Richard Hogan
As a small child, Richard Hogan’s ambition was to become a journalist, but his father, who worked for The Irish Times turned him off the idea. Then, as a member of a band, he wanted to…
Cathy Sweeney
Cathy Sweeney has always loved reading. “I loved English. I studied it and taught it until my late thirties.” She taught up to Leaving Certificate in various schools including St Killian’s Community School, Bray, schools in…
David Diebold
A hyperactive, over-imaginative child, David haunted the Exchange Bookshop in Dalkey as a kid. “I particularly loved anthologies of horror.” Brought up by his grandparents – believing, at first, that his mother was his sister, David…
Molly Aitken
Molly didn’t learn to read until she was 10. “But at my Steiner school I was focused on art and stories. I forced my friends to do theatre and puppets. I loved directing and controlling them.”…
Michelle Gallen
As a child Michelle wanted to be an artist and live in her parent’s attic, but she failed to get into art college. A child of the troubles, Michelle won quite a few short story and…
Ben Halls
Ben didn’t read much as a child, but he loved making up five-part dramas for his action figures. After school Ben worked in pubs and off licenses, working for the minimum wage. He also played in…
Stephanie Hickey
Stephanie enjoyed a wonderful carefree childhood in the Irish tradition, with lots of music in the house; but when her sister married, her brother-in-law started to abuse her. Leaving school in 5th year she took a…
Francine Toon
As a young child Francine lived in Canterbury, London and Portugal, but at nine, she moved to the Scottish Highlands, before finally settling in Fife. “I loved the highlands and found it inspiring. Friends at school…
Jeanine Cummins
Jeanine lived in Belfast after college, “bar tending and writing terrible poetry.” After two years she moved to New York and worked at Penguin books for ten years. “I was there when I published my memoir…
Pat O’Connor
Pat has always written, but he also loved fishing, boating and sports as a child. “When I read swallows and amazons I felt I should have a go at writing about my own life. I started…
Anne Enright
Anne Enright has long wanted to write about the theatre. It’s a world she knows well. Having discovered acting through her participation in Players, during her time at Trinity College Dublin, she spent a year after…
Caelainn Hogan
Caelainn had a wonderful English teacher, and has always been interested in writing, but for years she assumed she’d become a fiction writer. “I won a Hotpress Music Journalism competition in my Leaving certificate year,” she…