Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and The Linen Hall (Belfast) are delighted to announce an exciting new initiative aimed at bringing together writers from across the island of Ireland to share their experiences and develop their artistic practice. As its title suggests, this initiative seeks to celebrate and amplify the varied and diverse voices from across this island.
Up to twenty writers will have the opportunity to benefit from six online workshops, curated and facilitated by writer-facilitator Fiona O’Rourke. Each workshop will feature a guest writer from the island of Ireland who will share their work and talk about their own creative process. Island of Many Voices will culminate in an in-person showcase event at The Linen Hall.
This programme is free to selected participants.
Programme Details
Online Workshops
Within a supportive writing community of twenty writers, participants will have the opportunity to develop their craft, aided by expert advice and insights from facilitator Fiona O’Rourke and a range of guest writers. The workshops will explore a variety of genres, including memoir, crime writing, flash fiction, novel, historical fiction, poetry, spoken word and short story. Guest readings, lively Q&A discussions, and facilitated writing exercises will feature in all workshops.
We are delighted that the following guest writers will take part in the workshops: Anthony J. Quinn, Cathy Sweeney, Nuala O’Connor, Abby Oliveira, Lisa McInerney and Scott McKendry.
The workshops will run on Saturday mornings from 7 February – 14 March 2026.
Showcase Event at The Linen Hall (Belfast)
Featuring a special guest author, this public event will take place on Friday 20 March 2026 at 1 p.m. (tbc) and will feature new work from the writers who have been part of Island of Many Voices. To welcome Dublin UNESCO City of Literature to the Linen Hall and to Belfast UNESCO City of Music, the event will include a performance by a guest musician.
Programme Schedule (February – March 2026)
Please note, participants must be able to attend all sessions. Except for the in-person event on 20 March at 1 p.m. (tbc), all sessions will take place online on Saturday mornings, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Session 1: 7 February
Special guest: Anthony J. Quinn (Memoir and crime fiction)
Session 2: 14 February
Special guest: Cathy Sweeney (Flash Fiction and novel)
Session 3: 21 February 2024
Special guest: Nuala O’Connor (Historical Fiction and poetry)
Session 4: 28 February
Special guest: Abby Oliveira (Short Story and spoken word)
Session 5: Saturday 7 March
Special guest: Lisa McInerney (Novel and editorial work)
Session 6: 14 March
Special guest: Scott McKendry (Poetry)
Live in-person event with special guests: 20 March at 1 pm (tbc)
How to apply
There are up to 20 places available. Selection is via this open call to writers, over 18 years of age, resident on the island of Ireland:
- Established writers who are published and have a track-record as a writer, eg. books/poems/stories/non-fiction published by a recognised publisher or full-length play or a feature film produced by a recognised theatre/film company or theatre venue; have been awarded a bursary, residency, or has been grant-aided by the Arts Council/Arts Council of Northern Ireland or recognised funding body; have won awards for their writing and/or spoken about their creative work in professional settings; have a degree or diploma in creative writing/practice from a recognised third-level educational institution (comparable level qualifications into consideration on a case-by-case basis).
- Emerging writers who can demonstrate a commitment to writing e.g. creative writing training or courses undertaken, journal publications, awards or notable mentions, or other recognisable achievements.
- Acceptable genres/forms: fiction: poetry, prose, novel, short stories, screenplays, stage plays, and creative non-fiction: memoir, auto-fiction, essays.
- As an island-wide initiative, we are committed to ensuring that there is representation from across the island. Ten spaces are reserved for writers from Northern Ireland and ten spaces for writers from the Republic of Ireland. We encourage writers from backgrounds typically underrepresented in Irish literature to apply. We particularly invite applications from individuals with a multi-cultural background, members of the Travelling & Roma community, LGBTQI community and writers with disabilities.
As part of the selection process, the judging panel will ensure that a wide range of literary forms, genres and writing career stages are represented in the final shortlist.
Please note, participating writers must be able to attend all six online sessions and the in-person showcase at The Linen Hall (Belfast). Where necessary, accommodation and travel expenses will be covered to enable all participants to attend the in-person event at The Linen Hall.
To apply, please email info@linenhall.com (using Island of Many Voices - ROI applicant or Island of Many Voices - NI applicant in the subject) with a single document containing an up-to-date CV (of not more than 2 pages) and a short supporting statement of not more than 400 words detailing why you would make a good participant in the programme and how you would benefit from taking part.
Deadline for receipt of applications is Friday 28 November at 5 p.m.
Guest Writers
Anthony J Quinn’s ten novels have received critical acclaim from the Sunday Times, Guardian, Independent, Financial Times, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Express, Der Spiegel, Sydney Morning Herald, Sunday Herald, Irish Times and Irish Independent.
His debut novel Disappeared (Head of Zeus, 2014) was a Daily Mail crime novel of the year and a Sunday Times best novel of the year. It was also shortlisted by the book critics of the Washington Post, LA Times, and San Francisco Chronicle for a Strand Literary Award in the US and longlisted for the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year in the UK. His crime novels have been chosen by the Irish Times and the Irish Independent as one of their best crime novels of the year in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
He has written about crime fiction academically and critically in numerous news articles and has spoken extensively on this subject at events and festivals in Britain, Ireland and Europe. He has lectured in creative writing at Queen’s University Belfast and has held writer-in-residence posts at Libraries Northern Ireland and in County Cavan. He also teaches creative writing and mentors at the Irish Writers Centre, Dublin, and the Prison Arts Foundation.
Cathy Sweeney is a writer from Dublin, Ireland. She has published short fiction and essays in various magazines and journals. In 2020, her collection of short stories, Modern Times, was published by The Stinging Fly Press in Dublin and W&N in the UK and subsequently translated into Italian. Her debut novel, Breakdown, was published by W&N in January 2024 and translated into Dutch and German.
She is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and is represented by Matthew Turner at Rogers, Coleridge & White Agency.
Nuala O’Connor lives in Galway, Ireland. She is a fiction writer and poet. Her fifth poetry collection Menagerie (Arlen House) was published in 2025. She is currently writing a memoir about late-diagnosed autism. She is a member of Aosdána.
Abby Oliveira is a writer, performer, lyricist, and theatre maker based in Derry in the north of Ireland. For the past few years, she has been working mainly collaboratively in her capacity as a spoken-word poet; working with musicians, photographers, street theatre companies, acrobats, actors and more. She has performed regularly at events and festivals throughout the UK, Ireland and abroad, and has had work commissioned by BBC Radio 4, Foyle, RTÉ radio, and more. She is currently completing an MA in creative writing at Queen’s University, Belfast.
Lisa McInerney is the author of three novels: The Glorious Heresies, The Blood Miracles and The Rules of Revelation. She has won the Women’s Prize for Fiction, the Desmond Elliott Prize, the RSL Encore Award and the Premio Edoardo Kihlgren for European literature. She is published in twelve languages, is editor of The Stinging Fly magazine, and teaches Creative Writing at the University of Galway.
Scott McKendry is from north Belfast. His poems have appeared in The Poetry Review, The Stinging Fly, Virginia Quarterly Review and elsewhere. His pamphlet, Curfuffle (Lifeboat, 2019), was a Poetry Book Society Autumn Choice. In 2019, McKendry won a Patrick Kavanagh Award. In 2024 he was chosen by Paul Muldoon as Ireland Chair of Poetry’s Poet of Promise. His debut collection, GUB, is out now with Corsair (Little, Brown).
Fiona O’Rourke’s short stories, autofiction, and essays have been published in journals, anthologies, and broadcast on radio. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2023 and her debut novel was selected for the Irish Novel Fair. Since earning an MPhil in Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin, she has facilitated creative writing courses in community, libraries, and festivals. She was the programmer and facilitator for Creative Responses to The Political Collection at The Linen Hall Belfast, and Northern Soul Roadshow for the Irish Writers Centre supported by the Arts Council Northern Ireland.
ABOUT THE PARTNERS
Dublin UNESCO City of Literature
Dublin was designated a UNESCO city of literature 15 years ago when it became 4th UNESCO city of literature in the world. The designation is managed by Dublin City Libraries, a service of Dublin City Council. The work of the UNESCO City of literature team supports, promotes and develops Dublin as a UNESCO city of literature, reflecting a capital city with a strong sense of its literary past and its contemporary literary scene. It also engages with Dublin’s creative community to continually strengthen its literary profile. In addition, it ensures Dublin participates as an active member on the UNESCO Creative Cities’ Network platform. In 2025, the office co-ordinated the 30th anniversary of the Dublin Literary Award and 20th anniversary of The One Dublin One Book programme.
The Linen Hall
The Belfast Library and Society for Promoting Knowledge – the official title of the institution more commonly known as The Linen Hall Library – developed from the Belfast Reading Society which was founded on 13 May 1788. The Linen Hall is a unique institution. It is the oldest library in the city and remains the only subscription library in Ireland. Founding members established the society on radical and Enlightenment ideals. Over more than two hundred years, The Linen Hall has retained its independence, maintaining the principle that its resources are owned by the community for the community. The library holds the Northern Ireland Literary archive, containing archives from a host of writers, including Joan Lingard, Louis MacNeice, and Stewart Parker. It also holds the literary archives of contemporary writers such as David Park, Moyra Donaldson, Rosemary Jenkinson, Bernie McGill and Brian McGilloway.
Read, Watch, Listen
Dublin, Written In Our Hearts
Ghost Light
SLAMOVISION 2025 - Live from Dublin
Dublin By Night
