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The Art of Border Living Short Story Event

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The Art of Border Living Short Story

A unique listen-in-the-dark experience launching short story podcasts inspired by the border in Ireland, which feature new writing by Kamila Shamsie, Claire Louise Bennett, Nuala O’ Connor, Paul McVeigh and Garrett Carr, commissioned by Verbal and 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary. 

The evening will also feature a new creative audio documentary about the impact of WW1 on what would soon become the borderlands of Ireland, produced by the award-winning broadcaster Peter Curran.

Actor Eleanor Methven will read a selection of acclaimed Irish poetry on these themes throughout the evening, before a Q&A with some of the artists and writers including Garrett Carr, Nuala O’Connor and Paul McVeigh. 

  • Wednesday 14 November, 7.00pm
  • Poetry Ireland, 11 Parnell Square East, Dublin 1
  • Tickets: Free – please RSVP to media@poetryireland.ie if you’d like to attend.

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The Allingham Arts Festival

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The Allingham Arts Festival. Nov 7- 11, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal

“The Allingham Arts Festival is a community arts festival which takes place in Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, each November, in honour of the poet William Allingham.

This year’s events include a tribute to poet Francis Harvey, the Donegal Youth Orchestra, ‘Black 47’ + Q&A, a WWI Remembrance Day performance, Wild Atlantic Writers with Jessica Traynor, a social media workshop for writers with Paul Mc Veigh, and much more.”

I’ll be teaching a workshop on social media on Saturday morning and attending the literary lunch to give out the flash fiction prize I judged. Here’s the info on the class…

Author Paul McVeigh will lead a workshop on Social Media for Writers and Artists. The workshop will explore the ways that a creative individual can use social media to find work and to build an online presence as a writer. Paul’s blog for writers (http://paulmcveigh.blogspot.com), which posts submission opportunities for journals and competitions, gets 40,000 hits a month and has had over one million visitors.

Born in Belfast, Paul McVeigh began his award-winning writing career as a playwright before moving to London. He is the Co-Founder of London Short Story Festival, of which, he was the Director and Curator for 2014 & ’15. He is Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s premier short story salon.

The Good Son (2015) is his first novel and was shortlisted for The Guardian’s ‘Not The Booker’ Prize. He received The McCrea Literary Award in 2015 and the Polari Prize in 2016.

Paul McVeigh’s workshop will be held in the Abbey Centre on Saturday morning, 10 Nov at 10:00 am.

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Muldoon’s​ Picnic

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I spent the weekend at John O’Connor Writing School in Armagh. I taught a class on Saturday that was so packed I had to stand up to give a student my seat!

 

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Paul Muldoon and Horslips

 

I also appeared at one of the world famous Muldoon’s Picnic’s, curated and hosted by poet Paul Muldoon, poetry editor of the New Yorker. There was music by Horslips, poetry from Maureen Boyle, Mark Doty and Peter Fallon, and fiction from Lisa McInerney.

 

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Me reading from The Good Son

 

I really enjoyed listening to the poetry and Lisa’s extract from her WIP, which she debuted at the event I ran in Brooks Hotel recently, and it was phenomenal. I cannot wait to read it.

 

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Lisa McInerney

Horslips provided music throughout and called Lisa Lambe onto the stage and she was joined by Gareth Dunlop (they’d done a packed-out gig the night before). They were fantastic. Lisa and I became fast friends and fans and are sending each other our work.

 

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Lisa Lambe and Gareth Dunlop

I bumped into one of the smartest men in Ireland, Fintan O’Toole – we’ve met in Belfast and Cork before – and we’re both working on pieces about Brexit which he’s going to send to me because I missed his talk.

All-in-all a great time at the John O’Connor Writing School.

Check it out next year!

 

 

Arts Council Funding

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I’m grateful to the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for their continued support of my writing by awarding me a grant under their individual Artists Programme.

I’ve been lucky to have been helped by ACNI for a number of years now, including travel grants to Asia and Australia.

I’ll use the money to devote time to work on my second novel.

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Recent books from Northern Ireland you really should be reading

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Recent books from Northern Ireland you really should be reading!

Thanks to Cathy Brown’s blog in response to Anna Burns Booker Prize win. Cathy name checks The Good Son among some wonderful books from Northern Ireland. Have a read here.

Winner of The Polari Prize & The McCrea Literary Award
“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

Me, Gavin Corbett, Lisa McInerney & Éilís Ní Dhuibhne

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Brooks Literary Salon with Paul McVeigh

I’ll be talking to literary guests including Bailey’s and Encore Prize-winner Lisa McInerney, Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year winner Gavin Corbett and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne who received the Irish Pen Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature and a Hennessy Hall of Fame Award for Lifetime Achievement. Join us at the beautiful, boutique, Brooks Hotel situated in the fashionable heart of Dublin city for a one-off special evening of readings and discussion. Brooks are offering a special pre-salon deal – two tapas plus a glass of house wine at €18.50 per person.

Featuring Lisa McInerney who’s work has featured in Winter Papers, The Stinging Fly, Granta, The Guardian, BBC Radio 4 and various anthologies. Her story ‘Navigation’ was longlisted for the 2017 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. Her debut novel The Glorious Heresies won the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the 2016 Desmond Elliott Prize. Her second novel, The Blood Miracles, won the 2018 RSL Encore Award.

Gavin Corbett is from Dublin. He is the author of three novels: Innocence, This Is the Way, and Green Glowing Skull. He is a winner of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year and teaches across the creative writing programmes at UCD.

N Dhuibhne is an Irish novelist, short story writer and playwright in both Irish and English. Eilis has won many awards for her work, including the Stewart Parker Award for Drama, Bisto ‘Book of the Year’ Award, several Oireachtas awards for play and novels, and a shortlisting for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her most recent books are Selected Stories (Dalkey Archive Press 2017), and a memoir, Twelve Thousand Days (Blackstaff Press, 2018). She received the Irish Pen Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature in 2015, and a Hennessy Hall of Fame Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2016.

Hosted by Paul McVeigh who’s debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award. His short stories have been in The Stinging Fly and The London Magazine, read on BBC Radio, and performed on Sky Arts TV. ‘Hollow’ was shortlisted for Irish Short Story of the Year at the Irish Book Awards 2017. He is the co-founder of the London Short Story Festival and his writing has been translated into seven languages.

Brooks Hotel, 62 Drury St, Dublin 2. October 12th 7-9pm.

Tickets here.

Paul will be teaching his ‘That Killer First Page’ class at the same venue the next day, Saturday 13th.

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Interview w/ BBC National Short Story Award

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On the day of the ceremony on BBC Radio 4 Front Row I go behind the scenes of the BBC National Short Story Award with one of its founders and BBC Radio Books Editor Di Speirs. Find out all you need to know about the judging process in Irish Times Culture.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/behind-the-scenes-at-the-bbc-national-short-story-award-1.3644969

“Over the last few years I’ve worked with a number of literary awards and prizes, and it’s been an education. The behind-the-scenes processes have varied quite significantly. To illustrate with one example; for the £30,000 International Dylan Thomas Prize we read the longlist of twelve books then re-read our chosen shortlist of six, for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize we didn’t read the longlist only the five collections on the shortlist, for the Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Prize I was the only judge and reader, tackling around 750 short stories.

This year I was asked to be an ambassador for the BBC National Short Story Award. I first worked with the award a few years back for an event at the London Short Story Festival, which I co-founded and programmed. Now in its 13th year, the award has become a landmark on the short story landscape in the UK and internationally. I have long been a fan of their excellent website, for podcasts and recordings of previous winners and specially commissioned short stories from the best writers in the form. On that note, a little known astonishing fact, BBC Radio 4 is the world’s biggest single commissioner of short stories, attracting audiences of over a million listeners to short fiction.

Due to its unique and powerful position, at times, questions are asked about access to the BBC’s short story feast. As I watched the twitter reaction to the news of the fifth all-female shortlist and the issues raised re its selection process, I realised there were some questions even I had about the way the award worked.

I used my role as ambassador to gain an interview with Di Speirs, founding judge of the award and BBC’s editor of books, who has gone into detail about every step of the judging process, and shares her love for the short story form.”

Head here to read the interview. image.jpg

Observer: ‘Exceptional Working Class Novel’

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Lovely to see this praise for The Good Son from author Kerry Hudson in The Observer newspaper yesterday;

“When I think of exceptional working-class novels from the last few years, I inevitably think of Kit de Waal’s My Name Is Leon and Paul McVeigh’s The Good Son, both skilfully written books about two very different boys’ challenges growing up in working-class environments.”

She also mentions de Waal’s Common People Anthology out next year which includes my first piece of memoir. You can head over and read the whole article here.

Winner of The Polari Prize & The McCrea Literary Award
“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