2026-27 Fiction Workshops
Applications open on Tuesday June 30th and will close at 5pm on Thursday July 23rd.
We are offering four 6-month fiction workshops this year. All workshops will run from late September 2026 until early April 2027.
Online Fiction Workshop with Danielle McLaughlin
—all workshop sessions held online via Zoom on Tuesday evenings
Online Fiction Workshop with Roisín O’Donnell
—all workshop sessions held online via Zoom on Wednesday evenings)
Hybrid Fiction Workshop with Jan Carson and Mary Morrissy
—mix of online and in-person workshops – Saturdays (Dublin, in-person) and Monday evenings (online)
In-person Fiction Workshop with Cathy Sweeney and Colin Barrett
—all workshop sessions held in-person at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin
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The aim of our 6-month workshop programme is to provide writers with the opportunity to work with a group of similarly motivated individuals towards developing their writing practice over an expanded period of time.
Our workshops are designed to benefit writers who have already been writing for some time as well as anyone seriously interested in getting started. Participants are provided with an opportunity to hone their craft in a supportive yet rigorous environment. Key to all of our workshops is the process of participants sharing, reading and discussing one another’s work.
Eight places are available in the online workshop and the hybrid workshop. Ten places are available on the in-person workshop.
All workshop places will be offered by Friday August 21st.
Prior to each workshop session, participants will submit works in progress (either a draft of a short story or novel excerpt) to the rest of the group. All of this shared work will be closely read by the workshop leader and the other participants in advance of the workshop session.
All workshop participants can expect to share work four times over the course of the six months. Participants are encouraged to use their time on the workshop to write as much as possible and to make full use of the opportunity to have their work read and discussed by the workshop leaders and their fellow participants during each workshop round.
– Places on the workshops will be offered based on work submitted. Applicants must submit 6 to 8 pages from a short story or novel.
– The application form for all workshops includes a cover note. Use this space to give us as much information as you can about your current writing project(s) and to tell us how you believe your work will benefit from participating in the workshop.
– Anyone applying for the In-person Fiction Workshop or the Hybrid Fiction Workshop must be available to attend the in-person workshop sessions at the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin.
– We are committed to pursuing a proactive approach to diversity and inclusiveness. We strongly encourage writers from underrepresented areas of society to apply for these workshops. If you are such a writer, we hope you feel encouraged to join us. If you know such writers, please spread the word (with our thanks).
We will accepting applications via Submittable.
Click here to access the application form.
Applications for all four workshops will be accepted until 5pm (Irish time) on Thursday July 23rd 2026.
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Fees
The tuition fee for the online workshop and the hybrid workshop is €2000. The concession rate for anyone who is unwaged or on low income is €1500.
The tuition fee for the in-person workshop is €2400. The concession rate for anyone who is unwaged or on low income is €1800.
A deposit of €200 (non-refundable) will be payable once a workshop place has been offered and accepted. The balance will be payable in two instalments at the end of September 2025 and in January 2026. (An alternative payment schedule can be agreed where necessary.)
Free Places
Thanks to the support we receive from the Arts Council and to the continued generosity of our friends and donors, we are in a position to offer one free place on each workshop. These will be awarded to writers who are either unwaged or on low income. Preference will be given to those writers who would otherwise not be able to participate. We will ask you to tell us why you want to be considered for a free place in the cover note that is included on the Submittable application
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Dates
NB: All of the dates provided below are provisional and will be confirmed when we are offering workshop places. Individual workshop sessions may need to be rescheduled during the year.
Online Fiction Workshop with Danielle McLaughlin
Sessions for Danielle’s fiction workshop will take place fully online over Zoom on Tuesday evenings from 7pm to 9pm unless otherwise noted.
DATES: (ALL ONLINE)
September 2026: Introductory Meeting – Date TBC
Round 1
October 2026: Tuesday 6th, 20th, 27th
November 2026: Tuesday 3rd
Tuesday November 10th: Session with Guest Writer
Round 2
November 2026: Tuesday 17th and 24th
December 2026: Tuesday 1st and 8th
Tuesday January 12th: Review Session
Tuesday January 19th: Session with Guest Writer
Round 3
January 2027: Tuesday 26th
February 2027: Tuesday 2nd, 9th and 16th
Tuesday March 2nd: Session with Guest Writer
Round 4
March 2027: Tuesday 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th
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Online Fiction Workshop with Roisín O’Donnell
Sessions for Roisín’s fiction workshop will take place fully online over Zoom on Wednesday evenings from 7pm to 9pm unless otherwise noted.
DATES: (ALL ONLINE)
September 2026: Introductory Meeting – Date TBC
Round 1
October 2026: Wednesday 7th, 21st, 28th
November 2026: Wednesday 4th
Wednesday November 11th: Session with Guest Writer
Round 2
November 2026: Wednesday 18th and 25th
December 2026: Wednesday 2nd and 9th
Wednesday January 13th: Review Session
Wednesday January 20th: Session with Guest Writer
Round 3
January 2027: Wednesday 27th
February 2027: Wednesday 3rd, 10th and 17th
Wednesday March 3rd: Session with Guest Writer
Round 4
March 2027: Wednesday 10th, 24th and 31st
April 2027: Wednesday 7th
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Hybrid Fiction Workshop with Jan Carson and Mary Morrissy
Five in-person workshop days will be held in the Irish Writers Centre on Saturdays in October 2026 and in January, March and April 2027 (10am to 4.30pm). The remaining sessions will be held online over Zoom on Monday evenings 7pm-9pm.
PROVISIONAL DATES:
Round 1 – In-Person with Jan Carson (Saturdays)
October 17th and 31st
Monday November 9th – Online Session with Guest Writer
Round 2 – Online with Mary Morrissy (Mondays)
November 16th, 23rd and 30th
December 7th
Saturday January 30th – In-Person Teaching Day at IWC
Round 3 – Online with Jan Carson (Mondays)
February 8th, 15th, 22nd
March 1st
Monday March 8th – Online Session with Guest Writer
Round 4 – In-Person with Jan Carson (Saturdays)
March 20th and April 3rd
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In-person Fiction Workshop with Cathy Sweeney & Colin Barrett
Workshop sessions will take place in-person on Wednesday evenings in the Irish Writers Centre, 6.30pm to 8.30pm. Additional sessions with visiting guest writers will take place on two Saturdays, one before Christmas and one in early 2026.
PROVISIONAL DATES for Wednesday evening sessions:
Round 1 with Cathy Sweeney
September 2026: Wednesday 30th
October 2026: Wednesday 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th
Saturday November 8th 2026: Teaching Day in Irish Writers Centre
Round 2 with Cathy Sweeney
November 2026: Wednesday 11th, 19th and 25th
December 2026: Wednesday 2nd and 9th
Round 3 with Colin Barrett
January 2027: Wednesday 20th and 27th
February 2027: Wednesday 3rd, 10th and 17th
Saturday February 20th 2027: Teaching Day in Irish Writers Centre
Round 4 with Colin Barrett
March 2027: Wednesday 3rd, 10th, 24th and 31st
April 2027: Wednesday 7th
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Workshop Leaders
Danielle McLaughlin (Online Workshop) is the author of the short-story collection, Dinosaurs on Other Planets, and the novel, The Art of Falling, which was shortlisted for the Dublin Literary Award. She has been Writer in Residence at University College Cork and Visiting Writer Fellow at the Oscar Wilde Centre, Trinity College, Dublin. She has also designed and delivered workshops in Creative Writing for various organisations and festivals and currently mentors a number of emerging writers.
Roisín O’Donnell‘s (Online Workshop) short story collection Wild Quiet was published in 2016 and was shortlisted for the Kate O’Brien Award and longlisted for the Edge Hill Prize. Her short stories have been published in The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times and many other places, and have been broadcast on RTÉ Radio. Her first novel Nesting was published in January 2025; it became an instant Sunday Times Bestseller, and was long-listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Roisín was listed as one of the Observer’s Ten Best New Novelists of 2025. Donal Ryan described Nesting as ‘one of the best and most important novels of our time,’ while the Irish Independent declared it ‘A novel that truly matters.’ Nesting won the A Post Irish Book Award for Novel of the Year 2025.
Jan Carson (Hybrid Workshop) is a writer and community arts facilitator based in Belfast. Her first novel, Malcolm Orange Disappears, was published in 2014 followed by a short-story collection, Children’s Children (2016), and two Postcard Stories anthologies. Her second novel, The Fire Starters (2019), won the EU Prize for Literature and was shortlisted for the Dalkey Novel of the Year Award. The Raptures (2022) was shortlisted for the An Post Novel of the Year and the Kerry Group Novel of the Year. Quickly, While They Still Have Horses, a collection of stories, was published in 2024. Jan’s writing has been widely translated. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Mary Morrissy is the author of four novels, Mother of Pearl, The Pretender, The Rising of Bella Casey and Penelope Unbound and three collections of stories, A Lazy Eye, Prosperity Drive and Twenty-Twenty Vision. Her short fiction has been anthologized widely and she has won a Hennessy Award and a US Lannan Foundation Award for her work. Her debut novel, Mother of Pearl, was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize and she’s been nominated twice for the Dublin Literary Award. A member of Aosdána, she is a journalist and has taught creative writing at university level in both Ireland and the US for the past 25 years. She was the associate director of creative writing at University College Cork until 2020. She now works as a literary mentor. She blogs on https://marymorrissy.com and curates a second website – https://unawattersartist.com – dedicated to Dublin artist Una
Watters (1918-1965), who will feature in her next book.
Colin Barrett (In-person Workshop) grew up in County Mayo. His stories have been published in The Stinging Fly, Granta, Harper’s and the New Yorker. His first book, the short-story collection Young Skins, won the Guardian First Book Award, the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. His second collection, Homesickness, made the New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year and was a Book of the Year in Oprah Daily and the Irish Times. His first novel, Wild Houses, was published in 2024 and won the Nero debut fiction prize.
Cathy Sweeney (In-person Workshop) is a writer living in Wexford. Her collection of short stories, Modern Times, was published by The Stinging Fly Press and by W&N in 2020. Her debut novel, Breakdown, was published by W&N in January 2024.
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