The 32: An Anthology of Irish Working Class Writers will be a collection of essays and memoir curated by Unbound and edited by Paul McVeigh. They aim to bring 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.
Kit de Waal, who edited Unbound’s Common People anthology, says,
“Like Common People, The 32 will celebrate our lives and experiences and offer new and emerging writers an opportunity to be published. It’s important, it’s timely, and it’s going to be great. I can hardly wait to read it.”
The new writers will be selected from a submission pool, following the criteria below:
- Writers are invited to submit a piece of memoir of up to a maximum of 2,500 words.
- This should be supported by a 500-word personal statement about you, your writing, your background. Please also include your full address and confirmation that you do not have an agent, have not published a book, nor have a publishing contract for a book. (You may have been published in a journal or newspaper).
- You must be a resident of the island of Ireland to be eligible to submit. Writers of Irish origin resident in other countries are not eligible.
- Deadline for submissions is 6 pm on Friday 1st May 2020. Any submissions received after that time cannot be considered.
- Submissions should be in the form of a Word document (.doc or .docx) and emailed to the32@unbound.co.uk
- We regret we are unable to accept postal submissions.
- All submissions must be typed in black, any font, 12 pt, and double-spaced. Pages should be numbered.
- All submissions will be read by the editor and Unbound, and sixteen pieces will be chosen to be included in the book.
- Writers will be informed of the final decision by Friday 29th May 2020.
- All further enquiries should be emailed to the32@unbound.co.uk
Well-known contributors so far include Claire Allan, Kevin Barry, Dermot Bolger, June Caldwell, Martin Doyle, Roddy Doyle, Rosaleen McDonagh, Lyra McKee, Lisa McInerney, Dave Lordan, Danielle McLaughlin, Eoin McNamee, Melatu Uche Okorie, Senator Lynn Ruane, Rick O’Shea, and Dr. Michael Pierse.
The administration and promotion of the project will be managed by the Irish Writers Centre in Dublin. Too often working-class writers have to face harder and more numerous obstacles than writers from affluent backgrounds, and the Centre will be working to secure a platform for writers from diverse backgrounds through links to industry networking, mentorships, workshops and professional training for working-class writers.