The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices
At Áras Uí Chonghaile, 15th June 7pm. ‘Our panel will disucss the challenges they faced as working-class writers and their journey to getting their voices heard in the literary world.’
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Me, Dr Michael Pierse and working class writer Kate Burns.
“Are you a new or emerging writer from a working class background? Would you like to be published alongside an Impac Award-winner, a Booker Prize-winner, two Sunday Times Short Story Award-winners, a senator, playwrights and poets? What about a professional development programme with the help of leading publishers and the Irish Writers Centre.”
Read all about it in my article in The Irish Times.
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who are bringing out a new book from her next month, and after I explained the back story, they are now giving me an unpublished piece of her writing to include, which is really amazing.”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/.
Paul McVeigh launches The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices
Delighted that The 32 was covered by Hot Press. Here’s a taste…
Kevin Barry, Roddy Doyle and Lisa McInerney are among the contributors to the upcoming collection of essays.
Following the success of Kit de Waal’s Common People: An Anthology of Working Class Writers, Belfast author Paul McVeigh has announced the launch of The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices on Unbound – the world’s first crowdfunding publisher.
Bringing together 16 published writers and 16 new voices to share their experiences of being working class in Ireland, The 32 will feature essays from Kevin Barry, Lisa McInerney, Roddy Doyle, Senator Lynne Ruane, Dermot Bolger, among many others.
Award-winning author Paul McVeigh, who featured in Kit de Waal’s Common People is set to edit the anthology.
“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,” states the project’s synopsis. “The 32 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.”
Please consider pledging here.
The 32 is launched on the Unbound site. The Bookseller covered the launch here.
Please pledge to read 16 new pieces of work from the best writers in the country and help 16 new writers from working class backgrounds at the same time!
In a recent documentary on BBC Radio 4, novelist Kit de Waal asked ‘where are the working class writers?’ The answer is ‘right here’ in The 32.
Inspired by a shared concern that working class voices are increasingly absent from the pages of books and newspapers, Kit de Waal came together with publishers Unbound to create the hugely successful Common People anthology.
The Observer recently described Kit de Waal’s My Name Is Leon and my novel The Good Son as the ‘exceptional working-class novels from the last few years’ so it seems apt that Kit passes the baton to me to edit The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices.
Like Common People, The 32 will be a collection of essays and memoir, bringing together sixteen well-known writers from working class backgrounds with an equal number of new and emerging writers from all over the island of Ireland.
These new writers will be selected by an open call and we are working with the Cork World Book Festival, Irish Writers Centre, Munster Literature Centre, and Words Ireland to provide additional support.
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. The 32 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 The 32 and join these writers to help to make a difference.
Contributors So Far Include:
Claire Allan
Kevin Barry
Dermot Bolger
June Caldwell
Martin Doyle
Roddy Doyle
Rosaleen McDonagh
Lisa McInerney
Dave Lordan
Danielle McLaughlin
Eoin McNamee
Melatu Uche Okorie
Senator Lynne Ruane
Rick O’Shea
Dr Michael Pierse
Please pledge if you can!
Me and Kit in Morges
The Good Son 