23 April,
Workshop /
Anthony Shapland: Lying and Dreaming: Writing Fiction
Thursday, 23 April 2026, 10:00am
O’Donoghue Theatre, University of Galway / €65
Book NowIs fiction lying? It’s made up, it’s choreographed, it’s a manipulation. It runs parallel to truth and Anthony Shapland likes to think of it as honourable fibbing. In this workshop you’ll look at ideas of where truth sits in fiction and read, discuss and develop iterations of a text. Anthony will share some insights into how A Room Above a Shop came about and show where lived-experiences and invention blend. Together you’ll look at how our senses can both convince and deceive us, take a look at ‘falseness’ and you’ll test hinging moments, paradoxes and consequences in your texts using games and random prompts.
Anthony is a Welsh writer and artist. He is the founder of g39, Cardiff, where he currently works. His output as a writer and artist builds on his sense that the world is constructed in the same way as a film set – constantly evolving and temporary.
His debut novel, A Room Above a Shop is published by Granta and was selected as Hay Festival book of the year and Waterstones Welsh book of the year 2025. It is currently shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize. He was included in the Observers 10 debut novelists 2025. His fiction Feathertongue was broadcast by Radio4 Short Works and is included in the anthologies (un)common, Cymru & I, Cree and A Dictionary of Light. He appears in the inaugural edition of Folding Rock magazine with his fiction Sometimes We Speak. A solo exhibition Liar, Liar opened at Aberystwyth Art Centre in April 2025 alongside the publication of Lan Stâr, a Welsh language adaptation of his novel by Esyllt Angharad Lewis. He is represented by Cathryn Summerhayes at Curtis Brown.
Event Location
O’Donoghue Theatre, University of Galway
Book Now Back to What's OnStep free venue with accessible toilet facilities. Accessible parking is located on campus in front of the Quadrangle Building four minutes from the venue. There is no Loop system. HEPA filter
will be in use for workshop spaces.
