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…
Joanna Trollope
The latest novel from Joanna Trollope, Mum and Dad, is set, mainly in Spain. Monica and Gus relocated and started a vineyard there, but now Gus has had a stroke, and their three grown children, all…
Colum McCann
Colum McCann’s new novel, Apeirogon tells the true story of two friends who are divided by history, but united in grief for their daughters. Based on intensive research, and interviews with the men, it makes for…
Michael Whelan
Michael Whelan recently published his second collection of poetry, Rules of Engagement. He’s a serving member of The Irish Defence Forces and writes of his experience in the Lebanon and Kosovo – and it doesn’t make…
Patrick Flanery
When I speak to Patrick Flanery on the phone from his home in London, the American author admits to some feelings of despair. Raised in Omaha, Nebraska, he moved to England back in 2001 to…
Stephen Bradley
At the start of this year, when Deirdre O’Kane danced her way to the final in RTE’s Dancing With the Stars, nobody watching can have guessed that she had any worries to contend with. Full of…
Gillies Macbain
Gillies Macbain lives in a castle in Tipperary – or at least in the tower of one, since Cranagh castle itself burnt down. He bought his first, crumbling pile – a mansion in County Monaghan when…
Niall Williams
As a writer, Niall Williams doesn’t conform to the norm. Where most write several drafts, getting the words written, then getting them right, Niall completes his novels in one draft alone. He doesn’t have a special…
Isabel Vincent
When Isabel Vincent’s friend Valerie asked her to look in on her father, Edward, and have dinner with him, she didn’t know what to expect. She knew the nonagenarian was depressed – that his wife had…
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…
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…