The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working-Class Voices

Description

We read because we want to experience lives and emotions beyond our own, to learn, to see with others' eyes. The 32 is a collection of memoir and essays in celebration of the working class, from thirty-two established and emerging Irish voices including Kevin Barry, Dermot Bolger, Roddy Doyle, Lisa McInerney, Lyra McKee and many more. 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. 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. Contributors include Claire Allan Kevin Barry Dermot Bolger Kate Burns June Caldwell Martin Doyle Roddy Doyle Paul Dunne Trudie Gorman Marc Gregg Angela Higgins Jason Hynes Riley Johnston Erin Lindsay Dave Lordan Alison Martin Rosaleen McDonagh Linda McGrory Lisa McInerney Lyra McKee Danielle McLaughlin Eoin McNamee Maurice Neill Michael Nolan Abby Oliveira Stephen O'Reilly Rick O'Shea Dr Michael Pierse Lynn Ruane Theresa Ryder Jim Ward Elaine Cawley Weintraub

Paul McVeigh's debut novel, The Good Son (Salt, 2015), won the Polari First Novel Prize and was named by Kerry Hudson in the Observer as one of the 'exceptional working-class novels from the last few years'. He has twice won the McCrea Literary Award and has toured the UK and Ireland with his plays and comedy. His short stories have appeared in the Irish Times, Faber's Being Various and Kit de Waal's Common People anthologies, on BBC Radio 3, 4 and 5, and Sky Arts. Paul was fiction editor at the Southword Journal, co-edited the Belfast Stories anthology and co-founded the London Short Story Festival. @paul_mc_veigh