Now in its seventh year, the John McGahern Annual Book Prize is a £5,000 award for the best debut work of fiction — novel or short story collection — by an Irish writer, established by the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies to celebrate the memory of one of Ireland’s greatest prose writers.
Born in 1934 and raised in the west of Ireland, McGahern wrote six novels and four short story collections, being shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Amongst Women. He was dismissed from his teaching post when his second novel The Dark was banned by the Irish Censorship Board in 1965, one of the last great causes célèbres of Irish literary censorship. He died in 2006.
The doors of The St Brigid’s Arms are open — a fictional venue created by and for women of Irish heritage living in the North of England.
Inspired by the traditional Irish pub as a place of gathering, connection and storytelling, this unique community exhibition explores experiences of migration, identity, belonging and heritage through art, music, dance and personal stories.
Join us as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival to discover the voices and experiences of Irish women across generations. Through shared memories, traditions and creative responses, the exhibition celebrates the rich untold stories of Irish women.
After exploring the exhibition, stay for a short Q&A with Lydia O’Hara and Rosarie Walsh to hear more about the project’s development, the women who helped bring it to life, the importance of preserving and sharing these stories and what’s next. Come along, make connections and become part of the conversation.
Tour also runs on Tues 20 Oct 2026.
In October, Faber and Faber publish the much-anticipated authorised biography of the Irish writer and novelist, John McGahern, written by Frank Shovlin, Professor of Irish Literature at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies. Frank will be talking about his much-anticipated authorised biography of the Irish writer and novelist, John McGahern.
Drawn from more than two decades of research into one of the great prose stylists of the twentieth century, John McGahern: A Writing Life will allow – for the first time – insight into the life of this very private writer.
John McGahern was a novelist, short story writer and dramatist, and published his first novel The Barracks in 1963. His second novel The Dark was banned by the Irish Censorship Board, and he was fired from his job in a Dublin school. He went on to publish a further four novels and four collections of short stories.
Frank will be talking to Dr Paddy Hoey, Senior Lecturer in Media, Culture and Communications at Liverpool John Moores University.
A guided tour of three community landmarks.
A unique opportunity to explore the history of this renowned part of Liverpool, once the heart of the city’s Irish community. Beginning at the Vauxhall Neighbourhood Council (1-3 St Augustine, just off Silvester Street), visitors will explore back copies of the famous Scottie Press and hear how it is being revived in digital form. There will be a guided tour of St Anthony’s Church and crypt, followed by a visit to the vivid history display at The Rotunda Café, where the story of Scottie Road is told in a detailed permanent exhibition.
This event involves moving between venues on foot. Please be weather prepared, comfortable and hydrated. Readers interested in this event, might also consider attending the South Liverpool walking tour taking place in the afternoon.
Special thanks got to Vauxhall Neighbourhood Council, St Anthony’s Church and The Rotunda for sharing their spaces with us.
Tony Birtill was born in Walton, Liverpool in 1954 — a Scouser of Irish heritage who became one of the foremost authorities on the history of the Irish diaspora in the city. A fluent Irish speaker, enthusiastic teacher of the language and committed historian, his life was closely intertwined with the Irish community in Liverpool throughout his adult life.
He was a mainstay of that community and an active member of Cairde Na hÉireann, Conradh na Gaeilge, the Liverpool Easter 1916 Commemoration Committee and the Liverpool Great Hunger Commemoration Committee. His landmark book A Hidden History: The Irish Language in Liverpool revealed — among much else — that the word ‘scouse’ itself carries traces of the Irish language brought here by Famine migrants. He was also a long-standing trustee of Liverpool Irish Festival, teaching Irish language classes at the Liverpool Irish Centre every Thursday night until his death on 21 October 2021. This annual memorial, held in the week that marks the anniversary of his passing, is our way of ensuring that his contribution to Irish life in Liverpool is never forgotten.
Read tributes to him in The Irish Post.
The Irish poet and activist Eva Gore-Booth (1870-1926) led a life defiantly at odds with her aristocratic origins. Choosing to live and work among the poor of Manchester, she campaigned on behalf of barmaids, circus performers, flower sellers and pit-brow lasses, her partner, Esther Roper, at her side.
Gore-Booth was tireless in her pursuit of justice. She was a militant pacifist during the First World War, a champion of Irish independence and a pioneering thinker on gender and sexuality. She was also a prolific author, publishing nineteen volumes of poetry and prose that reflect the full force of her radical convictions.
Professor Sonja Tiernan’s landmark biography celebrates Gore-Booth’s life and work in the context of our current political climate and reclaims her place as a significant figure of Anglo-Irish letters and an unsung hero of LGBT+ history.
Link: Eva Gore-Booth: Irish radical poet, rebel and reformer.
This event is supported by The Institute of Irish Studies at University of Liverpool and Professor Tiernan’s publisher Manchester University Press.
The Institue of Irish Studies logo
The doors of The St Brigid’s Arms are open — a fictional venue created by and for women of Irish heritage living in the North of England.
Inspired by the traditional Irish pub as a place of gathering, connection and storytelling, this unique community exhibition explores experiences of migration, identity, belonging and heritage through art, music, dance and personal stories.
Join us as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival to discover the voices and experiences of Irish women across generations. Through shared memories, traditions and creative responses, the exhibition celebrates the rich untold stories of Irish women.
After exploring the exhibition, stay for a short Q&A with Lydia O’Hara and Rosarie Walsh to hear more about the project’s development, the women who helped bring it to life, the importance of preserving and sharing these stories and what’s next. Come along, make connections and become part of the conversation.
This tour runs again on Thurs 22 Oct 2026.
Queer Book Club is an inclusive reading group open to anyone from St Helens to come together to read and discuss LGBTQIA+ literature. Founded in Autumn 2023 by a group of local queer artists, producers and book-lovers, Queer Book Club is a space to share a love of queer novels, memoirs and writing.
This month we’re reading…
The Outrage by William Hussey is a dystopian look at the fight for Queer love in the face of an authoritarian, opressive state.
Queer Book Club is drop-in, meaning you don’t have to have been before to take part, but we encourage you to read the book ahead of the session.
Access
We want to make Queer Book Club as accessible to as many people as possible and therefore we will hold two pre-bought copies of the book.
Either contact Britney via britney@heartofglass.org.uk or call in to The Book Stop to borrow a copy. Additionally, as a QBC reader, you also receive 20% off your copy of the chosen book this month at The Book Stop in St Helens by quoting “Queer Book Club” at the till.
Safer Spaces
These events will use Heart of Glass’ Safer Spaces Agreement to create a space that aims to be as welcoming and respectful as possible.
Queer Book Club is an inclusive reading group open to anyone from St Helens to come together to read and discuss LGBTQIA+ literature. Founded in Autumn 2023 by a group of local queer artists, producers and book-lovers, Queer Book Club is a space to share a love of queer novels, memoirs and writing.
This month we’re reading…
Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Howarth – a creeping story of sapphic obsession with Gothic undertones and a delicious mid-century feel set in rural Ireland, from the author of the Polari Prize-shortlisted Sunburn. Plus a visit from Chloe herself!
Queer Book Club is drop-in, meaning you don’t have to have been before to take part, but we encourage you to read the book ahead of the session.
This month’s QBC forms part of 2026’s Homotopia programme.
Access
We want to make Queer Book Club as accessible to as many people as possible and therefore we will hold two pre-bought copies of the book.
Either contact Britney via britney@heartofglass.org.uk or call in to The Book Stop to borrow a copy. Additionally, as a QBC reader, you also receive 20% off your copy of the chosen book this month at The Book Stop in St Helens by quoting “Queer Book Club” at the till.
Safer Spaces
These events will use Heart of Glass’ Safer Spaces Agreement to create a space that aims to be as welcoming and respectful as possible.
Queer Book Club is an inclusive reading group open to anyone from St Helens to come together to read and discuss LGBTQIA+ literature. Founded in Autumn 2023 by a group of local queer artists, producers and book-lovers, Queer Book Club is a space to share a love of queer novels, memoirs and writing.
This month we’re reading…
The Girl From The Sea by Molly Ostertag is a gorgeously ilustrated graphic novel, telling a coming-of-age story about family, romance, first love and celebrating what it means to be different.
Queer Book Club is drop-in, meaning you don’t have to have been before to take part, but we encourage you to read the book ahead of the session.
Access
We want to make Queer Book Club as accessible to as many people as possible and therefore we will hold two pre-bought copies of the book.
Either contact Britney via britney@heartofglass.org.uk or call in to The Book Stop to borrow a copy. Additionally, as a QBC reader, you also receive 20% off your copy of the chosen book this month at The Book Stop in St Helens by quoting “Queer Book Club” at the till.
Safer Spaces
These events will use Heart of Glass’ Safer Spaces Agreement to create a space that aims to be as welcoming and respectful as possible.
