Ireland
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 […]
Sleepwalkers by Bernie McGill back in print, republished by No Alibis Press
No Alibis Bookshop 83 Botanic Avenue, BELFAST, United KingdomBernie McGill's first short story collection, Sleepwalkers, originally published by Whittrick Press and shortlisted for the prestigious Edge Hill Prize in 2014, has been republished by Belfast's No Alibis Press. This republication includes the short story 'Waiting for Joseph', originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Short Works series. Bernie's second short story collection, This Train is For, also published by No Alibis Press, won the Edge Hill Prize in 2023. Reviews for Sleepwalkers: 'Bernie McGill is one of Ireland's great storytellers.' Ian Sansom 'These stories are bursting with emotional life, whether the dark swirl of grief to the most potent sensuality. Women deftly navigate their self-definition against the violent past and the hopeful future.' Caroline Magennis in the Irish Times ‘McGill’s plotting is masterful. These are “killer-blow” stories but carefully guards against sensationalism. Her talent for combining keen observation with a kind of symbolic import is evident. Everything is very precisely described, and yet, more unusually, there is a lyric quality to the description. McGill herself brings not only an awareness of literature, but a poetic sensibility to how she layers her short stories as a poet would layer an image – conscious that meaning is ambiguous, contradictory, polyvalent.’ Tess […]
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 […]