed or photographed. Buying a ticket affirms your consent to the filming\, sound recording or photographing of yourself as a member of the audience. Photography and recordings are strictly forbidden without the permission of the Listowel Writers’ Week Literary Festival Management. \nBooking details for the Writing a Novel workshop with Bernie McGill here. \nFull workshop programme\, including Short Story (with Paul McVeigh)\, Creative Writing (with Catherine Dunne) Crafting Characters and Memoir (with Kit de Waal)\, Writing for Children (with Olivia Hope)\, Songwriting (with Emma Langford) \, The Writing of Leonard Cohen (with John MacKenna)\, Poetry (with Clodagh Beresford Dunne) workshops and masterclasses here. \nFor Listowel Writers’ Week writing competitions click here. \n 
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/writing-a-novel-3-day-workshop-with-bernie-mcgill-at-listowel-writers-week/
LOCATION:Listowel Writers’ Week\, The Square\, Listowel\, V31 V962\, Ireland
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/green-chameleon-s9CC2SKySJM-unsplash-scaled-e1629562762417.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220423T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20220423T140000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220206T162022Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220303T104225Z
UID:2092-1650709800-1650722400@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Creative Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill: The Growing Light
DESCRIPTION:A creative writing workshop that looks forward to the stretch in the days\, the growing of the light. This workshop\, led by writer Bernie McGill\, will offer a kick start to your creative writing with prompts and suggestions to spark new ideas. \nAll levels of experience welcome\, from seasoned writers to first-timers\, poets and fiction writers alike. The workshop will be fully participative with attendees taking part in writing exercises and sharing their work with group participants. Come with writing materials\, prepared to write. \nThere will be a short break for lunch (please bring your own). This workshop is suitable for 16yrs + \nBernie McGill is the author of novels The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House and of the short story collection Sleepwalkers. Bernie’s new short story collection\, This Train is For will be published by No Alibis Press in June 2022. \nBook through the Burnavon Arts Centre.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/creative-writing-workshop-with-bernie-mcgill-the-growing-light/
LOCATION:Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre\, Burn Road\, Cookstown\, BT80 8DN\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/green-chameleon-s9CC2SKySJM-unsplash-scaled-e1629562762417.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20220309
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20220311
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20220228T122650Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220303T104341Z
UID:2101-1646784000-1646956799@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Prophets\, Makers and Risk Takers: A Showcase of Writing from Northern Ireland
DESCRIPTION:‘Prophets\, Makers and Risk Takers: A Showcase of Writing from Northern Ireland’ is a 2-day festival that brings leading writers in Northern Ireland together\, in person and online\, to share their ideas and skills with emerging writers\, and to promote the best of Northern Irish writing across the world. \nCurated by writer Jan Carson\, this 2-day hybrid event will take place in-person at Accidental Theatre in Belfast and online. This will be the 3rd edition of Prophets\, Makers and Risk Takers and we continue in our desire to be useful to writers and the literature sector in Northern Ireland through skills development\, connection and promotion.  We hope that the event will show the breadth of talent that Northern Ireland has to offer and will give representatives from UK and international festivals\, and global networks\, an opportunity to sit at the table and take note. \nThe Keynote Address will be delivered by Dr Caroline Magennis\, and participants will include writers Myra Zepf\, Maria McManus\, Bernie McGill\, Reggie Chamberlain King\, Olivia Fitzsimons\, Sue Divin\, Sam Thompson\, Sheena Wilkinson\, Finn Kennedy\, Cat Brogan\, Emily DeDakis\, Aislinn Clarke\, James Patterson and Kerri ní Dochartaigh with representatives from the Irish Writers Centre\, Extra Teeth\, Storyline Literary Agency\, ACNI\, Tramp Press\, The Tangerine Magazine\, Literature Ireland\, Cúirt International Festival of Literature\, EFACIS\, the National Centre for Writing\, Cove Park and Cheltenham Literature Festival. \nOn Wednesday evening the Irish Secretariat will host the launch of Queering the Green by Paul Maddern; on Thursday evening The Heaney Centre will host a showcase of new prose fiction at The Great Hall\, Queens University Belfast. \nWe have a limited number of complimentary online and in-person tickets available for anyone who feels they are unable to attend the festival due to the ticket price. To request a place please email here. They will be allocated on a first come first served basis. \nBook for an in-person or online ticket on one or both days here. \nTimetable:\nWednesday 9 March\n10.30am Welcome and Introductions\n10:45am Panel Discussion: Making a Life out of Writing\n12.00pm Panel Discussion: Understanding the Industry\n1.30pm Workshop: Surviving as a Writer (ONLINE AUDIENCE ONLY)\nLunch and networking (IN-PERSON AUDIENCE ONLY)\n3.15pm Panel Discussion: Promoting Writers in Northern Ireland Internationally\n6.30pm Launch of ‘Queering the Green’ by Paul Maddern\, Irish Secretariat Belfast (IN- PERSON AUDIENCE ONLY) BOOK HERE. \nThursday 10 March\n9.45am Keynote Address by Dr Caroline Magennis\n10.45am Panel Discussion: Prose Writing\n12pm Panel Discussion: Writing for Children & Young Adults\n1.45pm Panel Discussion: Off the Page Writing\n3.00pm Panel Discussion: Non-Fiction Writing\n4.00pm Video: Showcase of Writers in Northern Ireland\n5.30pm Showcase of New Prose Fiction\, The Great Hall\, QUB BOOK HERE.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/prophets-makers-and-risk-takers-a-two-day-festival-of-writing-from-northern-ireland/
LOCATION:Accidental Theatre\, 12-13 Shaftesbury Square\, Belfast\, BT2 7DB\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/blaz-photo-zMRLZh40kms-unsplash-scaled-e1625068309829.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20211016T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20211016T140000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20210821T162956Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210821T162956Z
UID:2066-1634380200-1634392800@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Back in the Writing Room with Bernie McGill at Burnavon Arts Centre\, Cookstown
DESCRIPTION:After months of online working\, are you ready to get back into the writing room? This workshop\, led by writer Bernie McGill\, will offer a kickstart to your creative writing with prompts and suggestions to spark new ideas. \nAll levels of experience welcome\, from seasoned writers to first-timers\, poets and fiction writers alike. The workshop will be fully participative with attendees taking part in writing exercises and sharing their work with group participants. Come with writing materials\, prepared to write. \nThere will be a short break for lunch (bring your own). \nPlease bring your own notebook and pen. \nSuitable for age 16+ \nBook online at The Burnavon. \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (named by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012). Her collection of short stories\, Sleepwalkers\, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her new short story collection This Train is For will be published by No Alibis Press in 2022. \n*Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/back-in-the-writing-room-with-bernie-mcgill-at-burnavon-arts-centre-cookstown/
LOCATION:Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre\, Burn Road\, Cookstown\, BT80 8DN\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/green-chameleon-s9CC2SKySJM-unsplash-scaled-e1629562762417.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20210925T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20210925T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20210821T154849Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210821T163435Z
UID:2054-1632564000-1632574800@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Walled Garden Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill at Aspects Festival\, Bangor
DESCRIPTION:Join facilitator Bernie McGill for a writing workshop – indoors and out – that takes inspiration from the beautiful surroundings of Bangor Castle Walled Garden and Castle Grounds. \nThe workshop will offer prompts and writing exercises to spark ideas and develop work. Participants will have the option to find a spot outdoors to write (weather permitting) or at a social distance indoors in North Down Museum. The group will come together to share work. \nAll levels of experience welcome\, from seasoned writers to first-timers\, poets and fiction writers alike.\nSuitable for ages 16+\nDress for the weather and in comfortable walking shoes and bring a hardback notebook for writing outdoors.\nFull workshop details and booking at Aspects Festival. \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (named by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012). Her collection of short stories\, Sleepwalkers\, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her new short story collection This Train is For will be published by No Alibis Press in 2022. \n\nEílís Ní Dhuibhne and Evelyn Conlon in conversation with Bernie McGill\nLater that day\, join Bernie and acclaimed short story writers Eílís Ní Dhuibhne and Evelyn Conlon at Aspects Festival 2021 to talk about their new collections\, Little Red and Other Stories and Moving About the Place\, both published by Blackstaff Press. This event will take place on Saturday 25th September at 4.00pm at Bangor Castle. Event details and booking at Aspects Festival.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/walled-garden-writing-workshop-with-bernie-mcgill-at-aspects-festival-bangor/
LOCATION:North Down Museum\, Town Hall\, The Castle\, Bangor\, BT20 4BT\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG_5473-scaled-e1629561221848.jpeg
ORGANIZER;CN="Aspects Festival":MAILTO:museum@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20210724T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20210724T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20210616T163731Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210616T163731Z
UID:1960-1627122600-1627137000@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Cushendun Writing Workshop and Trail
DESCRIPTION:Join Bernie McGill for a writing workshop with a difference\, featuring a walking trail exploring the literary links in Cushendun\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMAXIMUM PARTICIPANTS: 10 \nAs part of our Causeway Creative Trails exploring culture and arts across the borough\, join facilitator Bernie McGill for a writing workshop with a difference\, featuring a walking trail that explores the literary links in the historic conservation village of Cushendun. The workshop will offer prompts and writing exercises to initiate ideas and will use as inspiration the work of writers with associations with the village including Louis MacNeice\, Moira O’Neill and John Masefield. Participants will have the option to find a spot outdoors to write\, weather permitting\, or at a social distance indoors in the beautifully refurbished Old Church Centre. The group will come together to share work. \n\nDress for the weather and in comfortable walking shoes and bring writing materials.\n\n\nThere are a number of places in the village available for lunch\, or bring a packed lunch along.\n\n\nMeet at Cushendun Old Church at 10.30am.\n\nBernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (named by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012). Her collection of short stories\, Sleepwalkers\, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her work has been published in the UK\, the US and in translation in Italy and the Netherlands. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies Her Other Language\, Belfast Stories\, The Long Gaze Back\, The Glass Shore and Female Lines. She was Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund at Queen’s University\, Belfast from 2018-2020. Her new short story collection This Train is For will be published by No Alibis Press in 2022. \nBook via Flowerfield Arts Centre.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/cushendun-writing-workshop-and-trail/
LOCATION:Old Church Centre\, Cushendun\, 1 Church Lane\, Cushendun\, BT44 0PG\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/image1-scaled.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20210717T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Dublin:20210717T133000
DTSTAMP:20260403T212317
CREATED:20210628T122014Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210628T122105Z
UID:2032-1626517800-1626528600@berniemcgill.com
SUMMARY:Creative Writing Workshop at Seamus Heaney HomePlace
DESCRIPTION:Join facilitator Bernie McGill for a writing workshop in the Moyola Hall and Sensory Garden at Seamus Heaney HomePlace. This will be a practical workshop on the everyday craft of writing with the aim of sparking ideas for new work. All levels of experience welcome from experienced writers to first-timers\, poets and fiction writers alike. Participants will have the option to find a spot outdoors in the Sensory Garden to write\, weather permitting\, or indoors in the Moyola Hall. Come with writing materials\, prepared to write. \nA hard backed notebook or clipboard may be useful for writing outdoors. Dress for the weather! \nLimited places available. Book here. \nBernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (named by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012). Her collection of short stories\, Sleepwalkers\, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her work has been published in the UK\, the US and in translation in Italy and the Netherlands. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies Her Other Language\, Belfast Stories\, The Long Gaze Back\, The Glass Shore and Female Lines. She was Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund at Queen’s University\, Belfast from 2018-2020. Her new collection of short stories\, This Train is For\, will be published by No Alibis Press in 2022.
URL:https://berniemcgill.com/event/creative-writing-workshop/
LOCATION:Seamus Heaney HomePlace\, 45 Main Street\, Bellaghy\, BT45 8HT\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://berniemcgill.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/gorse-pic.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR