I’ll be interviewing Booker Prize-winner Roddy Doyle at Cork World Book Festival.
Roddy Doyle with Paul McVeigh
He was last in town for a chat with Roy Keane at the Marquee and we felt it was time to have Ireland’s favourite Dubliner, Roddy Doyle, down to Cork World Book Fest for a conversation with CWBF regular, Paul McVeigh.
Roddy Doyle’s bookshelves and DVD racks are buckling under the weight of his prolific and energetic output that has helped shape how we see ourselves on this small, complex island. Always astute, always brim full of empathy, and always writing to his own rhythm, Roddy Doyle needs no introduction, and this year the Cork World Book Fest is honoured to host one of Ireland’s most cherished authors, teachers, mentors, activists and observers. So sit back and enjoy what promises to be a fantastic afternoon of great joy and humanity.
Get tickets for both Quite Simply, How Do We Live? and Roddy Doyle in Conversation and get 20% off!
I’m teaching a class at this cross-border festival.
The Anatomy of a Page. During the session you’ll dissect a page of text and look at the ways the author draws the reader and ensures you want to read more. You’ll look at each line under a microscope to see how each reveals character or furthers the story, You’ll leave with more understanding of the fundaments of writing and more tools in your writers toolkit.
Paul McVeigh’s debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Book Prize, and was shortlisted for many others including The Prix du Roman Cezam. His play, Big Man, premiered at The Lyric Theatre and won an Irish Times Theatre Award in 2023. His short stories have been in anthologies, journals and newspapers, and read on BBC Radio 3, 4 and 5, RTE Radio, as well as, Sky ARTS. His debut collection of short stories, I Hear You, all commissioned by BBC Radio 4, was published in March 2025 and won The McCrea Literary Award. Paul has edited four anthologies and his writing has been translated into eight languages.
Paul was acting Head of Literature for Arts Council of Northern Ireland and has judged many literature prizes including the Royal Society of Literature’s VS Pritchard Award, the International Dylan Thomas Prize and Kerry Group.
It’s thrilling to see the reaction to The Good Son/ Il Bravo Figlio in Italy. Once again I’m struck by the intelligence and quality of the writing. This review is by Ricardo Michelucci in Avvenire.
“The writing proceeds by subtraction, relying on the unsaid, to the ellipses, to the suspensions. Some wounds do not bleed but pulsate under the skin.”
Thanks to translator Valentina Vigilucci and publisher Barta Edizioni.
“Enter our free annual short story competition and be in with a chance of winning a place on an Arvon Residential Writing Week (worth £985) as well as seeing your story published on our site.
To enter, all you have to do is submit a short story (for adults) of no more than 2,000 words on the theme of play via our online competition form, and ensure that you have a (free!) account on our website. You can attach your entry in either txt, pdf, doc, or docx format, while you can add your contact details and a little bit of information about yourself and your writing experience in the ‘Covering letter’ field if you’d like.
The closing date for entries is midnight 13th February 2026, and the winner – along with two runners-up – will be announced on the blog pages of this site in March 2026.
Don’t forget to read the terms and conditions in full (below) before you click on the ‘Enter now’ button at the bottom of the page.
The Italian reviewers really get The Good Son. Here’s another wonderful review in Il Libraio.
“Mickey is a child out of place, intelligent and sentimental, a good son who tries not to complicate things, tries to keep his mouth shut because, as they say, Loose talk costs lives, and even finds ways to help his mother in need, no matter the cost. His is a character that combines comedy with depth, intelligence with pain: his dialogues with himself are both hilarious and moving, and they mirror the dilemmas of a child growing up quickly, between the sweetest childhood fantasies and the harshest adult images.”
“In his debut novel, Irish author McVeigh recounts the daily struggle and the violence of the Troubles without overemphasizing it, but instead consistently balancing brutality with lightheartedness, humor with introspection, to a heartbreaking effect. Through the narrative voice of a child, war becomes the backdrop and element of a harsh social reality, one that besieges innocence. And precisely for this reason, the novel manages to be both funny and merciless: because it shows how quickly one can learn to live amidst the bombs without ceasing to long for a film, a sweet treat, a moment of color.”
I was blown away by this review in the Italian magazine ‘Satisfiction’.
“McVeigh chooses the first person of Mickey Donnelly, a hyper-intelligent, hypersensitive, hyper-ironic child, raised in a poor, Catholic family, crushed by his alcoholic father, violent brothers, the civil war that enters the house like a constant smell. Mickey is not a “poor child”, he is a narrative machine. A comic-tragic device that uses imagination as a weapon of survival. The tongue that laughs while bleeding is the real protagonist. The novel is crossed by a central and devastating humiliation, the end of the promise of social mobility. The brilliant boy will not be able to go to the “right” school because the family cannot afford it. There is no more political scene than this. No proclamation, no ideology but the naked reality of a class that remains in its place. McVeigh doesn’t explain: he shows. And it’s much worse.”
The Good Son is a ferocious book because it does not promise that intelligence will save us or that goodness will be rewarded but tells the birth of a conscience in an environment that rejects it. It is a novel about the origin of disillusionment, about the exact moment you understand that the world is not built around you. A dirty, funny and cruel book that, once closed, leaves you with the feeling of having survived something that should not have been told so well.”
Let’s start by saying that each course at Misse is an individual journey, we don’t believe in a “one size fits all” approach. Our goal is to meet you where you stand, to find out and identify where you want to land and to help you plot a journey there. To this end our courses are small with no more than six writers; this allows us to focus on your needs.
COURSE INTRODUCTION
During the week you will look at how to use in emotion in your writing, how to create memorable characters and how to edit your work. Paul will lead writing exercises, give talks using concrete examples from texts and help you fill your writer’s toolbox with skills you can apply to your work. There will also be plenty of time for questions and a session on how the industry works.
PRACTICALITIES
Course Length: One week. The week starts with a welcome introduction after you have settled in on Sunday evening, then wraps up with our open mic night on Saturday evening (7 nights).
Schedule: Morning: Teaching and one-to-one feedback sessions. Sessions can include excursions to a nearby market, chateau or other adventures. Writing/free time in the afternoon and early evening each day.
Travel Details:
Free pick-up (Sunday) and drop-off (Sunday) at:
Saumur Station. Saumur is accessible by train from Nantes Atlantique International Airport, Tours airport and CDG airport in Paris. Full details here.
Pick-up 17:15
Drop-off 12:00 (or earlier if necessary)
You can also take the train to Thouars, our nearest town, and we’ll collect you
You can also drive. We’ll send directions and GPS coordinates.
Meals & Drinks: Misse is also home to the Loire Kitchen cooking school, so food is of a very high standard. Breakfast, lunch & dinner each day, including wine & cocktails. Coffee, tea, juices, soft drinks and snacks available all the time.
Accommodation: Misse guest rooms have been designed to be the perfect writer’s space year-round: you’ll have comfort, quiet, privacy and a wonderful view over your surroundings. All of our guest rooms have en suite bathrooms, good lighting, a desk and a comfortable chair. For more details see our rooms pagee.
Paul McVeigh 