Charlene Allcott
As a child Charlene loved books. “I hung around in the library all day, and I wrote stories for friends at school, and for the school newspaper. But I didn’t think of myself as a writer….
Christie Watson
When, at 17, Christie Watson applied for nursing, her prospects for success seemed slim. Fresh from a few wild years, the early school-leaver fainted at her medical, at the sight of her own blood. Later, arriving…
Caoilinn Hughes.
When Caoilinn was ten, a pastiche she’d written of Father Ted was performed at her school. Encouraged, she started a novel. “I asked my parents for feedback. When they laughed, hysterically, (it wasn’t a comedy,) I…
Emilie Pine
Starting life in Dublin, Emilie’s family moved to London when she was a teenager, where she dropped out of school and became a ‘wild child.’ At 16, saved by a private school, she gained a scholarship…
Review. Andrea Mara
In the late nineties I wrote an article titled ‘mobile manners.’ Commenting on the disturbance caused by phone conversations on the beach, at the theatre, and during a funeral mass, I suggested that some guidelines were…
Cethan Leahy
In college Cethan wrote short film scripts and had a story long-listed for a Penguin Competition. “I got to a workshop. It was really cool.” After his MA, Cethan got an internship in EMC, placing data…
Caroline O’Donoghue
Graduating from UCC, Caroline emigrated to London, working on film sets, in recruitment agencies, and doing bar work whilst pitching as a freelance writer. Now a contributing editor for The-Pool.com, she writes for a variety of…
Julia Kelly
I first met Julia Kelly in 2007 the day after her debut had been launched. She told me she was wrecked, but she looked amazing in her low-cut, body-hugging black dress. With My Lazy Eye had…
Moire O’Sullivan
Moire’s first interest lay in science. And though she was athletic as a child, she dropped netball at 18 to concentrate on the Viola. “I played in the Ulster Youth Orchestra,” she says. After university, Moire…
Rebecca O’Connor
Brought up in County Cavan, Rebecca initially wanted to study medicine, but she decided on English, and worked in various jobs in London whilst taking her MA. “Afterwards, I got a job as a general assistant…
Kit De Waal
Reading Kit De Waal’s second novel I lost all sense of time. Transported, I was swept into the world of Mona, a lonely Irish woman who, approaching sixty, thinks back to the early seventies, and the…
Review. A Normal Family by Henry Norman & Angela Pell
There have been many books about autism published over the years – heartrending accounts of the struggles – the fights for services – and occasionally tales of triumph over adversity – but A Normal Family is…