I’m honoured to be attending the Short Forms in the Global Literary Marketplace Symposium on April 7.
The event is at the Queen Mary University of London, Mile Ed Campus, 2.45 – 4.05.
Panel 4 – The literary marketplace (chair: Rehana Ahmed)
I’ll be joining…
Please come along on World Book Day, Tuesday 6th March, Armagh City Library, at 7.30pm.
Joining me will be Tony Flynn from TV’s ‘Blue Lights’ who will read one of my stories.
For free tickets p=lease email: armagh.library@librariesni.org.uk
‘I Hear You’ will be published on March 3rd and you can pre-order here.
Tickets are selling fast for the London launch if ‘I Hear You’ at The Word Factory on March 21st. This will be a wonderful chance to celebrate with friends, old and new, and I’ll be back to my short story home. It has been too long. Thrilled that the brilliant Kit de Waal will be reading and leading a literary conversation with me.
The launch is at the beautiful Georgian venue, Bloomsbury’s Music Room. Hope to see you there and details – including how to pre-order a copy of the book – here.
*PLEASE NOTE BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE NIGHT BY CASH ONLY*
Come join us for the Belfast-launch of the award-winning Belfast author Paul McVeigh’s BBC-commissioned short story collection. I Hear You is made up of 10 linked stories, plus an additional three – all of which were commissioned by, and read out on, BBC Radio 4, plus BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle.
Get your free tickets here.
I’ll be visiting The Outing Festival at the Inn at Dromoland, Co. Clare, Ireland.
I’ll be reading from The Good Son and talking to Kitty Murphy on Saturday 15th February.
“An LGBT+ Weekend like no other!” The Outing Festival is a fusion of music, comedy, ceilí bands, queer arts, and the best of Ireland’s and International performers, drag artists and DJs plus so much more for over 10 Years”
Donal Ryan has rapidly become one of Irelands most celebrated authors. Join Donal as he talks about his new book, Heart, Be at Peace, and his career, with author Paul McVeigh.
Donal Ryan, from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, is the author of six number one-bestselling novels and a short story collection. He has won several awards for his fiction, including the European Union Prize for Literature, the Guardian First Book Award and four Irish Book Awards, and has been shortlisted for several more, including the Costa Book Award and the Dublin International Literary Award. He was nominated for the Booker Prize in 2013 for his debut novel, The Spinning Heart, and again in 2018, for his fourth novel, From A Low and Quiet Sea. In 2016 his debut novel, The Spinning Heart, was voted Irish Book of the Decade. In 2021 he became the first Irish writer to be awarded the Jean Monnet Prize for European Literature. His work has been adapted for stage and screen and translated into over twenty languages. A law graduate and former civil servant, Donal has lectured in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick since 2014 and lives in Castletroy with his wife Anne Marie and their two children. His seventh novel, Heart, Be At Peace, will be published worldwide in August 2024.
Paul McVeigh’s debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize, The McCrea Literary Award and was shortlisted for many others including the Prix de Roman Cezam. His short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, journals and newspapers, as well as, on BBC Radio 3, 4 & 5, and Sky Arts. He edited the Queer Love anthology and The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices. His writing has been translated into seven languages.
His collection of short stories written for BBC Radio, I Hear You, will be published by Salt Publishing in March 2025.
| Date | Wednesday October 16th |
| Venue | Rathfarnham Castle |
| Admission | €10 / €8 |
| Time | 7pm |
DUNCAIRN ARTS CENTRE, DUNCAIRN AVENUE
Featuring Paul McVeigh, Bernie McGill & Jan Carson
Paul McVeigh’s short stories have been in numerous anthologies including ‘Being Various’, ‘The Art of the Glimpse’ and ‘Common People’. They have also been printed in ‘The London Magazine’, ‘The Stinging Fly’ and ‘The Irish Times’, on radio at BBC Radio 3, 4, 5; RTE 1, and on Sky TV. His ten-part short story series, ‘The Circus’, appeared on BBC Radio 4 in 2023. Paul co-founded the London Short Story Festival and is associate director of Word Factory, ‘the UK’s national organisation for excellence in the short story’ The Guardian. Paul’s debut novel, ‘The Good Son’, won The McCrea Literary Award and The Polari First Novel Prize. His writing has been translated into seven languages.
Bernie McGill is the 2023 winner of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize for her collection This Train is For (No Alibis Press). She is the author of two novels: The Watch House (nominated for the Ireland European Union Prize for Literature in 2019) and The Butterfly Cabinet (2010) and of one further short story collection, Sleepwalkers (2013). Her work has appeared in a number of anthologies and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4. Bernie works as a Mentor for the Irish Writers’ Centre and is an Associate Fellow with the Royal Literary Fund.
Jan Carson’s critically acclaimed writings explore themes related to identity, place and belonging, but also to angst and alienation, in such works as The Fire Starters (winner EU Prize for Literature, 2019) and The Raptures. She is also very funny! About her latest collection of short stories, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses, the Irish Times said: ‘Long after the reader has closed the book, these tales linger in the mind: vivid, original and moving.’
Chaired by Marnie Kennedy, Shared Reading facilitator. 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. Café at the Duncairn
open for tea, coffee and refreshments. Wine Reception. All welcome!
IONAD EALAÍON DHÚN CAIRN, ASCAILL DHÚN CAIRN
Beidh Paul McVeigh, Bernie McGill & Jan Carson ag glacadh páirte ann
Bhí gearrscéalta Paul McVeigh ina lán duanairí, ina measc, ‘Being Various’, ‘The Art of the Glimpse’ agus ‘Common People’. Bhí siad clóite in ‘The London Magazine’, in ‘The Stinging Fly’ agus san ‘The Irish Times’, ar an raidió ar BBC 3, 4, 5; RTE 1, agus Sky TV chomh maith. Bhí a shraith gearrscéalta dheich gcuid ‘The Circus’ ar BBC Radio 4 in 2023. Chomhbhunaigh Paul Féile Gearrscéalta Londan agus is stiúrthóir comhlach Word Factory é, ‘the UK’s national organisation for excellence in the short story’ The Guardian. Bhain an chéad úrscéal ag Paul, ‘The Good Son’, Duais Litríochta McCrea agus Duais Polari don Chéad Úrscéal. Tá a chuid scríbhneoireachta aistrithe i seacht dteanga.
Is buaiteoir Duais Gearrscéalta Edge Hill 2023 í Bernie McGill dá bailiúchán This Train is For (No Alibis Press). Is údar dhá úrscéal í: ‘The Watch House’ (a bhí ainmnithe do Dhuais Litríochta na hÉireann an Aontais Eorpaigh in 2019) agus ‘The Butterfly Cabinet’ (2010) agus bailiúchán gearrscéalta eile, ‘Sleepwalkers’ (2013). Bhí a saothaoir ina lán duanairí, agus bhí siad craolta ar BBC Radio 3 agus ar
Radio 4. Oibríonn Bernie mar Mheantóir d’Ionad Scríbhneoirí na hÉireann agus is Comhalta Comhlach leis an Chiste Litríochta Ríoga í.
Pléann scríbhneoireachtaí Jan Carson, a fuair moladh ó na léirmheastóirí, téamaí a bhaineann le féiniúlacht, le háiteanna, le muintearas, ach le himní agus le coimhthíos chomh maith, i saothair dá cuid amhail The Fire Starters (buaiteoir Dhuais Litríochta an AE, 2019) agus The Raptures. Bíonn sí iontach greannmhar fosta! Mhaígh an Irish Timesfaoina bailiúchán gearrscéalta is déanaí, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses: ‘Long after the reader has closed the book, these tales linger in the mind: vivid, original and moving.’
Beidh Marnie Kennedy, Éascaitheoir Léitheoireachta Roinnte, ina cathaoirleach air.
Beidh an t-imeacht seo arna óstáil ag Stories@theDuncairn, tionscadal litríochta pobail
atá á threorú ag saorálaithe, i gcomhar le Féile Pobail Mhórcheantar an Lóiste Úir agus
Féile an Phobail. Beidh an Café in Ionad Dhún Cairn oscailte agus beidh tae, caife agus
sólaistí ar fáil. Fáiltiú Fíona. Beidh fáilte roimh chách!
Group Discussion: The Good Son by Paul McVeigh
Fri 23 Feb 2024 3:30 PM – 4:45 PM, Chichester Library Belfast
Paul McVeigh is an author and writer of plays, short stories, comedy performed on stage, radio and television. His debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize, The McCrea Literary Award and was shortlisted for many others including the Prix de Roman Cezam.
‘The Belfast author’s spirited debut delivers a real sense of a broken family living in a broken society… well drawn and affecting… poignant… convincing… alarmingly real.’ The Irish Times
‘A first novel of beautiful generosity, poignant in the delicate manner in which he evokes the brutality of an era. A striking fresco, mixing historical upheavals and hardships of a family shattered.’ Le Monde
Winner of The Polari First Novel Prize
‘A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.’ Donal Ryan
‘Raw, funny and endlessly entertaining’. Jonathan Coe
Celebrating the Short Story with Wendy Erskine & Bernie McGill
in conversation with …Paul McVeigh
Wednesday 27th July at 1.30pm Market Theatre, Armagh.
Wendy Erskine’s first collection, Sweet Home, (2018) was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize, and won the 2020 Butler Literary Award. In her new collection, Dance Move, we meet characters who are looking to wrest control of their lives, only to find themselves defined by moments in their past. In these stories – as in real life – the funny, the tender and the devastating go hand in hand.
“Truly magnificent. These stories buzz with life and verve and humour. A collection that reminds us how glorious the short story can be.” Danielle McLaughlin
Bernie McGill
Bernie McGill has written two novels, The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House, which was shortlisted for the 2019 Irish/European Union Prize for Literature, a collection of short stories, Sleepwalkers, and two plays, The Weather Watchers, and The Haunting of Helena Blunden. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for numerous awards and is anthologised widely. Her latest collection of short stories is This Train is For, published by
No Alibis, June 2022.
“[Bernie] McGill writes about life, love and telegraphy with a poet’s clarity.” The Sunday Times
For the full festival programme go here.
You can still listen to my short story ‘Dady Christmas’ on BBC Radio 4 here.
Winner of The Polari First Novel Prize
‘A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.’ Donal Ryan
‘Raw, funny and endlessly entertaining’. Jonathan Coe
The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices
At Áras Uí Chonghaile, 15th June 7pm. ‘Our panel will disucss the challenges they faced as working-class writers and their journey to getting their voices heard in the literary world.’
Registerinfo@arasuichonghaile.com
Me, Dr Michael Pierse and working class writer Kate Burns.
Paul McVeigh 