UL Writer's Event

UL Writers, Thursday 28th July.

On Thursday 28th July at 8pm there will be an evening of readings from some of UL’s award-winning writers, set in the historic location of King John's Castle. This event is supported by the Limerick City & County Arts Office and UL50. The evening commences at 8pm with a wine reception sponsored by Limerick City & County Tourism Office.

Please note: Treaty City Brewery (located just a few doors down from King John's Castle on Nicholas St) have a BBQ special on offer for IASIL delegates on that evening, Thursday 28^th July, before the readings only. Delegates should book ahead for 6.30 or 7pm here: https://treatycitybrewery.ie/pages/treaty-city-brewery-tour.

Helena Close

Helena Close is a native of Limerick, and has been writing full time for the past 20 years. She has published 9 novels, four of which were co-written. Her 2020 novel, The Gone Book, was nominated for the Carnegie Award 2021, shortlisted for An Post YA Novel of the Year, won a White Raven International Award and was chosen for inclusion in EmpathyLab U.K's 2021 selection. Her short story “Then They Came For The Cats” was shortlisted for the Bridport International Short Story Prize 2020. Her play, Red Army, co-written with Marie Boylan, will be staged in Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick, in October 2022. Her new novel, Things I Know, is published in May 2022. She is currently working on a collection of short stories. She is Munster Rugby obsessed, loves cats and dogs and on rare occasions, people.

William Keohane

William Keohane is a writer from Limerick. In 2021, he was shortlisted for the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award, received a Literature Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland, and was one of ten poets selected for the Poetry Ireland Introductions series. William holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Limerick.

Sheila Killian

Sheila Killian is a writer based outside Limerick City. She was born in Roscommon, in the dead centre of Ireland, and now teaches at University of Limerick. Her fiction, poetry and travel writing have won awards in Ireland and the UK, and her work has been broadcast on RTE Radio. She is a member of Writepace, and spends as much time as she can by the sea. Her first novel, Something Bigger, was published in July, 2021 by Caritas Press.

Lia Mills

Lia Mills writes novels, short stories, literary essays and memoir. She graduated with her PhD from the University of Limerick in June 2022. Her novel, Fallen, was the Dublin/Belfast Two Cities One Book selection in 2016. In April a new edition of her first novel, Another Alice, was published as part of the Arlen House Classic Literature series.

Lauren Preston

In 2008, at the age of seventeen, Lauren Preston self-published her first novel Dream through Outskirts Press. Since then, she has published poems in literary magazines and worked diligently to hone her craft. She graduated from the University of Baltimore with a cum laude BA degree in Literature and Culture and the University of Limerick with a MA in Creative Writing with first class honours. She was recently awarded a Doctorate in Creative Writing from the University of Limerick.

Donal Ryan

Donal Ryan, from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, is the author of five number one-bestselling novels and a short story collection. He has won several awards for his fiction, including the European Union Prize for Literature, the Guardian First Book Award and four Irish Book Awards, and has been shortlisted for several more, including the Costa Book Award and the Dublin International Literary Award. He was nominated for the Booker Prize in 2013 for his debut novel, The Spinning Heart, and again in 2018, for his fourth novel, From A Low and Quiet Sea. In 2021 he became the first Irish writer to be awarded the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature. His work has been adapted for stage and screen and translated into over twenty languages. A law graduate and former civil servant, Donal has lectured in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick since 2014 and lives in Castletroy with his wife Anne Marie and their two children.