Bernie McGill

Dropping Your Gaze: A Day of Mindfulness and Writing with Michelle Gibb and Bernie McGill at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy
2018-10-27 10:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Dublin) | Seamus Heaney HomePlace, 45 Main Street, Bellaghy, BT45 8HT, United Kingdom
Mindfulness is the practice of learning to be present. It is also beneficial for calming the physical state of the body and quietening the mind. Whether you’re new to writing or have been writing for a while and are looking for a way to rejuvenate your approach, this day of guided mindfulness and writing exercises, led by two experienced facilitators, will refresh and enhance your writing skills and leave you with a simple toolkit that you can use in your everyday practice. Alongside focused writing exercises, you will learn: the importance of breath work and how to calm your breathing; how reducing the mind chatter can help centre your writing focus; a fifteen second calming technique; visualisation guidance and advice; short and simple brain gym exercises. All levels welcome. Please bring a packed lunch.
Bernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet and of a short story collection, Sleepwalkers. She has worked for twenty-five years as a creative writing facilitator, is a Writer in Schools with Poetry Ireland and a Professional Mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre. www.berniemcgill.com
Michelle Gibb is a poet, life coach and yoga teacher whose work has been published locally by A New Ulster and nationally by United Press. She is qualified in kinesiology, hatha yoga and energy medicine and has been practicing yoga, mindfulness and meditation as well as facilitating groups for over ten years. www.michymodo.com
To book, contact Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy on 028 7938 7444 or email seamusheaneyhome@midulstercouncil.org or book online here.

Panel Discussion on The Glass Shore & The Long Gaze Back at Omagh Literary Festival
2018-10-13 12:00 - 13:00 | Strule Arts Centre, Town Hall Square, Omagh, BT78 1BL, United Kingdom
The 2018 Omagh Literary Festival will feature a panel discussion on The Glass Shore and The Long Gaze Back Award-winning collections of Short Stories by Women Writers from Ireland, with Sinéad Gleeson, Bernie McGill, June Caldwell and Fiona O’Rourke.
Writer, broadcaster and critic, Sinéad Gleeson, is the guest speaker on a lively discussion panel about the significant role played by Irish female writers. She has edited two collections of short stories, namely The Long Gaze Back and The Glass Shore, both of which have been awarded the Best Irish Published Book at the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards (in 2015 and in 2016). These stories run the gamut from the heartbreaking to the humorous, but always leaving a lasting impression. Sinéad Gleeson reviews books for The Irish Times and presents the Book Show on RTE 1. Sinead is the judge of the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition 2018 and will announce the short list and winner at the end of the discussion.
Bernie McGill is the author of the short story collection Sleepwalkers, shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize in 2014, and of novels The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House. Her work has been anthologised widely, and appears in both The Long Gaze Back and The Glass Shore. She works as a professional mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre, a Writer in Schools with Poetry Ireland, and (from September 2018) is the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast.
June Caldwell is a ‘strong, salty, staggering new voice in Irish fiction’, according to critics. Her short story collection, Room Little Darker, ‘thuds with life and kicks with horror’ (The Sunday Times). Her stories deal with an array of controversial subjects including the legacy of family trauma which drips down the generations. Among her awards are Short Story of the Year, Irish Books Awards and Irish Times Book Club of the month April 2018.
Fiona O’Rourke is an author, creative writing facilitator and professional mentor at the Irish Writers’ Centre, Dublin. Her first novel, Have you found Luke? was a winner at the Irish Writers’ Novel Fair 2016 and her short stories have been included in Spontaneity Magazine and many other publications. ‘Wrong Whiskey’ was the prizewinner in the Fish International Short Story Award 2012. In 2017 she was selected for the inaugural Arts Council NI and Irish Writers’ Centre X Borders project.

Victorian Mavericks at Red Line Book Festival, Dublin
2018-10-09 19:30 - 20:30 | Pearse Museum, Saint Enda's Park The Hermitage Grange Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16, Ireland
In the Victorian era, women were forced to endure many inequalities in terms of marriage, finances and social status. Viewed as belonging to the domestic sphere, they were expected to provide their husbands with a clean home, food on the table and children.
In this special event for Red Line Book Festival, Nuala O’Connor (Becoming Belle), Bernie McGill (The Watch House) and Caroline Busher (The Ghosts of Magnificent Children) explore the lives of Victorian female characters in their novels and the ways those women and girls defied the conventions of the time.
Booking information here.

Pordenone Legge Book Festival, Italy
2018-09-22 19:30 - 20:30 | Auditorium Istituto Vendramini, Via Beata E. Vendramini, 2 33170, Pordenone, Italy
The Italian translation of The Watch House is published by Bollati Boringhieri on 30th August 2018. Translated by Simona Garavelli, it appears under the title Le parole nell’aria (The Words in the Air).
On 22nd September, Bernie McGill will be interviewed by Mary B. Tolusso at Pordenone Legge Book Festival, Italy.
È l’estate del 1898 nella piccola isola irlandese di Rathlin. La giovane Nuala Byrne, non vede altra possibilità per garantirsi la sopravvivenza se non sposare l’anziano sarto del paese. Ma sull’isola sbarca uno scienziato italiano, collaboratore di Guglielmo Marconi, cui sono affidati i primi esperimenti del telegrafo senza fili. E quando Nuala verrà arruolata come apprendista, il mondo della scienza le aprirà nuovi, inimmaginabili orizzonti.

Dropping Your Gaze: A Day of Mindfulness and Writing with Michelle Gibb and Bernie McGill in the Festival Yurt, Bangor Castle Walled Garden
2018-09-14 10:00 - 16:00 | Festival Yurt, Bangor Castle Walled Garden, Valentine Road, Bangor, BT20 4BN, United Kingdom
Mindfulness is the practice of learning to be present. It is also beneficial for calming the physical state of the body and quietening the mind. Whether you’re new to writing or have been writing for a while and are looking for a way to rejuvenate your approach, this day of guided mindfulness and writing exercises, led by two experienced facilitators, will refresh and enhance your writing skills and leave you with a simple toolkit that you can use in your everyday practice. Alongside focused writing exercises, you will learn: the importance of breath work and how to calm your breathing; how reducing the mind chatter can help centre your writing focus; a fifteen second calming technique; visualisation guidance and advice; short and simple brain gym exercises. All levels welcome. Please bring a packed lunch.
Bernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet and of a short story collection, Sleepwalkers. She has worked for twenty-five years as a creative writing facilitator, is a Writer in Schools with Poetry Ireland and a Professional Mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre. www.berniemcgill.com
Michelle Gibb is a poet, life coach and yoga teacher whose work has been published locally by A New Ulster and nationally by United Press. She is qualified in kinesiology, hatha yoga and energy medicine and has been practicing yoga, mindfulness and meditation as well as facilitating groups for over ten years. www.michymodo.com
To book, see this event in the Aspects Festival programme, or contact Bangor Visitor Information Centre Tel: 028 9127 0069 (Mon,Tue, Thur & Fri 9.15am-5pm, Wed 10am-5pm & Sat 10am-4pm) Email bangorvic@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk
or Ards Visitor Information Centre: Tel 028 9182 6846 (Monday- Friday 9-5 pm, Saturday 9.30-5pm) Email ardsvic@ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk

Fiction Writing Workshop, the Governor's Room, Linen Hall Library, Belfast
2018-08-23 13:00 - 17:00 | Linen Hall Library, Belfast, 17 Donegall Square North, Belfast, BT1 5GB, United Kingdom
A practical afternoon workshop on the everyday craft of writing with the aim of sparking ideas for new work. All levels of experience welcome. Come with writing materials and be prepared to write.
Bernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet (named by Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012), and Sleepwalkers, a collection of short stories, shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize in 2014.
Book online at the Linen Hall or Tel. the Box Office on 028 9087 2219.
The Linen Hall Library is a truly unique institution. Founded in 1788, it is the oldest library in Belfast and the last subscribing library in Ireland.
It has a radical and ‘enlightenment’ foundation, and ever since has prized its independence and has maintained the principle that its resources are owned by the community for the community.
It is renowned for its unparalleled Irish and Local Studies Collection, ranging from comprehensive holdings of Early Belfast and Ulster printed books to the 250,000 items in the Northern Ireland Political Collection, the definitive archive of the recent troubles.
The Library also boasts the Northern Ireland Theatre and Performing Arts Archive, a unique collection reflecting our rich cultural heritage. The Linen Hall has an illustrious profile as a centre of cultural and creative life and offers a varied programme of events ranging from monthly exhibitions to readings and lectures.

Fiction Writing Workshops at John Hewitt International Summer School
2018-07-23 14:45 - 2018-07-25 16:15 | Market Place Theatre, Armagh, Market Street, Armagh, Armagh, BT61 7BW, United Kingdom
Develop your writing skills under the direction of one of our eight tutors who are all experienced facilitators and published authors. Each workshop runs over three days, and each intensive session lasts for 90 mins.

Bernie McGill will facilitate the Fiction Writing Workshops at this year’s summer school. Her publications include novels The Butterfly Cabinet (2011) and The Watch House (2017) and a short story collection, Sleepwalkers(2013). Her short fiction has been shortlisted for numerous awards and in 2008 she won the Zoetrope All-Story Award in the US. Her work has been anthologised in the award-winning collections, The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and Female Lines.

For a full list of workshops at this year’s summer school, including Getting Started with Nessa O’Mahony; Poetry with David Wheatley; Poetry with Siobhan Campbell; Short Story with Mary O’Donnell; Memoir with Ferdia MacAnna, and Radio Drama with Eoin McNamee go to the John Hewitt Society website. Full programme of readings and talks from Monday 23rd to Saturday 28th July also available there.
Book the Fiction Writing Workshop online or Tel. the Box Office at the Market Place Theatre, Armagh on 028 3752 1821 or email boxoffice@marketplacearmagh.com.

On the Same Page with Sheena Wilkinson & Bernie McGill
2018-06-16 10:00 - 20:00 | Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Road, BELFAST, BT7 1NH, United Kingdom
A day-long intensive fiction writing and editing workshop for committed writers facilitated by two of Northern Ireland’s most acclaimed fiction writers.
Come prepared to write, share your work and learn how to take your skills to the next level. From the first spark of inspiration to sending your work out into the world, Bernie and Sheena will guide you through the process, drawing on their own experiences in publishing and offering practical advice for the submission process.
The day will be broken down as follows:
10.00am – 1.00 pm SPARK
Generating ideas
2.00pm – 4.00pm SHAPE
Editing techniques
6.00pm – 8.00pm SEND
Outlets and advice on submission
To book go to On the Same Page at the Belfast Book Festival.

About the tutors
Bernie McGill is the author of Sleepwalkers, a collection of stories short-listed in 2014 for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and of two novels: The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet (named in 2012 by Downton creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year). Her work has been placed in the Seán Ó Faoláin, the Bridport, and the Michael McLaverty Short Story Prizes and she won the Zoetrope:All-Story Award in the US in 2008. Her stories have been widely anthologised, in the award-winning The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and, most recently, Female Lines. She is the recipient of a number of Arts Council of Northern Ireland Awards, is a creative writing facilitator in the community and with Poetry Ireland’s Writers in Schools Programme as well as a Professional Mentor for the Irish Writers’ Centre. (www.berniemcgill.com)
Sheena Wilkinson has been described by The Irish Times as ‘one of our foremost writers for young people’. She has written seven novels, the most recent being Star By Star, shortlisted for the BGE Irish Book Awards 2017. She has won many awards, including the CBI Book of the Year Award for Grounded. She has won or been placed in the Sean Ó Faoláin, Fish, Brian Moore, Writers Bureau and Riptide International short story competitions. Her work has been anthologised in The Great War (2014), and most recently in Female Lines. She is an ACNI Major Award Holder and Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow. She teaches Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin and for Arvon.

Sue Hubbard & Bernie McGill at Belfast Book Festival
2018-06-13 18:30 - 19:30 | Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Road, BELFAST, BT7 1NH, United Kingdom
Sue Hubbard and Bernie McGill arrive at this year’s festival with two novels that have garnered rave reviews from every corner. Tonight they will read from Rainsongs and The Watch House.
Sue Hubbard’s Rainsongs conjures the rugged beauty of County Kerry’s coastline and the inner landscapes of its characters in richly poetic and painterly language. It unfolds as a compelling tale of grief, art, and the fragile, quiet ways in which time and place can offer a measure of redemption.
In Bernie McGill’s The Watch House, during the summer of 1898, on the small Irish island of Rathlin strangers have arrived from the mainland, laden with mysterious radio equipment. When native Nuala Byrne is sent to cook for the Italian engineer Gabriel, she becomes enthralled by the world of knowledge that he brings from beyond her own narrow horizons. It is a gripping novel, beautiful and lyrical, tender and fierce.
Book at Belfast Book Festival.

Belfast Book Festival Meet the Author: Bernie McGill
2018-06-06 18:00 - 19:00 | Books, Paper, Scissors, 15 Stranmillis Road, Belfast, BT9 5AF, United Kingdom
Bernie McGill is one of Northern Ireland’s most respected authors and following the May 2018 launch of The Watch House in paperback, come along and join in the conversation led by BBC’s Helen Mark.
Focusing on her career to date and the recent inspiration and setting for The Watch House, Rathlin Island, this is the perfect opportunity for you to get to know the author in an informal and relaxed session at Books, Paper, Scissors bookshop.
Bernie McGill studied English and Italian at QUB and graduated with a Masters degree in Irish Writing. She has written for theatre (The Weather Watchers, The Haunting of Helena Blunden), novels, The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet and a short story collection, Sleepwalkers. Her short fiction has been nominated for numerous awards and in 2008 she won the Zoetrope:All-Story Short Fiction Award in the US. Her work has been anthologised in award-winning collections The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and in Female Lines. She is a recipient of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s inaugural ACES (Artists’ Career Enhancement Scheme) Award in association with the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast.

In Conversation with Margot McCuaig at Rathlin Sound Maritime Festival
2018-05-31 19:00 - 20:00 | St Thomas’ Church, Rathlin Island, County Antrim, United Kingdom
The Watch House, a novel set on Rathlin in the years of Marconi’s early wireless experiments is a gripping story about the power of words to connect us, and the power of suspicion to drive us apart. Author Bernie McGill reads from her book, and joins in conversation with Margot McCuaig, writer, filmmaker and Rathlin resident in part-time exile in Scotland.
For full updates on the Rathlin Sound Maritime Festival which takes place this year from Friday 25th May to Sunday 3rd June, and to be in with a chance of winning return ferry travel from Ballycastle and a voucher for The Manor House, sign up for the newsletter here. Results on Saturday 19th May 2018. Ferry timetable between Ballycastle and Rathlin here. Accommodation on Rathlin here.
Bernie will be taking a writing workshop at the Manor House on Thursday 31st May from 2pm-4pm. Free admission but places are limited. To book phone The Manor House on 028 2076 0046.

Fishing for Words: A Creative Writing Workshop on Rathlin Island
2018-05-31 14:00 - 16:00 | The Manor House, Rathlin Island, County Antrim, BT54 6RT, United Kingdom
A creative writing workshop led by Bernie McGill for participants aged 16+. No previous experience required. Come with writing materials and be prepared to write and share your work in the surroundings of the beautiful Manor House on Rathlin Island. Numbers are limited so please phone the Manor House (028 2076 0046) to ensure a place. Here’s the ferry timetable between Ballycastle and Rathlin.
Bernie McGill is the author of The Watch House, a novel set on Rathlin Island at the time of the Marconi wireless experiments in 1898. Watch the book trailer, filmed on Rathlin for a taster of the island.
Bernie will read from The Watch House, in conversation with writer and filmmaker Margot McCuaig in St. Thomas’ Church on Rathlin Island at 7pm on 31st May.
For full updates on the Rathlin Sound Maritime Festival which takes place this year from Friday 25th May to Sunday 3rd June, and to be in with a chance of winning return ferry travel from Ballycastle and a voucher for The Manor House, sign up for the newsletter here. Results on Saturday 19th May 2018.

Small Town Stories with Joshua Burnside, Damian Smyth & Bernie McGill
2018-04-29 20:00 - 21:30 | Market Room, The Courthouse, Hillsborough, The Square, Hillsborough, Co Down, BT26 6AG, United Kingdom
This very special evening of words and music features three artists of exceptional talent presenting poetry, songs and story on the theme of small town living. This will be an intimate and memorable performance not to be missed.
Joshua Burnside was born in Ireland, but cites the music of Colombia, Eastern Europe and North America as the greatest influences on his unique sound. Deftly blending folk textures and melodies with elements of electronica, he has made it difficult for pundits to put him in a box.
Bernie McGill’s novel, The Watch House, was published in 2017 by Tinder Press. She is also the author of Sleepwalkers, a collection of stories short-listed in 2014 for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and The Butterfly Cabinet. Her work has been placed in the Seán Ó Faoláin, the Bridport, and the Michael McLaverty Short Story Prizes and she won the Zoetrope:All-Story Award in 2008.
Damian Smyth’s five collections are Downpatrick Races (2000), The Down Recorder(2004), Lamentations (2010), Market Street (2010) and Mesopotamia (2014). English Street is due later this year. He is Head of Literature & Drama at the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
This event is part of the first ever Hillsborough Festival of Literature & Ideas, a springtime festival with more than 30 events taking place throughout the village including poetry, prose, music, film and talks plus events for families and young people.
Join us for: The Great Hillsborough Book Hunt, Book Doctors, Donal Ryan, Kerry Hudson, Doireann Ní Ghríofa & lots more. Full programme of events and online booking on the John Hewitt Society website.

English PEN readings at Hillsborough
2018-04-29 18:00 - 19:00 | Market Room, The Courthouse, Hillsborough, The Square, Hillsborough, Co Down, BT26 6AG, United Kingdom
In solidarity of writers who are in prison or otherwise at risk around the world, five Northern Irish writers will read from the work of some of the incredible individuals supported by English PEN’s Writers at Risk Programme. The event will be introduced by Hannah Trevarthen, Events and Development Manager at English PEN.
English PEN supports the freedom to write and the freedom to read in the UK and around the world.

An Expert's Guide to Promoting your Book: Mindshift at Verbal Arts Centre, Derry
2018-04-28 10:30 - 16:30 | Verbal Arts Centre, Stable Lane and Mall Wall, Bishop Street Within, LONDONDERRY, BT48 6PU, United Kingdom
The key to being a commercially successful writer is learning how to get yourself and your book the exposure it deserves. Writers are often responsible for attracting their own audience and it is through the power of publicity that the media, and more importantly readers, will become attracted to your work. Join Mary Byrne (PR Director, Harper Collins Ireland), Patricia Hamilton (Director of the Aspects Festival), Michelle Mac Mullan (Senior News Anchor, Newstalk) and Bernie McGill (author of The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet), during this highly practical, one-day series where they will discuss their own experiences with publicity and offer advice on gaining recognition in the industry. All sessions will allow for Q&A.
Running Order
10.30 – 11.40 | Patricia Hamilton, Director of the Aspects Festival, offers insight into how to connect with relevant curators and organisers, and the etiquette of ‘getting out there’.
11.50 – 1.00 | Bernie McGill, author of The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet shares her experiences of working with publishers and publicists as well as navigating the highs and lows of self-promotion.
1.00 – 2.00 | Lunch
2.00 – 3.10 | Mary Byrne, PR Director at Harper Collins Ireland, will discuss book promotion from a publishers perspective including how publishers aim to achieve maximum impact with new titles.
3.20 – 4.30 | Michelle Mac Mullan, Senior News Anchor at Newstalk, looks at book promotion and best practice in approaching, and grabbing the interest of, the media while looking at ways to get a review, an interview or how to make your book news worthy.
About the speakers
Mary Byrne was appointed as PR Director at Haper Collins Ireland last year. She worked in the children’s publicity department of Puffin for many years and was also a PR consultant specialising in children’s books.
Patricia Hamilton has been the director of Aspects Irish Literature Festival since 2013. She is also a visual artist and is Arts Officer with Ards and North Down Borough Council, Northern Ireland.
Michelle Mac Mullan is the Senior News Anchor for Newstalk. She has spent more than a decade working as a broadcast journalist with household names like Todayfm, 98fm and RTE.
Bernie McGill is the author of two novels, The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet, both published by Tinder Press, and of a short story collection, Sleepwalkers, published by Whittrick Press.
Run in partnership with the Verbal Arts Centre

Stories Made Real, a One Day Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill at Ballyeamon Barn, Cushendall
2018-04-22 10:30 - 16:00 | Ballyeamon Barn, 127 Ballyeamon Road, Cushendall, Ballymena, Antrim, BT44 0QP, United Kingdom
Ben Okri, in his essay ‘The Joys of Storytelling’* has written about how important story has always been in our lives, how the great storytellers kept the darkness at bay from around the fire, how they made the stories real to their listeners. Too often we overlook the importance of concrete, everyday, ‘real’ imagery in writing – we think we need to write about the exotic, about what is outside of our own experience, when what we need to do, I think, is examine our own lives, and see what we can use from that.
A practical one-day workshop on the everyday craft of writing at the home of international storyteller Liz Weir. All levels of experience welcome. Come prepared to write. Cost includes lunch at the barn.
To book please contact Liz Weir liz@lizweir.net
*published in A Way of Being Free (Phoenix, London, 2002)

A Fiction Reading with Bernie McGill and Beatrice Colin
2018-04-14 15:00 - 16:30 | The Vic Bar at the Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, Glasgow, G1 5HB, United Kingdom
Crossways: The Irish Scottish Cultural & Literary Festival
9th ~ 15th April 2018 ~ Merchant City, Glasgow
Bernie McGill and Beatrice Colin will read from their work at this Crossways Festival event at the Vic Bar in the Tron Theatre, Glasgow.
Beatrice Colin is the author of the novel To Capture What We Cannot Keep, published in the US in 2016 by Flatiron Books as well as in the UK, Australia, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Poland and the Czech Republic in 2017. She also wrote The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite (published as The Glimmer Palace in the US) and The Songwriter. She has been shortlisted for a British Book Award, a Saltire Award and a Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award and writes short stories, screen and radio plays and for children. One of her children’s novels, My Invisible Sister (with Sara Pinto) has been made into a film for TV by Disney in the US. Her novel for children, Pyrate’s Boy is written under the name E.B. Colin and published by Floris Books. Beatrice is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Strathclyde University in Glasgow.
Bernie McGill is the author of the novels The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet and the short story collection Sleepwalkers, shortlisted in 2014 for the Edge Hill Prize. She has been published in the UK, the US and in translation in Italy and the Netherlands. Her work has been placed in the Seán Ó Faoláin, the Bridport, and the Michael McLaverty short story prizes and she won the Zoetrope: All-Story award in the US in 2008. Her short fiction has appeared in acclaimed anthologies The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and Female Lines, all by New Island Books, and for the theatre she has written The Haunting of Helena Blunden and The Weather Watchers. She works as a creative writing facilitator, as a professional mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre and as a writer in schools for Poetry Ireland.
The particular aim of the Crossways Festival is to foster and expand the rather weak literary links between Ireland and Scotland across the North Channel. It brings together notable Irish writers, musicians, filmmakers and cultural figures – from both North and South – together with their Scottish peers, in a well-planned and well-balanced Festival focussing on the longstanding contribution of Irish people, history, language, culture and writing to both Glasgow and the Scottish nation.The overall balance is about one-third Irish, one-third Diaspora Irish-Scottish, and one-third Scottish.

Most events are free across all venues, but it is recommended that advance booking be made from 23 March for those at City Halls (0141 353 8000 / www.glasgowconcerthalls.com) and the Tron Theatre (0141 552 4267 / www.tron.co.uk).
Admission will otherwise be on a first come, first served basis. Babbity Bowster, the Vic Bar at the Tron, and Blackfriars Basement have a seating capacity of around 50. Early arrival is therefore advised.

One City One Book: A Feast of Female Voices
2018-04-12 20:00 - 21:30 | Blanchardstown Library, Blanchardstown Shopping Centre, Dublin, Dublin 15, Ireland
The Long Gaze Back authors Bernie McGill, Lia Mills and Éilis Ní Dhuibhne talk with editor Sinéad Gleeson about the anthology, their work and being a female author in Ireland today.

Bernie McGill is the author of Sleepwalkers, a collection of stories short-listed in 2014 for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and of the novels The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet. Her work has been placed in the Seán Ó Faoláin, the Bridport, and the Michael McLaverty Short Story Prizes and she won the Zoetrope: All-Story Award in the US. Her short fiction has appeared in The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and Female Lines, all by New Island Books. She is the recipient of a number of Arts Council of Northern Ireland Awards and was granted a research bursary in 2013 from the Society of Authors. She lives in Portstewart in Northern Ireland with her family.
Lia Mills writes novels, short stories, essays and an occasional blog. A memoir, In Your Face, describes her experience of mouth cancer treatment in 2006. Her third novel, Fallen, was the Dublin/Belfast Two Cities One Book selection in 2016, in which year she was also the Arts Council Writer Fellow in UCD and writer-in-residence at Farmleigh House.
Éilis Ní Dhuibne is a novelist, critic and folklore scholar. Her short story collections include Midwife to the Fairies, The Inland Ice, The Pale Gold of Alaska and The Shelter of Neighbours. Among her novels are Cailíni Beaga Ghleann na mBlath, The Dancers Dancing, and Fox, Swallow Scarecrow. The Dancers Dancing was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Ficiton and she was awarded the Irish Pen Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature in 2015. Her stories are widely anthologized and translated. Éilís was for many years a curator in the National Library of Ireland. She teaches Creative Writing in UCD.
Sinéad Gleeson is the editor of The Long Gaze Back and The Glass Shore, two anthologies of stories by Irish women writers. Her own collection of essays will be published in 2019 by Picador.

Booking advisable. Email: blanchlib@fingal.ie or 018905563

The Long Gaze Back, An Anthology of Irish Women Writers edited by Sinéad Gleeson, is the Dublin: One City One Book choice for 2018.
Published by New Island, the anthology spans four centuries and features some of Ireland’s most gifted writers.
Sinéad Gleeson said: “I’m thrilled and delighted on behalf of the 30 writers, past and present, that The Long Gaze Back is this year’s Dublin: One City One Book choice. Anthologies are a platform for telling multiple stories and so many of the writers and their work included here are intrinsically connected to Dublin and its people. The book arose from a desire to amplify the voices of women who write, and being chosen for Dublin: One City One Book will help to introduce these talented writers to all kinds of new readers.”
Dublin City Librarian Margaret Hayes added “This collection of stories embraces writers of the past, present and of the future, an anthology of diversity and talent. With themes universal and contemporary, and settings urban and rural, it includes some of our best writers in a genre much loved by the Irish reader and storyteller. Dublin City Libraries wishes to showcase the full catalogue of these women writers, many of whom will be well known to readers but others who may have slipped a little from view and who deserve to be looked at anew.”
A full programme of events is available here: http://www.dublinonecityonebook.ie/whats-on/

The Book
The Long Gaze Back features short stories by 30 Irish writers, spanning four centuries. It won The Best Irish-Published Book at the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards in 2016. It features short stories by the following writers:
Niamh Boyce, Elizabeth Bowen, Maeve Brennan, Mary Costello, June Caldwell, Lucy Caldwell, Evelyn Conlon, Anne Devlin, Maria Edgeworth, Anne Enright, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Norah Hoult, Mary Lavin, Eimear McBride, Molly McCloskey, Bernie McGill, Lisa McInerney, Belinda McKeon, Siobhán Mannion, Lia Mills, Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Kate O’Brien, Roisín O’Donnell, E.M. Reapy, Charlotte Riddell, Eimear Ryan, Anakana Schofield, Somerville & Ross, Susan Stairs.

One City One Book: An Evening with Bernie McGill and Anne Devlin
2018-04-11 18:30 - 20:00 | Finaghy Road Library, 38B Finaghy Road, Belfast, BT10 0DR, United Kingdom
As part of the One City One Book Programme 2018, authors Bernie McGill and Anne Devlin will discuss their stories from The Long Gaze Back. Chaired by author Jan Carson.

Anne Devlin was born in Belfast. David Marcus first published her stories in the Irish Press in the 1980’s. Her collection The Waypaver was published by Faber in 1986. She is best known as a dramatist, both for Ourselves Alone (Royal Court, 1985) and After Easter (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1993). She has worked extensively in TV and film. Her most recent work was the radio play The Forgotten(2009).
Bernie McGill is the author of Sleepwalkers, a collection of stories short-listed in 2014 for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and of the novels The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet. Her work has been placed in the Seán Ó Faoláin, the Bridport, and the Michael McLaverty Short Story Prizes and she won the Zoetrope: All-Story Award in the US. Her short fiction has appeared in The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and Female Lines, all by New Island Books. She is the recipient of a number of Arts Council of Northern Ireland Awards and was granted a research bursary in 2013 from the Society of Authors. She lives in Portstewart in Northern Ireland with her family.

Booking essential. Email: finaghyroad.library@librariesni.org.uk

The Long Gaze Back, An Anthology of Irish Women Writers edited by Sinéad Gleeson, is the Dublin: One City One Book choice for 2018.
Published by New Island, the anthology spans four centuries and features some of Ireland’s most gifted writers.
Sinéad Gleeson said: “I’m thrilled and delighted on behalf of the 30 writers, past and present, that The Long Gaze Back is this year’s Dublin: One City One Book choice. Anthologies are a platform for telling multiple stories and so many of the writers and their work included here are intrinsically connected to Dublin and its people. The book arose from a desire to amplify the voices of women who write, and being chosen for Dublin: One City One Book will help to introduce these talented writers to all kinds of new readers.”
Dublin City Librarian Margaret Hayes added “This collection of stories embraces writers of the past, present and of the future, an anthology of diversity and talent. With themes universal and contemporary, and settings urban and rural, it includes some of our best writers in a genre much loved by the Irish reader and storyteller. Dublin City Libraries wishes to showcase the full catalogue of these women writers, many of whom will be well known to readers but others who may have slipped a little from view and who deserve to be looked at anew.”
A full programme of events is available here: http://www.dublinonecityonebook.ie/whats-on/

The Book
The Long Gaze Back features short stories by 30 Irish writers, spanning four centuries. It won The Best Irish-Published Book at the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards in 2016. It features short stories by the following writers:
Niamh Boyce, Elizabeth Bowen, Maeve Brennan, Mary Costello, June Caldwell, Lucy Caldwell, Evelyn Conlon, Anne Devlin, Maria Edgeworth, Anne Enright, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Norah Hoult, Mary Lavin, Eimear McBride, Molly McCloskey, Bernie McGill, Lisa McInerney, Belinda McKeon, Siobhán Mannion, Lia Mills, Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Kate O’Brien, Roisín O’Donnell, E.M. Reapy, Charlotte Riddell, Eimear Ryan, Anakana Schofield, Somerville & Ross, Susan Stairs.

The Editor
Sinéad Gleeson is a writer, editor and freelance broadcaster. Her essays have appeared in Granta, Banshee, Winter Papers and Gorse among others. Her short story ‘Counting Bridges’ was longlisted at the 2016 Irish Book Awards, and she has a short story in forthcoming Repeal the 8th anthology edited by Una Mullally. She is the editor of three anthologies including The Long Gaze Back: an Anthology of Irish Women Writers (2015) and The Glass Shore: Short Stories by Women Writers from the North of Ireland, (2016) both of which won Best Irish Published Book at the Irish Book Awards. Her collection of essays, Constellations will be published in Spring 2019 by Picador. She is currently working on a novel.

Literary Ladies at Primrose on the Quay
2018-03-08 19:00 - 21:00 | Primrose on the Quay, 2 Atlantic Quay, Strand Road, Londonderry, BT48 7NR, United Kingdom
This event will be hosted by the Literary Ladies on behalf of Women Aloud NI. On International Women’s Day, some twenty local women writers will gather to share and celebrate their work. Come along and join us for what promises to be a marvellous evening! Readers include: Jane Talbot; Freya McClements ; Lynne Edgar; Julieann Campbell; Felicity McCall; Claire Allan; Bernie McGill; Mel Bradley; Maura Johnston; Helen Clarke; Anita Robinson; Marilyn McLaughlin; Madeline McCully; Ellen Factor; Berni Kerr.
#IWD2018 #ReadWomen #WomenAloudNI18 @WomenAloudNI @derrywriters

A Sense of Place with Bernie McGill, Claire Savage and Margot McCuaig
2018-03-08 12:30 - 13:30 | Waterstones, Coleraine, 10 Church Street, Coleraine, BT52 1AP, United Kingdom
Join Bernie McGill, Claire Savage and Margot McCuaig as they explore the ways in which landscape – particularly the North Antrim coast, Rathlin Island and its surrounding areas – presents a power and an influence in creative writing.
Margot McCuaig is a storyteller and published novelist. She writes, produces and directs award-winning documentary feature films. She also makes live television programmes as a producer and executive producer. She’s a mother and grandmother, sitting at the centre of an amazing family, and she lives in Glasgow, Scotland and Rathlin Island, Ireland; a beautiful city and an inspirational island.
Claire Savage published her debut children’s novel, Magical Masquerade, in April 2017, officially launching it at the Belfast Book Festival in June. Chosen as one of Lagan Online’s 12NOW (New Original Writers) for 2016/17, Claire also writes short stories and poetry, with various work published in literary journals. Claire has just received a grant from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s National Lottery funding as part of its Support for Individual Artists Programme (under the General Arts Award Scheme). This will support her in her artistic production and promotion, drafting a second novel, and creating a support structure for the first.
Bernie McGill’s first novel, The Butterfly Cabinet, was published in 2010 and her short story collection, Sleepwalkers, by Whittrick Press in 2013. Her short fiction has been anthologised in The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and, more recently, in Female Lines (all by New Island Books). Her new novel, The Watch House, published by Tinder Press, is set on Rathlin Island at the end of the nineteenth century. It tells the story of islander Nuala Byrne, a woman caught between the apparent security of a traditional island life and the promise of a new world of technology. When Marconi’s engineers arrive on the island with their mysterious equipment that can reputedly steal a person’s words away from them and transmit them through the air to the other side of the sea, Nuala’s world changes forever.
*This panel discussion will be immediately followed by readings from Causeway Coast members of Women Aloud NI to celebrate International Women’s Day (1.30pm-3pm). This event is coordinated by – and includes – writer Jane Talbot, author of The Faerie Thorn & Other Stories.
#IWD2018 #ReadWomen #WomenAloudNI18 @WomenAloudNI

Begin Your Novel with Bernie McGill
2018-02-27 19:00 - 2018-04-17 21:00 | Verbal Arts Centre, Stable Lane and Mall Wall, Bishop Street Within, LONDONDERRY, BT48 6PU, United Kingdom
Starts: Tues 27 Feb 2018
Time: 7.00pm – 9.00pm
Duration: 8 Weeks
Cost: €88*/£80
Location: Verbal Arts Centre, Derry
*Please note this cost is based on the currency exchange rate of £80.
In this 8-week course, we will look at: structuring work; writing openings with impact; developing setting; creating credible characters; selecting point of view; writing dialogue; editing and redrafting; outlets for completed work. You will be invited to take part in writing exercises to further develop your work and to share your writing with other class members. Suitable for committed writers. Participants should come with a 250 word outline for a novel. Works-in-progress are welcomed.
Bernie McGill is the author of two novels, The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet, both published by Tinder Press, and of a short story collection, Sleepwalkers, published by Whittrick Press.
To book, please contact The Irish Writers’ Centre (organiser) by phone on (+353) 1 872 1302; by email at info@writerscentre.ie or book online here: https://irishwriterscentre.ie/products/northern-ireland-begin-your-novel-with-bernie-mcgill

One Day Fiction Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill
2018-02-03 10:00 - 16:00 | Flowerfield Arts Centre, 185 Coleraine Road, PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland, BT55 7HU, United Kingdom
Topics covered include: Building Characters; Creating a sense of place; Selecting point of view. Suitable for both beginners and experienced fiction writers, short story writers and novelists. Participants will be invited to take part in writing exercises in order to develop their work and practice. You’re welcome to bring a packed lunch and we have a tea/coffee machine and some snacks available at reception.

Dublin Launch of Female Lines, Irish Writers' Centre
2017-11-07 18:30 - 20:00 | Irish Writers’ Centre, 19 Parnell Square, DUBLIN, Ireland
In 1985, The Female Line: Northern Irish Women Writers was published, edited by Ruth Carr. A pioneering anthology at the time, it gave many Northern Irish women writers their first opportunity for publication. Now, over thirty years later, Female Lines: New Writing by Women from Northern Ireland – a stunning mosaic of work by some of the best contemporary women writers from Northern Ireland – acts as both a new staging post and a sequel to its vibrant feminist predecessor.
Trans-genre in contents and including both experienced and newer women writers, this landmark anthology features women writers playing with different modes, forms, and innovations – from magical realism and surrealism to humour and multi-perspective narratives – and celebrates fiction, poetry, drama, essays, life writing, and photography. It considers how much has changed or stayed the same in terms of scope and opportunity for women writers and for women more generally in Northern Irish society (and its diaspora) in the post-Good Friday Agreement era.
Northern Irish women’s writing is going from strength to strength and this anthology captures its current richness and audacity.
Edited by Linda Anderson and Dawn Sherratt-Bado and featuring work by:
Linda Anderson, Jean Bleakney, Maureen Boyle, Colette Bryce, Lucy Caldwell, Emma Campbell, Julieann Campbell, Ruth Carr, Jan Carson, Paula Cunningham, Celia de Fréine, Anne Devlin, Moyra Donaldson, Wendy Erskine, Leontia Flynn, Miriam Gamble, Rosemary Jenkinson, Deirdre Madden, Bernie McGill, Medbh McGuckian, Susan McKay, Sinéad Morrissey, Joan Newmann, Kate Newmann, Roisín O’Donnell, Heather Richardson, Janice Fitzpatrick Simmons, Cherry Smyth, Gráinne Tobin, Margaret Ward, Tara West, Sheena Wilkinson, Ann Zell.

In conversation with Carlo Gébler at Dublin Book Festival
2017-11-05 13:30 - 14:30 | Smock Alley Theatre, 6/7 Exchange Street Lower, Temple Bar, Dublin 8, Ireland
Author Carlo Gébler hosts an event which will explore the crucial narrative element of developing a sense of place during the writing process. He will be joined by Billy O’Callaghan, author of short stories and his first novel The Dead House (The O’Brien Press), comic strip writer Arja Kajermo – who is debuting her novel The Iron Age (Tramp Press), Bernie McGill, author of The Watch House (Headline) and Ciaran McMenamin, a stage and screen actor who is introducing his first novel Skintown (Doubleday Ireland). Together the authors will discuss and share their keen insights on effectively establishing a strong theme of place throughout their work, and how doing so enriched their storytelling.
Free event. Booking advised. Book here.
IN ASSOCIATION WITH BELFAST BOOK FESTIVAL

Belfast Launch of Female Lines, Crescent Arts Centre
2017-11-01 18:30 - 20:00 | Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Road, BELFAST, BT7 1NH, United Kingdom

'Between the Lights' Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill
2017-10-28 10:00 - 16:00 | Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre, 24 Main Street, Limavady, BT49 0FJ, United Kingdom
The Celtic Festival of Samhain traditionally marks the end of the lighter half and the beginning of the darker half of the year. It was believed that at this time, the division between this world and the otherworld was at its thinnest, allowing spirits to pass through. As we head into the darker weeks of the year, this one-day writing workshop will use as its theme that idea of passing between the lights. Open to all from experienced writers to first-timers, poets and prosers alike, the workshop will be fully participative with attendees taking part in writing exercises throughout the day. Maximum numbers 12. (One hour break for lunch. Lunch not provided.)
To book, phone: 028 7776 0650 or email: information@rvacc.co.uk

In Conversation with Jan Carson at No Alibis Bookshop, Belfast
2017-10-17 18:00 - 19:30 | No Alibis Bookshop, 83 Botanic Avenue, BELFAST, BT7 1JL, United Kingdom
Reading from The Watch House, in conversation with Jan Carson, author of Malcolm Orange Disappears and Children’s Children. A Belfast International Festival event.
Book here for the event. Watch the book trailer, filmed on Rathlin.
‘Beautiful and lyrical, tender and fierce; one of those rare novels, with the power to break you clean in two.’ Guinevere Glasfurd, author of the Costa shortlisted The Words in My Hand.
‘McGill writes about life, love and telegraphy with a poet’s clarity’ The Sunday Times
‘McGill proves once again she is a masterful storyteller . . . historical fiction at its absolute best’ The Lady
‘A novel to haunt you’ Sunday Mirror
‘Totally absorbing and full of unexpected twists’ Sunday Business Post
‘Endlessly intriguing and exhilarating’ Dublin Review of Books
‘An evocative novel that’s brimming with suspense… [it] reels you in and keeps a grip on you until the very end’ The Incubator
‘[McGill’s] assured style and eye for detail make The Watch House a pleasure to read, a fast-paced tale that rarely flags, with a complex and beguiling heroine at the helm’ Irish Times
‘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
‘There are messages in the air, a closeness like the kind that comes before a storm, a listening, a holding of breath.’ It is summer, 1898, on the small Irish island of Rathlin and the place is alive with gossip. A pair of strangers has arrived 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.
The Watch House is a gripping story about the power of words to connect us, and the power of suspicion to drive us apart.

Aspects Festival, Bangor, with David Park and Malachi O'Doherty
2017-09-24 15:00 - 16:30 | North Down Museum, Town Hall, The Castle, Bangor, BT20 4BT, United Kingdom
Reading from The Watch House with David Park, author of The Truth Commissioner and The Poets’ Wives, introduced by writer and broadcaster Malachi O’Doherty. An Aspects Festival event.

Launch of The Watch House at Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart
2017-09-21 19:00 - 22:00 | Flowerfield Arts Centre, 185 Coleraine Road, PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland, BT55 7HU, United Kingdom
Launch of The Watch House by Bernie McGill, in conversation with Eimear O’Callaghan, author of Belfast Days: A 1972 Teenage Diary. In association with the John Hewitt Society. Admission free but please reserve a place by phoning Flowerfield at the number provided, or email reception@flowerfield.org.
