Follow in the footsteps of AS Byatt, Anne Enright, Neil Gaiman, Sarah Hall, Tobias Wolff and many more, and read at the world famous Word Factory. But a ticket and see if your name gets pulled out of the hat.
All money raised will go directly into supporting our free mentoring award, the Word Factory Apprentice Award.
I created a lockdown writing competition with Ardoyne Youth Enterprise. There were three categories based on age with the theme Children of Lockdown. The prizes were awarded this week and I went to the offices to sign books and certificates. You can read the winning entires here.
This was a follow on from the videos I made of The Good Son for AYE during the first lockdown.
With thanks to Arts Council of Northern Ireland for supporting me during the making of those.
Screening from 10am on Tuesday 10 November 2020 to 10pm on Saturday 14 November 2020
‘It has been said that the English hoard words like misers and the Irish spend them like sailors. This Arena film presents three great Irish masters of the English language, Flann O’Brien, Patrick Kavanagh and Brendan Behan. Anthony Cronin, poet, friend and fellow drinker, recalls their genius and their wild exploits in Dublin.’
First shown in 1991, Arena’s Three Irish Writers is a unique look at the social history of Dublin and three of its most infamous writers. A classic from the BBC archive, it offers a rare glimpse of an era long gone, when culture was part of the everyday and the everyday an intrinsic part of culture.
For five days only, Cúirt International Festival of Literature at Galway Arts Centre brings you this memorable Arena film, produced by Kay Meynell and Rosemary Wilton. Commenting on the film’s portrait of three brilliant writers and the times they lived in are four contemporary Irish authors: Jaki McCarrick, Paul McVeigh, Ciara Ní É and Jessica Traynor. Enjoy new poems inspired by the film from Belfast-Jamaican poet Raquel McKee and Irish-Indian British poet John Siddique, and learn how to start your own personal writing journey with a masterclass from acclaimed author Gabriel Gbadamosi. Watch here.
Your Local Arena is an Arts Council England-funded project, produced by Speaking Volumes and Lucy Hannah, featuring the BBC’s Arena film archive.
(Producers: Kate Meynell and Rosemary Wilton; series editors Nigel Finch and Anthony Wall)
Watch the BBC Arena film here.
Part of:
A podcast of me interviewing Kit de Waal for Birmingham Literature Festival was released November 5th. We talk writing, why short stories are harder than novels, growing up working class and poor, and keeping writing despite rejections and bad feedback. I hope you enjoy our conversation.
Been up before the larks this morning lamenting that I should be in Melbourne right now… sigh. But a sold out class does make me feel a tiny bit better. Hello Writers Victoria… I’m ready for you.
Niamh Campbell was born in 1988 and grew up in Dublin. Her short fiction and essays have appeared in The Dublin Review, 3:AM, Banshee, gorse, Five Dials, and Tangerine. She was awarded a Next Generation literary bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland, and annual literary bursaries in 2018 and 2019. She holds a PhD in English from King’s College London and is a current postdoctoral fellow for the Arts Council of Ireland at Maynooth University. Her debut novel This Happy was published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 2020. She was the winner of the 2020 Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award. She lives and works in Dublin.
Kit de Wall was born in Birmingham to an Irish mother, who was a childminder and foster carer and a Caribbean father. She worked for fifteen years in criminal and family law, was a magistrate for several years and sits on adoption panels. She used to advise Social Services on the care of foster children, and has written training manuals on adoption, foster care and judgecraft for members of the judiciary. Her writing has received numerous awards including the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize 2014 and 2015 and the SI Leeds Literary Reader’s Choice Prize 2014 and the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year. MY NAME IS LEON, her first novel was published in 2016 and shortlisted for the Costa Book Award. She has two children and lives in the West Midlands.
Paul McVeigh has written comedy, essays, flash fiction, a novel, plays and short stories, and his work has been performed on radio, stage and television, and published in seven languages. The Good Son is his first novel.
We have our first live event for the anthology although it’s not out until next year. You can pre-order here.
Here’s the blurb from Cork!
Martin Doyle edits the books section of The Irish Times in print and online. He joined the paper in 2007, having previously been on the staff of The Times for five years and serving as Editor of The Irish Post in London.
Eoin McNamee has written two novellas, The Last of Deeds, which was shortlisted for the 1989 Irish Times/Aer Lingus Award for Irish Literature, and Love in History. His novels include Resurrection Man, later made into a film, The Blue Tango, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and Orchid Blue.
Rosaleen McDonagh is a writer, activist and performer. She is a frequent contributor to Sunday Miscellany, RTE Radio 1 and is a columnist for The Irish Times. She is a member of Aosdána and worked on gender based violence for over ten years with Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre.
Lynn Ruane is a social activist and politician who has served as a member of Seanad Éireann since April 2016. Before entering politics, she developed community drug services and community initiatives over 15 years in Tallaght and Dublin’s Canal Communities.. Her first book, People Like Me, won non-fiction book of the year at the Irish Book Awards.
Paul McVeigh has written comedy, essays, flash fiction, a novel, plays and short stories, and his work has been performed on radio, stage and television, and published in seven languages. The Good Son is his first novel.
It’s here: 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.
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.
Join me tomorrow on Facebook for the Alliance Française Live Series, a short live reading my short story Hollow, which was shortlisted for Irish Short Story of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, and will appear in the upcoming The Art of the Glimpse – 100 Irish Short Stories.
At Birmingham Literature Festival
“Learn from short story writer and champion, Paul McVeigh.
You’ll find out what competition judges and journal editors look for in a short story and how to avoid the rejection pile. Get tips on where to start the action and how to grab the reader. You’ll also look at submission opportunities; how to find them and where you should be sending your stories.”
Biography:
Paul McVeigh’s short fiction has been published in journals and anthologies, and been read on BBC Radio 3,4 & 5. He was shortlisted for Irish Short Story of the Year 2017 at the Irish Book Awards. His short story blog shares writing opportunities and advice has reached 2.5 million views. Paul co-founded London Short Story Festival and is Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s national centre for excellence in the short story. He is a reader and judge for national and international short story competitions. He has edited Southword Journal and three anthologies, commissioning work from Kevin Barry, Roddy Doyle and Deborah Levy.
Sat 17th October 2020 2:00PM
Place price
£30.00*
*booking fee applies
Workshop: MAKE ABANDONED IDEAS WORK
Tuesday Sept 22 10am-12.30
Do you have short story or novel ideas that never quite got off the ground? Or that you abandoned when they hit a dead end? Bring all your bits and pieces to this workshop with award-winning writer and Word Factory Writer-In-Residence Paul McVeigh and he will help you brainstorm and trouble-shoot your way to giving them new life.
Learn how his Power of Three theory helped him create a Radio 4 story from abandoned ideas.
Paul’s debut novel, The Good Son , won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award and was shortlisted for others, including the Prix du Roman Cezam in France. Paul’s short stories have been read on BBC Radio 3, 4 & 5, SKY Arts, and in newspapers, journals and anthologies. His writing has been translated into seven languages.
This is an online workshop limited to 10 participants. Participants will be sent an online link ahead of the event.
Please note the fee includes Eventbrite admin.
BURSARY
For writers on limited means, one bursary is available. Write to Word Factory Director Cathy Galvin, marking your email subject line “Bursary”, explaining your circumstances, at Cathy@thewordfactory.tv
The Good Son: Won The Polari Prize & The McCrea Literary Award
“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
Paul McVeigh 