“Paul McVeigh has written a first novel of beautiful generosity, poignant in the delicate manner in which he evokes the brutality of an era. A striking fresco, mixing historical upheavals and hardships of a family shattered.” Le Monde

Some exciting news. Un bon garcon has been shortlisted for the Prix du Roman Cezam Inter-CE in (you’ve guessed it) France. 10 books have been chosen and readers from all over France will vote for their favourites.

It’s great to know that readers in France have been reading Un bon garcon and enjoying it so much they’ve nominated it for this award.

So rub your rabbits foot, cross your fingers, say a prayer… what do the French do for luck? – and maybe I’ll be the winner.

Oh that gives me a thought…. to celebrate my shortlisting I’m giving away a copy of Un bon garcon. All you have to do is answer the question…

What do the French say is good luck if you do it with your left foot?

Write your answer below and I’ll pick a winner at random a week from today.

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Writers: Set your 2017 goals with the Word Factory round up from my blog. Competitions, submission opportunities, interviews and articles on the craft – packed with writing advice.

Good luck!

Rentzenbrink, Marotta & McVeigh titles part of ‘more targeted’ World Book Night 2017

In 2015 The Good Son was on The Reading Agency’s staff picks for Books of the Year. Today it was announced in The Bookseller that The Reading Agency has chosen The Good Son to be part of World Book Night 2017.

It is such an honour and it’s also part of a sweet and incredible story. A couple of years ago I volunteered for World Book Night giving out copies of Jeanette Winterson’s memoir ‘Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal’. Who would have thought that just a few years later my own novel would be chosen as one of the books to be given out to readers nationally?

This also happened to me this year when The Good Son was chosen as Brighton’s City Reads after I had been a volunteer for them for a couple of years. Such a wonderful feeling. It’s the year of cosmic karma – but I’ve gotten so much more out of the deal! It proves something I’ve held close – give and you get 10 times more in return – it may not happen immediately but…. good things come…

“An exceptional book: Honest, tough, funny, soulful.” WDR

Today I saw a lovely review of Guter Junge by Stefan Keim on WDR in Germany. I met Stefan when he read sections of the book out in Olpe during my recent mini-tour of Germany.

I read to a packed out cinema in Olpe – there was well over 200 people which is on par with my biggest event at Brighton’s City Reads. I had a wonderful time.

The event at the cinema in Olpe

They even had even made a cinema trailer. It was very powerful.

A powerful trailer made from images of the conflict in Northern Ireland

If you can read or understand spoken German you can listen to the review here.

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The Word Factory monthly round-up from my blog is here. Featuring submission opportunities for writing competitions, lit mags, lit jobs & including inspirational essays and interviews.

Have a look through and put dates it your calendar and get writing!

Donal Ryan, author of The Spinning Heart, The Thing About December, the short story collection The Slanting Sun and most recently the novel All We Shall Know has praised The Good Son. Donal is the winner of 3 Irish Book Awards, the European Union Prize for Literature and the Guardian First Book Award.

Here is what he had to say about The Good Son…

‘Mickey Donnelly’s voice still rings loud and shrill in my ears, weeks after reading The Good Son. His painful negotiation of the physical and psychic battlefields of late childhood and 1980s Belfast; his whip-crack analyses of the vagaries and vicissitudes of the explosive adult world; his disappointments and heartbreaks and adventures, form a vibrant yet strangely gentle chorus in my memory. It’s one of those books that’s written in such an accomplished and natural way that it seems not like a book at all, but a perfect, fully-formed rendering of reality through another’s eyes. It’s a triumph of storytelling, an absolute gem.’ —Donal Ryan

What a honour. Thanks Donal.

It’s Book Week in Northern Ireland and The Good Son has been made Book of the Week by Libraries NI. This is so exciting for me, being where I was born and have recently returned to live.

It is also a great lead-in to my free reading at Belfast Central Library Nov 14 as part of the Outburst Arts Festival. I hope to see some of you there.