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The Nerve Podcast
Online , United KingdomWriter 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.
This Train is For by Bernie McGill wins the 2023 Edge Hill Short Story Prize
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 […]
Short Story Writing with Bernie McGill at the John Hewitt International Summer School, Armagh
Market Place Theatre, Armagh Market Street, Armagh, Armagh, United KingdomJoin 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 […]
Reading at Edge Hill University
The Arts Centre, Edge Hill University Edge Hill University, St Helens Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire, United KingdomThe 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
Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill at Dromore Book Festival
Dromore Book Festival c/o Bridge Books, 3 Bridge Street, Dromore, Co. Down, United KingdomHave 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 aims to flex your writing muscles through exercises, prompts and suggestions that will help to get you started, strengthen your writing practice or develop your work in a new direction. All levels of experience welcomed, from seasoned writers to first-timers, poets, memoirists and fiction writers alike. Come with writing materials, prepared to write. Suitable for 16yrs + Bernie McGill is the 2023 winner of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize for her collection This Train is For (published by No Alibis Press). She is the author of two novels: The Watch House and The Butterfly Cabinet and of one previous short story collection, Sleepwalkers which is due to be republished in 2025. Her work has appeared in a number of award-winning anthologies and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. Bernie works as a Mentor for the Irish Writers’ Centre and is a Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund. Cost: £20. To book visit Bridge Books on Ticket Source. The first Dromore Book Festival is hosted by Bridge Books Dromore […]
Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy*
Seamus Heaney HomePlace 45 Main Street, Bellaghy, United Kingdom*This workshop is now sold out. Join Edge Hill Prize-winning writer Bernie McGill for a workshop in the Moyola Hall and Sensory Garden at Seamus Heaney HomePlace. This will be a practical workshop on the craft of writing with the aim of sparking ideas for new work. Prompts and exercises will take inspiration from the words, sights, sounds and smells of the garden and surrounds. All levels of experience are 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, weather permitting, or indoors in the Moyola Hall. Come with writing materials, prepared to write. 10.30 am - 1.30 pm Booking opens on 23rd April at 10am at this link.
The John Hewitt International Summer School 2025
Market Place Theatre, Armagh Market Street, Armagh, Armagh, United KingdomThe much-celebrated John Hewitt International Summer School will run in 2025 from Monday 28th July - Saturday 2nd August at the Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre in Armagh. The theme this year, inspired by John Hewitt's poem 'The Colony' is 'Our country also: difference and belonging'. The Summer School will feature writing workshops, author readings and talks, panel discussions, exhibitions and evening performances, as well as an open mike and creative writing showcase. The full programme is available at the John Hewitt Society website. Bernie McGill will facilitate the Short Story Writing workshops taking place on Monday 28th, Tuesday 29th and Wednesday 31st July from 2.45 pm to 4.45 pm. (Attendance is required at all three workshops. Fee: £75.) Full details and booking at the Market Place Theatre. Bernie will be in conversation with internationally acclaimed author Tessa Hadley at the Market Place Theatre, Armagh on Friday 1st August at 1.30pm. Tessa Hadley has penned eight novels including Accidents in the Home (longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award) and more recently, The Past, Late in the Day and Free Love. She has published four short story collections: Sunstroke, Married Love, Bad Dreams and After the Funeral which won the 2024 Edge Hill Short […]
Meet the Author: Bernie McGill at Suffolk Library, Belfast for Book Week NI
Suffolk Library Stewartstown Rd, Belfast, United KingdomJoin award-winning writer Bernie McGill at Suffolk Library in Belfast on Thursday 23rd October (3pm) for readings and reflections on her evocative fiction. Known for her lyrical style and deep sense of place, Bernie's work has touched readers across Ireland and beyond. Bernie McGill is the author of novels The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House and of the short story collections Sleepwalkers and This Train is For which won the prestigious Edge Hill Prize in 2023. She is an Honorary Member of the Linen Hall Library in Belfast in which building her writing archive is held. This is a free event but booking is advisable. Contact Suffolk Library on 028 9050 9235 Email suffolk.library@librariesni.org.uk Book Week NI takes place this year in libraries across Northern Ireland from Monday 21st to Sunday 26th October 2025. For events near you, check out the Libraries NI website.