Catherine Chung
Catherine always wanted to be a poet. But, with no creative writing programmes on offer at her university, she studied mathematics instead. “I fell in love with maths. It’s so poetic. But literature felt like my…
Maura McElhone
Eldest child of a journalist and a pharmacist, Maura loved the Arts at school. “We had a drama festival and a musical every year.” She took drama A ‘level and played the fiddle in a traditional…
Stacey Halls
Stacey wrote and illustrated story books as a child and gave them away as presents. “I took a favourite Enid Blyton story and put myself in it. It wasn’t creative – it was plagiarism.” Daughter of…
Ken O’Sullivan
Spending all his childhood summers, fishing, on Fenit Island, Ken has always felt at one with the sea. “I connected with it; with the seasons and the tide.” He also loved music. And when he left…
Review. The Danger and the Glory. Irish Authors on the Art of Writing
How do writer’s write? Where does their inspiration come from, and what is their process of putting their words on the printed page? All this holds endless fascination for passionate readers, and for those who, eager…
David Brennan
David read everything he could, as a child, and in his teens he loved poetry. “I wrote my first poem when I was on detention,” he says. “I loved Emily Dickinson and John Milton, but, playing…
Anna Hope
There’s a scene in Anna Hope’s new novel, where Lissa, an actress auditioning for a TV advertisement, is told to flirt with a plate of chocolate cookies in front of a roomful of men. It’s humiliating…
Debut Roundup November/December 2019
Call Him Mine by Tim MacGabhann. Weidenfeld & Nicholson. ISBN 978 1 4746 1045 2` There’s been a dearth of interesting debuts by Irish males of late, so I was pleased when this literary thriller by…
Pat Marry
Pat has wanted to be a Garda since he encountered one, aged 8. He applied at 17. “They said, ‘you’re too skinny, go and get flesh on your bones – and you have to be 18…
Jed Lynch
Jed has always been involved in something creative. “I was the youngest of 7 children. The house was full of books. I read all kinds of stuff; everything from The Mallory Towers, to Nietzsche.” There was…
Elizabeth MacDonald
Elizabeth’s first love was music. She studied piano from aged 6 at The College of Music, and she loved singing, but not performing. “I couldn’t do it. I felt as if I was getting a heart…
Review. Night Swimming by Doreen Finn.
It’s Dublin, 1976, the summer of the heatwave, and at nine years old, Megan is happy. She hangs out with her next-door neighbour, Daniel, whilst her talented mother, Gemma, spends her days painting in the attic….