Following last year’s festival success, the Thomas Carnduff Appreciation Society offers its second literary Summer Yard Session. This year’s theme is ‘Borders, Boundaries and Barriers’.
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: Alexander Poots Alexander Poots is the author of The Strangers' House: Writing Northern Ireland. He lives in Belfast.
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.
