Delighted that my Sunday Miscellany story, ‘Queen of the South’, has made it into print with this wonderful anthology edited by producer Sarah Binchy. Can’t wait to go through this and read all the stories from some of my favourite writers.
This weekend, Sunday Miscellany on RTE Radio 1, dips into their 2023 and 2024 archive from the Belfast Book Festival. Among the five chosen is my story ‘Queen of the South’.
The programme…
Café by Wendy Erskine
Where Are You From? by John Toal
Swift Boxes by Neil Hegarty
Postscript and The Map, two poems by Marie Howe
Queen of the South by Paul McVeigh
with music from Eimear McGeown, Donogh Hennessy, Jack Warnock, and Trú
You can also get my radio short story collection, I Hear You, out now.
I have 5 min memoir piece recorded for RTÉ One’s Sunday Miscellany a couple of weeks ago. You can listen to it here.
“I am in Dumfries.
‘It’s a smallish town,’ Martin says, as we walk to the pub, ‘its bid to be seen as a city, failed.’
‘Oh dear,’ I say.
I don’t tell him that I’d read the nickname of the city is the Queen of the South. I’ll save it for later as there’s an easy laugh to be had, and as it’s my first visit to his, we may have some awkward moments that need lightening….”
I hope you like it!
In #the32 “Working-class clichés are dismantled” says the New Statesman
You can read the full review here.
We have our first live event for the anthology although it’s not out until next year. You can pre-order here.
Here’s the blurb from Cork!
Martin Doyle edits the books section of The Irish Times in print and online. He joined the paper in 2007, having previously been on the staff of The Times for five years and serving as Editor of The Irish Post in London.
Eoin McNamee has written two novellas, The Last of Deeds, which was shortlisted for the 1989 Irish Times/Aer Lingus Award for Irish Literature, and Love in History. His novels include Resurrection Man, later made into a film, The Blue Tango, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize, and Orchid Blue.
Rosaleen McDonagh is a writer, activist and performer. She is a frequent contributor to Sunday Miscellany, RTE Radio 1 and is a columnist for The Irish Times. She is a member of Aosdána and worked on gender based violence for over ten years with Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre.
Lynn Ruane is a social activist and politician who has served as a member of Seanad Éireann since April 2016. Before entering politics, she developed community drug services and community initiatives over 15 years in Tallaght and Dublin’s Canal Communities.. Her first book, People Like Me, won non-fiction book of the year at the Irish Book Awards.
Paul McVeigh has written comedy, essays, flash fiction, a novel, plays and short stories, and his work has been performed on radio, stage and television, and published in seven languages. The Good Son is his first novel.
Working-class stories are not always tales of the underprivileged and dispossessed.
Common People is a collection of essays, poems and memoir written in celebration, not apology: these are narratives rich in barbed humour, reflecting the depth and texture of working-class life, the joy and sorrow, the solidarity and the differences, the everyday wisdom and poetry of the woman at the bus stop, the waiter, the hairdresser.
Here, Kit de Waal brings together thirty-three established and emerging writers who invite you to experience the world through their eyes, their voices loud and clear as they reclaim and redefine what it means to be working class.
Features original pieces from Damian Barr, Malorie Blackman, Lisa Blower, Jill Dawson, Louise Doughty, Stuart Maconie, Chris McCrudden, Lisa McInerney, Paul McVeigh, Daljit Nagra, Dave O’Brien, Cathy Rentzenbrink, Anita Sethi, Tony Walsh, Alex Wheatle and more.
The TLC’s Guardian-recommended Literary Adventure writing retreat 2020 in September, at the beautiful Casa Ana in the Alpujarra region of Spain, has sold out 6 months in advance.
Hope to see you there.
Two bits of exciting news – ‘The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices’, which I’m editing, has received a huge donation of £3,000 from the wonderful people behind The Spaniard Belfast, Muriel’s Kitchen, Panama Belfast and new owners of The Chester Bar.
I have also secured a piece of writing by Lyra McKee who had agreed to be in the anthology before her tragic death. You can read all about it in the Belfast Telegraph article by Claire McNeilly.
“I met Lyra through Anna Burns, the Booker Prize winner, and the three of us had lunch together – three working class Ardoyne authors from three different generations,” he said.
“She told me her book was coming out and I spoke to her about being part of the anthology – that was before her book deal – and then, heartbreakingly, the tragedy happened.
“I recently talked to her publishers, who are bringing out a new book from her next month, and after I explained the back story, they are now giving me an unpublished piece of her writing to include, which is really amazing.”
Please pledge here to help make this book happen: unbound.com/books/32/.
I’m a wee bit excited to be in two anthologies released this week.
‘Being Various’ is the latest in the Faber series of Irish short story anthologies. Edited by Lucy Caldwell, it contains my new short story ‘The Swimmers’.
The other is ‘Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers’ edited by it de Waal. It has my first piece of memoir called ‘Night of the Hunchback’.
I hope you enjoy them. 🙂
It’s finally here! My first memoir piece ‘Night of the Hunchback’ is published in Kit de Waal’s anthology of working class voices ‘Common People’. Here are the other authors included…
Damian Barr
Malorie Blackman OBE
Lisa Blower
Jill Dawson
Louise Doughty
Stuart Maconie
Chris McCrudden
Lisa McInerney
Daljit Nagra
Dr Dave O’Brien
Cathy Rentzenbrink
Anita Sethi
Adelle Stripe
Tony Walsh
Alex Wheatle
Pick up your copy soon…
Paul McVeigh 