The Residency is lucky to have the wonderful Kirsty Logan join as one of the mentors. I met Kirsty at a wonderful event on the short story for BBC Radio 3 (alongside George Saunders) and we met again recently at Cork International Short Story Festival.
Kirsty Logan’s latest books are the story collection No & Other Love Stories and the memoir The Unfamiliar: A Queer Motherhood Memoir. She is also the author of three novels, three story collections, two chapbooks, a 10-hour audio play for Audible, several collaborative projects with musicians and visual artists, and around 300 short stories. Her books have won the Lambda, Polari, Saboteur, Scott and Gavin Wallace awards. Her work has been optioned for TV, developed for film, adapted for stage, recorded for radio and podcasts, exhibited in galleries and distributed from a vintage Wurlitzer cigarette machine. She is currently collaborating on several projects across film, TV, collaborative chapbooks, and performance.
More information on the residency is coming soon with a little more found here.
Applications are *CLOSED* for the Paul McVeigh Residency. Now in its third year, previous winners have gone on to get agents, book deals and win literary prizes.
The residency will take place near Glengariff, in its stunning forest park, West Cork, from Sunday 25th January until Sunday 1st February 2026. The opportunity is for emerging writers of fiction and non-fiction aged 21 and over living in Ireland and the UK.
What’s new this year? There are three places in total; two available in the cottage and one in the detached out building. Before applying please read the detailed description of the property below.
There is a £20 application fee which entitles ALL applicants to three professional development sessions:
An hour-long group zoom session on writing a query letter with Sam Blake and Maria McHale, Directors of Writers Ink.
An industry session by Writers and Artists Yearbook team on ‘How to Pitch Your Book’. This 30-minute session will look at ways to approach the challenge of summing up a whole book in so few words, discuss pitch research, and share examples of successful pitches that you can use as a model for your own. We’ll also discuss how pitches can differ depending on the kind of book you are writing (fiction genres, memoir and non-fiction), as well as how the pitch functions in the context of your submission package. The session will end with a brief Q&A, so come ready with your questions!
A 30 min group zoom session on reading your work live with actor Tony Flynn.
THE WINNERS
Pre Care:
The three writers will have an online session academic/author, Yvonne Battle-Felton, to discuss how to make the most of the residency.
Standard class travel provided.
Welcome
Anna Burtt and Paul McVeigh will greet the three winners to settle them into their accommodation and answer any questions. There will be a welcome dinner and drinks.
The winners will be taken on a trip to the beautiful harbour town of Bantry to visit Bantry Bookshop where they will get one-on-one reading recommendations, receive €50 book tokens to spend in-shop and a special gift from the shop.
There will be a trip to Cork city to meet literary festival director, Pat Cotter, to talk about the industry and the festival circuit.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner provided – family style. Basic tea and coffee provided. Alcohol, food outside of meals, special food items must be covered by the individual.
AFTERCARE
1. Anna Burtt will give each writer a half-hour publishing consultancy by zoom.
2. Pervious residency winner, Patrick Holloway, will give a group zoom session on his experience as a debut novelist – getting an agent and a publishing deal.
3. All three residency winners will also receive a copy of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook and a bundle of W&A Writing Companion Guides. They’ll receive a year’s free subscription to the Writers & Artists Listings Subscription (a digital database of publishing industry contacts), which also includes access to Agent Pages – individual profiles for over 500 literary agents – to help writers personalise their approaches when submitting to literary agents.
4. The winners will get membership for Writing.ie – a platform for the writing community filled with advice and resources.
Entry Eligibility & How to apply
Send an email to pmcveighresidency@gmail.com attaching 1000 word extract of your prose – fiction and non-fiction accepted. Include in the body of the email a short bio outlining your publication history, if any.
*We are not looking for poetry at this time, thank you.
2. You must be available on the full dates of the residency – no changes possible.
3. Applicants must be 21 or over at time of residency.
4. Please put in your subject heading UK, or Ireland (if on the island of Ireland).
5. You can have had some short works published but not a solo book. (Poetry pamphlet/collections and self-published excepted)
6. Deadline: 30 November 2025
7. Please attach proof of payment. If not available, please provide date and time of payment.
7. Judges are Cathy Galvin, Paul McVeigh and previous residency winner Hilary White.
Longlist announced Friday December 5th.
Shortlist announced Friday December 12th.
Winners announced Friday December 19th.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
The two bedrooms in the cottage are in its converted attic. Three important things to consider; firstly, the short staircase to the attic very study but steep. Secondly, the bedrooms are adjoining. Thirdly, there is only one toilet/shower for you both to share and it is downstairs.
If the stairs are off-putting, the ground floor has a daybed that extends into a double. The out building is single floored but there is a slight grass incline to access it.
You are out in the countryside in the middle of national park with beautiful scenery and walks. The nearest village is Glengariff, a 10-15 min drive, and not walkable. I will be staying nearby and will have a car for excursions etc.
PLEASE CONSIDER THE ABOVE CAREFULLY BEFORE APPLYING. Questions to pmcveighresidency@gmail.com
This event was recorded at BBC 3’s Free Thinking Festival last weekend. It is a highlight of my career to share a stage with one of my writing heroes – George Saunders. You can listen to it here for the next 30 days. I also got to interview George after the event so look out for that.
As part of the festival Jenn Ashworth, Kirsty Logan and myself write some (very) short stories and you can listen to them here. The stories were commissioned by New Writing North and Word Factory.
Here’s what BBC3 said:
George Saunders, Kirsty Logan, Jenn Asworth and Paul McVeigh discuss writing fiction short and long with presenter Matthew Sweet.
Acclaimed American short story writer George Saunders talks about travelling in time to explore Abraham Lincoln’s life during the American Civil War when the President’s beloved young son died. These historical events have inspired Saunder’s first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, whilst his short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, McSweeeney’s and GQ.
He compares notes on the art of the short story with Paul McVeigh, Jenn Ashworth and Kirsty Logan, who’ve been commissioned by New Writing North and the Word Factory to write Flash Fiction on this year’s Free Thinking Festival theme of The Speed of Life.
Kirsty Logan is the author of books including The Gracekeepers and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales and a range of short stories.
Jenn Ashworth’s books include Fell, The Friday Gospels, A Kind of Intimacy and Cold Light and a selection of short stories.
Paul McVeigh has won prizes including the Polari prize for his debut novel The Good Son. Born in Belfast he is co-founder of the London Short Story Festival, writes a blog and has represented the UK at events in Mexico and Turkey.
Recorded in front of an audience as part of Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead.
The stories commissioned for the Festival are available to listen to as an Arts and Ideas podcast available for 30 days.
The Speed of Life – Short Stories: Jenn Ashworth, Paul McVeigh & Kirsty Logan
Stories on the theme of this year’s Free Thinking Festival, commissioned by New Writing North and Word Factory.
Last weekend I travelled to Gateshead to record a short story for BBC Radio 3 along with Jenn Ashworth and Kirsty Logan. You can listen to or download these 3 short stories (total 25mins) for the next 25 days only on BBC IPlayer here.
Last Free Tickets Released Tomorrow Feb 17 for George Saunders, Jenn Ashworth, Kirsty Logan & me talking to Matthew Sweet at BBC 3 Free Thinking Festival. Here’s the information from the website…
With US author George Saunders, Jenn Ashworth, Paul McVeigh and Kirsty Logan
Acclaimed American short story writer George Saunders talks to Radio 3 presenter Matthew Sweet about travelling in time to explore Abraham Lincoln’s life during the American Civil War when the President’s beloved young son died. These historical events have inspired Saunder’s first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo, whilst his short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, McSweeney’s and GQ.
He compares notes on the art of fiction long and short with Paul McVeigh, Jenn Ashworth and Kirsty Logan, who’ve been commissioned by New Writing North and the WordFactory to write Flash Fiction on the Festival theme of The Speed of Life.
Kirsty Logan is the author of books including The Gracekeepers and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales and a range of short stories.
Jenn Ashworth’s books include Fell, The Friday Gospels, A Kind of Intimacy and Cold Light and a selection of short stories.
Paul McVeigh has won prizes including the Polari prize for his debut novel The Good Son. Born in Belfast he is co-founder of the London Short Story Festival, writes a blog and has represented the UK at events in Mexico and Turkey.
You can hear the specially commissioned stories for the Festival on the free Radio 3 headphones available to borrow in Sage foyer.
Matthew Sweet is author of Inventing the Victorians, Shepperton Babylon and The West End Front. He is a columnist for Art Quarterly and Newsweek and presents Free Thinking and Sound of Cinema on BBC Radio 3 and The Philosopher’s Arms on BBC Radio 4. He was series consultant on the Showtime drama Penny Dreadful and played a moth from the planet Vortis in An Adventure in Space and Time on BBC2.
In association with New Writing North and the WordFactory.
For your information…
A second batch of tickets will be released at 12noon on Friday 17 February.
A restricted number of tickets will be available on the day on a first come first served basis.
Please take your seats 10 minutes prior to the event start time otherwise you may lose your place.
Paul McVeigh 