This is not to be missed!
Our second FREE event of 2025 will bring you four hot writing talents and four great talks!
The event will be hosted on Zoom by Jennifer McMahon, on May 17th, beginning at 11:00am GMT.
For more details on our speakers and their topics, see below.
Patrick Holloway - From idea to publication - the journey of his novel The Language Of Remembering
Patrick Holloway is an award-winning Irish writer of fiction and poetry and is an editor of the literary journal, The Four Faced Liar. He is the winner of the Bath Short Story Award, The Molly Keane Creative Writing Prize, The Flash 500 Prize, the Allingham Fiction contest, among others. His work appears in The Stinging Fly, The London Magazine, Poetry Ireland, The Moth, Southword, The Ilanot Review, Carve, The Irish Times and The Irish Independent.
The Language of Remembering is Patrick’s debut novel. ‘This is modern Irish writing at its finest.’ The Irish Independent. ‘The Language of Remembering is a powerful, original family story from a wonderfully talented writer.’ The Irish Examiner ‘Holloway is a true novelist and this is an utterly readable book of real depth.’ The Irish Times
Gary Finnegan - The Long Way Round: Life as a 'Late Emerging' Writer
Gary Finnegan is a writer and journalist based in Kildare. His fiction has appeared in The London Magazine, Litro, Howl, Ropes, Flash Fiction Magazine and the Irish Independent's New Irish Writing. He has a degree in physiology from Trinity College, an MSc in science communication from DCU, and an MA in creative writing from Maynooth University. Gary was one of 20 Irish writers selected for the 2024 Freedom to Write Project by PEN/Ireland & the John Hewitt Society, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice. Gary is represented by the Watson Little agency in London and is working on his first novel.
Aisling Walsh - Building an inclusive writing community
Aisling Walsh (she/her) is an award winning writing and researcher based in Co. Clare. Her work has been published in New Island's 'Wired Our Own Way' anthology, the 2024 'From the Well' anthology, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Irish Times, Jezebel, Electric Literature, Literary Hub and others.
Brian Kirk - Coming to grips with the scale of a novel
Brian Kirk is an award-winning poet, short story writer and novelist from Dublin. He has published two collections of poetry with Salmon Poetry, After The Fall (2017) and Hare’s Breath (2023). His poem “Birthday” won the Listowel Writers’ Week Irish Poem of the Year at the Irish Book Awards 2018. His short fiction chapbook It’s Not Me, It’s You won the Southword Fiction Chapbook Competition and was published by Southword Editions in 2019. He is a recipient of Professional Development and Agility Awards from the Arts Council of Ireland. His novel Riverrun was chosen as a winner of the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair 2022 and was shortlisted for the Spotlight First Novel Award 2023. His poetry has been featured on The Poetry Programme on RTÉ Radio One, Words Lightly Spoken Podcast and Eat The Storms Poetry Podcast. He is a member the Hibernian Writers’ Group.
www.briankirkwriter.com.
Jennifer McMahon is your host for the event.
Jennifer McMahon is an Irish writer, and is represented by Brian Langan at Storyline Literary Agency. She was the overall winner of the 2024 All-Ireland Scholarships Creative Writing Award (Public), a winner of the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair, was a second-place winner of the Oxford Prize (winter 2023), was shortlisted for Short Story of the Year at the Irish Book Awards (2023), the Bridport Short Story Prize and many other notable awards, and was longlisted for the Bath Short Story Award. She was also nominated for Best Of The Net in 2024. Her work appears in Crannog, HOWL, Irish Independent (New Irish Writing), The Galway Review, Variant Lit, the Oxford Prize Anthology (2022 and 2023), Fractured Lit, Heimat Review (issues 2 and 6), Raw Lit, Empyrean, The Orphic Review, Mythic Picnic, Books Ireland Magazine, Loft Books (issues IV and V), the Retreat West 'Swan Song' Anthology, the Cowboy Jamboree 'Motel' anthology, and The Irish Writers Handbook (2024 and 2025 editions). Jennifer is the co-Editor-in-Chief of Frazzled Lit.