Writers in the Regions: Masterclass: Finish Your Novel Highlights with Conor Kostick (Sligo)

The Irish Writers Centre presents a two-hour lecture style masterclass with Conor Kostick at the Yeats Society, Sligo. This masterclass is part of Writers in the Regions, our in-person masterclass series aimed at broadening our reach into the vibrant writing communities around the country and bringing expertise and experience to writers at different stages of their writing journey. 

About the Masterclass: Finish Your Novel Highlights 

For over twenty years Conor Kostick has been teaching his Finish Your Novel course at the Irish Writers Centre. For this masterclass Conor will distill the experience of the hundreds of writers who have participated in the course to give the top ten tips that he feels have proven to be the most helpful to novel writers. Concerning narrative voice, theme, writing drama, dialogue, characterisation and more, come and get the condensed, content-packed version of this celebrated course.

Conor Kostick is the author of Epic, an internationally acclaimed SciFi novel about a world where everyone must have an avatar in a role-playing game. His other novels include The Retreat and for younger readers, The Book of Wishes and The Book of Curses. A long-time mentor and teacher with the Irish Writers Centre, Conor is often called upon to judge new works, twice being president of the Irish jury for the EU Prize for Literature. At their 2009 awards, the Reading Association of Ireland gave Conor the Special Merit Award ‘in recognition of his significant contribution to writing for children in Ireland’. Conor was a nominee for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2012 and 2013.

As an advocate for authors, Conor has served as the Disputes Officer for the Irish Writers Union for over a decade and is currently leading the campaign to hold AI companies to account for their pirated use of Irish writing in training their models. Conor was a board member of the National Library of Ireland for seven years and is currently a board member of the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency and Reading Services.

Yeats Society Sligo and Hyde Bridge Gallery run a cultural events programme that takes place at the Yeats Building throughout the year. In addition Yeats Society Sligo run a number of prominent events that take place annually: Yeats International Summer School, Yeats Day, Poetry Day Ireland, National Heritage Week, Yeats Winter School. The Yeats Building in the heart of Sligo is a hub for literary culture and the arts.