competition judge

Judging Word Factory Political Short Story Award

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Word Factory Political Short Story Award

In memory of Uschi Gatward 

Mentor: Jacob Ross
Judges: Sam Jordison, Amy Solis, Cathy Galvin, and Paul McVeigh
Submission window: 1 March – 31 May 23

[Writers are] there to help make sense of things, to keep notes, to bear witness, to offer a commentary and a critique, to add to the conversation, and to contribute to the permanent record.Uschi Gatward

In partnership with Writing our Legacy and Galley Beggar Press we are delighted to announce an important new mentorship to support a short story writer whose work demonstrates quality of writing with a strong political ethos. This apprenticeship has been created in memory of former Word Factory Apprentice Award winner Uschi Gatward, whose debut collection, English Magic, was published by Galley Beggar Press to critical acclaim in September 2021, the same month Uschi also received a diagnosis of cancer. Uschi’s spare writing style embraces an acute social and political awareness shaped by personal experience and observation. In her writing, and in her support of other writers, she is deeply missed.

Submission link coming soon.

J G Farrell Fiction Award Judge

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I’m judging J G Farrell Fiction Award this year – do you live in Munster?

“The J G Farrell Fiction Award is for the best opening chapter of a novel-in-progress by a writer resident in Munster. The prize includes a place on the West Cork Literary Festival’s Novel with Paul McVeighworkshop (13 – 17 July) and accommodation in Bantry.

Applicants must submit the first chapter of their novel (max 3000 words) both via email and one printed copy (double-spaced and printed on one side of the page only) by Friday 15 May. Place your name and address on a separate sheet.

Send the print copy to J G Farrell Award, West Cork Literary Festival, 13 Glengarriff Road, Bantry, Co Cork; and email a copy to sara@westcorkmusic.ie with JG Farrell Award in the subject line. Entries will only be considered if submitted in both hard copy and by email. Only one entry per person, late entries will not be accepted and entries will not be returned.

The award will be adjudicated by Paul McVeigh. His debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award and was shortlisted for many others including the Prix du Roman Cezam in France. The Good Son was also Brighton’s City Reads 2016 and was given out around the UK for World Book Night 2017. His short stories have been read on BBC Radio 3, 4 & 5, published in many journals and anthologies including The Stinging Fly, and Faber’s Being Various: New Irish Short Stories, as well as appearing on Sky Arts. His work has been translated into seven languages.

Paul has edited the Southword Journal, the Belfast Stories anthology and The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Writers which includes new work from Kevin Barry, Roddy Doyle and Lisa McInerney. He has judged many literary prizes including The Edge Hill Short Story Prize and The International Dylan Thomas Prize. He has taught his writing courses around the world including in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.”

J G Farrell was born in Liverpool and died at the age of 44, when he was swept into the sea while fishing from rocks near his home in Kilcrohane, West Cork. His book Troubles won the Faber Prize in 1971, and in 2010 it won the Lost Man Booker Prize. The Siege of Krishnapur, about the Indian Mutiny of 1957, won the 1973 Booker Prize and in 2008 it was shortlisted for the Best of Booker public vote.

J G Farrell

West Cork Literary Festival would like to thank Richard Farrell for his continued sponsorship of this award, now in its eleventh year.

 

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“The Good Son is a work of genius from a splendid writer.”
Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

Maria Edgeworth Festival

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The Maria Edgeworth Festival and society produce events celebrating the legacy of Maria Edgeworth – this is very exciting to me as I read Castle Rackrent at university. They also promote and celebrate the rich cultural and literary heritage of County Longford. This year is the 400th anniversary of the arrival of her family to Edgeworthstown. I’m delighted to be judging their short story competition (and giving out the prize at the fest), teaching a class and reading from my work.

Here’s my events…

11th May 2019

11.00 a.m. – 1.00 p.m. Short Story Workshop with Paul McVeigh (click to book)
Venue: The Old Schoolhouse, Edgeworthstown

8.00 p.m. Anniversary Celebration (click to book)
Venue: The Manor Church, Edgeworthstown
Poetry and Short Story Readings, featuring Nuala O’Connor and Paul McVeigh
Story & Song with Aidan O’Hara
Music and song with Eleanor Quaine and Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann.
Presentation of prizes to competition winners.
Refreshments served

Check out the rest of the events here…

“I devoured it in a day, but I’ve thought about it for many, many more. ”
Bailey’s Prize-winner Lisa McInerney
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

Interview w/ BBC National Short Story Award

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On the day of the ceremony on BBC Radio 4 Front Row I go behind the scenes of the BBC National Short Story Award with one of its founders and BBC Radio Books Editor Di Speirs. Find out all you need to know about the judging process in Irish Times Culture.

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/behind-the-scenes-at-the-bbc-national-short-story-award-1.3644969

“Over the last few years I’ve worked with a number of literary awards and prizes, and it’s been an education. The behind-the-scenes processes have varied quite significantly. To illustrate with one example; for the £30,000 International Dylan Thomas Prize we read the longlist of twelve books then re-read our chosen shortlist of six, for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize we didn’t read the longlist only the five collections on the shortlist, for the Seán Ó Faoláin International Short Story Prize I was the only judge and reader, tackling around 750 short stories.

This year I was asked to be an ambassador for the BBC National Short Story Award. I first worked with the award a few years back for an event at the London Short Story Festival, which I co-founded and programmed. Now in its 13th year, the award has become a landmark on the short story landscape in the UK and internationally. I have long been a fan of their excellent website, for podcasts and recordings of previous winners and specially commissioned short stories from the best writers in the form. On that note, a little known astonishing fact, BBC Radio 4 is the world’s biggest single commissioner of short stories, attracting audiences of over a million listeners to short fiction.

Due to its unique and powerful position, at times, questions are asked about access to the BBC’s short story feast. As I watched the twitter reaction to the news of the fifth all-female shortlist and the issues raised re its selection process, I realised there were some questions even I had about the way the award worked.

I used my role as ambassador to gain an interview with Di Speirs, founding judge of the award and BBC’s editor of books, who has gone into detail about every step of the judging process, and shares her love for the short story form.”

Head here to read the interview. image.jpg

What makes a prize-winning short story?

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I’m currently reading for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Last year, as judge of THE SEÁN Ó FAOLÁIN INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY PRIZE, I read over 800 short stories. Here’s the winning story read by the author Louise Nealon. Listen to it and see if you can figure out why I chose it.

And if you fancy submitting this year you have until July 31 (I’m judging again).

You can also join my Online Advanced Short Story Clinic here.

 

PaulMcVeigh short story

Winner of The Polari Prize & The McCrea Literary Award
Co-Founder London Short Story Festival
Associate Director at Word Factory
Judge: Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2018

Judge: Edge Hill Prize Longlist Revealed

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Edge Hill

The longlist for 2018 Edge Hill Short Story Prize has been revealed. This is the second of the three international prizes I’m judging this year; having judged The Dylan Thomas Prize (culminating two weeks ago) and, upcoming & currently open for entries, The Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition. 

I’m so looking forward to reading the best short story collections out in the last year and discussing them wit the other judges.

Here is the longlist for the £10,000 prize…

Kelly Creighton – Bank Holiday Hurricane (Doire Press)
Agnieszka Dale – Fox Season (Jantar Publishing)
Lucy Durneen – Wild Gestures (MidnightSun Publishing)
Tessa Hadley – Bad Dreams (Jonathan Cape)
Sarah Hall – Madame Zero (Faber & Faber)
M John Harrison – You Should Come With Me Now (Comma Press)
David Hayden — Darker with the Lights On (Little Island Press)
James Kelman – That was a Shiver (Canongate)
Alison MacLeod – All the Beloved Ghosts (Bloomsbury)
Sean O’Reilly – Levitation (Stinging Fly Press)
Adam O’Riordan – The Burning Ground (Bloomsbury)
Tom Rachman – Basket Of Deplorables (Riverrun)
Leone Ross – Come Let us Sing Anyway (Peepal Tree Press)
Nicholas Royle – Ornithology (Confingo)
Eley Williams – Attrib (Influx Press)

You can head over the website where they are profiling all the longlisted authors in the Meet the Writers section.

Cork World Book Festival

The Good Son – buy here

Winner of The Polari Prize & The McCrea Literary Award
“I devoured it in a day, but I’ve thought about it for many, many more. ”
Bailey’s Prize-winner Lisa McInerney
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

 

Judging Dylan Thomas Prize 2018

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2018 International Dylan Thomas Prize

I’m honoured to join the judging the panel for this prestigious international literary prize – the world’s largest for young writers. You can read more about it below or by clicking here. 

Distinguished novelists, playwrights, writers, a poet and a festival director make up the judging panel for the 2018 International Dylan Thomas Prize in partnership with Swansea University, one of the world’s most prestigious prizes for young writers.

Dylan Thomas Prize

The £30,000 prize, which opened for entries on 4 September 2017, is awarded to the best eligible published literary work in English, written by an author aged 39 or under.

‌‌Launched in 2006, the annual International Dylan Thomas Prize is aimed at encouraging raw creative talent worldwide.  Past winners have come from Wales, England, the USA, Vietnam and Australia, and include: Fiona McFarlane (The High Places [Farrar, Straus, Giroux (US) and Sceptre (UK)], Max Porter (Grief is the Thing with Feathers [Faber & Faber]), Joshua Ferris (To Rise Again at a Decent Hour [Penguin]); Claire Vaye Watkins (Battleborn [Granta]); Maggie Shipstead (Seating Arrangements [HarperCollins]); and Rachel Trezise (Fresh Apples [Parthian]).

The judging panel for the 2018 International Dylan Thomas Prize:

•    Namita Gokhale:  writer, publisher and festival director; author of sixteen books; co-founder and co-director of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival;  Director of Yatra Books.

•   Kurt Heinzelman:  poet, translator and scholar; professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

•    Paul McVeigh:  playwright, director and award winning writer; associate director of Word Factory; founder of the London Short Story Festival.

•    Dai Smith CBE (chair of panel):  historian and writer on Welsh arts and culture; Honorary Raymond Williams Research Chair in the Cultural History of Wales at Swansea University.

•    Rachel Trezise:  award winning novelist and playwright.

Professor Dai Smith, Honorary Raymond Williams Research Chair in the Cultural History of Wales at Swansea University said:

“The panel of judges assembled for 2018 under my chairmanship bring to their formidable task experience of Wales and the world, of the practice of creative writing in prose and poetry, of drama and communication, of readers’ expectations and writers’ risk taking, and, of course, of the multifariousness of Dylan himself. We have a hard act to follow after last year’s panel chose Fiona McFarlane’s book of short stories, The High Places, but the entrants for 2018 are already queuing up for the amazing accolade of being acclaimed the winner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize in Swansea in May next year.”

The winner will be announced at the final awards ceremony in Swansea University’s Great Hall, Wales, on 10 May 2018.

That Killer First Page – Lancaster May 7th

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PaulMcVeigh short story‘That Killer First Page’ – my class on that crucial short story opening, goes to Lancaster on May 7th. You’ll find out what competition judges and journal editors look for in a short story and how to avoid the rejection pile.
 
This class has sold out in Bath, Belfast, Brighton, Cork, London and Melbourne. You can book your tickets here.
Here’s the copy…

That Killer First Page 

You’ll find out what competition judges and journal editors look for in a short story and how to avoid the rejection pile. You’ll write a short piece and get feedback on that crucial story opening. In a form where every word counts, get tips on staying focused on your story and where to start the action. You’ll also look at submission opportunities; how to find them and where you should be sending your stories.

About Paul

Paul McVeigh’s debut novel ‘The Good Son’ is currently Brighton’s City Reads and was shortlisted for The Guardian’s ‘Not the Booker Prize’. His short fiction has been published in journals and anthologies and been commissioned by BBC Radio 4. He has read his work for BBC Radio 5, the International Conference on the Short Story in Vienna, Belfast Book Festival, Wroclaw Short Story Festival and Cork International Short Story Festival the last 2 years. He has represented short stories in the UK for The British Council in Mexico and Turkey.

Paul’s short story blog shares writing opportunities and advice has had over 1 million hits. He’s interviewed short story masters like Kevin Barry, Elizabeth McCrackin and George Saunders. Paul is co-founder of London Short Story Festival and Associate Director at Word Factory, the UK’s leading short story literary salon. He is also been a reader and judge for national and international short story competitions. Completely Novel says that Paul is one of the 8 resources that will help you write a prize-winning short story.

Reviews for his writing:

“Heartbreaking..gripping” The Guardian

“A work of genius.” Pulizter Prize-winning short story writer Robert Olen Butler.

“Absolutely loved it.” Jackie Kay

“Beautiful and very moving.” Booker shortlisted Alison Moore
“Its such a clever story, gentle, poignant, emotionally straight as a dart.” Vanessa Gebbie
“(one of) Ireland’s most exciting and talented writers.  Incredibly moving; poignant but utterly real, funny and beautifully observant.” BBC Radio 4
“Paul McVeigh’s story stands out. Funny, moving, poignant. Brilliant.” Metro Newspaper

Comments for this class:

“Practical, insightful application of knowledge to writing.”
“Fantastic! Practical, targeted advice like this is wonderful!”
“This was my fav course yet! Informative, entertaining, and engaging. Hard to beat!”

Places are limited to 20. For unwaged discount please email paulmcveighwriter@live.co.uk