‘The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working-Class Voices’ hits the USA and is a ‘striking anthology’ according to Publishers Weekly. You can read the full review here.
Thanks to Arts Council Northern Ireland for funding this anthology.
“It’s a funny, moving, thought-provoking read, with stories so beautifully rendered you will still be thinking about them long after you finish the book.” Thanks The Independent.ie for including #The32 in their ‘Notions & Necessities’ page.
‘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.
Thanks to Cathy Brown’s blog in response to Anna Burns Booker Prize win. Cathy name checks The Good Son among some wonderful books from Northern Ireland. Have a read here.
Lovely to see this praise for The Good Son from author Kerry Hudson in The Observer newspaper yesterday;
“When I think of exceptional working-class novels from the last few years, I inevitably think of Kit de Waal’s My Name Is Leon and Paul McVeigh’s The Good Son, both skilfully written books about two very different boys’ challenges growing up in working-class environments.”
She also mentions de Waal’s Common People Anthology out next year which includes my first piece of memoir. You can head over and read the whole article here.
My review of Patrick Gale’s new novel in The Irish Times.
“Patrick Gale is one those rare writers whose work is well-reviewed and popular. Take Nothing With You is Gale’s 16th novel, and when you add two short story collections and numerous screenplays, it strikes me there aren’t many gay authors, writing about the gay experience, as prolific and successful as he, anywhere in the world.”
Read more here…
I found this profile I’d missed somehow by Sue Leonard in the Irish Examiner… and her view on The Good Son.
‘Tragic yet funny; sad yet redemptive; this sometimes hilarious novel encapsulates childhood in times of violence. Mickey will steal your heart.’
‘The Book of Joan’ by Lidia Yucknavitch
I wrote my ever review, something that until now I’ve avoided. I’ve always thought it the territory of those writers with a more academic background. I hope I’ll get better it if I get the opportunity again.
My Review of ‘The Book of Joan’ by Lidia Yucknavitch in The Irish Times.
Over on The British Council literature blog the staff are talking about their book pics this month. Matt Beavers, Literature Programme Manager had this to say about The Good Son –
“I’ve been reading The Good Son, Paul McVeigh’s debut novel which won the Polari First Book Prize in 2016. It is a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the 1980s Belfast. Mickey Donnelly is about to head to secondary school. He got into the local grammar but his parents can’t afford it so he is counting down the days until his first day at St Gabriel’s, which he’s dreading. The book is a fantastic and moving journey into the mind of a young boy who knows he is different and is trying to make sense of himself and the difficult world around him. Through Mickey’s first person narration, we gain a vivid insight into the atmosphere of Troubles and their impact on everyday family and community life. The book is nonetheless hopeful and extremely funny. I look forward to reading more from Paul in future.”
Nice way to start the week.
Josh Bryson @SleeplessEditor on Twitter gave a great write up of The Good Son in his new series of posts entitled ‘If You Liked…’. He has put my novel in with Andrew Michael Hurley’s The Loney and Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent.
“Paul McVeigh gives readers an emotionally raw look into an area that many would have avoided.”
Read more here.
The Good Son 