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SF/NI: A Sci-Fi Panel

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RB Kelly and Ian McDonald join Sam Thompson to speak on the speculative fiction that shaped them.

Date(s)
January 22, 2026
Location
Wolfson Lecture Theatre, The Seamus Heaney Centre
Time
17:30 - 19:00
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Led by Seamus Heaney Centre lecturer Sam Thompson, we invite you to come and listen to special guests Ian MacDonald and R.B Kelly. All three discuss their inspirations, read passages from their novels, as well as answer your burning questions on all things writing science/speculative fiction. 

 

 

Sam Thompson is a novelist, and lecturer in Creative Writing at The Seamus Heaney Centre. He is the author of the novels Communion Town and Jott, the children’s novels Wolfstongue, The Fox’s Tower and The Forest Yet to Come, and the story collection Whirlwind Romance. His work has been longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, the Edge Hill Prize and a British Science Fiction Association Award, has been shortlisted for the Encore Prize, has won a Spark School Book Award and a Literacy Association of Ireland Biennial Book Award, and has been chosen as an Outstanding International Book by the US Board on Books for Young People. 

 

RB Kelly's debut novel, Edge of Heaven, was shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke Award. The sequel, On The Brink, followed in 2022, and her first short story collection will be published in 2026. Her work can be found in publications from around the world, including The Best of British Science Fiction, ParSec, Factor Four, and Lamplight Magazine. She lives just outside Belfast with her husband, two children, and a very lazy cat.
Ian MacDonald has won the Locus Award, the British Science Fiction Association Award, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award. His novels include King of Morning, Queen of Day (winner of the Philip K. Dick Award), River of Gods, The Dervish House, the graphic novel Kling Klang Klatch, and many more. In 2019, Ian was named a Grand Master of Science Fiction by the European Science Fiction Society. 
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