Samuel Thompson
There’s been a wealth of fiction coming from Northern Ireland of late, and much of it focuses on the troubles. We’ve heard the story of terrorists; of victims; and of people whose normal lives have been…
Joseph O’Connor
Arriving to interview Joseph O’Connor, I got locked into an apartment carpark next door to the hotel; when I tell Joe this, he launches into a narrative, about what else might go wrong for me today….
Debut Roundup for Books Ireland, May and June
Last ones left alive. Sarah Davis-Goff. Tinder. Orpen is walking along the road pushing a wheelbarrow, her black dog, danger, by her side. Her blackened toenail falls off – her fingers blister, but the pain is…
Debut Roundup for Books Ireland. March and April 2019.
The Failing Heart by Eoghan Smith. Dedalus. This strangely mesmeric tale opens in the aftermath of a death. A graduate student has secreted himself away from his friends and family, intent on completing his overdue dissertation….
Summer Sizzlers
Ireland is enjoying a golden age in literature right now. Our three Man Booker Prize winners, John Banville, Roddy Doyle and Anne Enright head a host of established and emerging literary talent. And what’s true for…
Mary Pat Kelly
Mary Pat Kelly has always been proud of being Irish. But, growing up in Chicago, with a romanticized view of Ireland, she didn’t really know what that meant. She didn’t know where her family came from,…
Review. Rules of the Road. Ciara Geraghty
Ciara Geraghty has been publishing books for ten years now, and in that time, has proved to be a sensitive writer, whose novels combine a serious theme, with humour and characters so gorgeous, one wishes they…
Jane Casey
Jane Casey has the sweetest smile. She’s pretty, with gloriously thick brown hair, and large, kind eyes. It’s hard to believe that behind all that softness she has murder on her mind. Yet for the past…
Steph Booth
When Tony Booth was first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, his wife, Steph, was at a loss. The medical profession seemed to know little of the reality of the illness, and information was sketchy. “I was told, ‘this…
Sinead Gleeson
Sinead and I first met on a snowy morning in 2010. She was on crutches after a hip replacement; my arm was in a sling because I’d tripped over my dog, and the writer Howard Jacobson,…
Charlotte Bingham
I’ve always been aware of the writer, Charlotte Bingham. I remember my mother laughing out loud, reading Coronet Among the Weeds, Bingham’s send up of her time as an English debutante, ‘doing’ the season. In the…
Sarah Davis Goff
Sarah Davis-Goff is bubbling over with happiness. It showed the moment we met to discuss her dystopian debut novel – last ones left alive. She’s animated as she tells me of her passion for the story,…