Sheena Wilkinson.
Sheena’s childhood was a typically imaginative one. “I wrote from the age of nine,” she says, “and I always loved reading. I’d take a book to birthday parties in case I got bored.” She was always…
Declan Toohey.
Declan has been reading for as long as he can remember. “Yet as a small child, I couldn’t sit still. I was frequently climbing a tree or climbing out of a window.” He wrote his…
Carmel McMahon.
The second in a family of nine, brought up in poverty, Carmel was always close to her mother. “As a teenager I had a good group of girlfriends. I liked to hitchhike to Dublin and…
Joseph Murray
A creative kid, who wrote screenplays in his teens, Joseph spent the year after university in Los Angeles, living in Beverley Hills and working as a media content specialist. Returning home, he moved to Drumcondra, and…
Anya Bergman
Anya’s Mum was a housekeeper in England, and she was brought up in other people’s houses. “I played make believe games about children in orphanages,” she says. Living in Ireland, Anya published some women’s fiction books…
Suad Aldarra
As a teenager Suad wrote thrillers and romantic stories to explore a different world. “And later, In Damascus. I wrote romantic essays and diaries,” she says. “I had two essays published in a Lebanese newspaper.” After…
Catherine Newman.
Catherine was a bookish, nerdy child – who would rather be at home writing a family newspaper, than out with friends. “I had a crazy inner life,” she says, “and I felt so weird and…
Maureen Gallagher
As a child, Maureen spent a lot of time with her grandmother – time she spent reading voraciously. Maureen taught in primary schools in Dublin for a few years, ending up in a school for travellers…
Tom McGrath.
Tom had a happy childhood until his parents died. “I was at boarding school at the time,” he says. “I was 14 when my mother died, and my father died a year later.” He met…
Eoghan Daltun
As a child, Eoghan spent a lot of time outside, mucking about. “We played a on bits of wasteland,” he says. Leaving school, Eoghan moved to London and learned various practical crafts like welding. And…
Shane Cradock
As a child, Shane loved sport, and drama. “I was always putting on plays for my friends and family.” After college, he worked for Bord na Móna. “I was on the graduate programme working in New…
Sara O’Donovan
Brought up in the world of horseracing, Sara has been a lifelong show-jumper. “My father was a jump-jockey, and then a head lad,” she says. “I loved pony books – and at ten I wrote…