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Free Event August 12th Belfast

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Award-winning novelist and playwright Paul McVeigh is no stranger to producing anthologies such as The 32

Following the success of Belfast Stories which he co-edited, McVeigh has delivered once again with The 32, described as an ‘intimate and illuminating collection of memoires and essays that celebrates workingclass voices from the island of Ireland’. A number of contributors from the book will participate in the Scribes event, chaired by the book’s editor Paul McVeigh.

Without these working-class voices, without the vital reflection of real lives or role models for working-class readers and writers, literature will be poorer. We will all be poorer. 

This event is hosted by Stories@theDuncairn, a volunteer-led, community literary project, in partnership with the Greater New Lodge Community Festival and Féile an Phobail. All welcome!

You can read here.


Ireland: A literary Invitation

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I’ve edited a new anthology for my German publisher, Verlag Wagenbach. It’s called ‘Ireland/Irland: A Literary Invitation‘ and it is an anthology of short works (and a little poetry) from all over Ireland – acting like a fictional travel guide. There’s new work from Darran Anderson, Jan Carson and Riley Johnston, with new and classic stories and book extracts from Kevin Barry, Evelyn Conlon, Rob Doyle, Liam O’Flaherty, Dave Lordan, Frank O’Connor, Eilis Ní Dhuibhne, Kerri Ní Dochartaigh, and a bit from The Good Son (they are my publishers, they insisted!).

There’s been a wonderful review in the German Newspaper ‘Süddeutsche Zeitung’.

Irland. Eine literarische Einladung

“…this book prepares you better for a visit to Ireland – including Northern Ireland – than most travel guides can. Because at its core it is always about attitudes on the island, about the wounds of division, the consequences of Brexit, about the effects of economic upswings and declines of recent times. It is about attachment to one’s homeland against the background of a desertification of rural areas, which one may find picturesque as a tourist. In the stories, current attitudes to life meet and create friction. Reflects the everyday life of the people – and what Ireland and Northern Ireland stand for today.” Irland. Eine literarische Einladung published by Verlag Klaus Wagenbach

Excellent Review of The 32

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“The 32 voices in this anthology are truly diverse, culled from all corners of our island.” 

A wonderful review of The 32 in The Irish Independent.

“The 32 is an insightful, funny and touching collection, with a range of voices and viewpoints that must be heard.”

You can read the whole interview here.

Podcast: RTE interview with me, Neil Hegarty and Emma Donoghue on Queer Love anthology

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Paul McVeigh, Emma Donoghue and Neil Hegarty have come together as editor and contributors to a new book, Queer Love: An Anthology of Irish Fiction, published byThe Munster Literature Centre.

As well as talking about their own stories, RTÉ Arena asks the trio to choose a work by another that was pivotal in their lives as young gay people – listen above. 

You can listen here.

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More Queer Love – Books Ireland Review

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“Ireland is more than one voice and in Queer Love, edited by Paul McVeigh, we see more than one Ireland. Love is a beautiful thing—especially in the hands of familiar writers like John Boyne, Emma Donoghue and Colm Tóbín—but in this anthology of short stories are new writers and new voices; it’s this combination which lends the collection its charm. Paul McVeigh steers the collection through our history, from a time of secrecy to the new freedoms of growing up gay in an era of the Yes vote.”

Delighted with this review in Books Ireland and you can it read it in full here.

You can buy the book here.

‘Queer Love’ Reviewed in The Irish Times

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‘Queer Love’ Reviewed in The Irish Times

The Queer Love anthology ‘demonstrates why queer writers excel at writing’ according to poet/professor Sean Hewitt in The Irish Times.

Queer Love seeks to go some way to redress the lack of acknowledgement of the LGBTQI+ community in Irish literary anthologies, with a mixture of established writers of international standing, writers who have been making a splash in recent years and new emerging writers. The anthology has a mixture of previously published stories, newly commissioned work and those entered through our call out. Featuring stories by John Boyne, Emma Donoghue, Mary Dorcey, Neil Hegarty, James Hudson, Emer Lyons, Jamie O’Connell, Colm Tóibín, Declan Toohey, and Shannon Yee.

You can buy it here.

Queer Love Anthology in Irish Times

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 “Let’s fill those bookshelves in homes, libraries, and shops with more and more stories of us.”  Click to read the article.

Thanks to Martin Doyle for spreading the word about the ‘Queer Love’ anthology by Southword Editons (Southword Literary Journal / Munster Literature Centre) edited by me. This is an extended version of the foreword with contributions from Shannon Yee and Neil Hegarty. Thanks to the other contributors to the anthology John Boyne, Emma Donoghue, Mary Dorcey, James Hudson, Emer Lyons, Jamie O’Connell, Colm Toibin & Declan Toohey.

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The 32: Call Out in Irish Times

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“Are you a new or emerging writer from a working class background? Would you like to be published alongside an Impac Award-winner, a Booker Prize-winner, two Sunday Times Short Story Award-winners, a senator, playwrights and poets? What about a professional development programme with the help of leading publishers and the Irish Writers Centre.”

Read all about it in my article in The Irish Times.

You can apply here.