Queer People, Queer Prose with June Caldwell
Info
Date: September 1, 2026
Time: 6.30 pm - 8.30 pm
Duration: 4 weeks
Level: Advanced | Intermediate | Beginner |
Cost: €160 (€144 Members)
Location: In Person
This course will take place in person on Tuesdays for 4 weeks. (4 Sessions total)
Find further information on our building access here.
Course Summary
Is there a queer way to narrate a story? Do our lived experiences as LGBTQIA+ people affect the types of stories we choose to tell? How are we represented on the page and how would we like to see ourselves in fiction?
This course concentrates on crafting stories where queer characters are the main focus, but not the only focus. For four weeks we will enjoy close readings of relevant texts by contemporary writers; play with the fundamentals of storytelling with fun and challenging writing exercises; and shape a short story or longer prose piece that speaks openly about queer experiences, all within a safe and supportive environment. Work by Carmen Maria Machado, Eley Williams, John Broderick, Keith Ridgway, Julia Armfield, Douglas Stuart and others, will guide us through. Suitable for those interested in short stories or longer-form fiction.
Course Outline
Week One: The Queersphere. This session will focus on finding themes and topics you want to write about. Authentic queer voices are not overly concerned with parochial language, identity markers or forced cultural references. A good (and queer) writing voice concentrates on interiority: how a character inhabits the world and where their interests are rooted. By the end of this session your story will have started on the page, avoiding tropes and stereotypes.
Week Two: Friendship and Intimacy. Friendship and allyships are important. How does your character forge them to get through life’s challenges? Does your story involve bigotry or stigma, does it celebrate change and accomplishment? What specific challenges will your character be subjected to and how can close bonds with other people play a central role? We will look at voice, character, tone, style and structure.
Week Three: Love and Desire: The draw of love, the pitfalls of desire, taking risks, dealing with rivals! What is your character willing to risk to get what they want? This session will focus on plot, action, dialogue, pacing, moving your story onwards to a climactic moment of change. We will read and analyse stories about bodies and the body politic, sex and sexuality, gender and identity, and consider how we might use them in our own practice. Participants will be invited to read excerpts from their work.
Week Four: Truth and Consequence. The final class will be devoted to endings and finishing lines. In addition to developing self-editing techniques, we will read from participant’s final drafts and become sensitivity readers. Topics covered will include community feedback, queer sub-genres and finding homes for stories in journals who actively want queer stories. We will also look at how to pitch work effectively and self-organise to keep going with the right kind of support from likeminded creatives.
June Caldwell is twice a prize-winner of The Moth Short Story Prize (2024 & 2014) and a 2025 awardee of the International Lamplight Fellowship. Her short story collection Room Little Darker was published in 2017 by New Island Books to critical acclaim and in 2018 by Head of Zeus, UK. June has facilitated workshops at various literary festivals, libraries, at Circle of Missé, France and Mountjoy Men’s Prison. She has also judged numerous short story competitions. Her debut novel Little Town Moone is forthcoming from John Murray.
Booked out? To be added to the waiting list for this course, please email bookings@irishwriterscentre.ie.
