Here’s an excellent piece from Lisa Frank of Doire Press in Irish Times Culture on the new anthology we edited called ‘Belfast Stories’.
You can come to the launch at Belfast Book Festival this Sunday 5pm at Crescent Arts Centre.
I’m a wee bit excited to be in two anthologies released this week.
‘Being Various’ is the latest in the Faber series of Irish short story anthologies. Edited by Lucy Caldwell, it contains my new short story ‘The Swimmers’.
The other is ‘Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers’ edited by it de Waal. It has my first piece of memoir called ‘Night of the Hunchback’.
I hope you enjoy them. 🙂
Join Doire Press for the launch of Belfast Stories. It is a collection of short fiction set throughout the neighbourhoods of the city, written by both established and emerging writers, who live in or have a strong connection to Belfast.
The writers in Belfast Stories include: Linda Anderson, Lucy Caldwell, Jan Carson, Wendy Erskine, Jamie Guiney, Peter Hollywood, Caoilinn Hughes, Rosemary Jenkinson, Winnie M Li, Bernie McGill, Michael Nolan, David Park, Glenn Patterson, Ian Sansom, Dawn Watson and Shannon Yee.
The anthology also features photos and background information on each neighbourhood, as well as local listings and a map displaying where each of the stories takes place.
The preface and photos are by Malachi O’Doherty.
This launch event will include readings by some of the writers featured in the anthology, including Jan Carson, Bernie McGill, Dawn Watson and Shannon Yee, among others, and will be launched by Damian Smyth.
Celebrate the current golden age of the short story in Ireland with the publication of Being Various. A spellbinding selection of Ireland’s most exciting new writers anthologised by Belfast’s own Lucy Caldwell, who will be in conversation with three of the writers.
Lucy Caldwell was born in Belfast in 1981. She is the author of three novels, several stage plays and radio dramas, and a collection of short stories. Awards include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the George Devine Award, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Imison Award, the Commonwealth Short Story Prize (Canada & Europe), the Irish Playwrights’ and Screenwriters’ Guild Award, the Edge Hill Short Story Prize Readers’ Choice Award, a Fiction Uncovered Award, a K. Blundell Trust Award and a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018.
Lisa McInerney’s work has featured in Winter Papers, The Stinging Fly, Granta, The Guardian, BBC Radio 4and various anthologies. Her story Navigation was longlisted for the 2017 Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. Her debut novel The Glorious Heresies won the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the 2016 Desmond Elliott Prize. Her second novel, The Blood Miracles, won the 2018 RSL Encore Award.
Nicole Flattery‘s stories have been published in The Irish Times, The Dublin Review, The White Review, Winter Papers and The Stinging Fly. She is a recipient of a Next Generation Artists’ Award from the Arts Council of Ireland and The White Review Short Story Prize. Originally from County Westmeath, Nicole now lives in Galway.
Paul McVeigh was born in Belfast. He is the author of one novel, The Good Son, which won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award. He is also the author of many essays, plays and short stories which have been read on BBC Radio 3, 4 and 5.
It’s finally here! My first memoir piece ‘Night of the Hunchback’ is published in Kit de Waal’s anthology of working class voices ‘Common People’. Here are the other authors included…
Damian Barr
Malorie Blackman OBE
Lisa Blower
Jill Dawson
Louise Doughty
Stuart Maconie
Chris McCrudden
Lisa McInerney
Daljit Nagra
Dr Dave O’Brien
Cathy Rentzenbrink
Anita Sethi
Adelle Stripe
Tony Walsh
Alex Wheatle
Pick up your copy soon…
Ain’t she pretty?
My short story ‘The Swimmers’ is in here alongside these wonderful writers – Darren Anderson, Kevin Barry, Jan Carson, Jill Crawford, Wendy Erskine, Nicole Flattery, Yan Ge, Sinead Gleeson, David Hayden, Arja Kajermo, Eimear McBride, Lisa McInerney, Belinda McKeon, Adrian McKinty, Danielle McLaughlin, Peter Murphy, Stuart Neville, Louise O’Neill, Sheila Purdy, Elske Rahill, Sally Rooney and Kit de Waal.
Edited by Lucy Caldwell, published by Faber.
Out May 1.
I have a short story in this beauty, ‘Alfredo Arreguin’s World of Wonders’, from Cave Moon Press. It also includes a story by the master of the short story form Raymond Carver and a poem by Tess Gallagher (Carver’s wife) – honoured!
You can buy it and read more about the book here.
Paul McVeigh 