It sounds like all is going brilliantly in rehearsals and these pics are gorgeous. Thanks to Jimmy Fay and Lyric Theatre Belfast, the director Patrick J O Reilly and designer Tracey Lindsay. And especially actor Tony Flynn. I’ll see it at the dress run on Wednesday night (gulp!) Tickets here.
»If I had been born at the top of my street, behind the corrugated-iron border, I would have been British. Incredible to think. My whole idea of myself, the attachments made to a culture, heritage, religion, nationalism and politics are all an accident of birth. I was one street away from being born my ‘enemy’« writes Paul McVeigh, Belfast born novelist and author of ‘The Good Son’.
Have a look at the full photo essay at Burn Magazine.
Winner of The Polari First Novel Prize
‘A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.’ Donal Ryan
‘Raw, funny and endlessly entertaining’. Jonathan Coe
‘Following a successful UK tour in 2019, the bestselling, much-loved author and LGBT activist, Armistead Maupin is bringing his brand new show to Belfast.
Maupin has been blazing a trail through US popular culture since the 1970’s, when his iconic and ground-breaking series Tales of the Citywas first published as a column in the San Francisco Chronicle.
The novel series has been taking the literary world by storm ever since, and was recently adapted by Netflix into a critically acclaimed series, starring Laura Linney, Olympia Dukakis and Elliot Page.
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.
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.
I’m really looking forward to this event at Belfast Book Festival and this one will be a corker with the two authors I admire and also love spending time with. Here’s the burb!
“This new anthology of writing has been collated by Kit de Waal in response to a concern that the working-class voice is still a marginalised one.
Bringing together thirty-three contributors, Common People is a book of essays, poetry and memoir that reflects upon the diverse experiences of growing up working-class.
A celebration told through the eyes of some of our most celebrated writers and brand new as-yet-unpublished writers.
Join Kit de Waal, Paul McVeigh and Louise Doughty as they discuss writing that seeks to illuminate the voices of the many not the few.
Kit de Waal was born in Birmingham to an Irish mother and a Caribbean father. She has published two novels, My Name is Leon and The Trick to Time. My Name is Leon, her debut novel, was an international bestseller and won the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year in 2016. Her second novel, The Trick to Time, followed in April 2018. She established the Kit de Waal Creative Writing Scholarship at Birkbeck University to help improve working-class representation in the arts.
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.
Born in the East Midlands and grew up in Rutland, Louise Doughty has published ninenovels, including Black Water and Apple Tree Yard which was adapted into a BBC series. She is the author of nine novels, including Black Water which was nominated as one of the New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and Apple Tree Yard which was adapted into a BBC series starring Emily Watson. Her novels have been nominated for the Costa Novel Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction, among others. She is also the author of many radio dramas, short stories and one non-fiction book A Novel in a Year.”
8th June 2019 – 9:30am to 4:00pm
We’re pleased to be partnering with The Open University to bring a day of advice on the writing and publishing process. This full-day conference, held in the heart of Belfast, includes talks on various aspects of the writing journey from best-selling authors, a networking lunch and an informative interactive panel discussion with leading literary agents.
If you’re an aspiring writer with a manuscript and ready to submit, or simply at the beginning of your writing journey, don’t miss out on what promises to be a day essential to helping you work towards producing a publishable manuscript.
09.30-10.00: Registration and welcome teas and coffees
10.00-11.00: How to build a narrative with Paul McVeigh
11.00-11.20: Comfort break
11.20-12.20: Researching the story with Garrett Carr
12.20-13.30: Lunch break (lunch included)
13.30-14.30: Creating your protagonist with Geraldine Quigley
14.30-14.50: Comfort break
14.50-16.00: How to submit your work to agents and independent presses: practical tips from literary agent Nicola Barr and editor Patsy Horton
16.00-17.00: Reception
Congratulations Toby Binder on ‘Wee Muckers’ becoming huge photo features in The Guardian and now The Washington Post – where my introduction is quoted: “poverty, political strife and living in fear was what we had in common. And the Troubles has become this hugely enveloping, shared experience that binds those generations as much as it divides”.
An Evening with Iain Archer, Lucy Caldwell, and Lisa McGee, chaired by Paul McVeigh.
The three Seamus Heaney Centre Fellows for 2019, Iain Archer, Lucy Caldwell, and Lisa McGee will reflect on their diverse creative practices, in conversation with writer Paul McVeigh.
This is the closing event for the Writing Through Conflict symposium, hosted by the School of AEL and the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s, in partnership with National Museums NI.
Iain Archer is a Grammy nominated musician from Bangor, who has written and produced for artists such as Snow Patrol, Jake Bugg, Liam Gallagher and James Bay. He has received two Ivor Novello Awards and a third nomination. As well as his critically acclaimed solo career, Iain is a member of the band Tired Pony.
Lucy Caldwell is an award-winning Belfast-born author of three novels, several stage plays and radio dramas, and a collection of short stories. She is the editor of Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber, 2019).
Lisa McGee is a stage and screen writer from Derry, she studied Drama at Queen’s University Belfast. Her plays include The Heights, Nineteen Ninety Two, and Girls and Dolls, and Jump, which has been adapted into a film. Lisa is the acclaimed writer and creator behind the hit Channel 4 sitcom’s London Irish and Derry Girls.
Date And Time: Tue, 5 March 2019, 18:00 – 19:00
Location: Ulster Museum, Belfast BT7 1NG
The Good Son 