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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

 

FIRST LINES: JOHN MINIHAN’S PORTRAITS – Launch

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Carrying the song & story of Irish writing all over the world

Literature Ireland’s First Lines portraits, by John Minihan, celebrate the latest wave of Irish authors

Excited to be heading to Dublin on Wednesday for the launch of FIRST LINES: JOHN MINIHAN’S PORTRAITS. Here’s what The Irish Times had to say…

“While Irish literature punches well above its weight, beyond the Anglophone world, its reach has been greatly enhanced by the work of Literature Ireland, a not-for-profit organisation funded by Culture Ireland and the Arts Council and led by Sinéad Mac Aodha. Since its foundation in 1995 Literature Ireland has funded the translation of more than 2,000 works of Irish literature into 56 world languages. Like most arts organisations, Literature Ireland’s funding suffered badly during the downturn. The value of the grants it awards has halved over the past eight years, and it has to turn down seven out of eight translation grant applications.

To celebrate the work of the latest wave of authors who are being published in translation across the globe with its support, Literature Ireland will next week launch First Lines, a promotional series of postcard-sized portraits by acclaimed photographer John Minihan, best known for his portraits of Samuel Beckett. Beckett was one of those rare writers capable of translating his own work. A BBC radio producer notoriously rejected his translation into English of En Attendant Godot as too full of Irishisms. Asked once if he was English, Beckett famously replied, “Au contraire”.”

Read more here. 

The other writers featured in the series are Colin Barrett, Sara Baume, Gavin Corbett, Rob Doyle, Audrey Magee, Mike McCormack, Lisa McInerney, Danielle McLaughlin, Alan McMonagle, Conor O’Callaghan and Sally Rooney.

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

Smashing It: Working Class Artists

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I’m delighted to have been invited by editor Sabrina Mahfouz to be part of this anthology about working class artists – a story close to my heart. Especially happy to be alongside writers I admire and could talk to for days , Kerry Hudson and Selena Godden.

Here’s what the Bookseller had to say –

Saqi imprint The Westbourne Press has bought world English rights to Smashing It: Working Class Artists on Life, Art and Making It Happen, edited by poet and playwright Sabrina Mahfouz, recently made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

The book began when Mahfouz wrote a tweet about how being working class has been the principle obstacle she has faced in the arts, although she is only ever asked about her gender or ethnicity. The tweet was viewed 214,727 times and clicked on almost 7,000 times, and prompted a host of responses. Mahfouz took this as a call to action and set up a free workshop to help working class writers access UK arts funding, The success of that first workshop, which attracted people from around the country, meant Mahfouz now holds them monthly.

Click here to read more.

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

Interviewing Sarah Perry

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An Evening with Sarah Perry

Thursday 22nd November 19:00 – 21:00

at Crescent Arts Centre Cube, 2-4 University Road, Belfast , BT7 1NH

I’ll be interviewing the wonderful Sarah Perry in Belfast in November. I read with Sarah a few years back at a festival in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland. Here’s what Waterstones said…

“We are thrilled to welcome Sarah Perry, the author of 2016’s Waterstones Book of the YearThe Essex Serpent, to Belfast in conversation with Paul McVeigh to discuss her new novel Melmoth.

Sarah Perry is the UK’s most extraordinary writer of Gothic literature. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway. She has been the writer in residence at Gladstone’s Library and the UNESCO World City of Literature Writer in Residence in Prague. After Me Comes the Flood, her first novel, was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Folio Prize, and won the East Anglian Book of the Year Award in 2014. Her latest novel, The Essex Serpent, was a number one bestseller in hardback, Waterstones Book of the Year 2016, the British Book Awards Book of the Year 2017, was shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and Dylan Thomas Award, and longlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction 2017.

Melmoth is a profound, ambitiously realised work of fiction which asks fundamental questions about guilt, forgiveness, moral reckoning and how we come to terms with our actions in a conflicted world. A compulsive, terrifying and thoroughly modern Gothic novel, and a response to the Irish Gothic classic Melmoth the Wanderer.

Further details: 020892040159″

 

 

Ambassador for BBC National Short Story Award

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I’m honoured to have been asked to be an ambassador for this prestigious prize.

The shortlist has just been announced.

Sarah Hall, prize-winning novelist and short story writer, has been shortlisted for the third time for ‘Sudden Traveller’. She won the award in 2013 for ‘Mrs Fox’. Hall is joined on the shortlist by composer and debut novelist Kerry Andrew for ‘To Belong To’, Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner and debut novelist Ingrid Persaud for ‘The Sweet Sop’, rising talent Kiare Ladner for ‘Van Rensburg’s Card’ and creative writing lecturer and novelist Nell Stevens for ‘The Minutes’. The Award is one of the most prestigious for a single short story, with the winning author receiving £15,000.

Keep your eye out for some exclusive content from me.

That Killer First Page, Workshop, Dublin, Oct 13.

My Portrait by Legendary John Minihan

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I’ll be heading to Dublin on Friday September 26 for the launch of First Lines: Irish Author Portraits by John Minihan.

John Minihan is the legendary photographer known for his wonderful portraits of Beckett in Paris. John has been taking portraits of Irish authors which have been made into postcards with the first lines from their work on the other side. I’m honoured to part of it and to celebrate the work of Literature Ireland.

I saw John last weekend where he is the resident photographer at Cork Short Story Festival and am looking forward to seeing him again at this event.

Literature Ireland have been hugely supportive of me, helping to fund translations of my The Good Son into French, German, Hungarian and Russian. A crucial organisation for the translation and promotion of Irish writers abroad.

The other writers featured in the series are Colin Barrett, Sara Baume, Gavin Corbett, Rob Doyle, Audrey Magee, Mike McCormack, Lisa McInerney, Danielle McLaughlin, Alan McMonagle, Conor O’Callaghan and Sally Rooney.

cropped-cork-world-book-festival

One of the portraits by John Minihan

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

 

Red Line Book Fest, Oct 10, Dublin

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Delighted to be reading alongside these great authors in one of my favourite cities. Here’s the blurb…

This Voice: Writing & The Working Class

A working class hero is something to be…Although working class characters are well represented in the Irish literary canon, more often than not, the writers behind the stories derive from more privileged backgrounds.Hosted by poet and writer Colm Keegan (Randomer), a panel of top authors explore the challenges faced by working class writers and the valuable perspectives they have to offer. Joining Keegan are Polari prize-winner Paul McVeigh (The Good Son), acclaimed author Frankie Gaffney (Dublin Seven) and bestselling writer June Caldwell (Room Little Darker).
  • VENUE: Rua Red
  • TIME: Wed 10 Oct, 7.00pm
  • PRICE: €8/€5

 

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Interviewing Kit de Waal in Belfast

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Kit De Waal: The Trick To Time

Date Thursday 13 September 2018
Time 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Price£8 | £6

with Paul McVeigh

I’m delighted to be working with Kit de Waal again. We read together at a festival in Morges and for the Royal Society of Literature in London. I’ve also interviewed her for The Irish Times. This time I’ll be interviewing her live in Belfast. Here’s the blurb…

The Crescent is delighted to welcome to Belfast, the author of the Costa shortlisted and Irish Novel of the Year award winning novel, My Name is Leon, Kit De Waal for a Belfast Book Festival Fringe event. She is joining us to discuss her latest novel, The Trick To Time; an unforgettable love story.

Birmingham, 1972. Mona is a young Irish girl in a big city, with the thrill of a new job and a room of her own in a busy boarding house. On her first night out in town, she meets William, a charming Irish boy with an easy smile and an open face. They embark upon a dizzying love affair, a whirlwind marriage, an unexpected pregnancy – before a sudden tragedy tears them apart.

Decades later, Mona pieces together the memories of the years that separate them. But can she ever learn to love again?

The Trick to Time is an unforgettable tale of grief, longing, and a love that lasts a lifetime.

‘Weaving tragedy and joy, big themes and the minutiae of life, this is a love story to take on the classics’ – Emerald Street

Kit de Waal, born to an Irish mother and Caribbean father, was brought up among the Irish community of Birmingham in the 60’s and 70’s. Her debut novel My Name Is Leon was an international bestseller, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, long-listed for the Desmond Elliott Prize and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award for 2017.

images-1

Kit and me read together at a festival in  Morges

 

Teaching My First Class in Dublin

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DATE AND TIME

Sat 13 October 2018 10:30am – 4:30pm

LOCATION

Brooks Hotel, 62 Drury Street, Dublin

That Killer First Page

 

You’ll find out what competition judges and journal editors look for in a short story and how to avoid the rejection pile. You’ll write a short piece and get feedback on that crucial story opening. In a form where every word counts, get tips on staying focused on your story and where to start the action. You’ll also look at submission opportunities; how to find them and where you should be sending your stories.

Focus:
How to get the attention of competition judges and editors
Writing fiction with emotional impact
Writing that killer first page
How to edit your story
Where to send your work

Paul McVeigh’s short fiction has been published in anthologies and journals inc. The Stinging Fly and Faber’s ‘Modern Irish Writing’. Stories have been commissioned by BBC Radio 3, 4 & 5 and Sky Arts TV. 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 and gets 40,000 hits a month and has had over 2 million views. He’s interviewed short story masters like Kevin Barry, Elizabeth McCracken and George Saunders for The Irish Times. Paul co-founded the 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 including, in 2018, the Sean O’Faolain Prize, the Edge Hill Prize and the International Dylan Thomas Prize. He is also the current fiction editor at Southword Journal where he recently commissioned Kit de Waal and twice Booker shortlisted Deborah Levy.

This event sold out in Adelaide, Bali, Bath, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Kuala Lumpur, Lancaster, London, Melbourne & Singapore.

“I emerged from the sleepy hamlet of my writing infancy last Saturday and was sky-rocketed, hurricaned, tsunamied, autobahned and g-forced out of my head by Paul McVeigh’s “That Killer First Page” Masterclass at Waterstones, Piccadilly. He’s on top of his game, gives instinctive, constructive criticism and in a few short hours, had conveyed the essence of how to make a story compelling and unputdownable from the first few lines. Get on one of his courses if you can.”

Reviews for his short stories:
“Beautiful and very moving.” Booker shortlisted Alison Moore
“How moving and stunning that story is. It’s so raw and incredibly human.” Costa shortlisted Jess Richards
“(one of) Ireland’s most exciting and talented writers. Incredibly moving; poignant but utterly real, funny and beautifully observant.” BBC Radio 4
“Paul McVeigh’s story stands out. Funny, moving, poignant. Brilliant.” Metro Newspaper

Paul’s debut novel The Good Son’ won 2 awards and was shortlisted for a further 5.

‘A work of genius…’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Robert Olen Butler

“Both dancing and disquieting, complex and vivid, I devoured it in a day, but I’ve thought about it for many, many more.” Bailey Prize-winner Lisa McInerney The Glorious Heresies’

‘A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.’ Donal Ryan

PaulMcVeigh short story