Paul McVeigh Residencies

We’re very lucky Lisa Harding has agreed to be one of the mentors this year. I worked with her this year teaching together at Arvon and the writers loved her classes.

Lisa Harding is a former actress, playwright, short story writer and novelist. Her debut novel Harvesting won the Kate O’Brien Award and was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award and the Kerry Group Prize. Her second novel, Bright Burning Things, was a Today Show Book Club Pick, a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a People Magazine Pick, and was named a highlight of 2021 by the Observer, Grazia, Irish Times and Irish Independent. It was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year and the Dalkey Literary Award. Her third novel, The Wildelings, was featured in the Observer, Harper’s Bazaar, The Economist, the Irish Independent and the Irish Times. Her short story A Bellyflop Shouldn’t Hurt Like This was selected for The Stinging Fly’s online fiction series in May 2026. She regularly teaches at Arvon and the Irish Writers Centre, and was previously Writer in Residence at University College Cork.

Applications open July 1st.