I have 5 min memoir piece recorded for RTÉ One’s Sunday Miscellany a couple of weeks ago. You can listen to it here.
“I am in Dumfries.
‘It’s a smallish town,’ Martin says, as we walk to the pub, ‘its bid to be seen as a city, failed.’
‘Oh dear,’ I say.
I don’t tell him that I’d read the nickname of the city is the Queen of the South. I’ll save it for later as there’s an easy laugh to be had, and as it’s my first visit to his, we may have some awkward moments that need lightening….”
Featuring Paul McVeigh, Bernie McGill & Jan Carson
Paul McVeigh’s short stories have been in numerous anthologies including ‘Being Various’, ‘The Art of the Glimpse’ and ‘Common People’. They have also been printed in ‘The London Magazine’, ‘The Stinging Fly’ and ‘The Irish Times’, on radio at BBC Radio 3, 4, 5; RTE 1, and on Sky TV. His ten-part short story series, ‘The Circus’, appeared on BBC Radio 4 in 2023. Paul co-founded the London Short Story Festival and is associate director of Word Factory, ‘the UK’s national organisation for excellence in the short story’ The Guardian. Paul’s debut novel, ‘The Good Son’, won The McCrea Literary Award and The Polari First Novel Prize. His writing has been translated into seven languages.
Bernie McGill is the 2023 winner of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize for her collection This Train is For (No Alibis Press). She is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (2010) and of one further short story collection, Sleepwalkers (2013). Her work has appeared in a number of anthologies and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. Bernie works as a Mentor for the Irish Writers’ Centre and is an Associate Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund.
Jan Carson’s critically acclaimed writings explore themes related to identity, place and belonging, but also to angst and alienation, in such works as The Fire Starters (winner EU Prize for Literature, 2019) and The Raptures. She is also very funny! About her latest collection of short stories, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses, the Irish Times said: ‘Long after the reader has closed the book, these tales linger in the mind: vivid, original and moving.’
Chaired by Marnie Kennedy, Shared Reading facilitator. This event is hosted by Stories@theDuncairn, a volunteer-led, community literary project, in partnership with the Greater New Lodge Community Festival and Féile an Phobail. Café at the Duncairn open for tea, coffee and refreshments. Wine Reception. All welcome!
SCRÍOBHAITHE AG IONAD DHÚN CAIRN
IONAD EALAÍON DHÚN CAIRN, ASCAILL DHÚN CAIRN
Oscaíltear na doirse ag 6:30i.n
Beidh Paul McVeigh, Bernie McGill & Jan Carson ag glacadh páirte ann
Bhí gearrscéalta Paul McVeigh ina lán duanairí, ina measc, ‘Being Various’, ‘The Art of the Glimpse’ agus ‘Common People’. Bhí siad clóite in ‘The London Magazine’, in ‘The Stinging Fly’ agus san ‘The Irish Times’, ar an raidió ar BBC 3, 4, 5; RTE 1, agus Sky TV chomh maith. Bhí a shraith gearrscéalta dheich gcuid ‘The Circus’ ar BBC Radio 4 in 2023. Chomhbhunaigh Paul Féile Gearrscéalta Londan agus is stiúrthóir comhlach Word Factory é, ‘the UK’s national organisation for excellence in the short story’ The Guardian. Bhain an chéad úrscéal ag Paul, ‘The Good Son’, Duais Litríochta McCrea agus Duais Polari don Chéad Úrscéal. Tá a chuid scríbhneoireachta aistrithe i seacht dteanga.
Is buaiteoir Duais Gearrscéalta Edge Hill 2023 í Bernie McGill dá bailiúchán This Train is For (No Alibis Press). Is údar dhá úrscéal í: ‘The Watch House’ (a bhí ainmnithe do Dhuais Litríochta na hÉireann an Aontais Eorpaigh in 2019) agus ‘The Butterfly Cabinet’ (2010) agus bailiúchán gearrscéalta eile, ‘Sleepwalkers’ (2013). Bhí a saothaoir ina lán duanairí, agus bhí siad craolta ar BBC Radio 3 agus ar Radio 4. Oibríonn Bernie mar Mheantóir d’Ionad Scríbhneoirí na hÉireann agus is Comhalta Comhlach leis an Chiste Litríochta Ríoga í.
Pléann scríbhneoireachtaí Jan Carson, a fuair moladh ó na léirmheastóirí, téamaí a bhaineann le féiniúlacht, le háiteanna, le muintearas, ach le himní agus le coimhthíos chomh maith, i saothair dá cuid amhail The Fire Starters (buaiteoir Dhuais Litríochta an AE, 2019) agus The Raptures. Bíonn sí iontach greannmhar fosta! Mhaígh an Irish Timesfaoina bailiúchán gearrscéalta is déanaí, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses: ‘Long after the reader has closed the book, these tales linger in the mind: vivid, original and moving.’
Beidh Marnie Kennedy, Éascaitheoir Léitheoireachta Roinnte, ina cathaoirleach air. Beidh an t-imeacht seo arna óstáil ag Stories@theDuncairn, tionscadal litríochta pobail atá á threorú ag saorálaithe, i gcomhar le Féile Pobail Mhórcheantar an Lóiste Úir agus Féile an Phobail. Beidh an Café in Ionad Dhún Cairn oscailte agus beidh tae, caife agus sólaistí ar fáil. Fáiltiú Fíona. Beidh fáilte roimh chách!
Kit de Waal, born to an Irish mother and Caribbean father, was brought up in a household of opposites and extremes among the Irish community of Birmingham in the ‘60s and ‘70s The best-selling author of novels, short stories, anthologies, and radio dramas, her debut novel My Name Is Leon was an international bestseller, shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award, longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award for 2017. In 2022 it was adapted for television by the BBC.
Her second novel, The Trick to Time, was longlisted for the Women’s Prize and her young adult novel BecomingDinah was shortlisted for the Carnegie CLIP Award 2020. A prolific writer, she has also published an anthology of working-class memoir, Common People (2019), crowdfunded and edited by Kit, a collection of short stories, Supporting Cast (2020), and a memoir Without WarningandOnly Sometimes (2022). A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, her new novel Best of Everything will be released in April 2025. kitdewaal.com/
Paul McVeigh is the acclaimed author of the novel, The Good Son. A Co-founder of the London Short Story Festival, his 2023 play, Big Man, premiered at the Lyric Theatre Belfast. paulmcveighwriter.com/
RTÉ Sunday Miscellany Live At Belfast Book Festival
Date Sunday 09 June 2024
Time 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Price: Pay What You Decide – Recommended Price £12.50
Join us for a special Belfast edition of the iconic RTÉ Radio 1 programme, Sunday Miscellany.
Recorded live in The Cube at The Crescent, join us for a magical mix of spoken word and live music.
Sunday Miscellany has been a weekend institution of Irish Radio since 1968 and we are delighted to welcome the programme back to Belfast Book Festival.
This special edition will include new writing and readings of work from Lucy Caldwell, Jan Carson, John Toal, Paul McVeigh, Marie Howe, Maria McManus,Glenn Patterson and Emily Byers Ferrian, and music from Scott Flanigan and Trú vocal ensemble.
RTÉ Sunday Miscellany is produced by Sarah Binchy.
Celebrating the book’s tenth anniversary and his historic prize win, James takes the stage to discuss his work to date and how the success of A Brief History of Seven Killings shaped the trajectory of his writing career.
On December 3rd 1976 at around 8:30 PM, seven men armed with guns broke into 56 Hope Road where Bob Marley and his band were rehearsing for an upcoming gig. The gunmen managed to shoot Marley’s wife, his manager, a band employee, and Marley himself before fleeing the scene. Later, the gunmen would be tried and executed in a ghetto court with both the singer and his manager present.
A Brief History of Seven Killings reimagines this defining moment in the singer-songwriter’s storied life and career. Spanning three decades, its cast of characters range from drug dealers to journalists, ghosts to the CIA as they navigate the streets of 1970s Kingston, the crack houses of 1980s New York, and the radically altered Jamaica of the 1990s.
This masterpiece of speculative fiction won Marlon James the 2015 Man Booker Prize, making him the first ever Jamaican writer to win the prize. In this event celebrating the book’s tenth anniversary and his historic prize win, James takes the stage to discuss Marley’s legacy, his work to date, and how the success of the book shaped the trajectory of his writing career.
Marlon James is the author of the New York Times-bestseller Black Leopard, Red Wolf. A Brief History of Seven Killings won the 2015 Man Booker Prize, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature for fiction, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for fiction, and the Minnesota Book Award. His other publications include The Book of Night Women and John Crow’s Devil.
This event will be chaired by writer Paul McVeigh, Paul’s debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award. His short stories have appeared in anthologies, journals and his writing has been translated into seven languages.
2 Day Workshop: How to Get Noticed with Paul McVeigh
About this event
How to get your work noticed
You’ll find out what competition judges, anthology and journal editors and publishers look for in a short story and how to avoid the rejection pile. You’ll learn how 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 work.
Paul had edited a journal, three anthologies and judges many international prizes as well as won some himself.
Paul McVeigh is an adjudicator for The Kerry Group Novel of The Year 2024.
Please be aware that all events at Listowel Writers’ Week will be recorded and photographed for promotional and archival purposes. Your presence constitutes consent to be filmed and photographed. Thank you.
Listowel Writer’s Week: where readers celebrate, and writers find their flow
Listowel Writer’s Week is Ireland’s oldest literary festival, and one of its most prestigious. Famously hospitable, the beautiful North Kerry town of Listowel is internationally renowned as a wellspring of literary inspiration and heritage. The 2024 Listowel Writer’s Week festival programme, exploring the theme Mother Nature, has been curated by the poet Martin Dyar.
Paul’s debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize, The McCrea Literary Award and was shortlisted for many others including the Prix de roman Cezam. His short stories have appeared in The Art of the Glimpse, Being Various: New Irish Short Stories, The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly as well as, on RTE Radio, BBC Radio, and Sky Arts. He edited the Queer Love anthology and The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices. His writing has been translated into seven languages.In 2023, his play, Big Man, won an Irish Times Theatre Award and his ten-part short story series, The Circus, aired on BBC Radio 4.Paul co-founded the London Short Story Festival and is associate director of Word Factory ‘the UK’s national organisation for excellence in the short story’ The Guardian. He has judged the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, the Royal Society of Literature’s V. S. Pritchard Short Story Prize, Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Competition and The Interantional Dylan Thomas Prize among many.
Paul has edited three anthologies and Southword Journal and worked with writers such as Sarah Butler and Kit de Waal on their books.
ONE-ON-ONE SHORT STORY APPRAISAL
Paul offers to read your short story and give an hour long one-on-one zoom session (or face-to-face if in Belfast) about your story and writing. This service costs £200. You can use the contact page on this website or email at: paulmcveighwriter@live.co.uk
Testimonials:
“Paul is an approachable, professional guide to the workings of the modern short story. He’s a fine writer with a strong grasp of narrative and a warm personality.”
John AD Fraser
“Having Paul read my work was bracing, illuminating and extremely rewarding. He examined my story with intensity and precision, making me see how I was accountable for every word choice. He saw deeper into my story than I had ever been able to, offering insights into my own characters I could not see myself. I learnt more from Paul about the short story in one session than I ever thought possible.”
Paul McVeigh is an author and writer of plays, short stories, comedy performed on stage, radio and television. His debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize, The McCrea Literary Award and was shortlisted for many others including the Prix de Roman Cezam.
‘The Belfast author’s spirited debut delivers a real sense of a broken family living in a broken society… well drawn and affecting… poignant… convincing… alarmingly real.’The Irish Times
‘A first novel of beautiful generosity, poignant in the delicate manner in which he evokes the brutality of an era. A striking fresco, mixing historical upheavals and hardships of a family shattered.’ Le Monde
I was interviewed by Edward Finn Travels at Lyric Belfast for his Pure Belfast Podcast. I talk about ‘The Good Son’, ‘Big Man’ and more. This episode also includes an interview with Melanie Harrison.
My 10 part short story series, ‘The Circus’, which aired on BBC Radio 4 this year and again on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle, has made the BBC’s top 10 recommendations. Lots of great stuff here to listen to… listen.
Paul McVeigh 