This week we are delighted to announce our two newest Community Writers-in-Residence in Northern Ireland; Mel Bradley with the Rainbow Project, Foyle and Deirdre Cartmill with Women’s Aid, Belfast. Congratulations to both writers and we look forward to seeing the work that they produce with their respective organisations!read more.
We are delighted to announce the selected participants of the 2018 XBorders: Accord project. On foot of the exceptional success of the inaugural XBorders project in 2017, we will be continuing the project in 2018 as XBorders:Accord. As with last year’s project, ways of seeing and thinking about borders, their potential for art, and in particular, writing, will be explored. In 2018 the project will focus on ways of addressing conflict through various conflict-resolution means, such as negotiation, mediation, peace-building and political discourse towards building an accord. The notion of borders may be loosely interpreted in the act of writing, and can reflect inter-personal as well as concrete boundaries. The participants of XBorders have been selected. Sue Divin Maeve O’Lynn James Patterson Marie O’Halloran Marcel Krueger Therese Kieran Susanne Stich Eli Davies R.M. Clarke Rory Duffy Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan Fionn Murray Orla McAlinden... Read Moreread more.
We at the Irish Writers Centre would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year! The IWC will be closed for the Christmas break from Wednesday 20 December to Wednesday 3 January. We look forward to welcoming you to the centre again in 2018. read more.
The Irish Writers Centre and Dublin City Council are pleased to announce that Declan Burke and Elizabeth Reapy have been appointed as Dublin City Writers in Residence. The residency runs for the period October 2017 to September 2018 and will be managed by Dublin City Public Libraries through the Director of Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, and will be supported in kind by The Irish Writers Centre. The writers will be based here in the Irish Writers Centre on Parnell Square for six months each until September 2018 and we look forward to welcoming Elizabeth to the building later this month. The residency will allow time for the writers’ own work, in addition to engagement with the general public, library groups and the IWC so keep an eye out for news of what they have planned in the coming months! For more information on the residencies see... Read Moreread more.
Due to status red weather warnings the IWC will be closed on Monday 16 October. You can communicate with us via email at info@writerscentre.ie and Twitter as usual.read more.
Writing has always been part of my life. Introverted, I was mostly bored at school, sitting at the back of the class in Salvador city, Brazil, making up my own stories. My best friends were the journals I kept. When the time came to choose a profession, I wanted to be a pen for hire. So I became a journalist, a job that I embraced for a couple of decades, along with my work in Public Relations. I travelled to Ireland in 2010, and what was intended as a one-year sabbatical became a seven year stay, and counting. I was determined, but paid a price. I couldn’t get a writing-related job as my English wasn’t fluent enough. Alarmingly, the more my English improved, the more my Portuguese went downhill. So there I was, scared that I would end up with... Read Moreread more.
We were very saddened to hear of the sudden passing of one of our beloved IWC members Elizabeth O’Carroll, a founder member of the Bealtaine writers’ group. The group originated in a series of workshops offered by the Irish Writers Centre and Age and Opportunity as part of the Bealtaine Festival celebrating creativity in older people in May 1999. She taught creative writing and was also published in various publications, including two Bealtaine Writers Poetry Anthologies. A former teacher, born in County Armagh, she is the mother of six and grandmother of eleven, and was an avid and engaged gardener, painter and poet. Kindness was one of her strong attributes and she was always so generous with her time and energy; she was interested in others and loved being with them. The entire IWC team will miss her coming in... Read Moreread more.
I’m not a great one for entering competitions or indeed for any kind of prizes that involve having to add extra work to my day in the hope of … maybe…perhaps… or with a little luck, who knows? However, in 2013 something caught my eye in the multitude of emails and writerly information that passes in front of most aspiring writers eyes on a weekly basis. It was a post, on some thread, off out in the ether, talking about the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair. I’m still not sure what made me follow that post up. But, I must have clicked through and read more and eventually come to the IWC page. I do remember looking at the novel I’d just finished and thinking, well, why not? You see, I’d been writing, scribbling away, quietly for years. Eventually, I worked... Read Moreread more.
We’re thrilled to announce the lucky and hard-working recipients of both our Florence and Cill Rialaig Residencies. Congratulations to Annette Skade who will spend one week in St Mark’s Church, Florence. During her stay Annette will have the opportunity to meet the local writing community and will take part in a public reading. Congratulations also the following writers who will spend ten days in Cill Rialaig, County Kerry; Sue Leonard, Fiona O’Rourke, Breda Wall Ryan, Anna Heussaff, Moyra Donaldson, Aiden O’Reilly, Kelly Creighton. The decision process wasn’t easy and we’re honoured to offer these talented writers the time and space to write in beautiful and inspiring surroundings. read more.
We have launched our summer survey to help us learn more about the IWC community and how to improve our services around the country. The survey takes less than five minutes and puts you in the running to win a free course of your choice! Fill out the survey here >>>read more.
The Irish Writers Centre welcomes the launch of a new pilot initiative which will acknowledge the professional status of writers and artists applying for Jobseeker’s Allowance. The pilot was launched today Monday 12 June by Minister for the Arts, Heritage Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humpreys and Minister for Social Protection, Leo Varadkar in Poetry Ireland on Parnell Square. The pilot is being developed in partnership between the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Arts, Heritage Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, as part of a key commitment to artists under the Creative Ireland programme. The Irish Writers Centre and Visual Artists Ireland have been invited to facilitate the one-year pilot scheme and are approved to certify the professional status of writers and artists through their respective professional membership schemes. Valerie Bistany, Director of the Irish Writers Centre has said of the pilot scheme; ‘The... Read Moreread more.
Irish Writers Centre Open Call for Expressions of Interest in Board of Directors Membership Closing Date: extended – Friday 14 July, 2017 Location: Board meetings will be held at the Irish Writers Centre, 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. Remuneration: Non-remunerated – this is a voluntary position. Travel expenses are reimbursable. Time Commitment: Approximately 8 X 2hr Board meetings per annum with time required for preparatory reading, and possible additional time commitments depending on membership of sub-committees. Board members may be asked to represent the Board on certain occasions, depending on their availability and interests. Background The Irish Writers Centre is a flagship resource organisation for writers. It offers professional supports to meet the needs of writers at all stages of their development through training, information, networking opportunities and programmed events. A key part of our role is to offer a comprehensive and innovative toolkit/service to support the professional... Read Moreread more.
Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys joined Valerie Bistany, Director of the Irish Writers Centre, Cllr. Fergal Curtin, Cathaoirleach, Cavan County Council, Rhonda Tidy, Public Art Manager, Cavan Arts, Eoin Doyle, Director of Service, Cavan County Council and Sinéad O’Reilly and Liz Meaney from the Arts Council on Tuesday 9 May to announce the launch of the Irish Writers Center Cavan Literary programme. The group was also joined by writers Mia Gallagher and Louise Phillips and blogger Ketty Elizabeth who will be facilitating workshops and courses as part of the Cavan programme. The programme will be launched on Wednesday 17 May with an information session hosted by Valerie Bistany of the Irish Writers Centre and Catríona O’Reilly of Cavan County Council Arts Office who will also discuss the upcoming courses that the Centre is providing in the Townhall Arts Space, Cavan for the coming year. The information session will be followed by... Read Moreread more.
The Irish Writers Centre has announced the 18 participants for its newest programme, XBorders, an innovative new cross-border project bringing emerging writers together to explore and write about borders through fiction or non-fiction. With art critic, lecturer and former Turner Prize judge Dr Declan Long, the writers will explore contemporary art practice of the ‘Post-Troubles’ period in Northern Ireland and the ways in which this work has engaged with social change in Northern Ireland. International borders will be explored with anthropologist and border security expert Dr Mark Maguire whose research focuses on international migration, biometric security, counter-terrorism and border control. The writers will be also meet with Eileen Murphy a researcher with the Centre for Innovation Human Systems, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin who will explore the future of biometric border technologies and policies. As fact increasingly moves... Read Moreread more.
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