‘Big Man’ for One-Night-Only

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‘The moment he walked into The Spaniard I was his…’ BIG MAN

“Come join us for a special evening at The Spaniard! A one-night-only script reading of Paul McVeigh’s play Big Man read by Tony Flynn in the intimate settying to only 30 lucky ticket holders. It’s a unique opportunity to experience the magic of live performance in a cozy and funky setting where the play BIG MAN opens. Don’t miss out on this unforgettable event!

DOORS OPEN 6PM. Tickets: here.

“Uncompromising, darkly humorous exploration of a love affair and its fallout” **** The Stage

“Paul McVeigh’s moving, funny and superbly written one man show.” Irish News

Teaching at Freedom to Write 2025

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The John Hewitt Society and Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann received a second grant from the Irish Government’s Shared Island Civic Society Fund, administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs, to deliver ‘Freedom To Write 2,’ a joint creative writing project that will support twenty up and coming writers resident on the island of Ireland to work with experienced writers and other professionals to build on their achievements.

As an emerging writer, this course offers mentoring, networking, new challenges and experiences to build your skills and confidence and enable you to take your literary career to the next level. This year we have a focus on ecology / nature writing, and theories, which you will explore too!

This weekend the group have doing workshops with poet Stephen Sexton and novelist Louise Nealon. I arrive tomorrow, Monday 28th, to spend three days with them sharing my advice and knowledge.

Looking forward to working with exciting new talents.

Appearance at Folkstone Book Festival

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Short Stories: Adam Marek & Paul McVeigh

Sun 23 Nov 2025, 12th – Tickets here.

Two award-winning masters of the short story come together for an unmissable hour of fiction, feeling, and fierce imagination. Belfast-born Paul McVeigh – author of The Good Son and I Hear You and co-founder of the London Short Story Festival – writes with humour, compassion and razor-sharp insight. His work, celebrated internationally, explores working-class life, queer identity and the power of language to wound or redeem.

Folkestone-based Adam Marek – winner of the prestigious Arts Foundation Short Story Fellowship and author of The Universe Delivers the Enemy You Need – is known for his brilliantly strange, deeply human stories that bend reality and tap into the surreal edge of everyday life.

Together, McVeigh and Marek will read from their work, talk about their playfully different approaches to the form, and explore how short stories can capture the biggest questions in the smallest moments. Expect a rich conversation about craft, vulnerability, play, and why the short story continues to punch above its weight.

A must-attend for readers, writers, and anyone who believes in the power of a well-told tale to shake the world – or shift your soul.

You can also buy my radio short story collection, I Hear You, out now.

Queen of the South Returns

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This weekend, Sunday Miscellany on RTE Radio 1, dips into their 2023 and 2024 archive from the Belfast Book Festival. Among the five chosen is my story ‘Queen of the South’.

The programme…

Café by Wendy Erskine

Where Are You From? by John Toal

Swift Boxes by Neil Hegarty

Postscript and The Map, two poems by Marie Howe

Queen of the South by Paul McVeigh

with music from Eimear McGeown, Donogh Hennessy, Jack Warnock, and Trú

You can also get my radio short story collection, I Hear You, out now.

A vital chronicle of Belfast’s transformation

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A vital chronicle of Belfast’s transformation: Paul McVeigh’s stories

“McVeigh captures the ongoing journey of a place and its people learning to live with peace, facing the legacies of the past, and cautiously embracing a new, shared future.”

This is a wonderful review of the event on my work with Cathy Galvin & Tony Flynn at Belfast Book Festival by Natasha Lynch for Shared Future News. The event (and review) covered ‘The Good Son’, ‘Big Man’ and ‘I Hear You’.

You can read the full review here.

Buy Here

International Short Story Conference

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I’m attending the 17th International Conference of the Short Story in English. I’ve been invited to this bi-annual conference in Lisbon, Singapore and Vienna. This year I’ll be alongside luminous guests such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler and ZZ Packer.

Tuesday 17 June, 2025, 14:00-17:00

Paul McVeigh – The Art of the Powerful Short Story Narrative

Bring your notebooks with your fragments, your unfinished stories, and ideas that just wouldn’t launch, this workshop will talk you through a method of making them work. Using examples from his work Paul will show you how he has used his method to create powerful narratives then you can try it on your broken stories. You’ll get feedback and input into your ideas. Because he is also a playwright and has written thirteen short stories for BBC Radio 4, Paul will also show you how to write that story for radio. Be prepared to work and learn a lot. 

Thursday, June 19, Session V: 11:00 AM-12:30 PM

V.A (MOD SUITE 4): Moderator: Kimberly Gentles. 

Writers: 

Paul McVeigh 

Éilís Ni Dhuibhne 

Judith Nika Pfeifer 

Showcasing Publications and How to Make it Work.

Saturday, June 21, 2025 – 1:30 – 3:30 pm

Writers discuss the pros and cons, ways and means of putting your publications before the public. They will showcase specific works, including their own as examples. Robin Hemley will serve as Chair, with Madeleine D’Arcy as Co-Chair. The participants are Robin Hemley, Katie Singer, Evelyn Conlon, Madeleine D’Arcy, Emma Hislop, Rebekah Clarkson, Paul McVeigh, and Robert Olen Butler.  

Milton Keynes Lit Fest Workshop

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Look Again:
The surprises of inner and outer landscapes
A masterclass with Paul McVeigh and Cathy Galvin

Wednesday 2 July 2025; Zoom
7.00pm – 8.30pm; £15/£12

​​​Whatever their form, all stories take place somewhere. Join Belfast-born fiction writer Paul McVeigh and Coventry-born poet Cathy Galvin as they invite you to disrupt your usual writing practice and find a space to look again, and more deeply, at the all-too-familiar landscape of home. 

Whatever your chosen literary form – but with a particular focus on the short story –  this relaxed 90 minute session is aimed at helping you discover the still points and the surprising in the everyday.  Exploring their own work and that of other writers who have inspired them, they will help you consider what lies beneath and within the landscapes we think we know. 

Colleagues in the short story organisation, the Word Factory, Paul and Cathy both write across many forms and enjoy working with other writers: you can expect insight, banter, some suggested reading in advance (not essential) and some writing prompts and recommended reading to follow up in your own time.​

BOOK HERE.

Bradford Literary Festival

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Me with Fiona Keating, Paul Burston, Jason Okundaye & VG LEE. LITERARY SALON

“We’re delighted to welcome back Polari, the multi award-winning LGBTQ+ literary salon, for another unforgettable evening in Bradford.  

Founded and hosted by author and activist Paul Burston, Polari is known for its high-energy, cabaret-style atmosphere and showcases the very best in established and emerging LGBTQ+ literary talent. 

Expect thought-provoking readings, captivating performances, and a celebration of queer voices that’s anything but your average literary event. Uplifting, entertaining, and always inspiring, Polari is a literary salon with heart, flair, and a whole lot of soul. 

Saturday, 5 July 2025 | 18:00 – 19:30

Wallers Brewery, Sunbridge Wells, BD1 1SX More Info

Tickets.

Judging Irish Novel of the Year

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Who will win the €20,000 prize for The Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year? I’m traveling down tomorrow to Listowel Writers’ Week to help present the prize I co-judged this year.

The shortlist for the 2025 Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award is:
Christine Dwyer Hickey – Our London Lives (Atlantic Books, 2024)
Joseph O’Connor – The Ghosts of Rome (Harvill Secker, 2025)
Colm Tóibín – Long Island (Picador and Pan Macmillan, 2024)
Niall Williams – Time of the Child (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024)
Donal Ryan – Heart, Be At Peace (Penguin Random House, 2024)