Belfast Literary Summer Yard Sessions 2024

The session features a panel of renowned authors, chaired by Dr. Connal Parr and featuring Rosemary Jenkinson, Wendy Erskine, Tony Black, Heather Currie and Eddie Currie, with Stephen Knox as MC. Together they will celebrate the rich literature and language traditions of Northern Ireland and across our shared Isles.

Discount for local groups at societies £7pp. To book email christhackaberry@gmail.com.

The event is sponsored by Yellow House Publishing Ltd. Shipyard Poetry competition winners will be drawn from contributors to New Isles Press Issue 3.

Chair: Dr Connal Parr

Dr Connal Parr is Assistant Professor in History at Northumbria University. He studied Modern History at the University of Oxford and then completed a PHD in Protestant working-class politics and culture at Queens University Belfast. After holding postdoctoral and teaching posts at Oxford and Fordham University’s London Centre, he joined Northumbria University in 2016 initially as Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow. His first book Inventing the Myth: Political Passions and the Ulster Protestant Imagination (2017) was shortlisted for the Ewart-Biggs Literary Prize and the Royal Historical Society’s Whitfield Prize for distinguished first books. He is a board member of Etcetera Theatre Company and Chairman of Yellow House Publishing and is currently completing a book on the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement.

MC:Stephen Knox

After leaving school Stephen studied history and languages at Trinity College Dublin, before going on to University of Ulster, where he obtained his post graduate qualification in Social Work. After retiring Stephen began his interest writing in writing poetry. His writing reflects his Christian faith, his interest in the place he lives, his deep appreciation of nature and fascination with ordinary, everyday occurrences. Stephens debut collection of poetry will be published by Yellow House Publishing 2024.

Panel members

Rosemary Jenkinson

In 2018 Rosemary Jenkinson received a Major Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and was artist-in-residence at the Lyric Theatre Belfast and Laeuven College for Irish Studies. Her most recent short story collection is love in the Time of Chaos, published by Arlen House, and shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2023. Her most recent play is Silent Trade, produced by Kabosh. She was singled out by the Irish Times for ‘an elegant wit, terrific characterisation, and an absolute sense of her own particular Belfast. Rosemary joined the editorial team at Yellow House Publishing in 2024.

Wendy Erskine

Wendy Erskine lives in Belfast. Her debut collection, Sweet Home, was published by the Stinging Fly Press in Sep 2018 and Picador in 2019. It won the 2020 Butler Literary Award, was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize 2019 and longlisted for the Gorden Burn Prize 2019. Wendy’s second collection of stories, Dance Move was published in Feb 2022. Her work has been published in The Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, Female Lines: New Writing from Northern Ireland and Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber) and read on BBC Radio 4.

Contributing writers

Tony Black

Tony Black is from Carnlough and lives in West Belfast. Over forty of his short stories and flash fictions have appeared in literary journals and print anthologies. His work has featured in The Irish Times and on BBC Radio Ulster, and he has twice been runner-up in the Colm Tóibín International Short Story Award. Tony work is featuring in New Isles Press Issue 3 and his debut collection of short stories will be published by Yellow House Publishing 2025.

Heather Robinson

Is a TURAS East Belfast Irish Language Student her first short story in translation was published in New Isles Press Issue 2 2023

Eddie Currie

Eddie Currie is a retired Health Service Manager. He lives in Newtownards with his wife and spends his time writing poetry and is a regular at the East Belfast poetry and prose open mic “Yard Sessions”. His work first appeared in New Isles Press Issue 1.

Part of EastSide Arts Festival 2024>>