As a part of York Literature Festival, running from 6 to 29 March 2025, Barnsley-born poet and novelist Andrew McMillan visited York to showcase his debut novel Pity, published by Canongate on 8 February 2024.
The event was led by Rob O’Connor, lecturer in Creative Writing at York St John University and Festival Director for York Literature Festival. The festival aims to bring the northern writing community together, and this event certainly did just that. The location was particularly fitting, York Crescent Community Venue is a former Working Men’s Club so integrates well within the themes of masculinity and physical labour explored in the novel.
McMillan is a gifted storyteller and the audience were privileged to hear some moving passages beautifully read aloud. A member of the audience commented that they felt comforted hearing the Barnsley accent.
Andrew McMillan is a professor of contemporary writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. The characters in Pity all decide to stay in Barnsley, though McMillan is living proof of the opposite, as he now lives and works in Manchester.
Pity is set in Barnsley, the market town where McMillan grew up, and its narrative follows the events of a week. This is McMillan’s first published novel, as his other work has largely been poetry, but his passion for lyrical prose is clear even in Pity through its interludes and changes in perspectives. The novel explores the haunting landscape of post-industrial northern England and follows the stories of three generations of a South Yorkshire mining family through lyrical passages describing the physical labour of the mining town. The tone of the novel is recognisably British through its mining thread, but it also showcases a universal experience which is the story of so many other cities. McMillan skilfully evaluates the meaning of community and the small town mentality of feeling hyper-observed.
McMillan expertly explores how readers perceive the hidden layers of towns like Barnsley’s history – history literally beneath ground. The novel also gives a platform to unspoken voices and unspoken stories while exploring community, masculinity, sexuality and post-industrialisation in a town that once was a hub of industry in Northern England.
Part of the storyline follows Simon, one of the youngest generation characters, who is in his twenties and is making a living through various streams: working in a coal centre, online through Only Fans and by participating in drag shows. His real dream is to put on a drag show about Margaret Thatcher in Barnsley. McMillan spoke to expose the feeling of Thatcher haunting this town, though never having visited..
McMillan revealed he found joy in hiding behind fiction, compared to the vulnerability of writing poetry. ‘I made it up.’ McMillan discussed the difficulties he experienced with the constant dismantling and rebuilding of the architecture of the novel, compared to the fine changes required of poetry. He also admitted that he entered the project “arrogantly,” as he was forced to look at Barnsley from an outsider perspective. After having moved to Manchester years prior, he found this experience harder than he first imagined.
Though a fiction, some elements of the story are undeniably linked to McMillan’s memories. Look out for McMillan’s cameo appearance in the novel! (Hint: keep your eyes peeled for a poetry workshop).
McMillan revealed he has faced some criticism that the novel is largely a male generational narrative, but he remains confident in his work as he writes predominantly about what he knows and has experienced.
McMillan ended the interview with “Where you are is worthy of literature.” McMillan stands out as a confident Northern writer who thrives in his honesty and vulnerability. The event demonstrated McMillan’s passion and sincerity, and I’d highly recommend you pick up a copy of Pity.
The book is available to buy from Waterstones, Foyles and various independent book shops.
https://www.waterstones.com/book/pity/andrew-mcmillan/9781838858988
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