This event will feature a short reading, group discussion and a writing workshop focused on the theme of intimacy in fiction, life-writing and hybrid forms.

Caroline Magennis, author of Harpy: A Manifesto for Childfree Women (Icon 2024) and Northern Irish Writing After the Troubles: Intimacies, Affects, Pleasures (Bloomsbury 2021) will lead a discussion on this concept and how it has figured in her work – from the small moments of care and connection she has observed in contemporary Irish fiction through to the glimpses of intimacy in her memoir-writing. Intimacy can be anything from a hand on the shoulder, a glance from a friend in a crowded room or the complications of our romantic and/or sexual relationships. We will be inspired by each other’s experiences, cultural references and understanding to write and hold short intimate moments, whether fictional or drawn from life. All participants need to do is bring something to write with, and think beforehand about what intimacy means to them.