read
Events for 22. April 2027
‘The Day of the Papering’, a new short story by Bernie McGill on BBC Radio 4
Set in an abandoned military base at Fort Dunree in Co. Donegal, the story follows artist-in-residence Kayla, on the final day of her residency, as she installs her work in one of the abandoned buildings on the site. She’s being reluctantly helped by caretaker Dermot who has little time for Kayla's work. The story touches on 'the mica crisis’ that affected thousands of homes in Donegal from 2011 on. Read by Amy Molloy and produced for BBC Radio 4's Short Works by Michael Shannon, you can listen to the story here on Thursday 26th June 2026 and thereafter on BBC Sounds. Bernie McGill is the 2023 winner of the prestigious Edge Hill Short Story Prize for her collection This Train is For. She is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (2010). Her short stories have been widely anthologised, and her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. Bernie was co-judge of the Edge Hill Prize in 2024 and of the Michael McLaverty Short Story Award in 2023. She is a Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund, a Mentor with the Irish Writers’ Centre and an Honorary Member […]
Bernie McGill among four leading Northern Irish artists to receive highest honour from Arts Council of Northern Ireland
A poet, a visual artist, an author and an inclusive theatre maker have been presented with Major Individual Artist Awards (MIAs) by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. Poet, Padraig Regan, visual artist and painter, Pádraig Mac Cana, author, Bernie McGill and inclusive theatre maker and director, Andrew Stanford, will each receive a National Lottery funding award of up to £15,000 to create ambitious new work. Each of the artists will now use the award to develop a series of new works. To hear the awardees speak about their proposed work, go to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland website. Author Bernie McGill will use her award to create a new work of fiction inspired by Eleonora Duse, an Italian actress active around the 1890s – 1920s and rated by many as the greatest of her time. As part of the award, Bernie will spend time researching Duse at the Cini Foundationi and Museo Civico di Asolo in Italy. Watch the video here. Poet Padraig Regan will use their award to begin work on a new poetry collection exploring geology. They are interested in how poetry and language can relate to the natural world, and how thinking about landscape on […]