Wow. Very grateful to Neil Hegarty for his lovely remarks about ‘I Hear You’ last night on RTÉ One Arena choosing them as great examples of radio writing leading Tristan Rosenstock to say ‘sounds like the collection is a manual for entering the Francis McManus Award.’. You can listen here.
You can enter the competition here.
You can buy your copy of ‘I hear You’ here.
Delighted to be returning to West Cork Literature Festival this year. I’ll be running the course below.
This workshop will run from Wednesday 16 to Friday 18 July, from 9.30am to 2.30pm each day with two breaks built into the day.
Join award-winning novelist Paul McVeigh for a three-day novel writing workshop. Over the three days we will explore the elements needed to write a novel that hooks a reader; looking at how to create characters that capture us, the use of dialogue, how to master emotion on the page, the importance of plotting and how to make your setting more than a passive backdrop to your story.
You will also find out what every debut novelist needs to know about the industry and what do you do when you’re novel is finished. This is for writers at all levels; with talks, writing exercises and lots of Q&A time.
Max: 15 participants
Location:
Saint Finbarr’s Boys National School
Seskin, Bantry, Co. Cork
P75 NY51
Admission: €230
Winner of The Polari First Novel Prize
‘A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.’ Donal Ryan
‘Raw, funny and endlessly entertaining’. Jonathan Coe
‘I Hear You’- Live Readings – Paul McVeigh
The Deer’s Head
Monday 5th May, 7.00pm
Doors 6.30pm
£9.00 / £7.00 Concession BUY TICKETS
Join us as we bring Paul McVeigh’s BBC Radio 4 short story collection, I Hear You, to life on stage. The collection features three standalone stories alongside The Circus—a ten-part series set in Cliftonville Circus, North Belfast, where ten unique voices take centre stage.
In this one-of-a-kind fusion of literature, radio, and theatre, acclaimed actors Tony Flynn (Big Man, Blue Lights), Michael Condron (Coronation Street, Say Nothing), and Abigail McGibbon (Ballywalter, Blue Lights) will perform their radio-recorded stories live, immersing you in the world of The Circus.
And for the first time, Paul McVeigh himself will take the stage to share the inspirations behind his stories.
Paul’s short stories have been in anthologies, journals and newspapers, read on BBC Radio 3, 4 and 5, RTE Radio, as well as Sky ARTS. His ten-part short story series, The Circus, aired on BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Foyle and BBC Radio 4. He co-founded London Short Story Festival and has edited three anthologies. His collection, I hear You, was published in March 2025. His debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrae Literary Award and his writing has been translated into eight languages.
Tickets also available from:
Visit Belfast | 028 9024 6609
9 Donegall Square North – Open 7 days a Week
Thank you to novelist Neil Hegarty, for this lovely review of, I Hear You, in the Irish Times.
“My mind found an old shoebox full of memories, and as I opened it, the moths of the past flew out”: in The Singer, one of the short stories in Paul McVeigh’s vivid and memorable new collection, we meet a nameless female protagonist as she sifts through the stuff of her life. The scene is an ordinary family home in north Belfast – but as each of these stories reminds us, there is no such thing as an ordinary family or home. Rather, each family, home, life is invariably extraordinary, in myriad ways – and all we need do to see this is to pay attention.
The Singer is a story of sibling rivalry, envy, tension – and to add further to such pleasures, this is also a complex retelling of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The protagonist’s sister (and indeed, her name is Jane) has always been the favourite one, the talented one, the one who triumphed at the local talent competition three years running – though also the one who even as a child liked to take nips from the bottle of cooking brandy in the kitchen cupboard. The other sister has gone off and earned a degree, has been good, has carved out a sensible place in the world – has been thoroughly eclipsed: but now she teeters on the edge of something remarkable, of a longed-for switch in life; and to add to her satisfaction, Jane has taken to calling from London, looking for money. There is sleekness in the telling, there is satisfaction in the glimpse of a happy ending – and best of all, this happy ending will not be for everyone.
The Singer is one element in The Circus, a sequence of linked stories that shows us a multifaceted society, and provides a much-needed corrective to the version of north Belfast glimpsed from time to time in the television news. Each story was originally written for radio, and this genesis explains the collection’s depth of colour and vividness of voice. And its variety: Paul McVeigh’s writing has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to working-class and queer representation, and this sustained energy flows through this collection, to illuminating effect – for this is a world of change, of openness, of the drunkenness of things being various.“
Read here.
Buy here.
“..in this collection, voice is of paramount importance. Each story is told from the point of view of a different character and they vary in age, sex and sexuality, from schoolgirls to drag queens, cleaners to abused wives and even a character peaking in English as their second language. McVeigh differentiates his characters with ease and skill, using language, style and structure to make each voice individual, distinctive and ultimately believable.”
Thanks to Cathy Brown for this lovely review of ‘I Hear You’ and The Good Son gets a great mention too.
CLIP • 15 MINS • 03 MAR • ARENA
Writer Paul McVeigh on his new collection of short stories, I Hear You.
“It’s been 10 years since Paul McVeigh’s debut novel The Good Sonhit bookshelves, its funny, touching tale of misfit schoolboy Mickey Donnelly’s determination to escape Troubles-plagued Ardoyne earning the author The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award.
Since then he has edited a trio of short story and written a hit play, Big Man, which won an Irish Times Theatre Award when it was staged at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre in 2022. Now he returns to print with I Hear You a collection of short stories which were originally commissioned and broadcast by BBC Radio Four – he talks to RTÉ Arena above.
The collection includes a series of ten interlinked stories called The Circus which introduce a colourful selection of characters from the north Belfast streets, whose varied lives intersect thanks to a local talent competition. Their stories are told with McVeigh’s trademark warmth, wit and humour.”
I talked to RTE Arena about my debut collection of stories ‘I Hear You’
“I think that’s why a short story can be a good place to start when setting out to write prose. You can experiment with voices, characters, points of view, and so on. If the story isn’t working, you can abandon it and move to another idea. Starting by writing short stories is not to suggest that a short story is merely a stepping stone to writing novels. The short story is a glorious form in its own right, and mastering it can take many years.”
You can read the article here.
“The stories in I Hear You were all written for BBC Radio 4. I thought I’d breakdown the journey of one of those stories from its conception to its afterlife.
Tickles was the second short story I’d written, and my first for radio. I was commissioned by BBC Radio Ulster producer, Heather Larmour, and it aired on BBC Radio 4. Although this was the only time we worked together, Heather met with me many times and, over many conversations, mid-wived me through writing for radio, teaching me so much about the medium.”
You can read the rest of the article here.
Friends in Dublin and thereabouts please come along to the launch of ‘I Hear You’ at Hodges Figgis March 11th. I’ll be introduced by author Eilis Ni Dhuibhne. Actors Tony Flynn and Tricia Fleming will read short extracts for two of the stories. I hope to see you there.
Please do spread the word. Thank you.
Please come along on World Book Day, Tuesday 6th March, Armagh City Library, at 7.30pm.
Joining me will be Tony Flynn from TV’s ‘Blue Lights’ who will read one of my stories.
For free tickets p=lease email: armagh.library@librariesni.org.uk
‘I Hear You’ will be published on March 3rd and you can pre-order here.
Paul McVeigh 