Michelle Gallen
As a child Michelle wanted to be an artist and live in her parent’s attic, but she failed to get into art college. A child of the troubles, Michelle won quite a few short story and…
Ben Halls
Ben didn’t read much as a child, but he loved making up five-part dramas for his action figures. After school Ben worked in pubs and off licenses, working for the minimum wage. He also played in…
Stephanie Hickey
Stephanie enjoyed a wonderful carefree childhood in the Irish tradition, with lots of music in the house; but when her sister married, her brother-in-law started to abuse her. Leaving school in 5th year she took a…
Francine Toon
As a young child Francine lived in Canterbury, London and Portugal, but at nine, she moved to the Scottish Highlands, before finally settling in Fife. “I loved the highlands and found it inspiring. Friends at school…
Jeanine Cummins
Jeanine lived in Belfast after college, “bar tending and writing terrible poetry.” After two years she moved to New York and worked at Penguin books for ten years. “I was there when I published my memoir…
Pat O’Connor
Pat has always written, but he also loved fishing, boating and sports as a child. “When I read swallows and amazons I felt I should have a go at writing about my own life. I started…
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…
Caelainn Hogan
Caelainn had a wonderful English teacher, and has always been interested in writing, but for years she assumed she’d become a fiction writer. “I won a Hotpress Music Journalism competition in my Leaving certificate year,” she…
Eoghan Egan
A lifelong reader, Eoghan has been writing since he was ten years old. “My father was a farmer and a rent collector. My earliest memory is of sitting his knee and him reading stories to me.”…
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…