Chairing Darran Anderson & Wendy Erskine Birmingham Lit Fest

Focus on: Northern Ireland –

Darran Anderson & Wendy Erskine

8th October, 8pm Birmingham Rep

Northern Ireland – often overlooked, or dismissed as “troublesome” – has generated some of the best contemporary writing in the English language.

Invited by Guest Curator Paul McVeigh, Darran Anderson and Wendy Erskine are some of the most exciting new literary voices coming out of the nation, and they’re just the tip of the iceberg.

Come and find out what wonderful fiction you’ve been missing out on, and who you should be looking out for next.

Chaired by Paul McVeigh

About the speakers:

Darran Anderson is an Irish writer living in London. He is the author of Imaginary Cities and Inventory. He has co-edited The Honest Ulsterman3:AM MagazineDogmatika and White Noise. He writes for the likes of the Atlanticfrieze magazine, and Magnum, and has given talks at the V&A, the LSE, the Robin Boyd Foundation and the Venice Biennale.

Wendy Erskine lives in Belfast. Her work has been published in The Stinging Fly, Stinging Fly Stories and Female Lines: New Writing by Women from Northern Ireland. She also features in Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber and Faber), Winter Papers and on BBC Radio 4.

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Chairing Wendy Erskine & Bernie McGill at JHISS ’22

Celebrating the Short Story with Wendy Erskine & Bernie McGill

in conversation with …Paul McVeigh

Wednesday 27th July at 1.30pm Market Theatre, Armagh.

Wendy Erskine’s first collection, Sweet Home, (2018) was shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize, and won the 2020 Butler Literary Award. In her new collection, Dance Move, we meet characters who are looking to wrest control of their lives, only to find themselves defined by moments in their past. In these stories – as in real life – the funny, the tender and the devastating go hand in hand.

“Truly magnificent. These stories buzz with life and verve and humour. A collection that reminds us how glorious the short story can be.” Danielle McLaughlin

Bernie McGill

Bernie McGill has written two novels, The Butterfly Cabinet and The Watch House, which was shortlisted for the 2019 Irish/European Union Prize for Literature, a collection of short stories, Sleepwalkers, and two plays, The Weather Watchers, and The Haunting of Helena Blunden. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for numerous awards and is anthologised widely. Her latest collection of short stories is This Train is For, published by
No Alibis, June 2022.

“[Bernie] McGill writes about life, love and telegraphy with a poet’s clarity.” The Sunday Times

For the full festival programme go here.

You can still listen to my short story ‘Dady Christmas’ on BBC Radio 4 here.

The Good Son 3rd Editon
You can buy here

Winner of The Polari First Novel Prize

‘A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.’ Donal Ryan

Raw, funny and endlessly entertaining’. Jonathan Coe

RSL NI Writers Day is Here

Book a place to listen to homegrown talent 

The Royal Society of Literature has joined with the Arts Council to celebrate Northern Irish writers and writing as part of the first NI Writers Day

“During the day, RSL Director Molly Rosenberg will discuss the fellowship programme with local writer Paul McVeigh and how to recommend a writer. 

Award-winning poet and Chair of RSL, Daljit Nagra, will give a free hour-long workshop, ideal for those who have recently starting writing or have more experience.

Finally, there will be a panel discussion featuring some of the finest Northern Irish writers – Wendy Erskine, Glenn Patterson and Shannon Yee. 

To read more about RSL Open and how you can nominate your favourite NI author visit https://rsliterature.org/rsl-open/. Tickets for NI Writers Day are free and can be booked via the RSL website. Numbers are strictly limited for the poetry workshop with Daljit Nagra, so early booking is recommended.”

Hope to see some of you there.

23 March, Royal Society of Literature & Arts Council NI Writers Day

Join the Royal Society of Literature and Arts Council Northern Ireland for a day of activity, shining a spotlight on the outstanding writers and writing of Northern Ireland, hosted by award-winning writer Paul McVeigh. A seminarworkshop, and panel discussion aim to inspire you to revisit and recommend your most loved Northern Irish writers.

1 – 2pm, Poetry Workshop with Daljit Nagra
At lunchtime, award-winning poet and Chair of the RSL, Daljit Nagra (pictured), delivers a free hour-long workshop designed to reinvigorate your poetic voice. Open to all, whether you’ve recently started writing or are regularly performing work, Daljit’s writing exercises and infectious energy will encourage you to experiment with form and imagination. BOOK NOW

3pm, In Conversation with Paul McVeigh and Molly Rosenberg 
Director of the RSL Molly Rosenberg and Paul McVeigh (pictured) discuss the RSL Open programme and answer your questions about what RSL Fellowship means, why a community of writers is important, and how to recommend a writer to the programme.
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6.30pm, Panel Discussion with Paul McVeigh, Wendy Erskine, Glenn Patterson, Shannon Yee and Daljit Nagra
We celebrate some of the finest Northern Irish writers working across form and genre today. Short-story writer Wendy Erskine (pictured), novelist Glenn Patterson, playwright Shannon Yee and poet and Chair of the RSL Daljit Nagra, will discuss their work, routes into writing and the Northern Irish literary scene. BOOK NOW

Appearing at Mountains to Sea Festival

Belfast Stories with Wendy Erskine and Lucy Caldwell & chaired by Paul McVeigh

dlr LexIcon Library and Cultural Centre, Saturday March 28th, 1.30pm.

As editor, of ‘Belfast Stories’ anthology, I’ve been asked to chair this wonderful event. I do hope some of you can come.

“Chaired by novelist Paul McVeigh, we are pleased to welcome two of Belfast’s most compelling voices, Wendy Erskine and Lucy Caldwell for discussion and readings from Belfast stories. This collection of short fiction presents a composite view of local life which invites us to view Belfast afresh through the imaginations of some of its finest writers. Join us and hear each of our guests pay homage to contemporary Belfast in all its vivacity, multiplicity, and complexity.

Wendy Erskine lives in Belfast. Her debut collection of stories, Sweet Home, was published by The Stinging Fly Press in September 2018. It will be published by Picador in the UK in June 2019. Her stories have also been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and on RTÉ Radio One.

Lucy Caldwell is the multi–award winning author of three novels, several stage plays and radio dramas and, most recently, two collections of short stories: Multitudes(Faber, 2016) and Intimacies (forthcoming, Faber, 2020). She is also the editor of Being Various: New Irish Short Stories (Faber, 2019). Awards include the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Irish Writers’ and Screenwriters’ Guild Award, the Commonwealth Writers’ Award (Canada & Europe), the Edge Hill Short Story Prize Readers’ Choice Award, a Fiction Uncovered Award, a K. Blundell Trust Award and a Major Individual Artist Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018.

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Being Various: Cover Reveal

Ain’t she pretty?

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My short story ‘The Swimmers’ is in here alongside these wonderful writers – Darren Anderson, Kevin Barry, Jan Carson, Jill Crawford, Wendy Erskine, Nicole Flattery, Yan Ge, Sinead Gleeson, David Hayden, Arja Kajermo, Eimear McBride, Lisa McInerney,  Belinda McKeon, Adrian McKinty, Danielle McLaughlin, Peter Murphy,  Stuart Neville, Louise O’Neill, Sheila Purdy, Elske Rahill, Sally Rooney and Kit de Waal.

Edited by Lucy Caldwell, published by Faber.

Out May 1.