West Cork Literature Festival

Free Event at West Cork Festival

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The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working-Class Voices

Date 

Thursday 29 July 2021 Time 

7:00 pm Location: Online 

Zoom Admission 

Free Book Now -The 32 is a celebration of working-class voices from the island of Ireland and it features 16 published writers and 16 new voices writing about their experience of being working class in Ireland. In this event editor Paul McVeigh speaks to four of the contributors Riley Johnston, Dave Lordan, Abby Oliveira and Rick O’Shea.

We read because we want to experience lives and emotions beyond our own, to learn, to see with others’ eyes.

Edited by award-winning novelist Paul McVeigh, this intimate and illuminating collection features memoir and essays from established and emerging Irish voices including Kevin Barry, Dermot Bolger, Roddy Doyle, Lisa McInerney, Lyra McKee and many more. The 32 is published by Unbound on 8 July 2021.

Too often, working-class writers find that the hurdles they come up against are higher and harder to leap over than those faced by writers from more affluent backgrounds. As in Common People – an anthology of working-class writers in the UK edited by Kit de Waal and the inspiration behind this collection – The 32 sees writers who have made that leap reach back to give a helping hand to those coming up behind. Without these 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.

Appearing at West Cork Literary Festival

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Queer Love: Paul McVeigh, James Hudson, Emer Lyons & Shannon Yee

Date: Tuesday 20 April 2021 

Time: 7:00 pm

Queer Love: An Anthology of Irish Fiction was published by Southword Editions in 2020 and is edited by Paul McVeigh. The collection seeks 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. This event will see Paul McVeigh, the editor of the anthology, in conversation with three of the contributors, James Hudson, Emer Lyons and Shannon Yee.

Buy here

West Cork Workshops Half Price!

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I’m Teaching the Week-Long  Novel Writing Workshop 

West Cork Literary Festival’s writing workshops are moving online and you can take at a workshop from the safety and comfort of your home. Thanks to the support of Cork County Council they can offer these workshops at 50% of their normal tuition fee. Course details and booking info. 

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“The Good Son is a work of genius from a splendid writer.”
Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

 

J G Farrell Fiction Award Judge

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I’m judging J G Farrell Fiction Award this year – do you live in Munster?

“The J G Farrell Fiction Award is for the best opening chapter of a novel-in-progress by a writer resident in Munster. The prize includes a place on the West Cork Literary Festival’s Novel with Paul McVeighworkshop (13 – 17 July) and accommodation in Bantry.

Applicants must submit the first chapter of their novel (max 3000 words) both via email and one printed copy (double-spaced and printed on one side of the page only) by Friday 15 May. Place your name and address on a separate sheet.

Send the print copy to J G Farrell Award, West Cork Literary Festival, 13 Glengarriff Road, Bantry, Co Cork; and email a copy to sara@westcorkmusic.ie with JG Farrell Award in the subject line. Entries will only be considered if submitted in both hard copy and by email. Only one entry per person, late entries will not be accepted and entries will not be returned.

The award will be adjudicated by Paul McVeigh. His debut novel, The Good Son, won The Polari First Novel Prize and The McCrea Literary Award and was shortlisted for many others including the Prix du Roman Cezam in France. The Good Son was also Brighton’s City Reads 2016 and was given out around the UK for World Book Night 2017. His short stories have been read on BBC Radio 3, 4 & 5, published in many journals and anthologies including The Stinging Fly, and Faber’s Being Various: New Irish Short Stories, as well as appearing on Sky Arts. His work has been translated into seven languages.

Paul has edited the Southword Journal, the Belfast Stories anthology and The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Writers which includes new work from Kevin Barry, Roddy Doyle and Lisa McInerney. He has judged many literary prizes including The Edge Hill Short Story Prize and The International Dylan Thomas Prize. He has taught his writing courses around the world including in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.”

J G Farrell was born in Liverpool and died at the age of 44, when he was swept into the sea while fishing from rocks near his home in Kilcrohane, West Cork. His book Troubles won the Faber Prize in 1971, and in 2010 it won the Lost Man Booker Prize. The Siege of Krishnapur, about the Indian Mutiny of 1957, won the 1973 Booker Prize and in 2008 it was shortlisted for the Best of Booker public vote.

J G Farrell

West Cork Literary Festival would like to thank Richard Farrell for his continued sponsorship of this award, now in its eleventh year.

 

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“The Good Son is a work of genius from a splendid writer.”
Pulitzer Prize-winner Robert Olen Butler
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

Keep Your Overheads Low

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“Q. What’s the most important lesson about money which your career in writing has taught you?
A. Keep your overheads low.”

This and other gems here…  in the Independent.ie 

Plus – come along to West Cork Literary Festival and take my novel course. You’ll also get to see amazing writers like… Roxane Gay, Cynan Jones, Eimear McBride & Paul Muldoon.

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“I devoured it in a day, but I’ve thought about it for many, many more.”
Bailey’s Prize-winner Lisa McInerney
“A triumph of storytelling. An absolute gem.”
Donal Ryan

 

 

West Cork Literature Festival

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The first batch of world-famous West Cork Literary Festival writing workshops are now on sale. I’m honoured to say I’ll be teaching the novel week long workshops (July 13-17) alongside the incredible Paul Muldoon for poetry and Cynan Jones for short story. 

This year the festival will also host Anne Enright, Roxane Gay and Eimear McBride among many others.

The last time I was a West Cork it was wonderful and I met so many amazing writers and did events with Eoin McNamee, Glenn Patterson and Liz Nugent.

Here’s the blurb for my week-long novel course – click here for more info. 

“Over the five days you will look at how to grow your story idea into a novel that grips your reader from start to finish. You will look at that crucial opening that hooks the reader, how to keep the narrative momentum going through that difficult middle and lead to a satisfying ‘inevitable surprise’ of an ending. You will look at creating believable complex characters that stand out and stay with your reader, the many uses of dialogue and how to find your voice. You will explore world building, the importance of setting and how it can become another character in your story. If you are happy to you can share your work-in-progress and get constructive problem-solving focused feedback. The course will finish with advice on what every debut novelist needs to know, covering agents, building a readership and an online presence, making industry connections and a behind-the-scenes look at those coveted literary prizes.”

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