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*
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.
Paul has written short stories to be read out on the radio, the stage and television, as well as, in print, for anthologies, literary journals, magazines and newspapers. He will share his knowledge on writing stories for all these platforms and give practical helpful advice of how to approach them, in terms of how you write and what you do with your story once it’s finished. The workshop is a mix of advice from Paul’s professional experience and the tips he was given by editors, producers and publishers.
Paul’s short stories have been in anthologies, journals and newspapers, and read on BBC and RTE Radio,as well as, Sky ARTS. His ten-part story series, The Circus, aired on BBC Radio 4. He co-founded London Short Story Festival and edited three anthologies. His collection, I hear You, is out March 2025.
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.
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.
Wow! The Irish Times has done an amazing job with ‘Daddy Christmas’ my Christmas Day short story commissioned by Michael Shannon for BBC Radio Ulster which aired nationally in BBC Radio 4. This is its first time in print thanks to Martin Doyle and Nadine O’Regan at The Irish Times and look at these beautiful illustrations/artworks by Anne O’Hara.
‘Daddy Christmas’ will appear in my collection of radio stories ‘I Hear You’ from Salt Publishing March 2025.
You can read the story here and you can see more about ‘I Hear You’ here.
“A rare date for Julie and her husband Frankie turns sour when a toddler in the restaurant is let roam free, uncontrolled. Their own children are being minded by auntie Terry. On the way into Belfast city centre earlier, Julie and Frankie had passed near The Bray, where when she was a child her father had been shot dead for no reason at all.”
You can listen to my latest short story ‘The Bray’ read by this year’s Bafta-nominee, Roisin Gallagher.
The story was commissioned by Cliodhna Ni Anluain as part of the ‘Spoken Word’ series for RTE Radio 1 which includes Anne Enright, Lisa McInerney and Donal Ryan.
“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.”
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!
Paul McVeigh 