12 February, 2025
New Masterclass Series
This exciting new masterclass series is delivered by a range of experienced and critically acclaimed writers. Taking place in-person in the Irish Writers Centre (Dublin) on Saturdays, these masterclasses are ideal for writers looking to acquire the tools and confidence to take their practice to the next level.
In our first series, we will be investigating historical fiction with Martina Devlin, writing through the lens of experience as a nonfiction writer with Caelainn Hogan, what it means to write a bestseller with Sheila O’Flanagan and examining the role of failure in the writer’s process with Mia Gallagher. Find details about each masterclass below.
History That’s Not Musty Or Fusty: Masterclass with Martina Devlin
Saturday 8 March, 2025
Time: 10.30am-4.30pm
Level: Intermediate
Cost: €115 (€103 members)
Location: Irish Writers Centre
Historical fiction delivers emotional rather than literal truth, and among its strengths is its ability to help us to think differently about the past. Unless the writer does their homework it won’t feel authentic, but no one wants to read a novel framed as a school history lesson. The challenge is to bring history alive with a well-told story that has enough authentic material to be credible – and enough imagination to be absorbing. A one-day masterclass on writing historical fiction with Martina Devlin, a successful novelist with a track record in her field.
Martina Devlin is an author and newspaper columnist. She has written nine novels, two non-fiction books, plays and a collection of short stories. Her latest novel, Charlotte, explores Charlotte Brontë’s Irish connections. Other novels include Edith about the Irish R.M. co-author Edith Somerville; and The House Where It Happened about the 1711 Islandmagee witchcraft trial, which led to a plaque erected to commemorate those wrongly convicted following a campaign she initiated.
Prizes include the Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Prize and a Hennessy Literary Award, and she has been shortlisted three times for the Irish Book Awards. Martina writes a weekly current affairs column for the Irish Independent for which she has been named National Newspapers of Ireland commentator of the year, among other journalism prizes. She holds a PhD in literary practice from Trinity College Dublin.
Writing Through the Lens of Experience: Non-Fiction Masterclass with Caelainn Hogan
Date: Saturday 22 March, 2025
Time: 10.30am-4.30pm
Level: Intermediate
Cost: €115 (€103 members)
Location: Irish Writers Centre
How do we write through the lens of experience, whether we place ourselves within the narrative or not, so that the work is made tangible through our perspective? As both a journalist and a writer of immersive nonfiction, Caelainn will speak about developing an eye as a reporter while also learning how to write from her own insights, deciding when to put herself within the story. She will share an overview of what she has learned throughout her time as a writer, from starting with longform narrative journalism and essays to publishing her book Republic of Shame.
Caelainn Hogan is a writer and journalist with work published in The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, VICE, The Guardian, The Dublin Review and others. Her book Republic of Shame, published in September 2019 by Penguin Ireland, investigates the ongoing legacy of the religious-run institutions in Ireland that incarcerated thousands of women and children.
How To Write a Bestseller: a Masterclass in Popular Fiction with Sheila O’Flanagan
Date: Saturday 12 April, 2025
Time: 10.30am-1.30pm
Level: Intermediate | Beginner
Cost: €75 (€68 members)
Location: Irish Writers Centre
This masterclass will help new and intermediate writers to craft engaging fiction with authentic characters, realistic dialogue and contemporary plotlines. Participants will come out of this masterclass with a clearer understanding of how to plan and structure a novel. How to write realistic dialogue. How to work with an editor. An understanding of the publishing world both as a creative and a business space and how popular fiction sits in that space.
Sheila O’Flanagan is the award-winning author of 30 bestselling novels and 3 collections of short stories. She has been a director of Fighting Words and has contributed novellas to the Open Door and Quick Reads series of novellas.
The Role of Failure in the Writer’s Process: Masterclass with Mia Gallagher
Date: Saturday 12 April, 2025
Time: 10.30am-4.30pm
Level: Intermediate
Cost: €135 (€122 members)
Location: Irish Writers Centre
Take part in a day-long masterclass for early mid-career writers, with acclaimed author, editor and mentor Mia Gallagher, investigating the role of failure in the writer’s process. Failure is a common experience for all writers, along with rejection, doubt, despair and confusion. Yet it is often through failure and ‘mistakes’ that the writer can break through the old and discover the new, both in their work and in their perception of themselves as artist. The session is limited to ten participants who will be selected through a submission process.
Mia Gallagher writes novels, stories and essays and has devised and collaborated for the stage. Her books include HellFire, Beautiful Pictures of the Lost Homeland, Shift and Dubliners, co-authored with visual artist Mario Sughi. Mia is a member of Aosdána, a contributing editor to the Stinging Fly, and has worked as an editor, mentor and tutor for over thirty years. She is currently working on her third novel, and regularly encountering failure in the process.
