I’m over-the-moon that ‘I Hear You’ has sold out its initial print run. This is particularly great as short stories famously don’t sell well. So, thanks to everyone who bought a copy!
It looks the same with the addition of some new quotes from BBC Radio 4, Bookmunch, RTE, and The Irish Times.
You can pick up your copy here.
Delighted to see this post on Facebook from my publisher. Great news for the short story but particularly chuffed that ‘I Hear You’ is Salt’s bestselling book of 2025. Here’s to the short story!
Belfast Book Festival
Date Tuesday 10 June 2025
Time 8:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Price: Pay What You Decide – Recommended Price £12.50
Written with Paul McVeigh’s characteristic flair and Belfast wit, I Hear You (Salt, 2025) is a vibrant collection of short stories from the award-winning author of The Good Son.
Specially written for BBC Radio 4, the stories include a ten-part sequence set around Cliftonville Circus, where five roads meet in North Belfast and the old clashes with the new on diversity, social class, acceptance and change.
Paul will discuss his home city, Belfast, and how it has changed through his work; from Troubles era Ardoyne of The Good Son, post-lockdown north of the city in I Hear You and where its modern diversity can clash with the lingering past in his play Big Man. During the evening Actor Tony Flynn will also give readings from Paul’s work.
Join Paul in conversation with writer Cathy Galvin, founder of the short story organisation The Word Factory and The Sunday Times Short Story Award.
Thank you to novelist Neil Hegarty, for this lovely review of, I Hear You, in the Irish Times.
“My mind found an old shoebox full of memories, and as I opened it, the moths of the past flew out”: in The Singer, one of the short stories in Paul McVeigh’s vivid and memorable new collection, we meet a nameless female protagonist as she sifts through the stuff of her life. The scene is an ordinary family home in north Belfast – but as each of these stories reminds us, there is no such thing as an ordinary family or home. Rather, each family, home, life is invariably extraordinary, in myriad ways – and all we need do to see this is to pay attention.
The Singer is a story of sibling rivalry, envy, tension – and to add further to such pleasures, this is also a complex retelling of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The protagonist’s sister (and indeed, her name is Jane) has always been the favourite one, the talented one, the one who triumphed at the local talent competition three years running – though also the one who even as a child liked to take nips from the bottle of cooking brandy in the kitchen cupboard. The other sister has gone off and earned a degree, has been good, has carved out a sensible place in the world – has been thoroughly eclipsed: but now she teeters on the edge of something remarkable, of a longed-for switch in life; and to add to her satisfaction, Jane has taken to calling from London, looking for money. There is sleekness in the telling, there is satisfaction in the glimpse of a happy ending – and best of all, this happy ending will not be for everyone.
The Singer is one element in The Circus, a sequence of linked stories that shows us a multifaceted society, and provides a much-needed corrective to the version of north Belfast glimpsed from time to time in the television news. Each story was originally written for radio, and this genesis explains the collection’s depth of colour and vividness of voice. And its variety: Paul McVeigh’s writing has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to working-class and queer representation, and this sustained energy flows through this collection, to illuminating effect – for this is a world of change, of openness, of the drunkenness of things being various.“
Read here.
Buy here.
“I think that’s why a short story can be a good place to start when setting out to write prose. You can experiment with voices, characters, points of view, and so on. If the story isn’t working, you can abandon it and move to another idea. Starting by writing short stories is not to suggest that a short story is merely a stepping stone to writing novels. The short story is a glorious form in its own right, and mastering it can take many years.”
You can read the article here.
Friends in Dublin and thereabouts please come along to the launch of ‘I Hear You’ at Hodges Figgis March 11th. I’ll be introduced by author Eilis Ni Dhuibhne. Actors Tony Flynn and Tricia Fleming will read short extracts for two of the stories. I hope to see you there.
Please do spread the word. Thank you.
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.
Event by The Secret Bookshelf
Friday, 28th March, 6.30pm
Join award-winning novelist Paul McVeigh in conversation about his new book, ‘I Hear You’ – booking is not required but please indicate if you are coming
The stories in this collection were all written especially for BBC Radio 4, including a ten-part sequence: ‘The Circus’, set in North Belfast. Other stories include ‘Tickles’, a story about a man visiting his mother in a nursing home, ‘Cuckoo’, about a man who feels something sinister has happened to him during surgery; and ‘Daddy Christmas’, where a gay man writes a letter to the son he never had. ‘These moving short stories are brave, honest, raw and funny, doing what fiction does best, showing us the lives of others and in so doing showing us ourselves. Wonderful.’ —Kit de Waal
Paul McVeigh’s stories have been in numerous anthologies including Being Various, The Art of the Glimpse and Common People. They have also appeared in The London Magazine, The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times, on BBC Radio 3, 4, 5, and RTE Radio 1, as well as, on Sky ARTS. His ten-part short story series, The Circus, aired on BBC Radio 4 in 2023 and was repeated on BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Foyle. Paul co-edited the Belfast Stories anthology, edited Queer Love and The 32: Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices. Paul co-founded the London Short Story Festival and was an associate director of Word Factory, Paul’s debut novel, The Good Son, won The McCrea Literary Award and The Polari First Novel Prize and was shortlisted for many others including the Prix du Roman Cezam.
Pre-order of ‘I Hear You’ now available at the legendary No Alibis Bookstore, Belfast. A wee exclusive pre-order gift will be announced soon. Be the first in line.
Irish Times: Books to Look Out for in 2025
‘These moving short stories are brave, honest, raw and funny, doing what fiction does best, showing us the lives of others and in so doing showing us ourselves. Wonderful.’ —Kit de Waal
‘From a son paring the bunions on his mother’s feet to a man’s soul getting sealed out of his body, and culminating in a deft interlinked cycle, the stories of I Hear You are warm, frank and unsentimental, bursting with character and idiosyncratic detail, written with Paul McVeigh’s characteristic geniality and Belfast wit.’ —Lucy Caldwell
This collection of stories, written especially for BBC Radio 4, includes a ten-part sequence: ‘The Circus’, set around Cliftonville Circus, where five roads meet in North Belfast. It’s five minutes from the nationalist Troubles flashpoint of Ardoyne, where Paul grew up. It’s close to Holy Cross Girls’ School, where protests targeting primary school children drew international attention.
The Circus is situated in the poorest part of the Belfast – it is also the most divided. Each road leads to a different area – a different class – a different religion. The Circus explores where old Belfast clashes with the new around acceptance, change, class and diversity.
But this is 2024 and a fresh energy exists.
Other stories include ‘Tickles’, a story about a man visiting his mother in a dementia ward where he finds he is the one who had forgotten important things.
‘Cuckoo’, about a man’s collapse and surgery – where he feels something more sinister has happened to him; and ‘Daddy Christmas’, where a gay man writes a letter to the son he never had.
“We are delighted to announce Paul McVeigh’s debut short story collection, I Hear You, will be published in March 2025.
This collection of Belfast stories, each written for BBC Radio 4, includes the ten-part sequence: ‘The Circus’, set around Cliftonville Circus, where five roads meet in the north of the city.
The Circus is five minutes from the nationalist Troubles flashpoint of Ardoyne, where Paul grew up. It’s close to Holy Cross Girls’ School, where protests targeting primary school children drew international attention. The Circus is situated in the poorest part of the Belfast – it is also the most divided. Each road leads to a different area – a different class – a different religion. The Circus explores where old Belfast clashes with the new around acceptance, change, class and diversity. But this is 2024 and a fresh energy exists.
Other stories include ‘Tickles’, a story about a man visiting his mother in a dementia ward where he finds he is the one who had forgotten important things; ‘Cuckoo’, about a man’s collapse and surgery – where he feels something more sinister has happened to him; and ‘Daddy Christmas’, where a gay man writes a letter to the son he never had.
Paul McVeigh said: “I’ve been working with BBC Radio 4 for the last ten years and it’s been a wonderful experience. I’ve learned so much about telling stories written to be heard. It’s also great to be back working with Salt again.”
Christopher Hamilton-Emery said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Paul again, this time on a stunning collection of radio-performed stories. With its humour, pathos and personal tragedies, Paul manages to find the emotional heart of each immersive drama, and puts us in the centre of modern Belfast with all of its contemporary complexity and painful legacies.”
Paul McVeigh 