Autumn Open Day 2024

Autumn Open Day | Free Entry

The Irish Writers Centre (IWC) will once again open its doors for Autumn Open Day on Saturday 31 August!

Taking place inside our beautiful Georgian building on Parnell Square in Dublin, Autumn Open Day is a dynamic programme of free events that brings together anyone with an interest in writing. Expect taster workshops, information sessions, writer-led panel discussion, and more.

Whether you are an absolute beginner, or an experienced writer, this day will introduce you to a new community, and hopefully leave you with some tips on how to develop your practice.

At Autumn Open Day, you will receive a full overview of the Irish Writers Centre’s annual programme of supports. Come meet the IWC team and learn more about our development programmes, courses, workshops, and resources for writers.

What to expect:

• Free taster creative writing workshops
• Panel discussion “What’s the story?”
• Novel Fair Information Session
• New Irish Communities writing session
• Free teas, coffees and biscuits

Autumn Open Day Timetable:

10.30 – 16.30: Book Swap! (happening all day!)

Bring along a much-loved book, wrap it and label or tag it with a description of no more than three lines. If you bring a book, you go home with one too!

10.30 -11.00: Welcome! Tea, coffee & biscuits plus an informal chat about the work of the Irish Writers Centre.

11.00 – 12.00: New Irish Communities with Fióna Bolger (Tickets go live August 7th at 10.00am)

Get a taster of this open creative writing group for non-native English speakers who come together every Saturday during seasonal terms. This session is ideal for beginner and emerging writers.

11.00 – 12.00: Writing taster Non-Fiction with Geraldine Walsh (Tickets go live August 7th at 10.00am)

This taster course is suitable for those seeking clarity and focus on their nonfiction writing project.

11.30 – 12.30: Novel Fair Information session and Q&A with Betty Stenson, Irish Writers Centre Programming Officer (Book your ticket via Eventbrite)

Learn about our renowned literary competition for first-time novelists! Ask questions and get tips on your application. Psst! Submissions open on the 1st of September 2024!

13.15 – 14.15: Absolute Beginners: First Steps on Your Writing Path with Sarah Moore Fitzgerald (Book your ticket via Eventbrite)

A taster seminar introducing you to a range of techniques for getting started, ideas about structuring your work, strategies for gaining momentum and approaches that will help you find your writing fluency and enhance your storytelling craft.

14.30 – 15.30: Short Story Writing Taster with Órfhlaith Foyle (Tickets go live August 7th at 10.00am)

This taster course with Órfhlaith Foyle gives an insight into questions such as: How does a story begin? What makes a story? How do you write a story? How does a story flow? How do you ensure your writing has guts and backbone or is that necessary for a story?

14.30 – 15.30: Poetry Writing Taster with Adam Wyeth (Tickets go live August 7th at 10.00am)

This taster course with Adam Wyeth will introduce you to many poetic forms such as the sonnet, haiku and villanelle, and you will discover how contemporary poets continue to push the envelope of these age-old forms.

15.30 – 16.30: Panel Discussion “What’s the Story?” (Book your ticket via Eventbrite)

Join Aingeala Flannery, Sonya Gildea and Rafael Mendes as they share their stories so far, from finding a supportive community to feeling comfortable wearing the title of writer.

When did you first call yourself a writer? You’re putting pen to paper, but the title ‘writer’ may still remain a source of self-doubt… For many, at the outset of their careers, confidence comes from writing communities, and professional validation – whether through publication, funding, or awards. This panel will give insight into different parts of the writers’ journeys.

The discussion will be moderated by Damien B. Donnelly, IWC Events and Marketing Assistant. Damien is also the host and producer of the poetry podcast Eat the Storms and the editor of The Storms, a journal of poetry, prose and visual art.

Read about the panelists:

Aingeala Flannery is a writer and broadcaster. She was selected for the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair in 2017 and for the Evolution Programme in 2022. Last year, her novel The Amusements won both the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year at Listowel Writers’ Week and the John McGahern Prize. She is deputy publisher of The Dublin Review literary journal. Aingeala holds an MFA in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. She was awarded a Literature Bursary by the Arts Council of Ireland in 2020 and 2021, and is the current Arts Council Writer in Residence at Dublin City University.

Sonya Gildea’s writing has been published in the Stinging Fly, Tolka, the Irish Times, Poetry Ireland Review, the Irish Independent and many others. She was dlr emerging writer-in-residence 2023-2024. She is winner of the John McGahern Literature Award and the Cúirt International New Writer’s Fiction Award. She is recipient of an Arts Council Literature Bursary Award and an Arts Council Literature Project Award. She is a Poetry Ireland Introductions poet; recipient of an Irish Writer’s Centre Cill Rialaig Writer’s Residency; and was awarded an IWC National Mentorship Award. Sonya graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from University College Dublin.

Rafael Mendes is a Brazilian migrant based in Dublin. His poetry is upcoming in Poetry Ire-land Review and Poetry Salzburg Review. He has been selected for Poetry Ireland’s 2023 In-troduction Series and was awarded the Irish Writers Centre/Tyrone Guthrie Centre Lacuna Bursary 2023.

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The Irish Writers Centre is supported by the Arts Council.