You can hear me read two extracts from The Good Son and an in-depth interview for the excellent British Council Seminar on Writing Gender: Writing Sexuality, Feminism and Masculinity.

I hope you enjoy it.

The Good Son/Guter Junge has been chosen by the Irish Embassy Book Club in Berlin.

The first Book Club Meeting is on 2nd May 2018. You can visit the Book Club partners @BerlinBooks and Georg Büchner Buchladen to get ready and reading.

I can’t wait to hear the feedback.

“Told vividly and with grim humor… McVeigh’s lush and, against all probability colourful novel from a black and white world bears the utopia that even in dark times, the hope can not be defeated.” Die Welt

“An exceptional book: Honest, tough, funny, soulful.” WDR

CLICK TO SUBMIT

About the competition
The Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition is an annual short story competition open to writers from around the world, submissions accepted from March to July annually. It is dedicated to one of Ireland’s most accomplished story writers and theorists and is sponsored by the Munster Literature Centre.

If the winner comes to Cork to collect their prize the centre will pay for hotel accommodation, meals and drinks at the Cork International Short Story Festival (September 12-15, 2018) – Ireland’s only dedicated short story festival.

Anam Cara Writer’s and Artist’s Retreat www.anamcararetreat.com is again awarding a week-long residency to the first prize winner of the Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition. Located just outside the colourful village of Eyeries on the Beara Peninsula in West Cork, Anam Cara is a tranquil spot structured to provide support and sanctuary for people working in the creative arts. It offers private and common working rooms as well as five acres of walking paths, thirty-four nooks and crannies, a river cascades and a river island, gardens, and a labyrinth meadow. Editoral consultation is also available. The additional prize is valued at €700.

(The dates of the residency will be arranged between the writer themselves and Anam Cara, and can be scheduled before or after the week of the Cork International Short Story Festival. Otherwise, the week can be scheduled for another time of the year, at Anam Cara’s discretion.)

The Munster Literature Centre is a not-for-profit organisation; all moneys raised from the competition benefits writers and writing.

nd year I’m judging –

CLICK TO SUBMIT

About the competition
The Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition is an annual short story competition open to writers from around the world, submissions accepted from March to July annually. It is dedicated to one of Ireland’s most accomplished story writers and theorists and is sponsored by the Munster Literature Centre.

Catch up on all your writing news and submission opportunities this weekend with the new Word Factory round up from my writers blog.

Intl. Dylan Thomas Prize 2018: A Shortlist Celebration at British Library

With live readings from the shortlisted writers

The annual Swansea University International Dylan Thomas Prize is one of the most prestigious awards for young writers. It encourages raw creative talent worldwide and celebrates international literary excellence. I’m honoured to be one of this year’s judges.

Launched in 2006, the £30,000 Prize is awarded to best published literary work in the English language written by an author aged 39 or under. The 2017 winner was Fiona Macfarlane for her critically acclaimed collection of short stories, The High Places.

Join us for live readings from shortlisted authors and an audience Q&A, just a few days before this year’s prize is awarded.
This year’s shortlisted writers are:

Zambian-born poet, MC and music producer Kayo Chingonyi (31) for his debut collection of poetry ‘Kumakanda’, which explores the rites of passage boys go through to become men, the intersection of masculinity and race and what it means to be British and not British, all at once.

Cuban-American short-story writer Carmen Maria Machado’s (31) debut short story collection ‘Her Body & Other Parties’ explores the eroticism, violence and emotion of the female experience through a potent mix of science fiction, ghost stories and fairytales.

Six-time British novelist Gwendoline Riley (39) has been shortlisted for ‘First Love’, a compelling tale of toxic love and poisonous partnerships which has been shortlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction and the Goldsmiths Prize.

Irish debut novelist and Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Sally Rooney (27) has been called the ‘Salinger for the Snapchat generation’ for her runaway success ‘Conversations with Friends’

Debut American novelist Emily Ruskovich (33) is shortlisted for her thriller hit Idaho, which tells the story of a mother suddenly killing her six-year-old daughter.

American thriller author Gabriel Tallent (30) has been shortlisted for his debut novel ‘My Absolute Darling,’ called ‘the year’s must-read novel’ by The Times and ‘a masterpiece’ by Stephen King.