Tim Winton
When Tim Winton was thirteen years old, he’d stand at the window with a rifle and aim it at people. The family had just moved. Unsettled and lonely, Tim was nervous at the thought of starting…
Orlagh Collins
After college in Dublin, Orlagh worked in the production department for various films, then she left for London and worked in the city in IT recruitment. “I stayed there for 18 months to earn some money,…
S. A. Dunphy
A voracious reader, Shane always liked crime. He was first published aged 11, getting a story in a collection by children for children, but he was so badly teased for writing it, that he didn’t try…
Meg Grehan
A keen writer as a child, Meg stopped at college because she was too busy. When she left she was feeling a bit down, and she moved, with her girlfriend, to Donegal. “It was a snap…
Molly McCloskey
THE endorsements on the back of Molly McCloskey’s new novel are not only eulogistic; they are literary gems. And when Molly’s publicist informs us that the editor had rarely received such universal praise for a book,…
Maria Hoey
Maria left school at 16 and took an office job in Swords. “I always hated school. I took my Leaving Certificate myself, in 1979.” She married at 20, had a daughter at 21, but two years…
Julie Parsons
BACK in 1998, Julie Parsons was something of a trailblazer. Her debut crime novel, Mary Mary, showed that Irish women could achieve international success with literary, yet very grisly crime fiction. Move on 19 years —…
Faith Hogan
Faith wrote poems as a teenager, but as an adult got diverted. She has worked as a model, and in Penneys, and whilst taking her degree did a stint in arts administration, but since graduating, has…
Debut Roundup. July/August
Inch Levels. Neil Hegarty. Head of Zeus. Going against trend, Inch Levels is a quiet meditative debut, though this isn’t immediately apparent. The opening prologue describes a crime scene. An eight year old girl, cycling home…
Residency at Cill Rialaig
Many thanks to the Irish Writer’s Centre and the Arts Council for choosing me as one of the seven writers to have a 10 day residency at Cill Rialaig in wildest Kerry in November. I gather…
Elizabeth Strout
AT a recent literary event, a young pregnant woman approached the author Elizabeth Strout, and said she felt scared. “She said, ‘I’m about to have a baby for the first time. I’ve read your books and…
Jon McGregor
JON MCGREGOR was just 26 when he published his first novel back in 2002. When If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, he was delighted, if surprised. But when two…