New: Irish Writers Centre On Tour at the Seamus Heaney Centre

The Irish Writers Centre is on the road again next month! For our final roadshow of the year, we’re off to Belfast for a jam-packed day of events at the Seamus Heaney Centre.

We’ll kick off the day at 12pm with an Irish Writers Centre Panel Discussion: Fact and Fiction. This hour-long event will feature writers Andrew Cunning and Róisín Kiberd in conversation, moderated by journalist and author Siobhan Fenton.

The Most Normal Woman is a new collection of essays where Roisin Kiberd explores the ways we change ourselves in pursuit of perfection – or simply normality – and the toll it takes on our inner lives.

In Andrew Cunning’s debut novel, Clara and Christina, he explores a relationship between the two women, who live their lives in books. Clara, writing her first, embraces this opportunity to learn from a writer finishing her last and during this time, Clara begins to question her own convictions, asking herself: what if there is nothing but fiction?

In this lunchtime discussion, chaired by writer and journalist Siobhan Fenton, Roisin and Andrew will examine how we are judged and defined by our own facts and fiction.

Tickets are free and available via Eventbrite here, but be sure to book in advance to avoid disappointment.

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Our second event of the day is a masterclass ‘On Being a Writer’ with Órfhlaith Foyle, beginning at 1pm.

Hilary Mantel: You have to trust you don’t understand, and you have to do that whilst walking in the dark.

This two-hour masterclass will explore what it takes to be a writer. The bargains you have to make with yourself and society. The realities of writing and living with the knowledge it is a solitary life lived alongside relationships/marriage and another job. You are communing with your own psyche, creating fiction from your imagination and experience of the world.

Further topics include: living a writer’s life, the writing process, a writer’s voice and style, how to write and the economic realities of writing, teaching creative writing and the Basic Artist’s Income. Órfhlaith will also refer to the experience of writers past and present. There will be time for questions and discussion towards the end of the masterclass.

Tickets are £15/€17.93 and available via Eventbrite here.

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Our third event in Belfast is a get-together for Irish Writers Centre Members, beginning at 2pm.

As part of this hour-long gathering, we are inviting members of the Irish Writers Centre to meet up for coffee, connection and communication, in the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queens University.

Join Deputy CEO of the Irish Writers Centre, Teerth Chungh and Head of Programming, Damien B Donnelly, to hear about details of upcoming events and opportunities in the Centre, our regional offering, and to talk about the literary community in your area. We will also open up the floor to a short open mic to share your own work.

Tickets are free via Eventbrite and available here. Be sure to book to avoid disappointment.

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Finally, we’re delighted to announce that we will be hosting a Belfast launch for our brand-new publication: Anthology 35!

Celebrating 35 years of the Irish Writers Centre, the anthology features writers who have had a connection to the Irish Writers Centre over the years, including members, facilitators, competition winners, and National Mentoring Programme awardees, join us from 3:30pm to hear some of our talented contributors read from Anthology 35, and pick up your copy as the perfect Christmas gift for literature lovers in your life.

Join us to celebrate this landmark moment in our organisation. Tickets are free via Eventbrite and available here. Be sure to book to avoid disappointment.

We look forward to seeing you all in Belfast!

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