The Celtic Festival of Samhain traditionally marks the end of the lighter half and the beginning of the darker half of the year. It was believed that at this time, the division between this world and the otherworld was at its thinnest, allowing spirits to pass through. As we head into the darker weeks of the year, this one-day writing workshop will use as its theme that idea of passing between the lights. Open to all from experienced writers to first-timers, poets and prosers alike, the workshop will be fully participative with attendees taking part in writing exercises throughout the day. Maximum numbers 12. (One hour break for lunch. Lunch not provided.) To book, phone: 028 7776 0650 or email: information@rvacc.co.uk

In 1985, The Female Line: Northern Irish Women Writers was published, edited by Ruth Carr. A pioneering anthology at the time, it gave many Northern Irish women writers their first opportunity for publication. Now, over thirty years later, Female Lines: New Writing by Women from Northern Ireland – a stunning mosaic of work by some of the best contemporary women writers from Northern Ireland – acts as both a new staging post and a sequel to its vibrant feminist predecessor. Trans-genre in contents and including both experienced and newer women writers, this landmark anthology features women writers playing with different modes, forms, and innovations – from magical realism and surrealism to humour and multi-perspective narratives – and celebrates fiction, poetry, drama, essays, life writing, and photography. It considers how much has changed or stayed the same in terms of scope and opportunity for women writers and for women more generally in Northern Irish society (and its diaspora) in the post-Good Friday Agreement era. Northern Irish women’s writing is going from strength to strength and this anthology captures its current richness and audacity. Edited by Linda Anderson and Dawn Sherratt-Bado and featuring work by: Linda Anderson, Jean Bleakney, Maureen Boyle, Colette Bryce, […]

Author Carlo Gébler hosts an event which will explore the crucial narrative element of developing a sense of place during the writing process. He will be joined by Billy O’Callaghan, author of short stories and his first novel The Dead House (The O’Brien Press), comic strip writer Arja Kajermo – who is debuting her novel The Iron Age (Tramp Press), Bernie McGill, author of The Watch House (Headline) and Ciaran McMenamin, a stage and screen actor who is introducing his first novel Skintown (Doubleday Ireland). Together the authors will discuss and share their keen insights on effectively establishing a strong theme of place throughout their work, and how doing so enriched their storytelling. Free event. Booking advised. Book here. IN ASSOCIATION WITH BELFAST BOOK FESTIVAL

In 1985, The Female Line: Northern Irish Women Writers was published, edited by Ruth Carr. A pioneering anthology at the time, it gave many Northern Irish women writers their first opportunity for publication. Now, over thirty years later, Female Lines: New Writing by Women from Northern Ireland – a stunning mosaic of work by some of the best contemporary women writers from Northern Ireland – acts as both a new staging post and a sequel to its vibrant feminist predecessor. Trans-genre in contents and including both experienced and newer women writers, this landmark anthology features women writers playing with different modes, forms, and innovations – from magical realism and surrealism to humour and multi-perspective narratives – and celebrates fiction, poetry, drama, essays, life writing, and photography. It considers how much has changed or stayed the same in terms of scope and opportunity for women writers and for women more generally in Northern Irish society (and its diaspora) in the post-Good Friday Agreement era. Northern Irish women’s writing is going from strength to strength and this anthology captures its current richness and audacity. Edited by Linda Anderson and Dawn Sherratt-Bado and featuring work by: Linda Anderson, Jean Bleakney, Maureen Boyle, Colette Bryce, […]

  Topics covered include: Building Characters; Creating a sense of place; Selecting point of view. Suitable for both beginners and experienced fiction writers, short story writers and novelists. Participants will be invited to take part in writing exercises in order to develop their work and practice. You're welcome to bring a packed lunch and we have a tea/coffee machine and some snacks available at reception.

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

Join Bernie McGill, Claire Savage and Margot McCuaig as they explore the ways in which landscape - particularly the North Antrim coast, Rathlin Island and its surrounding areas - presents a power and an influence in creative writing. Margot McCuaig is a storyteller and published novelist. She writes, produces and directs award-winning documentary feature films. She also makes live television programmes as a producer and executive producer. She’s a mother and grandmother, sitting at the centre of an amazing family, and she lives in Glasgow, Scotland and Rathlin Island, Ireland; a beautiful city and an inspirational island. Claire Savage published her debut children’s novel, Magical Masquerade, in April 2017, officially launching it at the Belfast Book Festival in June. Chosen as one of Lagan Online’s 12NOW (New Original Writers) for 2016/17, Claire also writes short stories and poetry, with various work published in literary journals. Claire has just received a grant from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s National Lottery funding as part of its Support for Individual Artists Programme (under the General Arts Award Scheme). This will support her in her artistic production and promotion, drafting a second novel, and creating a support structure for the first. Bernie McGill’s first novel, The Butterfly Cabinet, […]

This event will be hosted by the Literary Ladies on behalf of Women Aloud NI. On International Women's Day, some twenty local women writers will gather to share and celebrate their work. Come along and join us for what promises to be a marvellous evening! Readers include: Jane Talbot; Freya McClements ; Lynne Edgar; Julieann Campbell; Felicity McCall; Claire Allan; Bernie McGill; Mel Bradley; Maura Johnston; Helen Clarke; Anita Robinson; Marilyn McLaughlin; Madeline McCully; Ellen Factor; Berni Kerr. #IWD2018 #ReadWomen #WomenAloudNI18 @WomenAloudNI @derrywriters

As part of the One City One Book Programme 2018, authors Bernie McGill and Anne Devlin will discuss their stories from The Long Gaze Back. Chaired by author Jan Carson. Anne Devlin was born in Belfast. David Marcus first published her stories in the Irish Press in the 1980’s. Her collection The Waypaver was published by Faber in 1986. She is best known as a dramatist, both for Ourselves Alone (Royal Court, 1985) and After Easter (Royal Shakespeare Company, 1993). She has worked extensively in TV and film. Her most recent work was the radio play The Forgotten(2009). Bernie McGill is the author of Sleepwalkers, a collection of stories short-listed in 2014 for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and of the novels The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet. Her work has been placed in the Seán Ó Faoláin, the Bridport, and the Michael McLaverty Short Story Prizes and she won the Zoetrope: All-Story Award in the US. Her short fiction has appeared in The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and Female Lines, all by New Island Books. She is the recipient of a number of Arts Council of Northern Ireland Awards and was granted a research bursary in 2013 from the Society of Authors. She lives in Portstewart in Northern Ireland […]

The Long Gaze Back authors Bernie McGill, Lia Mills and Éilis Ní Dhuibhne talk with editor Sinéad Gleeson about the anthology, their work and being a female author in Ireland today. Bernie McGill is the author of Sleepwalkers, a collection of stories short-listed in 2014 for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, and of the novels The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet. Her work has been placed in the Seán Ó Faoláin, the Bridport, and the Michael McLaverty Short Story Prizes and she won the Zoetrope: All-Story Award in the US. Her short fiction has appeared in The Long Gaze Back, The Glass Shore and Female Lines, all by New Island Books. She is the recipient of a number of Arts Council of Northern Ireland Awards and was granted a research bursary in 2013 from the Society of Authors. She lives in Portstewart in Northern Ireland with her family. Lia Mills writes novels, short stories, essays and an occasional blog.  A memoir, In Your Face, describes her experience of mouth cancer treatment in 2006. Her third novel, Fallen, was the Dublin/Belfast Two Cities One Book selection in 2016, in which year she was also the Arts Council Writer Fellow in UCD and writer-in-residence at Farmleigh House. Éilis Ní […]