In #the32 “Working-class clichés are dismantled” says the New Statesman
You can read the full review here.
Great Review of The 32 in New Statesmen
memoir
The 32: Cork Short Story Festival 2020
Irish Working Class Voices: Martin Doyle, Eoin MacNamee, Rosaleen McDonagh & Lynn Ruane in conversation with Paul McVeigh
Thursday October 8th 7pm
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.
Common People only 99p on Kindle
Common People only 99p on Kindle
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.
Spanish Writing Retreat Sold Out!
Teaching at the Literary Adventure writing retreat in Spain 2020
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.
Lyra McKee piece for The 32: Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices
Lyra McKee piece for The 32: Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices
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/.
Stories in Two Anthologies
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. 🙂
Common People is Here!
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…
Proofs of ‘Common People’
And they’re off…
Heading out into the world for review are the proofs for the ‘Common People’ anthology edited by Kit de Waal. I’m delighted to have written my first piece of memoir alongside these wonderful writers…
Contributors Include:
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
The anthology is out to buy in May 2019.
I’m in ‘Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers’
Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers (edited by Kit de Waal)
Delighted to be part of this. Please pledge to Unbound.
Want to help unpublished working class writers get into print? Join Kit de Waal and her contributors to give new writers a platform…
In a recent documentary, novelist Kit de Waal asked ‘where are the working class writers?’ The answer is right here.
Inspired by a shared concern that working class voices are increasingly absent from the pages of books and newspapers, Kit de Waal has come together with Unbound and the regional writing development organisations, including New Writing North and Writing West Midlands, to do something about it.
Common People will be a collection of essays, poems and pieces of personal memoir, bringing together sixteen well-known writers from working class backgrounds with an equal number of brand new as-yet-unpublished writers from all over the UK.
These new writers will be selected by the regional writing development agencies, who will support and mentor them in the run-up to publication.
Too often, working class writers find that the hurdles they have to leap are higher and harder to cross than for writers from more affluent backgrounds. Common People will see writers who have made that leap reach back to give a helping hand to those coming up behind.
We read because we want to experience lives and emotions beyond our own, to learn, to see with others’ eyes – without new 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. Pledge for Common People and join these writers to help to make a difference.
Contributors Include:
Damian Barr
Malorie Blackman OBE
Lisa Blower
Jill Dawson
Louise Doughty
Stuart Maconie
Chris McCrudden
Lisa McInerney
Paul McVeigh
Daljit Nagra
Dr Dave O’Brien
Cathy Rentzenbrink
Anita Sethi
Adelle Stripe
Tony Walsh
Alex Wheatle
The Good Son 