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‘Hollow’ Appears in 100 Irish Short Stories

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I’m delighted that my short story, Hollow, will appear in The Art of the Glimpse, an anthology of 100 Irish short stories, edited by Sinead Gleeson and published by Head of Zeus. It features established and emerging voices and will be published in October 1st.

Hollow was shortlisted for Irish Short Story of the Year at the Irish Book Awards a couple of years back.

There will be stories by Samuel Beckett, Sally Rooney, William Trevor, Kevin Barry, Edna O’Brien, Claire-Louise Bennett, Bernard McLaverty, Anne Enright, Eimear Bride and many more.

 

West Cork Workshops Half Price!

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I’m Teaching the Week-Long  Novel Writing Workshop 

West Cork Literary Festival’s writing workshops are moving online and you can take at a workshop from the safety and comfort of your home. Thanks to the support of Cork County Council they can offer these workshops at 50% of their normal tuition fee. Course details and booking info. 

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“The Good Son is a work of genius from a splendid writer.”
Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

 

Common People only 99p on Kindle

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Common People only 99p on Kindle

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Working-class stories are not always tales of the underprivileged and dispossessed.

Common People is a collection of essays, poems and memoir written in celebration, not apology: these are narratives rich in barbed humour, reflecting the depth and texture of working-class life, the joy and sorrow, the solidarity and the differences, the everyday wisdom and poetry of the woman at the bus stop, the waiter, the hairdresser.

Here, Kit de Waal brings together thirty-three established and emerging writers who invite you to experience the world through their eyes, their voices loud and clear as they reclaim and redefine what it means to be working class.

Features original pieces from Damian Barr, Malorie Blackman, Lisa Blower, Jill Dawson, Louise Doughty, Stuart Maconie, Chris McCrudden, Lisa McInerney, Paul McVeigh, Daljit Nagra, Dave O’Brien, Cathy Rentzenbrink, Anita Sethi, Tony Walsh, Alex Wheatle and more.

Buy here for a short time only.

J G Farrell Fiction Award Judge

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I’m judging J G Farrell Fiction Award this year – do you live in Munster?

“The J G Farrell Fiction Award is for the best opening chapter of a novel-in-progress by a writer resident in Munster. The prize includes a place on the West Cork Literary Festival’s Novel with Paul McVeighworkshop (13 – 17 July) and accommodation in Bantry.

Applicants must submit the first chapter of their novel (max 3000 words) both via email and one printed copy (double-spaced and printed on one side of the page only) by Friday 15 May. Place your name and address on a separate sheet.

Send the print copy to J G Farrell Award, West Cork Literary Festival, 13 Glengarriff Road, Bantry, Co Cork; and email a copy to sara@westcorkmusic.ie with JG Farrell Award in the subject line. Entries will only be considered if submitted in both hard copy and by email. Only one entry per person, late entries will not be accepted and entries will not be returned.

The award will be adjudicated by Paul McVeigh. His debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award and was shortlisted for many others including the Prix du Roman Cezam in France. The Good Son was also Brighton’s City Reads 2016 and was given out around the UK for World Book Night 2017. His short stories have been read on BBC Radio 3, 4 & 5, published in many journals and anthologies including The Stinging Fly, and Faber’s Being Various: New Irish Short Stories, as well as appearing on Sky Arts. His work has been translated into seven languages.

Paul has edited the Southword Journal, the Belfast Stories anthology and The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Writers which includes new work from Kevin Barry, Roddy Doyle and Lisa McInerney. He has judged many literary prizes including The Edge Hill Short Story Prize and The International Dylan Thomas Prize. He has taught his writing courses around the world including in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.”

J G Farrell was born in Liverpool and died at the age of 44, when he was swept into the sea while fishing from rocks near his home in Kilcrohane, West Cork. His book Troubles won the Faber Prize in 1971, and in 2010 it won the Lost Man Booker Prize. The Siege of Krishnapur, about the Indian Mutiny of 1957, won the 1973 Booker Prize and in 2008 it was shortlisted for the Best of Booker public vote.

J G Farrell

West Cork Literary Festival would like to thank Richard Farrell for his continued sponsorship of this award, now in its eleventh year.

 

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“The Good Son is a work of genius from a splendid writer.”
Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

“Authors Penning Books Both Humorous And Touching”

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I have been included in a recently published video wiki “Authors Penning Books Both Humorous And Touching“.

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Founded in 2011, Ezvid Wiki was the world’s first video wiki, and is now among the top 3,000 websites in the United States and their YouTube channel has nearly 600,000 subscribers, with over 325 million views since founding.

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“The Good Son is a work of genius from a splendid writer.”
Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

RTE Radio Interview about ‘The 32’

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Interviewed on RTE Radio about The 32 Anthology

Here’s me on RTÉ One with Sean Rocks announcing that The 32: Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices extends the deadline to MAY 15 – we’re looking 16 new writers from all over the island of Ireland.
Submission Details here.

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“The Good Son is a work of genius from a splendid writer.”
Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

My Writing Masterclass for BBC Radio

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Writing Masterclass

‘Belfast writer Paul McVeigh tells us how to write a good story’

This is a short video I made for BBC Radio to help budding writers out there. It includes my advice on best writing books and where to begin. I hope you enjoy it.

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“The Good Son is a work of genius from a splendid writer.”
Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

Garth Greenwell Interview in Irish Times

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After debut success, Garth Greenwell returns to the ‘pit of despair’

To Garth Greenwell, the huge international success of his debut What Belongs to You, “was the biggest surprise of my life”, and he feels “immensely lucky” as “the success of a book has as much to do with chance as anything else”. Its success has allowed him to have a career as a writer and teacher in a way he wasn’t able to in his previous 20 years of writing. He feels relieved, though, that the writing process itself, “the struggle”, just him alone with his notebook and “the pit of doubt and despair”, hasn’t changed. “I wouldn’t know who I would be without it.”

You can read my interview with him about his new novel, Cleanness, in The Irish Times.

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BookBound 2020: Online Lit Fest

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BookBound 2020: the world’s first antiviral literary festival

bringing authors and readers together online for 7 days of stories and conversation
Monday 27 April to Sunday 3 May 2020
Featuring

Sarah Perry – David Lammy – Robert Webb – Maya Goodfellow – Stanley Donwood Nikesh Shukla – Lola Olufemi – Paul McVeigh – Intisar Khanani – Max Porter – Pip Adam – Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett – Will Harris – Jasbinder Bilan

and many more…

I’ll be taking part in this wonderful festival. Here’s some information for their site…

BookBound 2020 is a new, not-for-profit literary festival, bringing authors and book-lovers together online for 7 days of exciting events, including readings, story-times and live author-to-author conversations.

While the majority of BookBound 2020’s team is based in the UK, the festival’s mission is to make connections and support new voices in Britain and around the world.

Proudly partnered with Wasafiri Magazine, BookBound 2020 offers a global platform for big names, emerging authors and all lovers of literature to come together during this period of international uncertainty and isolation.

Throughout the festival period, speakers will be championing their favourite independent bookshops, and encouraging remote support for the industry while COVID-19 restrictions remain in place. Viewers will also be able to help their local bookshops through a special arrangement between BookBound 2020 and the online bookseller Hive.

The full festival programme will take place online, and will cost nothing to view. All we ask is for those tuning in to consider making a donation, however small, to Mind, our chosen charity, to help support the essential work they do for those experiencing mental health issues.

About Wasafiri Magazine

For three decades, Wasafiri has encouraged readers and writers to travel the world via the word.

As Britain’s leading magazine of international contemporary literature, Wasafiri is committed to discovering, supporting and promoting the full breadth of literary voices from all points across the globe. The magazine has provided a platform for thousands of writers to date, many of whom were struggling to be heard at the outset of their careers and have now gone on to great things.

In the past ten years, the magazine has discovered and supported a raft of rising talents including Forward Prize winners Kayo Chingonyi and Vahni Capildeo, Women’s Prize winner Kamila Shamsie, Caine Prize winner Makena Onjerika, and 2019 Booker Prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo.

BookBound 2020 is proud to have Wasafiri as its partner.

Keep tuned for further info.

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“I devoured it in a day, but I’ve thought about it for many, many more.”
Bailey’s Prize-winner Lisa McInerney
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

Radio 4 Short Story: Do you believe?

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I’m not one for talking about my personal life online – that’s another story – but on occasion something smashes that self-made separation.

Recently, it was the first year anniversary of my mother’s passing. Not long after came the news that an old friend’s mother had died, a woman I had felt very close to over the last 30 years.

This was followed soon by my mother’s birthday and then by Mother’s Day. All in a matter of weeks. It seemed mothers were in my air. My atmosphere. It was hard.

On Mother’s Day, I woke and decided to walk up Cave Hill. I thought. I came back and cooked a rare Mother’s Usual Sunday Roast for one. I opened the wine before one. I played Doris Day. I sang loudly. For hours. I sang for my mum. I sang in celebration. I sang in remembrance. I sang because of her. I sang in defiance of my neighbours. I sang in vanity.  I sang, as the saying goes, my heart out. There were not a few tears.

I woke to two messages on Monday morning. Both talked about my story Tickles, written in 2014, before my novel came out, aired again, without my knowledge, on Mother’s Day. The story is about a man visiting his mother in a home. She has dementia. She hugs him and won’t let him go. In that forced fit, he time-travels (we call it remembering), and finds that, although she is the one with the disease that dissolves time and memories, he is the one that had forgotten, the key to understanding the fracture in their relationship. There is pain, there is remembering and then healing.

I don’t believe in God. I believe in little that has not been in front of my eyes, at some point, and I’d have included that which fuzzes in the corner but disappears in full gaze.

Do you believe in coincidences? Do I? What is it I just felt? Is it a thing people call God?

Here is something I wrote. You can hear it for the next month.

 

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