Malc's Boy (Paperback)

"Malc's Boy is laden with ideas and ambition... if you don't read it, you're missing out" — The Telegraph

‘A stunning, hilarious depiction of northern working-class violent masculinity conveyed – in a skewed way – through the form of experimental literary fiction.’ – Chris Kraus, bestselling author of I Love Dick

Malc's Boy charts a son’s struggle and friendship with his father, Malc, who leaves him with 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 a prominent pub landlord known for his acts of brutality. More concerned with establishing himself as an artist than asserting himself physically in the town’s hierarchical pub scene, Shaun rebels against his father’s expectations. But when Malc is attacked by a local criminal, Shaun is forced to confront his father head on 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 in 2024. His work featured in Kit de Waal’s working-class anthology Common People (Unbound, 2019), 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.