11 March, 2026
Words, In Other Places, An Irish Writers Centre Literary Festival
Words, In Other Places, an Irish Writers Centre Literary Festival, in partnership with the European Parliament Liaison Office in Ireland
Over the course of one weekend, Saturday 11 April at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University in Belfast, and Sunday 12 April at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin, Words, In Other Places will showcase a tri-lateral range of form, talent and diversity in today’s literary scene, looking to the north and south of Ireland while welcoming international writers.
Each day will be divided into 3 separate events:
Saturday 11 April Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University Belfast
12pm to 1pm: Inside Out, Telling Tales Elsewhere, panel discussion
Inside Out, Telling Tales Elsewhere is a panel discussion, featuring three contemporary writers from the south of Ireland, Louise Nealon (author of Snowflake and Everything that is Beautiful), Patrick Holloway (author of The Language of Remembering and editor of The Four Faced Liar) and Rob Doyle (author of Threshold, This is the Ritual and Cameo). This discussion will be hosted by the author of Dirty Linen: The Troubles in My Home Place and the Editor of the Irish Times and a former Editor of The Irish Post, Martin Doyle.
Louise Nealon is a writer from County Kildare, Ireland. Her debut novel Snowflake won Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards and was the One Dublin One Book choice for 2024. It has been translated into over a dozen languages. Everything that is Beautiful is her second novel.
Patrick Holloway is a prize-winning Irish writer of fiction and poetry. His debut novel, The Language of Remembering, was published in 2025 to critical acclaim. His second novel is forthcoming in 2027 with Eriu. His work appears in The Stinging Fly, The Moth, The London Magazine, Southword, the Irish Times and Irish Independent. He is the winner of The Bath Short Story Prize, The Molly Keane Creative Writing Prize, The Raymond Carver Contest, The Flash 500, among others. He is an editor of the literary journal The Four Faced Liar and is the 2026 Writer-in-Residence in Maynooth University.
Rob Doyle is the Dublin-born author of several internationally acclaimed books: Threshold, Autobibliography, This Is the Ritual, and Here Are the Young Men, which has been adapted for film. His work has been translated into several languages and nominated for various prizes. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Observer, New Statesman, Dublin Review, and many other publications. His new novel, Cameo, is published by W&N.
Martin Doyle is Books Editor of the Irish Times and a former Editor of The Irish Post. He is the author of Dirty Linen: The Troubles in My Home Place (Merrion Press, 2023), which was shortlisted for Irish Nonfiction Book of the Year, and A Hosting: Interviews with Irish Writers 1991-2025 (Lilliput Press, 2026). He has also contributed essays to The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working-Class Voices (Unbound, 2021) and The Routledge Handbook of the Northern Ireland Conflict and Peace (Routledge, 2023).
Saturday 11 April Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University Belfast
1.30pm to 3.30pm, Creativity, Craft and Commitment: Creative Writing Workshop
Creativity, Craft and Commitment: principles for supporting your creative writing with Sarah Moore Fitzgerald. During this two-hour interactive workshop, Sarah will explore some of the most important, evidence-based principles for supporting creative work, facilitate participants in engaging in useful writing exercises and explore approaches for fostering fluency and flow. By the end of the workshop participants will have a metaphorical tool box full of practical strategies for igniting the creative writing spark and keeping it lit.
Sarah Moore Fitzgerald has a background in psychology, pedagogy and organisational behaviour at the University of Limerick. She is course director of UL’s MA in Creative Writing and founding director of UL’s Creative Writing WInter School and Spring retreats. An award winning writer of short fiction and novels, Sarah is also a literacy advocate and was Ireland’s inaugural chair of the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. She’s played other leadership roles at UL including Associate Vice President, Academic and Dean of Teaching and Learning. She has published many books and research papers in the areas of teaching, learning, psychology and organisational behaviour. Her fiction has received awards and been shortlisted for many literary awards and prizes.
She has been shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize, The Calderdale Book Awards, Scotland’s Red Book Awards, The Irish Book Awards and CBI book of the year. Her seven novels have been widely translated and are published by Orion and Hachette. Her fiction has been adapted for the stage in Edinburgh and on London’s West End. Sarah is a winner of The London Magazine’s Short Fiction Prize, and was 2023 winner of the CBI artists’ residency bursary. She’s passionate about helping emerging creative writers to focus on their work and to achieve their creative goals with pleasure and success.
Saturday 11 April Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University Belfast
4pm to 5pm, Literature in Translation / Words Beyond Borders, panel discussion
Literature in Translation / Words Beyond Borders, an hour-long panel discussion, with Csilla Toldy (Hungarian writer and poet whose books include The Emigrant Woman’s Tale and Bed Table Door ), Enrica Maria Ferrara (Italian writer, translator, and scholar and Trinity College Teaching Fellow) and Rafael Mendes (Brazilian Irish Immigrant, co-winner of the Ireland Chair of Poetry Pamphlet Series 2025 with The Migrant Dictionary). Hosted by the author of Paris Syndrome and Let’s Dance and Irish Times reviewer, Lucy Sweeney Byrne.
Enrica Maria Ferrara (PhD, Reading) is a Teaching Fellow of Italian at the Department of Italian where she lectures in Italian Language and Culture since 2008. After completing her PhD at the University of Reading in 2007, she joined Trinity College Dublin as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow of the Irish Research Council and she continued working for the Italian department as a Visiting Research Fellow and then Adjunct Assistant Professor until she was awarded tenure as Teaching Fellow in 2017. From 2018 to 2020, during a career break from TCD, Dr. Ferrara was appointed Assistant Professor of Italian at UCD. At the end of her career break, she resumed her job as Teaching Fellow for the Department of Italian.
Rafael Mendes is a Brazilian-Irish poet whose work has recently appeared or is upcoming in Banshee, Wasafiri, and gorse. He was selected for Poetry Ireland Introductions 2023 and the Irish Writers Centre Evolution Programme 2025-2026. His pamphlet, The Migrant Dictionary (Howl New Irish Writing), was a co-winner of the Ireland Chair of Poetry Pamphlet Series 2025.
Csilla Toldy published three pamphlets of poetry with Lapwing Belfast (2013, 2015, 2018), Angel Fur and Other Stories with Stupor Mundi (2019), the novels Bed Table Door (Wrecking Ball Press, 2023, LTC 2025), which won the Desmond Elliott Prize Residency awarded by the National Centre for Writing, UNESCO City of Literature Norwich, and Kata (Open Books Hungary 2024). Csilla’s poems were short listed for the Bridport Prize and nominated for the Forward Prize. Csilla’s first full collection of poetry, Firebird is published by Arlen House (2025). Csilla translates from German and Hungarian, her translations were published in Le Ortique, Cyphers, Modern Poetry in Translation, Asymptote and HLO. She was an emerging translator with NCW in 2021 and the recipient of a Stinging Fly Bursary to Bristol Translates in 2024. She is a professional member and a mentor at the Irish Writers Centre. She held residencies at Cove Park, AIR Litteratur Gotheland, NCW and Down Arts Centre. She is working on a sequel to Kata with the support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland at present. www.csillatoldy.co.uk
Lucy Sweeney Byrne’s work has appeared in various anthologies and literary magazines in Ireland, the U.K. and the U.S.A. including The Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly, Banshee, AGNI, Southword, 3:AM and Irish Stories (Everyman’s Pocket Classics), amongst others. Her story collections, Paris Syndrome (2019) and Let’s Dance (2024), published by Banshee Press, were met with critical acclaim and shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Edge Hill Prize. Her writing has been generously supported by the Arts Council of Ireland. She also reviews for the Irish Times.
Sunday 12 April Irish Writers Centre, Dublin
12pm to 1pm: Inside Out, Telling Tales Elsewhere, panel discussion
Inside Out, Telling Tales Elsewhere, an hour-long panel discussion, featuring three contemporary writers from the north of Ireland, Jan Carson (author of three novels, three short story collections and two micro-fiction collections), Leontia Flynn (Professor at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University, Belfast with five collections of poetry including Taking Liberties) and Wendy Erskine (author of the novel The Benefactors, and two short story collection). This discussion will be hosted by the author of the novels The Jewel, Inch Levels and the editor of Impermanence, Neil Hegarty.
Jan Carson is a writer based in Belfast. She has published three novels, three short story collections and two micro-fiction collections. Her novel The Fire Starters won the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland, 2019. Jan’s novel, The Raptures was shortlisted for the An Post Irish Novel of the Year and Kerry Group Novel of the Year. Her writing has been aired on BBC Radio 3 and 4 and RTE. She has been translated into almost twenty languages worldwide. She was the Seamus Heaney Centre Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast in 2025 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her first stage play, an adaptation of the children’s classic, The Velveteen Rabbit was produced by Replay Theatre Company at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast in March 2025. Her next novel, Few and Far Between is forthcoming from Doubleday in early 2026 and will be published by Scribner in the US.
Wendy Erskine is the author of two prize-winning short story collections, Sweet Home and Dance Move. She edited the anthology well I just kind of like it about art in the home. She is a frequent broadcaster and interviewer, and works as a secondary school teacher in Belfast. Her debut novel, The Benefactors, was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, and shortlisted for best novel at the Irish Book Awards, and best audio novel at the British Audio Awards. It was awarded Waterstones Best Irish Book of 2025. A film based on the short story Nostaglie was recently shortlisted for a BAFTA and won an IFTA.
Leontia Flynn’s fifth collection of poetry, Taking Liberties, was published in 2023. Her previous collections have won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy award for Irish poetry, the Irish Times Poetry Prize, and twice been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot prize. A Selected Poems will be published by Carcarnet Press later this year. Flynn was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022 and received a Cholmondeley Prize in 2023. She is a Professor at the Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University, Belfast.
Neil Hegarty grew up in Derry. His novels include The Jewel; and Inch Levels, which was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Novel of the Year award. His short fiction and essays have appeared in the Dublin Review, Stinging Fly, Cyphers, PVA, Tangerine, Banshee, and elsewhere; and he is co-editor of the essay collection Impermanence.
Sunday 12 April Irish Writers Centre, Dublin
1.30pm to 3.30pm: Inside Out, Telling Tales Elsewhere, panel discussion
The Anatomy of a Page. During the session you’ll dissect a page of text and look at the ways the author draws the reader and ensures you want to read more. You’ll look at each line under a microscope to see how each reveals character or furthers the story, You’ll leave with more understanding of the fundaments of writing and more tools in your writers toolkit.
Paul McVeigh’s debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Book Prize, and was shortlisted for many others including The Prix du Roman Cezam. His play, Big Man, premiered at The Lyric Theatre and won an Irish Times Theatre Award in 2023. His short stories have been in anthologies, journals and newspapers, and read on BBC Radio 3, 4 and 5, RTE Radio, as well as, Sky ARTS. His debut collection of short stories, I Hear You, all commissioned by BBC Radio 4, was published in March 2025 and won The McCrea Literary Award. Paul has edited four anthologies and his writing has been translated into eight languages.
Paul was acting Head of Literature for Arts Council of Northern Ireland and has judged many literature prizes including the Royal Society of Literature’s VS Pritchard Award, the International Dylan Thomas Prize and Kerry Group.
Sunday 12 April Irish Writers Centre, Dublin
4pm to 5pm, Literature in Translation / Words Beyond Borders, panel discussion
Literature in Translation / Words Beyond Borders, an hour-long panel discussion, with Hugo Hamilton (Rooney Prize winning writer and author of The Speckled People, a German-Irish memoir which has been translated into 15 languages), Suad Aldarra (Syrian-Irish writer and winner of the Rooney Prize Award for Irish Literature 2024 for I Don’t Want to Talk about Home) and Victoria Melkovska (poet and author of For the Birds and the translator into English of Ukrainians XYZ: Habits, Tastes, Daily Life by Marta Molfar). This discussion will be hosted by the award-winning poet and the author of five books published with Salmon Press, Adam Wyeth.
Suad Aldarra is a Syrian writer based in Dublin, awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2024. Her debut memoir, I Don’t Want to Talk About Home, was shortlisted for An Post Irish Book Awards.
Hugo Hamilton is the best-selling author of The Speckled People – a memoir of his German-Irish childhood in Dublin, growing up with his German mother and prohibited by his revolutionary Irish father from speaking English. The Speckled People has been translated into twenty languages. It was adapted for the stage and performed at the Gate Theatre, followed by a second memoir-based play called The Mariner. He has published two memoirs, ten novels and a collection of short stories. His stories have appeared in the New Yorker. He has won numerous literary awards for his work including the Prix Femina in France and the Bundesverdienstkreuz order of merit, awarded by the German state for his exploration of cultural diversity. Hamilton is a member of Aosdana and lives in Dublin. His latest novel Conversation with the Sea is published by Hachette in August 2025.
Victoria Melkovska was born in Ukraine in 1977 and has lived in Dublin since 2003. In Kyiv, she hosted many popular radio shows and worked as a journalist. Later she reported from Dublin for Ukrainian Radio and contributed to several Irish periodicals. She is the translator into English of Ukrainians XYZ: Habits, Tastes, Daily Life by Marta Molfar, a non-fiction book long-listed for BBC News Ukraine Book of the Year (2021). Victoria Melkovska’s poems have featured on RTÉ Radio and appear in many publications, including the Dedalus Press anthologies Writing Home: The ‘New Irish’ Poets (2019) and Local Wonders: Poems of Our Immediate Surrounds (2021).
Adam Wyeth is an award-winning poet and the author of five books published with Salmon Press. Collections include Silent Music (2011), Highly Commended by the Forward Poetry Prize; The Art of Dying (2016), an Irish Times Book of the Year; and about:blank (2021), which received an Arts Council Literature Project Award and was presented at the Dublin Theatre Festival, (2021). He is the author of a collection of critical essays, The Hidden World of Poetry: Unravelling Celtic Mythology in Contemporary Irish Poetry (2013), and the play This Is What Happened. Recent work includes cross-disciplinary collaborations with composer David Downes called there will be no silence, which was presented at the National Concert Hall in 2024 as part of New Music Dublin and released as a CD with booklet by Diatribe Records. In 2024, he was keynote speaker at the SAES Conference in France for over 500 English academics on the subject of Borders. Adam is the recipient of the Patrick & Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship. His work often explores embodiment, technology, myth, and consciousness, weaving lyrical intensity with philosophical inquiry.
The Irish Writers Centre are grateful to the Seamus Heaney Centre for their participation in this festival, No Alibis bookshop in Belfast for selling books on 11 April at the Seamus Heaney Centre and Chapters Bookshop in Dublin for selling books on 12 April at the Irish Writers Centre. This two day tri=lateral festival was made possible by funding from the European Parliament Liaison Office in Ireland. The Irish Writers Centre is supported by Arts Council Ireland and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
