I’ll be teaching at Writers’ Day at Salisbury Literature Festival on Oct 20th.

“This year the Writers’ Day offers six fantastic sessions. In the morning, award winning novelist, Paul McVeigh (The Good Son) kicks things off looking at the killer first chapter, focusing on that crucial story opening and what agents, competition judges and journal editors look for. Yvonne Battle-Felton, Creative Writing Lecturer, and author of Remembered (longlisted for this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction) then leads a session on characterisation. The morning events conclude with a session on description and the senses with Susmita Bhattacharya (prize-winning author of Table Manners.)

After lunch, the afternoon begins with a session on editing with Helen Corner-Bryant, the director of transatlantic literary consultancy Cornerstones and the author of On Editing. We then welcome literary agents Amy Fitzgerald (Blair Partnership) and Charlie Campbell (Kingsford Campbell) who will discuss the submission process and tips on finding the right agent. Concluding the Writers’ Day sessions, we are given an insight into the publishing process as we are joined by John Bond (Director of Whitefox) and Tariq Goddard (Publisher of Repeater Books.)”

Hope to see some of you there.

I’ll be reading at the Embassy of Ireland in London tonight, launching the new Faber anthology alongside Bailey’s Prize winner Eimear McBride, Lucy Caldwell, and Kit de Waal.

Meanwhile…

Storgy Review of ‘Being Various’ Anthology includes a review of my story ‘The Swimmers’.

“Paul McVeigh – The Swimmers – McVeigh delivers a broiling tale which as I was reading gave me a very unsettling vibe. There is something hidden deep within the prose that was disturbing to read and digest, something lurking in the periphery of the story that isn’t uttered but lurks there with a malignant intent. An unspoken secret (possible abuse) sewn delicately throughout the story – but at the heart of the story there is an innocence too, a childlike purity which McVeigh captures mesmerically, the innocence punctuates the story masterfully, blending perfectly with the underlying deep and dark themes that are deftly sewn into the fabric of the story. The Swimmers is about a son who wants to impress his Da, wants his Da to love him for who he is and what he is. He wants to do anything and everything he can to impress him, to spend time with him, to keep swimming with him. No matter the cost, the hurt or the trouble. A very impressive tale from a writer I always enjoy reading – a powerful and gripping story which unsettles the reader…and what a joy it is to be unsettled from time-to-time.”

Thanks 🙂

Writer Paul McVeigh on Al Green,

David Bowie and Billy Wilder

‘Belfast author Paul McVeigh is involved in organising this month’s inaugural Jaipur Literature Festival Belfast.’

You can read a Q&A with me here, about fantasy wedding music to favourite films.