Free Event: In Conversation Australian Writers Cate Kennedy and Paddy O’Reilly

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Australian Writers Cate Kennedy and Paddy O’Reilly in Conversation with Paul McVeigh

About this Event

Cate Kennedy is a novelist, short story writer and poet whose work features in the school syllabus in Australia. When writing about her favourite Australian fiction, the late Eileen Battersby recommended Cate Kennedy’s second short story collection Like a House on Fire (2012) and said: ‘Australia’s response to the art of Alice Munro, Cate Kennedy is a singular artist who looks to the ordinary in a small rural community and is particularly astute on exploring the fallout left by the aftermath of the personal disasters that change everything. Her debut collection, Dark Roots (2006) heralded the arrival of a fully-formed master of the form ….’ The Irish Times 

Paddy O’Reilly is a multiple award-winning Australian writer whose novels and stories have won and been shortlisted for many major awards, and have been published, anthologised and broadcast in Australia, China, Europe, the UK and the USA. 

‘In her latest collection, Peripheral Vision, Paddy O’Reilly proves to be one of Australia’s most accomplished authors of the long-wave story. Peripheral Vision has expansive energy, and will fascinate readers with a taste for open endings and vivid voices.’ The Australian

In conversation with me! I hope you can come along. Book free here.


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

Podcast: RTE interview with me, Neil Hegarty and Emma Donoghue on Queer Love anthology

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Paul McVeigh, Emma Donoghue and Neil Hegarty have come together as editor and contributors to a new book, Queer Love: An Anthology of Irish Fiction, published byThe Munster Literature Centre.

As well as talking about their own stories, RTÉ Arena asks the trio to choose a work by another that was pivotal in their lives as young gay people – listen above. 

You can listen here.

Buy Here

Appearing at West Cork Literary Festival

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Queer Love: Paul McVeigh, James Hudson, Emer Lyons & Shannon Yee

Date: Tuesday 20 April 2021 

Time: 7:00 pm

Queer Love: An Anthology of Irish Fiction was published by Southword Editions in 2020 and is edited by Paul McVeigh. The collection seeks to redress the lack of acknowledgement of the LGBTQI+ community in Irish literary anthologies, with a mixture of established writers of international standing, writers who have been making a splash in recent years and new emerging writers. This event will see Paul McVeigh, the editor of the anthology, in conversation with three of the contributors, James Hudson, Emer Lyons and Shannon Yee.

Buy here

RSL NI Writers Day is Here

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Book a place to listen to homegrown talent 

The Royal Society of Literature has joined with the Arts Council to celebrate Northern Irish writers and writing as part of the first NI Writers Day

“During the day, RSL Director Molly Rosenberg will discuss the fellowship programme with local writer Paul McVeigh and how to recommend a writer. 

Award-winning poet and Chair of RSL, Daljit Nagra, will give a free hour-long workshop, ideal for those who have recently starting writing or have more experience.

Finally, there will be a panel discussion featuring some of the finest Northern Irish writers – Wendy Erskine, Glenn Patterson and Shannon Yee. 

To read more about RSL Open and how you can nominate your favourite NI author visit https://rsliterature.org/rsl-open/. Tickets for NI Writers Day are free and can be booked via the RSL website. Numbers are strictly limited for the poetry workshop with Daljit Nagra, so early booking is recommended.”

Hope to see some of you there.

Interviewing Bryan Washington

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 April 24, 2021, 12:30pm Cúirt International Festival of Literature

ONLINE (YOUTUBE) / PAY WHAT YOU CAN

“A thoughtful, witty and heartfelt debut novel, Bryan Washington’s Memorial explores the challenges of intimacy, hard-won vulnerability and building relationships while dealing with your own shit. Fans of Sally Rooney will enjoy Memorial, a story about relationships and what binds us together. When Mike finds out his estranged father is dying, he leaves to visit him in Japan just as his mother arrives to visit, leaving her in the incapable hands of his live-in boyfriend, Benson. He and Mitsuko become unconventional roommates, an absurd domestic situation that is at once moving and hilarious.”

“Bryan Washington is a writer from Houston. His fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, the BBC, Vulture and The Paris Review. He is also a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 winner, the recipient of an Ernest J. Gaines Award, a PEN/Robert W. Bingham prize finalist, a National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize finalist, the recipient of an O. Henry Award and the winner of the 2020 International Dylan Thomas Prize.

Bryan is joined in conversation by Paul McVeigh.”

‘A new vision for the 21st-century novel. It made me happy.’ Ocean Vuong

27 Mar, Mairtín Crawford Award: Preparing Short Stories For Submission (Online)

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Date Saturday 27 March 2021

Time 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Price Free. Book NowMairtín Crawford Award: Preparing Short Stories for Submission

workshop

Join 2021 Short Story Judges Lucy Caldwell and Paul McVeigh in a lively conversation about submitting your work to Awards. Lucy and Paul will speak about their own experience of Awards – as writers and judges; the specificities of the Mairtín Crawford Award and practical approaches to assembling and presenting work for Submission. 

Lucy and Paul will be in conversation for about 45 minutes, then spend 30 minutes responding to your questions.

Please note that questions must be submitted in advance. To submit a question please email BBFSubmissions@CrescentArts.org by 5pm on Wednesday 24th March. Please include in the email that the question is for the Short Story Workshop. 

Can’t make the 27th? This workshop will be recorded and available to stream online afterwards. 

This event is free to attend and registration is essential. 

Lucy Caldwell is the author of four novels, including the forthcoming These Days (Faber, Spring 2022), two short story collections, including Intimacies, out this May, and several stage plays and radio dramas. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, her awards include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright, a Fiction Uncovered Award and a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. In 2019, she edited Being Various, the latest volume in the ongoing Faber series of New Irish Short Stories.

Paul McVeigh‘s debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award and was shortlisted for many others including the Prix du Roman Cezam in France. His short stories have appeared in Faber’s Being Various, Kit de Waal’s Common People, The Art of the Glimpse and have been read on Radio 4 and Sky Arts. He is associate director of Word Factory ‘the national organisation for excellence in the short story’ The Guardian, and he co-founded London Short Story Festival. Paul has edited Belfast Stories, Queer Love: Anthology of Irish Fiction and The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices.

I’m Judging Mairtin Crawford Short Story Award

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The Mairtin Crawford Awards for Poetry and Short Story 2021 open now.

This year marks the fifth year of the Poetry Year and the fourth year of for the Short Story Award.

The Awards are aimed at writers working towards their first full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel. Both published and unpublished writers are invited to submit between 3-5 poems for the poetry award, and a short story of up to 2,500 words for the short story award, with the only stipulation being that they have not yet published a full collection of poetry, short stories, or a novel.

The closing date for work is midnight on Sunday 2nd May 2021 (GMT).

For more information about submitting your work click here.

The Winners of each Award will receive a Cash Prize of £1,000 and a 5-night stay at The River Mill Writing Retreat.

The 2 Runners Up for each Award will receive a cash prize of £250.

We are delighted to announce that the judges of the 2021 Mairtín Crawford Award are Lucy Caldwell (Chair – Short Story) and Moyra Donaldson (Chair – Poetry). Guest judges Annemarie Ní Churreáin and me.

Click here for more information about the judges.