Reading & Book Signing at Waterstones, Foyleside: This Train is For by Bernie McGill
2022-06-24 19:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Dublin) | Waterstones, Foyleside, Unit 7, Foyleside Centre, Derry, BT48 6XY, United Kingdom
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.
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This new collection, her first since 2013, contains unpublished stories along with a number of previously published stories featured within award winning anthologies.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 or misplaced.’ Jan Carson
‘Wonderful stories of journeys geographical and of the inner kind.’ Bernard MacLaverty
‘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
‘This Train is For is a dazzling exercise in compression, and an exemplification of what the short story form can achieve.’ Neil Hegarty, Fortnight
‘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
‘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.

Bernie McGill & Rosemary Jenkinson in Conversation at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy
2022-06-25 14:00 - 15:30 | Seamus Heaney HomePlace, 45 Main Street, Bellaghy, BT45 8HT, United Kingdom
In Conversation with Emma Warnock
Seamus 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.
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 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.
Rosemary 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’.
Join Bernie and Rosemary in conversation with Emma Warnock from No Alibis Press in what promises to be a fascinating afternoon of readings and discussion.
Book via Seamus Heaney HomePlace.

Novel Writing: Getting Started at Cairde Sligo Arts Festival
2022-07-06 10:30 - 13:00 | The Yeats Building, Hyde Bridge, Abbeyquarter North,, Sligo, F91 DVY4, Ireland
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).
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 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.
Bernie 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.
‘McGill writes about life, love and telegraphy with a poet’s clarity.’ The Sunday Times
‘The book is a masterclass in how to marry narrative and setting.’ David Park, Irish Times
‘McGill proves once again she is a masterful storyteller… historical fiction at its absolute best.’ The Lady
Book this workshop here.
Please 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.

An Arrow in Flight: A Panel Conversation on the short story at Cairde Sligo Arts Festival
2022-07-06 20:00 - 21:30 | Hawk’s Well Theatre, 2 Temple Street, Abbeyquarter North,, Sligo, F91 EDE9, Ireland
With Bernie McGill, Sheila Armstrong and Stephen Walsh, hosted by Jan Carson.
Irish 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.
Bernie 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.
Sheila 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.
Stephen 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
Book here for this event.
Please 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.

Creative Writing Workshop: Summer Home with Bernie McGill at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy
2022-07-16 10:30 - 13:30 | Seamus Heaney HomePlace, 45 Main Street, Bellaghy, BT45 8HT, United Kingdom
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.
All 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!
A hard back notebook or clipboard may be useful for writing outdoors.
Bernie 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.
Book at Seamus Heaney HomePlace.

Reading & Signing: This Train is For at The Secret Bookshelf, Carrickfergus
2022-07-18 14:00 - 15:00 | The Secret Bookshelf, 38 Scotch Quarter, Carrickfergus, BT38 7DP, United Kingdom
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.
Bernie McGill will read from her new short story collection This Train is For at The Secret Bookshelf on Monday 18th July at 2pm.
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 or misplaced.’ Jan Carson
‘Wonderful stories of journeys geographical and of the inner kind.’ Bernard MacLaverty
‘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
‘This Train is For is a dazzling exercise in compression, and an exemplification of what the short story form can achieve.’ Neil Hegarty

‘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
‘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.’
John Self, Irish Times.

Novel Writing - First Chapters with Bernie McGill at the John Hewitt International Summer School
2022-07-25 14:45 - 2022-07-28 16:45 | Market Place Theatre, Armagh, Market Street, Armagh, Armagh, BT61 7BW, United Kingdom
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.
Participants should prepare a 250-word synopsis of their novel in advance.
Workshops 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.
Bernie 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.
Book for this series of workshops here.
Bernie 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.
You 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.

Celebrating the Short Story with Wendy Erskine & Bernie McGill
2022-07-27 13:30 - 14:30 | Market Place Theatre, Armagh, Market Street, Armagh, Armagh, BT61 7BW, United Kingdom
Celebrating the Short Story with Wendy Erskine & Bernie McGill in conversation with Paul McVeigh.
Wendy 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
“Truly magnificent. These stories buzz with life and verve and humour… reminds us how glorious the short story can be.” Danielle McLaughlin.
Bernie 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.
“Wonderful stories of journeys geographical and of the inner kind.” Bernard MacLaverty
Paul McVeigh is the acclaimed author of The Good Son and Co-Founder of the London Short Story Festival.
This 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.
Bernie 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.

Sand, fire, glass, sea: a creative writing and glassmaking workshop at Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart
2022-08-13 10:30 - 14:30 | Flowerfield Arts Centre, 185 Coleraine Road, PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland, BT55 7HU, United Kingdom
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.
Andrea 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.
Bernie 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.

Writing Workshop, Old Church Centre, Cushendun
2022-09-17 11:00 - 13:00 | Old Church Centre, Cushendun, 1 Church Lane, Cushendun, BT44 0PG, United Kingdom
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.
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 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.
Bernie 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.
Booking for the Writing Workshop is via the Old Church Centre website.
*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.

Reading from The Watch House by Bernie McGill at the Old Church Centre, Cushendun
2022-09-17 15:00 - 16:00 | Old Church Centre, Cushendun, 1 Church Lane, Cushendun, BT44 0PG, United Kingdom
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.
Bernie 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.
Praise for The Watch House:
‘McGill writes about life, love and telegraphy with a poet’s clarity’ The Sunday Times
‘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

‘The book is a masterclass in how to marry narrative and setting.’ David Park, Irish Times

‘A mesmerising, clever and surprisingly brutal novel’ Belfast Telegraph

‘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
‘McGill proves once again she is a masterful storyteller . . . historical fiction at its absolute best’ The Lady
Book for this event on the Cushendun Old Church Centre website.
*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.

Reading Round at Coleraine Library
2022-09-28 10:30 - 2023-06-07 12:00 | Coleraine Library, Queen Street, Coleraine, BT52 1BE, United Kingdom
What is a Reading Round group?
Reading 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.
Where and When will it happen?
The 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.
What’s involved?
Each 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.
Who will lead the group?
Bernie 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.
Why Reading Round?
The 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/
How do I join?
Reading 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.

Creative Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill at FLive Festival, Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen
2022-10-08 10:00 - 12:00 | Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen, 97 Dublin Rd, Enniskillen, BT74 6FZ, United Kingdom
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.
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 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.
Bernie 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.
Book online for the Creative Writing Workshop on the FLive Festival website.
*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.

FLive Book Club with Bernie McGill and This Train is For at Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen
2022-10-08 14:00 - 15:00 | Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen, 97 Dublin Rd, Enniskillen, BT74 6FZ, United Kingdom
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.
To 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*.
Book online for FLive Book Club on the FLive Festival website.
*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.

Praise for This Train is For:
‘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 or misplaced.’
Jan Carson
‘Wonderful stories of journeys geographical and of the inner kind.’ Bernard MacLaverty
‘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
‘This Train is For is a dazzling exercise in compression, and an exemplification of what the short story form can achieve.’
Neil Hegarty, Fortnight Magazine

‘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
‘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.’
John Self, Irish Times
‘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.’
Cathy Brown, Dig With It Magazine
‘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.’
Dawn Miranda Sherratt-Bado, Dublin Review of Books

In Conversation with novelists Nuala O'Connor and Martina Devlin at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy
2022-10-16 14:00 - 15:00 | Seamus Heaney HomePlace, 45 Main Street, Bellaghy, BT45 8HT, United Kingdom
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.
Martina 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.
Nuala and Martina will be in conversation with novelist Bernie McGill to explore historical fiction, responsibility to the past and the celebration of fascinating women.
Book via Seamus Heaney HomePlace.

Book Week NI Author Panel: John Self hosts Bernie McGill and Wendy Erskine
2022-10-20 18:45 - 2022-10-22 20:00 | Chichester Library, 109 Salisbury Avenue, Belfast, BT15 5EB
*This event is now available to view online.
Renowned 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.
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, (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.
Wendy 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.
This 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
To book a place for the live stream email: events@librariesni.org.uk
To 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.

Flex Your Writing Muscles
2023-02-25 10:30 - 14:00 | Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre, Burn Road, Cookstown, BT80 8DN, United Kingdom
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.
All 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.
There will be a short break for lunch (please bring your own).
Suitable for 16y +
Bernie 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.
Book for this workshop on the Burnavon website.

Focus on Short Fiction with Bernie McGill at the John Hewitt International Summer School 2023
2023-07-24 14:45 - 2023-07-27 16:45 | Market Place Theatre, Armagh, Market Street, Armagh, Armagh, BT61 7BW, United Kingdom
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.
Bernie 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.
These 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.
Full information on events and workshops at the 2023 John Hewitt International Summer School here.

This Train is For by Bernie McGill is shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize
2023-09-20 - 2024-01-20 | London Review Bookshop, 14-16 Bury Place, London, WC1A 2JL, United Kingdom
This Train is For by Bernie McGill, published by No Alibis Press, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Edge Hill Prize, awarded annually by Edge Hill University for excellence in a published single authored short story collection. This is the second time that Bernie’s work has been shortlisted: her first collection Sleepwalkers was shortlisted in 2014.
This year the judges for the prize are Lucy Luck (Agent with CWA), last year’s winner Saba Sams, and Edge Hill University lecturer and short story writer Andrea Ashworth. They will decide the winner between these wonderful shortlisted collections. Follow the links for interviews with the authors:

Total by Rebecca Miller (Canongate)
Love in the Time of Chaos by Rosemary Jenkinson (Arlen House)
Cat Brushing & Other Stories by Jane Campbell (Riverrun)
Animals at Night by Naomi Booth (Dead Ink Books)
This Train is for… by Bernie McGill (No Alibis Press)

The literary world, particularly fiction, has long been dominated by the novel. To recognise the acceleration of what was once an overlooked art form, Professor Ailsa Cox (the world’s only Professor of Short Fiction) founded the Edge Hill Short Story Prize in 2006, highlighting the intricate craftsmanship of short story writing. The Prize remains unique as the only annually presented award that recognises excellence in a published, single-authored collection of short stories in the UK and Ireland.
Now in its 17th Year, the prize money currently stands at £10,000 and is judged by a selected panel of literary experts. An additional prize of £1,000 is awarded for the ‘Reader’s Choice’, traditionally judged by Edge Hill University BA (Hons) Creative Writing students. An additional category worth £500 acknowledges rising talents on the University’s MA Creative Writing course.
Previous years’ winners have been Colm Tóibín, Claire Keegan, Chris Beckett, Jeremy Dyson, Graham Mort, Sarah Hall, John Burnside, Kirsty Gunn, Jessie Greengrass, Daisy Johnson, Tessa Hadley, David Szalay, Shelley Day, Kevin Barry and last year’s winner Saba Sams.
The winner will be announced at an event in the London Review Bookshop on 19th January 2024, 6.3opm – 8.30pm. Spaces are limited but if you’d like to come and hear the writers read from their shortlisted collections please RSVP asap to Lyndsey Skeaping: 25201158@edgehill.ac.uk.

FREE Writing and Walking Workshop at Artlink Fort Dunree, Buncrana, Co. Donegal
2023-11-12 10:30 - 13:00 | Artlink Fort Dunree, Fort Dunree, Buncrana, Co. Donegal, F93 C424, Ireland
10.30am-1pm Sunday 12th November 2023
Join 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.
This is a free workshop but numbers are limited. To book email info@artlink.ie
Initiated 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.
Sea 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.
In 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.
From 8-15 November, the group present elements of their ongoing project work at Artlink with a day of public participation on Sunday 12 November.
For 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.

(SOLD OUT) Between the Lights: Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy
2023-11-25 10:30 - 13:30 | Seamus Heaney HomePlace, 45 Main Street, Bellaghy, BT45 8HT, 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 you are invited to join us for a half-day writing workshop around the theme of passing between the lights.
This will be a practical workshop on the everyday craft of writing with the aim of sparking ideas for new work. Open to all from experienced writers to first-timers, poets and prosers alike. Come with writing materials, prepared to write.
Bernie McGill’s latest publication is the short story collection This Train is For, long listed in July 2023 for the prestigious Edge Hill Prize, published by and available from No Alibis Press.
Bernie is author of The Butterfly Cabinet, The Watch House and the short story collection Sleepwalkers (shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize in 2014). She is an experienced facilitator and mentor and an Associate Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund.
Book this workshop on the Seamus Heaney HomePlace website*
Full programme of events at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Autumn/Winter 2023.
*Please note this workshop is now sold out but you may add your name to the waiting list.

Michelle Gallen in Conversation with Bernie McGill
2023-12-13 13:00 - 14:00 | Linen Hall Library, Belfast, 17 Donegall Square North, Belfast, BT1 5GB, United Kingdom
The critically acclaimed author of Big Girl, Small Town and Factory Girls, Michelle Gallen, joins us at The Linen Hall Library for an insightful conversation with Bernie McGill about her work. Fresh from her well-deserved Comedy Women in Print prize, Michelle will delve into how her characters’ narratives are intricately shaped by her deep connection to place, rural life, Northern Ireland politics, and her unique life experiences.
Copies of the book will be available to buy on the evening of this event.

ABOUT MICHELLE GALLEN
Michelle Gallen was born in Northern Ireland in the mid-1970s and grew up during the Troubles a few miles from the border between what she was told was the “Free” State and the “United” Kingdom. She studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin, then survived what doctors now suspect was autoimmune encephalitis in her mid-twenties. Her debut novel, Big Girl, Small Town was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Her critically acclaimed second novel, Factory Girls, was published in 2022. She now lives in Dublin with her husband and kids.
About Bernie McGill
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 most recent short story collection, This Train is For, was published in 2022 by No Alibis Press and has just been shortlisted for the prestigious Edge Hill Prize. Her first collection of stories, Sleepwalkers, was shortlisted for the prize in 2014 and she is a former winner of the Zoetrope:All-Story Short Fiction Award in the US. 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.
Book tickets at the Linen Hall Library.

This Train is For by Bernie McGill wins the 2023 Edge Hill Short Story Prize
2024-01-19 23:30 - 2025-01-19 23:30
This year’s winner of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize is Bernie McGill with her short story collection This Train is For, published by No Alibis Press.
Now in its 17th year, The Edge Hill Prize is the only annual UK-based award to  recognise  excellence in a single-authored short story collection, with a first prize of £10,000.
Bernie McGill is the author of two novels, The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House, and two collections of short stories, Sleepwalkers and the Edge Hill prize-winner This Train is For (No Alibis Press).
The judges for this year’s prize were the winner of last year’s award Saba Sams; Lucy Luck, agent at C&W Agency, and short story writer and Edge Hill creative writing lecturer Andrea Ashworth.
The winner received her award at a ceremony at the London Review Bookshop in Bloomsbury. She said: “It’s such an honour to have won the Edge Hill Prize. I’ve been reading the winning collections for years. I’m a huge fan of the short story, as both a reader and as a writer. When working on the longer form gets challenging, I sneak off for a philander with the short form. I love the intensity of it, and I love the buzz of finishing one.”
Naomi Booth was the winner of the £1,000 Reader’s Choice Award for her collection Animals at Night (Dead Ink Books).
Will Clark, a student on the Edge Hill MA in Creative Writing, won the prize for best short story submitted by a student.
Five collections made the shortlist, namely:

Total by Rebecca Miller (Canongate)
Love in the Time of Chaos by Rosemary Jenkinson (Arlen House)
Cat Brushing & Other Stories by Jane Campbell (Riverrun)
Animals at Night by Naomi Booth (Dead Ink Books)
This Train is for… by Bernie McGill (No Alibis Press)

Founded in 2006, the Edge Hill Short Story Prize attracts entries from new and established writers. Professor of short fiction Ailsa Cox founded the award to highlight the “artisanship of short-story writing” and acknowledge the wealth of published collections available.
Previous winners of the award include Sarah Hall, David Szalay, Tessa Hadley and Kevin Barry.

Bernie McGill’s award-winning stories have been widely praised for their emotional depth and lyrical language.
She is a writer of profound sensitivity and observation whose masterful deployment of linguistic precision and economy enables her to plumb the depths of human experience while neatly avoiding sentimentalism.
This new collection, the first since 2013, contains unpublished stories along with a number of previously published stories contained within award winning anthologies.
This Train is For is available from No Alibis Books.

Taster Workshop: Short Story Writing with Bernie McGill
2024-02-24 10:00 - 12:00 | Women’s TEC, 29 Chichester Ave, BELFAST, BT15 5EH, United Kingdom
Focus on Short Story… with Bernie McGill, a workshop for the North Belfast Festival 2024
In this short participative creative writing workshop, you will be offered a number of prompts and writing exercises to help get you started on (or help you to develop) your own short story. Come with an open mind, prepared to write.
Bernie 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). She is the 2023 winner of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize for This Train is For (No Alibis Press). www.berniemcgill.com
This event will take place at the Women’s TEC, 29 Chichester Avenue, Belfast, BT15 5EH. Cost: £5. To book go to Taster Workshop on the North Belfast Festival website.
For the full programme of the North Belfast Festival (23rd – 25th February 2024), including tours, exhibitions, talks, performances and workshops visit Look North! The North Belfast Festival.

Short Story Writing with Bernie McGill at the John Hewitt International Summer School, Armagh
2024-07-22 14:45 - 2024-07-25 16:45 | Market Place Theatre, Armagh, Market Street, Armagh, Armagh, BT61 7BW, United Kingdom
Join writer Bernie McGill in an investigation of the short story and the ways in which short story writers can make one thing seem to cause the next. This course will offer exercises, prompts and discussion that will help you to develop and revise your work within a community of fellow writers. Come with an open mind, prepared to write.
This course will take place during the John Hewitt International Summer School at the Market Place Theatre, Armagh. Workshops are scheduled for Monday 22nd, Tuesday 23rd and Thursday 25th July 2024 from 2.45 pm to 4.45 pm and cost £70 in total. Participants should attend all three sessions. All levels are welcome. Spaces are limited – advance booking is essential.
To book go to the Market Place Theatre.
Bernie McGill is the 2023 winner of the prestigious Edge Hill Prize for her short story collection This Train is For. Her first collection, Sleepwalkers, was shortlisted for the prize in 2014. She is the author of two novels (The Butterfly Cabinet (2010) & The Watch House (2017)) and is a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund.
For the full programme of the John Hewitt International Summer School taking place from Monday 22nd to Saturday 27th July 2024, including workshops, readings, panel discussions, performances and art exhibitions visit The John Hewitt Society.

Scribes at the Duncairn: Bernie McGill, Jan Carson & Paul McVeigh chaired by Marnie Kennedy
2024-08-09 18:30 - 20:30 | Duncairn Cultural Arts Centre, Duncairn Avenue, Belfast, BT14 6BP, United Kingdom
Featuring Paul McVeigh, Bernie McGill & Jan Carson at Duncairn Arts Centre, Duncairn Avenue, Belfast.
Chaired by Marnie Kennedy, Shared Reading facilitator. This event is hosted by Stories@theDuncairn, a volunteer-led, community literary project, in partnership with the Greater New Lodge Community Festival and Féile an Phobail. Café at the Duncairn open for tea, coffee and refreshments. Wine Reception. All welcome!
Doors open at 6.30pm

Paul McVeigh’s short stories have been in numerous anthologies including ‘Being Various’, ‘The Art of the Glimpse’ and ‘Common People’. They have also been printed in ‘The London Magazine’, ‘The Stinging Fly’ and ‘The Irish Times’, on radio at BBC 3, 4, 5; RTE 1, and Sky TV. His ten-part short story series, ‘The Circus’, appeared on BBC Radio 4 in 2023. Paul co-founded the London Short Story Festival and is associate director of Word Factory, ‘the UK’s national organisation for excellence in the short story’ The Guardian. Paul’s debut novel, ‘The Good Son’, won The McCrea Literary Award and The Polari First Novel Prize. His writing has been translated into seven languages.

Bernie McGill is the 2023 winner of the prestigious Edge Hill Short Story Prize for her collection This Train is For (No Alibis Press). She is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (2010) and of one further short story collection, Sleepwalkers (2013). Her work has appeared in a number of anthologies and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. Bernie works as a Mentor for the Irish Writers’ Centre and is an Associate Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund.

Jan Carson’s critically acclaimed writings explore themes related to identity, place and belonging, but also to angst and alienation, in such works as The Fire Starters (winner EU Prize for Literature, 2019) and The Raptures. She is also very funny! About her latest collection of short stories, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses, the Irish Times said: ‘Long after the reader has closed the book, these tales linger in the mind: vivid, original and moving.’

Writing for Wellbeing with Tanya Gillen and Bernie McGill
2024-10-05 15:30 - 17:30 | The Arcadia, Portrush, East Strand, Craig Vara, Portrush, BT56 8JE
Join yoga teacher Tanya Gillen and writer Bernie McGill in the beautiful surroundings of the Arcadia, Portrush in this taster session that will combine somatic exercises with writing prompts to aid mindfulness and wellbeing. Whether you’re a practicing writer looking for inspiration or a complete novice, this is an opportunity to relax and write freely. This will be a seated workshop with some gentle movement. Wear comfortable clothing and bring writing materials. No other equipment needed. No previous experience of yoga or writing required. Suitable for 16+. For more details on events happening at Swell Festival the weekend of 3rd – 6th October 2024 see the Swell Facebook Page.
Numbers limited. To book, visit Eventbrite. Tickets £6.13 (including booking fee).

Mums Meet and Make: Creative Writing with Bernie McGill at Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre, Limavady
2024-11-20 09:30 - 11:00 | Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre, 24 Main Street, Limavady, BT49 0FJ, United Kingdom
MOMENTS IN MOTHERHOOD | CREATIVE WRITING WITH BERNIE MCGILL
Wednesday 20 November | 9.30-11am
Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre, Limavady
Cost: £8
With prompts and support from Bernie you’ll create a poem or piece of prose about your motherhood journey, about your baby, or about yourself. After the workshop we invite you to stay for refreshments.
This workshop is suitable for those with children under 1 who are not yet mobile or who will sit in a pram and car seat throughout.
Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre is proudly breastfeeding-friendly and baby-changing is available.

ABOUT MUMS MEET & MAKE
This series of creative workshops is specifically designed for new parents with immobile infants under 1, giving you the opportunity to tap into your creativity, relax, and practice mindfulness.
These workshops are enriching, enjoyable and budget-friendly and offer new mums the chance to foster friendships that will last a lifetime.
Book at this link.

ABOUT BERNIE McGILL
Bernie McGill is an award-winning novelist and short story writer and winner of the 2023 Edge Hill Short Story Prize for her short story collection This Train is For, published by No Alibis Press. Her novel The Watch House was nominated in 2019 for the Ireland/European Union Prize for Literature and The Butterfly Cabinet was named in 2012 by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year. Her first short story collection, Sleepwalkers, was short listed in 2014 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 US. Her work has been anthologised in award-winning collections The Long Gaze Back and The Glass Shore and more recently in The Black Dreams, Her Other Language, The Danger & the Glory, Belfast Stories and in Female Lines. She is a recipient of a number of Arts Council of Northern Ireland Awards, including an International Artists’ Development Fund Award to attend the Vittore Branca Centre at the Giorgio Cini Foundation in June 2023. She is a former Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) at the Seamus Heaney Centre and at the School of Computer Science, Queen’s University, Belfast and is a current Writing for Life Fellow with the RLF. She offers One-to-one Mentoring for fiction writers via the Irish Writers’ Centre and is available for school visits via Poetry Ireland’s Writers in Schools Programme.

Mums Meet and Make: Creative Writing with Bernie McGill at Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart
2024-11-27 09:30 - 11:00 | Flowerfield Arts Centre, 185 Coleraine Road, PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland, BT55 7HU, United Kingdom
Wednesday 27 November | 9.30-11am
Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart
Cost: £8
With prompts and support from Bernie you’ll create a poem or piece of prose about your motherhood journey, about your baby, or about yourself. After the workshop we invite you to stay for refreshments.
This workshop is suitable for those with children under 1 who are not yet mobile or who will sit in a pram and car seat throughout.

ABOUT MUMS MEET & MAKE
This series of creative workshops is specifically designed for new parents with immobile infants under 1, giving you the opportunity to tap into your creativity, relax, and practice mindfulness.
These workshops are enriching, enjoyable and budget-friendly and offer new mums the chance to foster friendships that will last a lifetime. After each workshop, we encourage you to stay and enjoy some refreshments.
Flowerfield Arts Centre is proudly Breastfeeding-friendly and baby changing is available.
Book at this link.

ABOUT BERNIE McGILL

Bernie McGill is an award-winning novelist and short story writer and winner of the 2023 Edge Hill Short Story Prize for her short story collection This Train is For, published by No Alibis Press. Her novel The Watch House was nominated in 2019 for the Ireland/European Union Prize for Literature and The Butterfly Cabinet was named in 2012 by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year. Her first short story collection, Sleepwalkers, was short listed in 2014 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 US. Her work has been anthologised in award-winning collections The Long Gaze Back and The Glass Shore and more recently in The Black Dreams, Her Other Language, The Danger & the Glory, Belfast Stories and in Female Lines. She is a recipient of a number of Arts Council of Northern Ireland Awards, including an International Artists’ Development Fund Award to attend the Vittore Branca Centre at the Giorgio Cini Foundation in June 2023. She is a former Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) at the Seamus Heaney Centre and at the School of Computer Science, Queen’s University, Belfast and is a current Writing for Life Fellow with the RLF. She offers One-to-one Mentoring for fiction writers via the Irish Writers’ Centre and is available for school visits via Poetry Ireland’s Writers in Schools Programme.

Reading at Edge Hill University
2025-02-19 18:30 - 20:00 | The Arts Centre, Edge Hill University, Edge Hill University, St Helens Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire, L39 4QP, United Kingdom
The Arts Centre at Edge Hill University, Ormskirk welcomes Northern Irish short story writer and novelist, Bernie McGill for a reading from her collection, This Train is For, winning collection of the Edge Hill Prize in 2023.
Bernie will be joined by writers from Edge Hill’s Fiction Writers’ Network who will be reading new work-in-progress.
All are welcome for this celebration of stories and storytelling.
Admission £5; free to Edge Hill University students
To book, visit The Arts Centre’s event page
