Writing Awards, Writing Life, Writing News

Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig

I was honoured to have been awarded the Jack Harte Bursary 2025 for professional writers and am delighted to report that I had a most wonderful productive week of writing at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig.

To have an entire week free from everyday obligations and distractions, a week dedicated to thinking and talking about writing…and in gorgeous surrounds, with delicious and healthy food, and to be able to engage in new writing and editing is such a rarity. It was great also to connect with other creatives in a variety of disciplines, and an honour to visit some of the visual artists in their studios and see stunning work in progress. I am most grateful to Jack Harte, The Irish Writers Centre and Anna and her team at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig for this award – the gift of a week immersed in creativity.

Below are a few photos from walks around the house, grounds, and lake.

Photograph of the bell, wall, and flowers at the entrance to the house, the name plate to the fore. Photograph by Shauna Gilligan (c) 2025.
Photograph of the house in the evening – with some lights on in the house and grass to the fore. Photograph by Shauna Gilligan (c) 2025.
Photograph of the hallway and stairs through the mirror with a beautiful green house plant to the fore. Photograph by Shauna Gilligan (c) 2025.
Close up of a yellow (sun) flower in bloom in the gardens of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre. Photograph by Shauna Gilligan (c) 2025.
View of the beautiful Annaghmakerrig Lake from just outside the house Shauna Gilligan (c) 2025.
A glimpse of some of the treasures in the Tyrone Guthrie library, a beautiful room which overlooks the lake. Photograph by Shauna Gilligan (c) 2025.
Close up of lilac foxglove. Photograph by Shauna Gilligan (c) 2025.

Contemplation, Writers Read

Reading and Consideration

Now that the brighter days are here (though they have already started to shorten), I’m starting another reading and consideration bout; a lovely mix of stories, poetry, philosophy, essays, fiction and non-fiction. I assembled the pile for physical balance rather than any particular order. The following books appear from top to bottom in the photograph above:

  • Mary O’Donnell Walking Ghosts (Mercier, 2025)
  • Mary Oliver A Poetry Handbook (HarperCollins, 1994)
  • Max Porter Shy (Faber, 2023)
  • Susan Sontag As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh (Picador, 2012)
  • Nóirín Ní Riain Sacred Rituals (Hachette, 2023)
  • Greg Dinner Fragments (Ogham & Dabar Books, 2025)
  • Gerald Dawe Catching the Light (Salmon, 2018)
  • Philip Marsden Under a Metal Sky (Granta, 2025)
  • Jan Zalasiewicz How to Read a Rock (The History Press, 2022)

Contemplation

Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann Statement on Gaza

Irish Times headline 05/06/2025 (Link below)

The statement was covered in mainstream media such as the Irish Times, the Irish Independent (Martina Devlin), and the Sunday Independent with a short but powerful article by Co-Chair of Irish PEN, Dr Liz McManus.

According to PEN International (02/06/2025) this has now been the deadliest war for writers since the second World War.

The Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann Statement on Gaza opens with the words of Fatima Hassouna, writer, photographer, and journalist killed in Gaza on 16 April 2025: ‘If I must die, I want a resonant death… a death that the whole world will hear’. It then goes on to say:

We, the undersigned writers of the island of Ireland, call for immediate action to bring an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Since 7 October 2023, at least 181 journalists, 120 academics, and 23 writers have been killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon, making it the deadliest period for journalists (173 Palestinian, two Israeli, and six Lebanese; source CPJ updated on 28 May 2025; see also The Guardian) […]

[…] We stand in solidarity with Palestinian, Jewish, and Israeli people who are opposing the genocide perpetuated by the current Israeli government […]

Please take a few moments to read the full statement.

Also consider becoming a member of Irish PEN/ PEN na hÉireann. The aims of Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann are to promote friendly co-operation among writers in every country in the interests of literature, responsible freedom of expression and international goodwill.