Irish writing
Online Fiction Writing Surgery with Bernie McGill
Online , United KingdomCourse 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 […]
Bernie McGill, Author, Live and Interactive
On ZoomCushendun 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.
Back in the Writing Room with Bernie McGill at Burnavon Arts Centre, Cookstown
Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre Burn Road, Cookstown, United KingdomAfter months of online working, are you ready to get back into the writing room? This workshop, led by writer Bernie McGill, will offer a kickstart to your creative writing with prompts and suggestions to spark new ideas. All levels of experience welcome, from seasoned writers to first-timers, poets and fiction writers alike. The workshop will be fully participative with attendees taking part in writing exercises and sharing their work with group participants. Come with writing materials, prepared to write. There will be a short break for lunch (bring your own). Please bring your own notebook and pen. Suitable for age 16+ Book online at The Burnavon. 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 collection of short stories, Sleepwalkers, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize in 2014. Her new short story collection This Train is For will be published by No Alibis Press in 2022. *Photo by Green Chameleon on Unsplash
Creative Writing Workshop with Bernie McGill: The Growing Light
Burnavon Arts & Cultural Centre Burn Road, Cookstown, United KingdomA creative writing workshop that looks forward to the stretch in the days, the growing of the light. This workshop, led by writer Bernie McGill, will offer a kick start to your creative writing with prompts and suggestions to spark new ideas. All levels of experience welcome, from seasoned writers to first-timers, poets and fiction writers alike. The workshop will be fully participative with attendees taking part in writing exercises and sharing their work with group participants. Come with writing materials, prepared to write. There will be a short break for lunch (please bring your own). This workshop is suitable for 16yrs + Bernie McGill is the author of novels The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House and of the short story collection Sleepwalkers. Bernie's new short story collection, This Train is For will be published by No Alibis Press in June 2022. Book through the Burnavon Arts Centre.
Launch of This Train is For by Bernie McGill
No Alibis Bookshop 83 Botanic Avenue, BELFAST, United KingdomNo Alibis Press is delighted to invite you to a live event in No Alibis bookshop to celebrate the launch of Bernie McGill's wonderful new collection of short stories, This Train Is For. This launch happily coincides with the twenty-fifth anniversary of No Alibis Bookstore. About Bernie McGill: 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, (2010, Headline Review), and one 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. "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, author of Trespasses. This is a free event but […]
David Park & Bernie McGill in Conversation with Emma Warnock at Belfast Book Festival
Crescent Arts Centre 2-4 University Road, BELFAST, United KingdomJoin two of Northern Ireland’s most acclaimed writers at this year's Belfast Book Festival as they discuss their latest releases for Novel Journeys Book Club. Bernie McGill’s This Train Is For is a collection of short stories; some unpublished, some stories previously published within award winning anthologies. David Park’s Spies in Canaan is a bold and unsettling parable about guilt, atonement and redemption. Novel Journeys Book Club is a partnership between the Belfast Book Festival, Translink and independent bookstore, No Alibis, to champion the benefits of reading and to stay connected with their passengers and the wider public. Every month, Translink announces a new title via social media to help passengers switch off, unwind and support their mental wellbeing. Bernie McGill was born in Northern Ireland. She has written plays, a collection of short stories entitled Sleepwalkers and two novels, The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House, which was shortlisted for the Irish/European Union Prize for Literature in 2019. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for numerous awards and is anthologised in The Black Dreams, The Cormorant, Her Other Voices, Belfast Stories, Reading the Future, Female Lines, The Glass Shore and The Long Gaze Back. In 2008 she won the Zoetrope: All-Story […]
Book Signing at Waterstones, Coleraine: This Train is For by Bernie McGill
Waterstones, Coleraine 10 Church Street, Coleraine, United KingdomJoin us on Thursday 23rd June at 3.00 pm when Portstewart 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 […]
Reading & Book Signing at Waterstones, Foyleside: This Train is For by Bernie McGill
Waterstones, Foyleside Unit 7, Foyleside Centre, Derry, United KingdomJoin 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 […]
Bernie McGill & Rosemary Jenkinson in Conversation at Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy
Seamus Heaney HomePlace 45 Main Street, Bellaghy, United KingdomIn 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 […]
Novel Writing: Getting Started at Cairde Sligo Arts Festival
The Yeats Building Hyde Bridge, Abbeyquarter North,, Sligo, IrelandDo 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 […]