International Lamplight Fellowship 2026 (Online)

The Irish Writers Centre and Varuna, National Writers’ House are excited to announce the fourth year of the Lamplight International Fellowship Programme. This online programme is a two-week opportunity for fiction writers to enjoy the combined mentorship and support of both organisations. Find inspiration for writing, benefit from professional development opportunities, and build international connections with other writers to sustain your creative practice.

This opportunity is exclusively for Irish Writers Centre Members with two published books.

In keeping with goals 1 and 3 of the IWC 2022-2026 strategy this programme will support eligable applicants to advance their craft and career with confidence and resilience while also cultivating an engaged community of writers and the strategic alliances that support our ambitions.

Programme Outline

This two-week online fellowship runs Monday – Friday, 16-26 June 2026 and includes:

• An hour-long one-on-one conversation with Mary Anne Butler and Conor Kostick to talk about your current work.
• Daily writing opportunities together as a group.
• Facilitated professional networking opportunities with your peers, including the opportunity to share work, talk about process, and receive feedback.
• An online Q&A session with Hannah Kent, award-winning Australian author of Burial Rites, The Good People, Devotion and most recently Always Home, Always Homesick
• An online Q&A session with Mike McCormack, Irish author, winner of the Dublin Literary Award for his novel, Solar Bones, other books include Crowe’s Requiem, Notes from a Coma, and This Plague of Souls.
• An online session, Finish your Novel Highlights, with award winning author and twice president of the Irish jury for the EU Prize for Literature, Conor Kostick.
• A complimentary book pack of the latest books by the authors in the Q&A

Eight writers will take part in this two-week fellowship programme. Four participants will be based in Ireland (Irish Writers Centre awardees) and four participants will be based in Australia (Varuna awardees). The Irish Writers Centre can only accept applications for Ireland-based writers. Australian-based writers can apply here.

All sessions will take place online: Participants will need a reliable internet connection, and a computer or mobile phone with a camera and microphone.

Time Commitment

Programme dates: Monday – Friday at 9.30am-10.30am Irish Time, 16-26 June 2026

Sessions will take place every morning at 9.30am-10.30am Monday to Friday, for two consecutive weeks.

The two one-to-one consultations will be scheduled in the afternoon within the programme dates. The full programme schedule will be available to view soon.

Please note, participating writers must confirm that they are available for the duration of these dates to attend all group sessions.

Eligibility

This fellowship programme is exclusively for Irish Writers Centre members* who are fiction writers (prose, novel, short stories) and have published two books, are over the age of 18 and living on the island of Ireland. On this occasion, writers who exclusively practice non-fiction, poetry or plays are not eligible for this programme.

*Not yet a member? It is quick and easy to sign up for professional membership once you meet the eligibility requirements. Find out more here.

We encourage writers from backgrounds that are typically underrepresented in Irish literature to apply. We particularly invite applications from Minority Ethnic, Black, POC (person of colour), Traveller, Roma, LGBTQ+, disabled and working-class writers.

If you have availed of the Lamplight Fellowship programme in the last three years, in any iteration, you are ineligible.

How to Apply

All applications should be made via Submittable.

Applicants will open from 4pm on Tuesday 7 April, 2026 until 5pm, Friday 24 April 2026.

To apply, you will need to include the following in ONE single document (PDF or .doc /.docx):

• A cover letter (approx. 1 page). Include the following:

1. Details of your writing practice and what you are currently working on
2. Why would you like to do this programme? This should include how this fellowship will benefit your practice.
3. What can you provide to the programme? Selected writers are expected to be active workshop participants and offer peer support and feedback during the online group sessions.

• Two writing samples of no more than 1000 words each
• Writer’s CV (max. two A4 pages). Please ensure your Eircode, email address and contact number are on your CV. See example for Writer’s CV here.

If you have any questions about the residency please contact Damien at damien@irishwriterscentre.ie.

Applications that are not collated into one file will be deemed ineligible.

Due to the volume of applicants we are not able to give individual feedback to applicants. This policy extends across all our calls in the interests of equity and transparency, and because, as a small team, we don’t have the capacity to give individual responses.

Selection Process

Applications will be reviewed by an external, independent selection panel consisting of professional writer(s) for eligibility, expression of intent and the range and quality of writing samples provided.

Varuna and the Irish Writers Centre are grateful to the Australia Council for the Arts and the Arts Council of Ireland for their support of this project.

Consulting writers

• Conor Kostick
• Mary Anne Butler
• Hannah Kent
• Mike McCormack

Biographies below.

Mary Anne Butler

Multi-award-winning playwright Mary Anne Butler has spent two decades mastering the art of dialogue. Her plays have won the Victorian Prize for Literature, Victorian Premier’s Award for Drama, Shane and Cathryn Brennan Prize for Playwriting, an AWGIE and two NT Chief Minister’s Book of the Year Awards. Her teaching experience combines a Masters in Arts Education, a Masters in Creative Writing, a Diploma of Acting from VCA and a Dip Ed in English/Drama. She’s currently undertaking a PhD in Literature, writing a novel which investigates how we write hope into the realist fiction of the Anthropocene.

Conor Kostick

Conor Kostick is a commissioning editor and the author of a number of successful books. In 2009, he was presented with a Special Merit Award by the Reading Association of Ireland; in 2010 he was the Farmleigh Writer-in-Residence. Conor is often asked to judge literary competitions and in 2016 and 2019 was the president of the Irish jury for the EU Prize for Literature. Conor will be teaching this program from his home in Ireland.

Hannah Kent

Hannah Kent is a multi-award-winning author and screenwriter. She is the author of the bestselling novels Burial Rites, The Good People and Devotion, and her original feature film, Run Rabbit Run, starring Sarah Snook and directed by Daina Reid, premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Hannah is the co-founder of Australian literary publication Kill Your Darlings, and her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald and Vogue Australia among others. Her most recent book is Always Home, Always Homesick: A Memoir of Iceland.

Mike McCormack

Mike McCormack comes from the west of Ireland and is the author of two collections of short stories, Getting it in the Head and Forensic Songs, and four novels: Crowe’s Requiem, Notes from a Coma, Solar Bones and This Plague of Souls. In 1996, he was awarded the Rooney Prize for Literature and Getting it in the Head was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. In 2006, Notes from a Coma was shortlisted for the Irish Book of the Year Award. In 2016, Solar Bones was awarded the Goldsmiths Prize and the Bord Gais Energy Irish Novel of the Year and Book of the Year; it was also long-listed for the 2017 Man Booker Prize. In 2018 it was awarded the International Dublin Literary Award. He is a member of Aosdána.

Testimonials

Love is not a strong enough word! The International Lamplight Fellowship was empowering, captivating, energising, and engaging. It was exactly what I needed at this stage of my development as a writer, offering the motivation to continue writing, learning, and connecting with others. The literary world can often feel inaccessible, but the last two weeks opened that world to us, making it a little more comfortable to find our seat at the table. The Fellowship was a powerful experience which showed me that I belong, I have a place in my writing community. 

Geradline Walsh (2025 Lamplight participant)

I can’t fully express how much the Lamplight Writing Residency meant to me. The one-on-one mentorship, particularly with Mary Anne Butler, was a highlight – she was incredibly generous, insightful, and deeply supportive. I also really valued the session with Mike McCormack. He was so sincere and grounded, and his words will resonate with me for a long time to come. It was wonderful to connect with both Irish and Australian writers, and I’m so grateful for the chance to continue learning through peer-to-peer mentorship. Thank you all so much for this incredible experience. 

Orla Mackey (2025 Lamplight participant)

The level of professional expertise was incredible, and also the writers too. Very incisive feedback and wonderful brains to be bouncing off for two weeks. The regularity of the morning online meetings really put shape to my day, which is something I’ve been lacking (as well as discipline) in my practice. It was wonderful, thank you. 

June O’Sullivan (2025 Lamplight participant)

This was a wonderful programme. It surpassed my expectations. I loved the sessions with Mike McCormack and Pip Williams. They were so inspirational and so informative.  The one-to-one sessions were excellent. The feedback was brilliant, spot on and so helpful. What I learnt in these sessions will resonate in my writing way beyond the pieces I shared here. It was wonderful to be in a group of fellow professional writers. It was a safe space to share the vulnerabilities and questions, as well as the successes. Knowing I would be taking part in this fellowship inspired me to write and gather ideas beforehand. Being part of it gave me permission to take time out to focus on my writing over these two weeks.

Deirdre Cartmill (2025 Lamplight participant)