‘Malc’s Boy’. Shaun Wilson in conversation with Tony Walsh.
Hailed by David Keenan as “fierce, funny, poignant and real”, Malc’s Boy is being tipped as one of the most exciting debuts of 2026!
Brutal, beautiful, and darkly funny – a groundbreaking portrait of fathers, sons, and northern masculinity.
Malc’s Boy charts a son’s struggle and friendship with his father amidst a legacy of toxic masculinity and violence. Shaun grows up in Wigton, a small market town on the fringes of the Lake District, as the son of Malc, a prominent publican with a fearsome reputation. More concerned with establishing himself as an artist than making a name for himself in the town’s hierarchical pub scene, Shaun rebels against his father’s expectations. But when Malc is attacked by an old enemy, Shaun is forced to confront his father’s past and escape the life he’s been expected to lead.
Shaun Wilson was born in 1980 and raised in Wigton, Cumbria. In 2022, an early draft of Malc’s Boy won a Northern Writers’ Award, with an excerpt published by Granta. His work featured in Kit de Waal’s working-class anthology Common People published by Unbound, leading the acclaimed Kerry Hudson to tip him ‘for big things’ in The Observer.
He has featured at various book festivals, on BBC Radio, and recently completed a placement at Semiotext(e). He holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Northumbria University and is currently an Associate Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Universities of Northumbria and Teesside.
Tony Walsh, the Longfella, is one of the UK’s most widely acclaimed professional poets; a writer and performer of remarkable breadth and depth, whose inspiring words regularly reach and inspire audiences of millions.
Manchester-Irish, working class and entirely self-taught, his powerful writing and electrifying performances have made him a regular on television and radio, much in demand for a huge range of high-profile occasions, and renowned internationally for the now iconic performance of his poem “This Is The Place” in the wake of the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017.
Tickets are £3 entry or there is a book and ticket bundle for £12.99.
