Walled Garden Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill at Aspects Festival, Bangor
North Down Museum Town Hall, The Castle, Bangor, United KingdomJoin 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. The 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. All levels of experience welcome, from seasoned writers to first-timers, poets and fiction writers alike. Suitable for ages 16+ Dress for the weather and in comfortable walking shoes and bring a hardback notebook for writing outdoors. Full workshop details and booking at Aspects Festival. Bernie 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. Eílís Ní Dhuibhne and Evelyn Conlon in conversation […]
Back in the Writing Room with Bernie McGill at Burnavon Arts Centre, Cookstown
Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre Burn Road, Cookstown, United KingdomAfter 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. All 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. There will be a short break for lunch (bring your own). Please bring your own notebook and pen. Suitable for age 16+ Book online at The Burnavon. Bernie 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. *Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash
Prophets, Makers and Risk Takers: A Showcase of Writing from Northern Ireland
Accidental Theatre 12-13 Shaftesbury Square, Belfast, United Kingdom'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. Curated 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. The 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 […]
Creative Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill: The Growing Light
Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre Burn Road, Cookstown, United KingdomA 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. All 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. There will be a short break for lunch (please bring your own). This workshop is suitable for 16yrs + Bernie 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. Book through the Burnavon Arts Centre.
Writing a Novel: 3 Day Workshop with Bernie McGill at Listowel Writers’ Week
Listowel Writers' Week The Square, Listowel, IrelandIn 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. 3 Day Workshop - Thurs/Fri/Sat, 2nd-4th June 2022, from 9am to 12:30pm Day 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. Day 2. We will hear and give feedback on synopses and look particularly at: Developing Setting and Creating Credible Characters. Day 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. Bernie 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 […]
Launch of This Train is For by Bernie McGill
No Alibis Bookshop 83 Botanic Avenue, BELFAST, United KingdomNo 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. This launch happily coincides with the twenty-fifth anniversary of No Alibis Bookstore. About Bernie McGill: Bernie 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. "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. This is a free event but […]
David Park & Bernie McGill in Conversation with Emma Warnock at Belfast Book Festival
Crescent Arts Centre 2-4 University Road, BELFAST, United KingdomJoin 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. Bernie McGill’s This Train Is For is a collection of short stories; some unpublished, some stories previously published within award winning anthologies. David Park’s Spies in Canaan is a bold and unsettling parable about guilt, atonement and redemption. Novel 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. Bernie 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 […]
Book Signing at Waterstones, Coleraine: This Train is For by Bernie McGill
Waterstones, Coleraine 10 Church Street, Coleraine, United KingdomJoin 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. Bernie 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. This new collection, her first since 2013, contains unpublished stories along with a number of previously published stories featured within award winning anthologies. ‘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 ‘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 […]
Space to Write, Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart
Flowerfield Arts Centre 185 Coleraine Road, PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland, United KingdomAre 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? Space 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. Writers 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. Please 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 […]
Reading & Book Signing at Waterstones, Foyleside: This Train is For by Bernie McGill
Waterstones, Foyleside Unit 7, Foyleside Centre, Derry, United KingdomJoin 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. Bernie 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. This new collection, her first since 2013, contains unpublished stories along with a number of previously published stories featured within award winning anthologies. ‘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 ‘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 […]