Bernie McGill

Bernie McGill, Author, Live and Interactive
2021-05-01 17:00 - 18:00 (Europe/Dublin) | On Zoom
Cushendun Big Arts Weekend in association with the John Hewitt Society hosts a live event via Zoom with author Bernie McGill on Saturday 1st May at 5pm BST.
Bernie is the author of two novels and one short story collection. 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. Sleepwalkers was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize in 2014.
From 2018 – 2020 Bernie was Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund (RLF) at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University, Belfast. She works as a Lector with the RLF and as a mentor and facilitator with the Irish Writers’ Centre. Her new short story collection will be published in 2022.
Send questions on Bernie’s books, or on writing and publishing in advance to info@cushendunbpt.org or pop them into the Chat via the live event.
Book via this link.

Online Fiction Writing Surgery with Bernie McGill
2021-04-06 10:30 - 2021-05-11 12:30 | Online, United Kingdom
Course Summary:
Would you appreciate some up-close and detailed feedback on your work? Would you be prepared to share up to 2000 words of your fiction writing with a professional writer and with a group of other writers, at a similar writing stage to you? This short course will offer participants the opportunity to have their writing read and workshopped by writer Bernie McGill, and by a peer group of emerging fiction writers.
Course Outline:
Participants should submit a maximum of 2000 words of their fiction writing (short story or novel excerpt) at least two weeks prior to the course commencing. The course will consist of 6 x two hour weekly workshops in each of which the work of two participants will be discussed. The work will be circulated to all twelve participants in advance. Participants will be provided with guidelines by the tutor and encouraged to give constructive feedback on what they have read and what they can bring from their reading to their own writing. Participants will be encouraged to complete writing exercises during and between workshops that relate primarily to the specific issues raised in the work. Suitable for writers committed to short or longer form fiction writing who have been, or are ready to, submit work for publication, who are prepared to spend time reading and critiquing others’ work, and who are open to giving and receiving constructive feedback.
Course Outcomes:
Participants will benefit from skills-based exercises and discussion and from professional and peer feedback on their own work. They will be able to develop their writing based on what they have learned from the reading and discussion of others’ work.
Book online at the Irish Writers Centre.
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 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. She was Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund at Queen’s University, Belfast from 2018-2020.

Sowing the Seeds: Online Creative Writing Workshops with Bernie McGill
2021-03-06 10:30 - 2021-03-27 12:00 | Online, United Kingdom
Saturday 6th March 10.30am – 12 noon
Saturday 13th March 10.30am – 12 noon*
*Please note that, due to demand, a second round of workshops has been added on Saturday 20th and Saturday 27th March from 10.30am – 12 noon. The booking fee covers two workshops (taking place on two consecutive Saturdays). Book at The Burnavon Arts Centre website.
As we look ahead to Spring and to the growing of the light, participants are invited to these two practical online writing workshops, designed to ‘sow some seeds’: to inspire ideas for writing and developing new work.
All levels of experience welcome from experienced writers to first-timers, poets and fiction writers alike. The workshop will be fully participative with attendees taking part in writing exercises online, developing work at home and sharing their work with group participants. Come with writing materials and be prepared to write.
After booking your place the tutor will email you with the meeting link a few days before the workshop begins.
* Please Note: The tutor will require your email address for the purpose of this workshop *
You will require a device capable of running Zoom Meeting Software with a functioning screen, microphone, speakers and a stable connection to the internet.
All workshop participants are advised to test their Zoom connection prior to the workshop. Refunds will not be given for issues caused by your hardware, software or internet connectivity.
Bernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for 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. She was Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Queen’s University, Belfast, from 2018-2020.
Suitable For 16yrs+
Book at The Burnavon Arts Centre website.

The Nerve Podcast
2021-02-24 | Online, United Kingdom
Writer Bernie McGill talks to Dr Jenny O’Connor at The Nerve podcast about what a typical day in her life is like, what it has meant to her to contribute to anthologies that highlight the work of women writers and how teaching keeps her awake at night. Listen here: https://www.wit.ie/news/humanities/podcast-the-nerve-ep-35-bernie-mcgill.
The Nerve is a podcast from the English Department of the Waterford Institute of Technology.
Bernie McGill’s novel The Watch House was nominated in 2019 for the Ireland/European Prize for Literature. Her first novel, The Butterfly Cabinet, was named by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes as his novel of the year in 2012.
Her short fiction has been nominated for several awards and in 2008, she won the Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Award in the United States. Sleepwalkers, her first collection of short stories, was shortlisted for the prestigious Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Bernie is a former Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund at the Seamus Heaney Centre in Queen’s University, Belfast and she is a mentor and workshop facilitator with the Irish Writers’ Centre.

Northern Lights: Bernie McGill in conversation with Jessica Bates, with music by Hannah McPhillimy
2020-11-19 20:00 - 21:00 | Flowerfield Arts Centre, 185 Coleraine Road, PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland, BT55 7HU, United Kingdom
The Arts Service of Causeway Coast & Glens Council presents Bernie McGill in conversation with Jessica Bates, with music by Hannah McPhillimy
This event is now available to view online at Flowerfield Arts Centre’s YouTube channel.
Join us for an evening of music and words from two acclaimed artists whose work is inspired by the distinctive land and seascapes of the Causeway Coast and Glens.
North Coast native Hannah McPhillimy’s brand of thoughtful indie-pop takes its influences from artists across the Atlantic such as Regina Spektor and Feist, but retains an unpredictable beauty that is uniquely home-grown. Described by The Irish Times as ‘a bit of a wonder’, she has supported artists such as Foy Vance, SOAK and The Gloaming. Hannah recently returned from completing her masters in classical composition at the prestigious Michigan University and touring in the U.S.
‘Quietly Captivating.’ Culture NI
‘Music both stunning and moving in equal measure.’ Chordblossom
‘McPhillimy’s vocal talents hit home time and time again.’ The Thin Air
‘A real talent.’ Ralph McLean, BBC Ulster
The landscape and people of the North Coast are firmly rooted in the writing of Bernie McGill. Her first novel, The Butterfly Cabinet, was set in Portstewart and inspired by the tragic events surrounding the Montague family in 1892. Her most recent novel, The Watch House, is set on Rathlin Island, at the time of the Marconi wireless experiments. Its themes of enforced isolation, of new technologies in communication, and of the ingenuity of people to overcome the restrictions of their environment, are distinctly appropriate for the times we find ourselves in.
‘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
Hannah and Bernie will be joined by Ulster University Senior Lecturer and Rathlin resident Jessica Bates to talk about creativity in Lockdown, the impact of location and of circumstances on creative work, and how creative responses can help us navigate troubled times.
Dr Jessica Bates is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, Ulster University where she is Course Director for the Postgraduate Diploma and MSc in Library and Information Management, both online courses. Dr Bates is also Chair of the Advisory Panel to The National Collection of Northern Ireland Publications (NIPR).

Creative Writing Workshop at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy
2020-10-24 10:30 - 13:30 | Seamus Heaney HomePlace, 45 Main Street, Bellaghy, BT45 8HT, United Kingdom
Creative Writing Workshop
Moyola Hall and Sensory Garden, Seamus Heaney HomePlace*
*Please note: this workshop will now take place online
Join facilitator Bernie McGill for a writing workshop in the Moyola Hall and Sensory Garden at HomePlace, Bellaghy, inspired by the work of Seamus Heaney. This will be a practical workshop on the everyday craft of writing with the aim of sparking ideas for new work. All levels of experience welcome from experienced writers to first-timers, poets and fiction writers alike. Participants will have the option to find a spot outdoors in the Sensory Garden to write, weather permitting, or at a social distance indoors in the Moyola Hall. Come with writing materials, prepared to write.
A hard backed notebook or clipboard may be useful for writing outdoors. Dress for the weather!
*Full social distancing and safety measures are in place and workshops will have specific guidelines to allow for maximum enjoyment and participant safety. Please Note: in order to send resource material for printing at home in advance of the workshop the facilitator will require participants’ email addresses*
Bernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for 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 work has been published in the UK, the US and in translation in Italy and the Netherlands. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies Belfast Stories, The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and Female Lines. She was Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund at Queen’s University, Belfast from 2018-2020.
Book online or Tel. Seamus Heaney HomePlace on 028 7938 7444.

Online Fiction Writing Surgery
2020-10-13 18:30 - 2020-11-17 20:30 | Online, United Kingdom
*Update
The Irish Writers Centre is offering bursaries on its courses to writers based in, or from, Northern Ireland, and to Irish language writers. Apply by 1st October. Full details on The Irish Writers Centre’s News Page.

Course Level: Emerging
Maximum no. 12
Course Summary:
Grab a seat. Pull up to the virtual table.
Would you appreciate some up-close and detailed feedback on your work? Would you be prepared to share up to 2000 words of your fiction writing with a professional writer and with a group of other writers, at a similar writing stage to you? This short course will offer participants the opportunity to have their writing read and workshopped by writer Bernie McGill, and by a peer group of emerging fiction writers.
Course Outline:
Participants should submit a maximum of 2000 words of their fiction writing (short story or novel excerpt) at least two weeks prior to the course commencing. The course will consist of 6 x two hour weekly workshops in each of which the work of two participants will be discussed. The work will be circulated to all twelve participants in advance. Participants will be provided with guidelines by the tutor and encouraged to give constructive feedback on what they have read and what they can bring from their reading to their own writing. Participants will be encouraged to complete writing exercises during and between workshops that relate primarily to the specific issues raised in the work. Suitable for writers committed to short or longer form fiction writing and who are open to giving and receiving constructive feedback.
Course Outcomes: Participants will benefit from professional and peer feedback on their own work and will be able to develop their writing based on what they have learned from the reading and discussion of others’ work.
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 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. She was Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund at Queen’s University, Belfast from 2018-2020.
Course fee: €165 (€150 for members)
To book go to the Irish Writers Centre

Online Creative Writing Workshops hosted by Burnavon Arts Centre, Cookstown*
2020-10-03 10:30 - 2020-10-10 12:00 | Online, United Kingdom
*Please note this workshop is now fully booked.
You are welcome to join these two practical online workshops led by writer Bernie McGill on the everyday craft of writing, with the aim of sparking ideas for new work.
The workshops will take place over 2 weeks: on Saturday 3rd October and on Saturday 10th October 2020, 10.30 am – 12 noon on each day. All levels of experience welcome, from experienced writers to first-timers, poets and fiction writers alike. The workshop will be fully participative with attendees taking part in writing exercises online, developing work at home and sharing their work with group participants.
Come with writing materials and be prepared to write.
£20 fee includes both dates
After booking your place the tutor will email you with the meeting link a few days before the first workshop begins.
You will require a device capable of running Zoom Meeting Software with a functioning screen, microphone, speakers and a stable connection to the internet.
* Please Note: The tutor will require your email address for the purpose of this workshop *
All workshop participants are advised to test their Zoom connection prior to the workshop. Refunds will not be given for issues caused by your hardware, software or internet connectivity.
Bernie McGill is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for 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.
This workshop is suitable for 16yrs +
Book at Burnavon Arts Centre, or contact the Burnavon Box Office : 028 867 69949 (option 1)

Online Workshop: What's a short story?
2020-08-29 10:30 - 2020-08-30 15:30 | Online, United Kingdom
*Please note this workshop is now fully booked
What’s a short story?
In these online Zoom sessions, hosted by Ballyeamon Barn and led by writer Bernie McGill, we will ask what makes a good short story, and in practical and participative writing exercises, look at the ways in which we might attempt to combine those elements in our own writing.
What’s the story about? How does it begin? Where and when is it set? Who is in it? Who’s going to tell it? What happens? Why do they do that? How does it end?
Come with a place or a person or an event in mind and we’ll begin.
Maximum no. of participants: 10
Saturday 29th August 10.30am – 12 noon and 2pm – 3.30pm
Sunday 30th August 2pm – 3.30pm
(4.5 hours in total)
Facilitator Bernie McGill is the author of the short story collection Sleepwalkers, shortlisted in 2014 for the Edge Hill Prize. She has written two novels: The Butterfly Cabinet, and The Watch House which was nominated in 2019 for the Ireland/European Union Prize for Literature. She has been published in the UK, the US and in translation in Italy and in the Netherlands. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies Her Other Language, Belfast Stories, Female Lines, The Glass Shore and The Long Gaze Back. She is a former Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at Queen’s University, Belfast. She lives in Portstewart with her family, works as a professional mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre and as a Writer in Schools for Poetry Ireland.

Novel Writing: First Chapters at the Virtual John Hewitt International Summer School
2020-07-27 14:30 - 2020-07-31 16:30 | On Zoom
As part of the 2020 John Hewitt International Summer School, Bernie McGill will facilitate 3 x Two Hour Online Workshop sessions on Novel Writing: First Chapters. The workshops will be hosted online using Zoom meeting software on the following dates.

Monday 27th July 2020, 1430hrs to 1630hrs
Wednesday 29th July 2020, 1430hrs to 1630hrs
Friday 31st July 2020, 1430hrs to 1630hrs

These workshops will look at: structuring work; writing openings with impact; creating credible characters; selecting point of view, as well as outlets for completed work. Suitable for writers who are beginning or developing a novel. Participants should prepare a 250-word synopsis of their novel in advance. Works-in-progress are welcomed. Workshop fee is £60 per person. To book go to the Novel Writing link on the John Hewitt Society page.
After booking your place the tutor will email you with the meeting link a week before the workshop begins. You will require a device capable of running Zoom Meeting Software with a functioning screen, microphone, speakers and a stable connection to the internet.
All workshop students are advised to test their Zoom connection prior to the workshop. Refunds will not be given for issues caused by your hardware, software or internet connectivity.
Online workshops are available on Getting Started with Heather Richardson, Memoir with Maureen Boyle, Poetry with Nessa O’Mahony, and The Short Story with Edward Hogan. Talks, panels and readings will take place over 3 days of the virtual summer school, from Thursday 30 July to Saturday 1 August. Keep an eye on the John Hewitt Society page for the upcoming programme of events.
Talks will be free to view online, though donations will be accepted gratefully.
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 of Sleepwalkers, a collection of stories short-listed in 2014 for the Edge Hill short story prize. She has been published in the UK, the US and in translation in Italy and the Netherlands. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies Her Other Language, Belfast Stories, The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and Female Lines.

'Small Steps'
2020-04-08 08:00 - 2020-05-05 12:00 | Flowerfield Arts Centre, 185 Coleraine Road, PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland, BT55 7HU, United Kingdom
As you may have noticed, there’s something of a dearth of public events at the moment, so I’m adding a short story extract here, as part of Flowerfield Creatives‘ #virtuallyflowerfield online group exhibition for which the current theme is Space. It’s from a story titled ‘Small Steps’* that I’ve adapted a little, since things have changed in the world since it was first drafted. It’s around six or seven minutes of reading time, which I reckon is about my concentration span right now. I hope you enjoy it. Huge thanks to Desima Connolly, Arts Services Development Manager for Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council for the invitation to participate in the online exhibition, and to Mary McClelland for permission to use a photograph of her embroidery here. Stay home. Stay safe.

Extract from ‘Small Steps’ by Bernie McGill
Our dog, Shortlegs, has a coat the colour of ploughed soil and a white bib and white socks and a white tip to her tail. Her body’s too long for the length of her legs. She looks like a big dog that’s been cut off at the knees. We got her from our neighbour, Dan, when his dog, Spritzer, had a litter and you can tell that she’s part Springer when she bounds through the long meadow between our house and the sea, so that only her head bobs up above the grass. The rest of her, Dan says, is a mystery. His neighbour to the lower end has a boy beagle and up the road there’s a Jack Russell and a dachshund. Dan used to watch Shortlegs for traits of those other dogs but he says it could have been any one of them that did the business with Spritzer.
Shortlegs has some of what Mumma calls ‘strange behaviours’. She won’t eat her food unless you stand over her while she’s eating, and she barks at aeroplane contrails, and at the wind. She’s quieter now that there aren’t so many flights. I texted Dan to tell him that she was howling at the North Star and he said, was I sure that that’s what it was? He said to keep an eye on it: if it was bright when there were no other stars around, and if it moved position across the sky, then it could be the space station, and I checked and it was, and it did. Dan said he wouldn’t blame Shortlegs for barking. He said, ‘Who knows what she can sense out there that we can’t?’
I watched a programme on TV about Mars, about the polar ice caps where it snows carbon dioxide and about the ancient salt deposits and the places where they believe water used to flow. So far, NASA has only managed to land a rover there, but the programme narrator said that the person could be alive today who would walk on the surface of the red planet. It would take seven earth months to get there, but you could set up home in a lava tube in a volcano, not that different from the green cave where I take Shortlegs, and sit out the dust storms under a natural skylight, and watch a Martian sunset. I told Mumma that that person could be me and she said, ‘Why not? For you, Cassie, not even the sky is the limit.’
The green cave is in the riverbank in the glen behind the house where a spruce tree fell backwards into the forest, and pulled up the soft ground at its base. It must have happened years ago, because the roots are all overgrown with moss and red lichen, and underneath, where the tree pulled away, it’s formed a perfect cave. It sort of looks like the earth yawned and then froze in that position, like Mumma used to say my mouth would when I used to make a face. Sometimes when I’m in there, I imagine I can hear the earth breathing, and that the mouth is going to close again and shut me and Shortlegs inside. That’s where I go to practice stillness and confinement, in preparation for the space programme. I’m getting really good at it.
Mars has two small potato-shaped moons. Some scientists think it may once have had a third moon, the orbit of which finally eroded. They think that when the lost moon collided with Mars, the impact may have formed the Orcus Patera crater. I measured my orbit and I measured Mumma’s and I measured Shortlegs’ and Granda’s too. If you include Glasgow, and France that time we went on holiday, then my orbit, before Lockdown, was nine hundred and ten miles and I reckon Mumma’s was about the same. Now me and Mumma have the same orbit as Shortlegs, which is about two miles and takes in the Spar and the green cave and the sea, though Shortlegs covers at least four times that distance every time we go out, because she can’t go in a straight line and boomerangs backwards and forwards to me. Granda can only go from his armchair to the kitchen table, or to the bathroom, or to his bed. If you take the TV as the central point, I reckon his orbit is about twenty steps. That’s not much, and Mumma says it’s shrinking. Granda’s speed is very low but all the same, I watch him for signs of collision, in case his orbit erodes further, in case the same thing happens to him that happened to the missing Martian moon.

*A separate extract from this story was published in Reading the Future: New Writing from Ireland (Arlen House, Galway, 2018).

Her Other Language: workshop, panel discussion & readings
2020-03-06 13:30 - 20:00 | Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, 216 Falls Road, Belfast, BT12 6AH, United Kingdom
Of Mouth* is pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of Her Other Language: Women Writers from the North of Ireland Address Abuse and Domestic Violence, in association with Arlen House and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Edited by Natasha Cuddington and Ruth Carr.
Her Other Language is an anthology of poems, stories and play extracts by women. It was conceived as a project to raise the profile of the ongoing issue of domestic and sexual violence while also giving visibllity to women in our society, and women writers in particular. On a practical level, the profit of the sales of the book will go to Belfast and Lisburn Women’s Aid refuges.
To mark the launch, there will be a series of events on Friday 6th March, 2020 at Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich in Belfast.

Her Other Language: POET AS WITNESS
WORKSHOP with Annemarie Ní Churreáin
Friday 6th March 2020, 1.30pm – 4.00pm
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, 216 Falls Road, Belfast
How can a poet bear witness? In what ways can we work innovatively with history, perspective and sensitive material to craft a literary work? Using as a springboard the ideas of Lola Ridge who said: ‘write anything that burns you’, students will be encouraged to excavate real and imagined landscapes, identifying resonant themes and (re)discovering the transformative nature of the human voice on the page.
Workshop admission: £10. Places are very limited. Please register in advance at ofmouth@gmail.com. Participants are welcome to submit a short poem, by way of introduction, after receiving confirmation of enrolment.

Her Other Language: READING EVENT
Friday 6th March 2020, 5.00pm – 6.00pm
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, 216 Falls Road, Belfast
To celebrate the launch of Her Other Language, Of Mouth is hosting a reading from a gathering of the anthology’s many talented contributors.
Reading Event admission is FREE. Places are limited. Please register in advance at ofmouth@gmail.com.

Her Other Language: WRITING TRAUMA
PANEL DISCUSSION with Ruth Carr, Colette Ní Ghallchóir, Lorna Shaughnessy
& Deirdre Cartmill
Friday 6th March 2020, 6.00pm – 8.00pm
Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich, 216 Falls Road, Belfast
To mark the launch of Her Other Language, Of Mouth is hosting a panel discussion to explore writing as a resource for both personal recovery and social change. With questions and contributions from the floor.
Panel Discussion admission is FREE. Places are limited. Please do register in advance at ofmouth@gmail.com.

*Of Mouth is a small voluntary organisation which more usually organises poetry events and workshops. However the group has experience in editing (Donegal is a red door by Ann Zell, The Female Line, ed Ruth Carr). There is a shared ethos between Her Other Language and The Female Line, an anthology of Northern Irish Writers published 35 years ago in which established and emerging writers appeared side by side. In this new anthology, the work of distinguished writers such as Lucy Caldwell, Leontia Flynn, Bernie McGill, Joan Newmann and Medbh McGuckian sit well alongside emerging and first time writers and survivors.
Funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Allstate, the project has met with an overwhelming response from women (there are 98 contributors), giving their work freely to speak out against domestic violence – which does not appear to be diminishing any time soon. As the introduction notes – ‘PSNI figures show that domestic abuse incidents recorded in 2018/19 rose 51% above the level recorded in 2004/05 when police records began’.
In her foreword Monica McWilliams warns: ‘What you are about to read is both joyful and painful. Fear and tension jump out from the pages.’ This is certainly true. It is quite remarkable how pieces interconnect, bringing to light the insidious grip that an underlying cultural misogyny can exert. And yet there is hope:
On the precipice of Brexit, from this contested locale, this book offers the hope of solidarity across declaimed generation, class, gender, language and ethnicity. From here, these writers speak in a fullness beyond omission, erasure and redaction, very much their mending selves.
What began as a project to bear witness to violence against women, has expanded to articulate the many paths from harm into the freedom of imaginative capability. In this anthology language is the key currency, a remarkable resource.

'Strung on Air': A St Brigid's Day Celebration at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy
2020-01-31 19:30 - 21:00 | Seamus Heaney HomePlace, 45 Main Street, Bellaghy, BT45 8HT, United Kingdom
Featuring Moyra Donaldson, Bernie McGill and Maria McManus, with music from Brigid O’Neill
‘As if St Brigid once more
Had rigged up a ray of sun
Like the one she’d strung on air
To dry her own cloak on’
Seamus Heaney, ‘The Clothes Shrine’

As a celebration of St Brigid’s Day, HomePlace is delighted to present three of Northern Ireland’s leading women writers, reading their work alongside the beautiful music of Brigid O’Neill.
Bernie McGill is the author of two novels and one short story collection and her work has been anthologised in the award-winning collections The Long Gaze Back and The Glass Shore. She is currently Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast.
Maria McManus is a poet and playwright. Her most recent collection is Available Light and she has published three other collections of poetry. Maria is currently a poetry mentor for the Poetry Society and the creator of Ireland’s first Poetry Jukebox.
Moyra Donaldson is a poet, creative writing facilitator and editor who has published four collections. Her most recent collection, Carnivorous, was published by Doire Press in 2019.
Critically acclaimed artist Brigid O’Neill is a genre-spanning singer-songwriter whose evergreen music appeals to all generations. Her latest album Touchstone sees her effortlessly weave elements of folk, country and jazz into her relatable tales of happiness, heartbreak and the human condition.

The Helicon at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy Friday 31 January 2020, 19:30
Book tickets now

Belfast Launch of The Danger and The Glory: Irish Authors on the Art of Writing
2019-11-13 18:30 - 20:00 | Irish Secretariat, 40 Linenhall Street, Belfast, BT2 8BA, United Kingdom
The Danger and the Glory is a collection of essays, articles and short fiction from 50 Irish writers involved in the Kaleidoscope: writers@work project, in which they describe what writing fiction means to them. Published by Arlen House and edited by Hedwig Schwall, director of the Leuven Centre for Irish Studies (LCIS). Hedwig is co-editor of the series Irish Studies in Europe (ISE) and editor of Volume 8 (Boundaries, Passages, Transitions), and literature editor of RISE, the Review of Irish Studies in Europe, where she was special editor of issue 2.1 on Irish Textiles: T/issues in Communities and their Representation in Art and Literature). She is now preparing a book on Parent-Child Relations in Contemporary Irish Fiction.
The collection includes Bernie McGill’s article ‘Meeting Mrs Thatcher’, available to read online at Kaleidoscope.
The Danger and the Glory is available to order online.

Author Visit - Bernie McGill - Carrickfergus Library
2019-10-16 18:30 - 19:30 | Carrickfergus Library, 2 Joymount Court, Carrickfergus, County Antrim, BT38 7DQ, United Kingdom
Join Us in Carrickfergus Library for this special author visit!
Bernie McGill’s publications include novels The Butterfly Cabinet (2010) and The Watch House (2017) and a short story collection, Sleepwalkers (2013), shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize in 2014. 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 and The Glass Shore and more recently in Female Lines and Belfast Stories.
Booking essential – please ask in branch for more details
To book contact Branch Manager Jillian McFrederick​
t: 028 9336 2261
e: carrickfergus.library@librariesni.org.uk​

Scribes at the Duncairn with Bernie McGill, Natalya O'Flaherty and Danny Morrison
2019-08-09 18:30 - 21:00 | Duncairn Cultural Arts Centre, Duncairn Avenue, Belfast, BT14 6BP, United Kingdom
This free event with wine reception (from 6.30pm) is part of the Feile Belfast 2019 programme. There will be readings from each of the three writers and a Q&A, chaired by Marnie Kennedy, as well as an opportunity for questions from the audience. Marnie is Shared Reading facilitator and coordinator of Stories@theDuncairn, a volunteer-led, community literature project in North Belfast. For more information, Tel. the Duncairn on 028 90 747 114 or turn up on the evening. No booking required.

Bernie McGill is the author of two novels, The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House (shortlisted for the Irish European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and of Sleepwalkers, a collection of stories shortlisted in 2014 for the Edge Hill short story prize. She has been published in the UK, the US and in translation in Italy and the Netherlands. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies Belfast Stories, The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and Female Lines. She is the Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow, based at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University, Belfast.
Amazing spoken word artist Natalya O’Flaherty has shot to national prominence with bravura performances at the National Concert Hall and Electric Picnic, appearing twice on The Late Late Show in a few months. Dubliner Natalya speaks courageously and without inhibition about the youth of today, the challenges and dilemmas they face on the street or within family. “I tell stories whether that’s about Ireland as a whole, or personal relationships that I have or people in my life have. When I’m on stage I’m a different person… It’s like I’m possessed.”

Danny Morrison is a well‐known commentator and novelist, former republican prisoner and Sinn Féin’s national spokesperson, whose writings have been translated into German, Spanish, Serbian and Estonian. For over twelve years he and designer Seán Mistéil designed Féile an Phobail’s highly‐regarded published programmes. Seán also designed the stylised covers of Morrison’s re‐issued novels, West Belfast and The Wrong Man. For forty years Danny has been collecting quotes on a variety of themes from books and poems which appealed to him or suggested a little insight into the meaning of life. This collaborative book, Life, I Do Not Understand You contains around several hundred selections by Danny, and Seán’s artistic response.

Novel Writing: First Chapters with Bernie McGill at the John Hewitt International Summer School
2019-07-22 14:45 - 2019-07-25 16:45 | Market Place Theatre, Armagh, Market Street, Armagh, Armagh, BT61 7BW, United Kingdom
Bernie McGill will take the Novel Writing: First Chapters workshops at the John Hewitt International Summer School at the Market Place Theatre, Armagh, on Monday 22nd, Tuesday 23rd and Thursday 25th July from 2.45pm-4.45pm on each of the three days. In response to audience feedback, we have extended the duration of our popular creative writing workshops to two hours per class and provided space in the Summer School programme for workshop participants to work on their creative writing outside of class time.
Each workshop runs over three sessions and class sizes are kept to 15 or fewer to ensure everyone gets a chance to participate. Participants should attend all three workshop sessions.
Our seven tutors are all experienced facilitators and published authors. For the full workshop schedule, including Short Story with Heather Richardson, Flash Fiction with Jan Carson, Memoir Writing with Ferdia MacAnna, Poetry with Siobhan Campbell, Poetry with Kathryn Maris, and Getting Started with Nessa O’Mahony, as well as full details of all Summer School events go to the John Hewitt Society website.
Spaces are limited – advance booking is essential. To book Novel Writing: First Chapters go to the Market Place Theatre website or telephone the Box Office on 028 3752 1821.
Bernie’s publications include novels The Butterfly Cabinet (2011) and The Watch House (2017) and a short story collection, Sleepwalkers (2013), shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize in 2014. 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 and The Glass Shore and more recently in Female Lines and Belfast Stories.

In conversation with Éilís Ní Dhuibhne at Belfast Book Festival: Twelve Thousand Days, A Memoir Of Love And Loss
2019-06-15 16:00 - 17:30 | Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Road, BELFAST, BT7 1NH, United Kingdom
Twelve Thousand Days is the poignant memoir of a marriage of 30 years between renowned writer Éilís Ní Dhuibhne and folklorist Bo Almquist.
In the aftermath of Bo’s death, Éilís wrote about love and grief, capturing the beauty of a relationship that spanned decades whilst also illuminating the complexities and compromises of being in love.
This love story between Éilís and Bo is interlaced with observations on Irish life, culture and morality.
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne has published over twenty-five books, including six collections of short stories, several novels, books for children, and plays. She has won three Bisto awards, an IBBY award, a Readers’ Association of Ireland award, several Oireachtas awards for novels in Irish, and the Butler Award for The Dancers Dancing, which was also shortlisted for the Orange Prize. In 2015 she was awarded the Irish PEN award for her outstanding contribution to Irish literature, and in 2016 she was given a Hennessy Hall of Fame award for lifetime achievement. She is a member of Aosdána, an ambassador for the Irish Writers’ Centre, and President of the Folklore of Ireland Society (An Cumann le Béaloideas Éireann).
Join Éilís in conversation with Bernie McGill as they discuss writing, memoir and life after loss.

Launch of Belfast Stories Anthology at Belfast Book Festival
2019-06-09 17:00 - 18:30 | Crescent Arts Centre, 2-4 University Road, BELFAST, BT7 1NH, United Kingdom
Join Doire Press for the launch of Belfast Stories, a collection of short fiction set throughout the neighbourhoods of the city, written by both established and emerging writers who live in or have a strong connection to Belfast. Edited by Paul McVeigh and Lisa Frank.

The writers in Belfast Stories include: Linda Anderson, Lucy Caldwell, Jan Carson, Wendy Erskine, Jamie Guiney, Peter Hollywood, Caoilinn Hughes, Rosemary Jenkinson, Winnie M Li, Bernie McGill, Michael Nolan, David Park, Glenn Patterson, Ian Sansom, Dawn Watson and Shannon Yee.
The anthology also features photos and background information on each neighbourhood, as well as local listings and a map displaying where each of the stories takes place.
The preface and photos are by Malachi O’Doherty.
This launch event will include readings by some of the writers featured in the anthology, including Jan Carson, Bernie McGill, Dawn Watson and Shannon Yee, among others, and will be launched by Damian Smyth.

At Sea with Words: Creative Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill
2019-05-29 11:00 - 13:00 | Parochial Hall, Rathlin Island, BT54 6RT, United Kingdom
As part of the Rathlin Sound Maritime Festival, author Bernie McGill is hosting a free writing workshop in the Parochial Hall on Rathlin Island on Wednesday 29th May from 11am-1pm. No previous experience required. Come with writing materials and be prepared to write. Numbers are limited. Booking essential. Please phone the Rathlin Visitor Information Centre on 028 2076 0054 to book a place.
You’ll find the ferry timetable between Ballycastle and Rathlin here, and if you fancy spending a night or two on the island around the time of the festival, you’ll find details of accommodation on Rathlin here. The Festival runs from 24th May to 2nd June this year and there’s lots on offer, from boat blessings to beach cleans, pop up crab shacks to little pirates’ discos. Full programme available here.
Bernie McGill is the author of The Watch House, a novel set on Rathlin Island at the time of Marconi’s wireless telegraphy experiments of 1898. The Watch House has been shortlisted for the Irish/European Union Prize for Literature.
‘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
As the twentieth century dawns on the island of Rathlin, a place ravaged by storms and haunted by past tragedies, Nuala Byrne is faced with a difficult decision. Abandoned by her family for the new world, she receives a proposal from the island’s ageing tailor. For the price of a roof over her head, she accepts.
Meanwhile the island is alive with gossip about the strangers who have arrived from the mainland, armed with mysterious equipment which can reportedly steal a person’s words and transmit them through thin air. When Nuala is sent to cook for these men – engineers, who have been sent to Rathlin by Marconi to conduct experiments in the use of wireless telegraphy – she encounters an Italian named Gabriel, who offers her the chance to equip herself with new skills and knowledge. As her friendship with Gabriel opens up horizons beyond the rocky and treacherous cliffs of her island home, Nuala begins to realise that her deal with the tailor was a bargain she should never have struck.

Creative Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill at Burnavon Arts Centre, Cookstown
2019-05-11 10:00 - 13:00 | Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre, Burn Road, Cookstown, BT80 8DN, United Kingdom
A practical workshop on the everyday craft of writing, with the aim of sparking ideas for new work. All levels of experience welcome, from experienced writers to first-timers, poets and fiction writers alike. The workshop will be fully participative with attendees taking part in writing exercises throughout the morning. Come with writing materials and be prepared to write.
Suitable for 16y+
Book online or Tel. Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre on 028 8676 9949
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.

In Sight of Rathlin Writing Workshops at Corrymeela, Ballycastle
2019-04-13 10:00 - 17:00 | Corrymeela Ballycastle, 5 Drumaroan Road, Ballycastle, BT54 6QU, United Kingdom
A Day of Free Writing Workshops organised by Ballycastle Writers’ Group at Corrymeela, Ballycastle.
Special Guest – Joan Newmann
10am Meet and Greet
10.30am Choice of Three Workshops
(1) Poetry with Kate Newmann
(2) Poetry with Ruth Carr
(3) Fiction Writing with Bernie McGill
12.30pm Lunch
1.30pm Choice of Three Workshops
(1) Poetry with Kate Newmann
(2) Poetry with Ruth Carr
(3) Fiction Writing with Bernie McGill
3.30pm Writers’ Showcase
These workshops are free to participants and can be booked via Ballycastle Writers’ Group’s Facebook Page. Participants are welcome to book into one or two workshops. Lunch is provided. The day will finish with a Writers’ Showcase in which all participants are welcome to read a short piece of their work.

Bernie McGill & Sheena Wilkinson - Northern Irish Fiction Event at IWHC, Manchester
2019-04-01 19:15 - 20:45 | Irish World Heritage Centre, 1 Irish Town Way, MANCHESTER, M8 0AE
We are delighted to welcome two fantastic Northern Irish writers, Bernie McGill and Sheena Wilkinson, to share their work at the Irish World Heritage Centre, Manchester, on Monday 1st April.
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 Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House (a story of infidelity, secrets and murder in a small Irish island community, inspired by Marconi’s experiments in wireless telegraphy in the late nineteenth century). In 2012, Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey named The Butterfly Cabinet his novel of the year. She has been published in the UK, the US and in translation in Italy and in the Netherlands. Her short fiction has appeared in acclaimed anthologies The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and Female Lines (all by New Island Books, Dublin), and for the theatre she has written, The Haunting of Helena Blunden and The Weather Watchers. She lives in Portstewart in Northern Ireland with her family, works as a professional mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre and as a Writer in Schools for Poetry Ireland. She is currently Writing Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund, based at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University, Belfast.
Sheena Wilkinson, described in The Irish Times as ‘one of our foremost writers’, writes contemporary and historical fiction for young people and adults. She has won many awards including the CBI Book of the Year in 2013 for Grounded. Her most recent novel, Star by Star, published to commemorate the centenary of female suffrage, was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards and won the CBI Honour Award for Fiction. Her short stories have also won awards, and she was recently included in the acclaimed Female Lines anthology. Sheena won a Major Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland in 2013, and is a Royal Literary Fund Advisory Writing Fellow. She lives in County Down and travels extensively, talking about reading and writing. She has spoken about Star by Star at GladFest, Glasgow Women’s Library and the Oxford Literary Festival, and is very excited to share it with readers in Manchester, the hometown of its suffragette heroine.
We are delighted also that this event will be introduced and chaired by Dr Caroline Magennis, Chair of the British Association for Irish Studies and Lecturer in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Literature at the University of Salford.
This is a free event, but please do register for tickets at EventBrite.

Novel Writing with Bernie McGill
2019-02-09 10:00 - 2019-03-23 14:15 | The Playhouse Theatre & Arts Centre, 5-7 Artillery Street, Derry, BT48 6RG, United Kingdom
This 16 hour course will run on Saturday 9th & Saturday 23rd February and Saturday 9th & Saturday 23rd March 2019 from 10.00am-2.15pm each day at the Playhouse Theatre & Arts Centre, Artillery Road, Derry.
In this course, participants 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 who are beginning or developing a novel. Participants should come with a 250 word outline for a novel. Works-in-progress are welcomed.
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 Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House. She has been published in the UK, the US and in translation in Italy and in the Netherlands. Her short fiction has appeared in acclaimed anthologies The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and Female Lines, and for the theatre she has written The Haunting of Helena Blunden and The Weather Watchers. She works as a professional mentor with the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin and as a Writer in Schools for Poetry Ireland. She is currently Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University, Belfast.
This course is kindly sponsored by Arts Council Northern Ireland.
Cost: €88 (£80) Book online at the Irish Writers’ Centre or email info@writerscentre.ie or Tel. (+353) 1 872 1302.

On the Same Page at the River Mill Writers' Retreat with Sheena Wilkinson & Bernie McGill
2018-12-02 10:00 - 16:00 | River Mill Writers’ Retreat, 43 Ballyclander Road, Downpatrick, BT30 7DE, 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 workshop fee includes lunch and refreshments.
To book, contact Paul Maddern at inforivermill@gmail.com.
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. 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. She is Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University, Belfast.
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, winner of the CBI Honour Award for Fiction and 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 Advisory Fellow. She teaches Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin and for Arvon.

Dropping Your Gaze: A Day of Mindfulness and Writing with Michelle Gibb and Bernie McGill at Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart
2018-11-10 10:00 - 16:00 | Flowerfield Arts Centre, 185 Coleraine Road, PORTSTEWART, Northern Ireland, BT55 7HU, 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, tel. Flowerfield Arts Centre on 028 7083 1400 or email info@flowerfield.org.

One Day Writing Workshop at Ballyeamon Barn, Cushendall
2018-11-04 10:00 - 16:00 | Ballyeamon Barn, 127 Ballyeamon Road, Cushendall, Ballymena, Antrim, BT44 0QP, United Kingdom
A practical one day workshop led by Bernie McGill in the beautiful surroundings of Ballyeamon Barn, Cushendall on the everyday craft of writing and 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, and Sleepwalkers, a collection of short stories, shortlisted for the Edgehill Prize in 2014. She is Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow based at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University, Belfast.
Fee includes lunch. To book please email: liz@lizweir.net

Of This and Other Worlds - an Evening of Literature and Music at the C.S. Lewis Festival, Belfast
2018-11-03 20:00 - 22:00 | Campbell College, Belfast, Belmont Road, Belfast, BT4 2ND
C.S. Lewis Festival Curator Jan Carson hosts a bespoke evening of two halves. During the first half of the performance, poet Damian Smyth, novelist, Bernie McGill and Bangor-based folk duo, The Darkling Air, playing alongside The Arco String Quartet, will tell stories and sing songs exploring real world experiences. In the second half, the performers will delve into the more magical elements of their work.
To book tickets visit Belfast Welcome Centre, 9 Donegall Square North, Belfast, BT1 5GB
Tel. 028 9024 6609
We’ve chosen, “Of This and Other Worlds,” as our theme for this year’s CS Lewis Festival. In the essay collection of the same name Lewis focuses his attention upon speculative writing: fantasy, science fiction and the recently emerged genre of magic realism. Lewis throughout his career was always a great champion of imagination and this year’s festival theme gives us the opportunity to explore and exercise our imaginations as we focus on non-realist art across a range of different forms and expressions. Imagination isn’t just essential to creative practice, imagination helps us to envisage what the future could look like, to find creative solutions to ongoing problems and empathise with those who see the world a little differently from us. Through talks, screenings, workshops, performances and a range of exciting, innovative events we hope this year’s festival will give you scope to kickstart your own imagination, exploring other worlds and seeing your own community through fresh eyes.
Born and bred in east Belfast, C. S. Lewis was one of the intellectual giants of the 20th century and arguably the most influential Christian writer of his day. His major contributions in literary criticism, children’s literature, fantasy literature, and popular theology brought him international renown and acclaim.
The C.S. Lewis Festival celebrates the legacy of Lewis through themes of storytelling, imagination and spirituality with events including talks, lectures and tours, exhibitions, workshops, theatre, poetry and spoken word events and film screenings. This year expect to see some firm favourites, new ideas and some quirky events, across 5 days of the festival. Full programme downloadable here.

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 | 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.
