Louise Neylon
Growing up on a farm in County Kildare, Louise wanted to be Jacqueline Wilson’s editor. But when her mum took her to Easons to meet the writer, she was devastated. “She just signed my book and…
Brian Keogh
Brian wrote his first book, aged five, called Professor Souto goes to the moon. Since then, he has been trying to write a novel. “I had all sorts of plots. I’d write a few chapters but…
Fiona Scarlett
Fiona never thought about writing when she was a child- though she was always an avid reader. At 35, she began making up funny stories for children, and found that she couldn’t stop writing. “Two years…
Catherine Mangan
As a child brought up in the country, Catherine loved inventing games. And at secondary school she was renowned for writing good stories. “I’ve always written. There are notebooks everywhere!” After college, Catherine moved to…
Nick Geoghegan
The youngest of three, Nick has always been interested in illustration. “I was always drawing. At the beginning, I’d copy the characters from my comic books, and when I was 7 or 8, I wrote stories…
Eimear Lawlor
As a child Eimear loved reading. “I read everything,” she says. “My three elder brothers were all into science, and I wanted to be a scientist, but it didn’t happen!” Studying in London, she met…
Louise Kennedy
An avid reader, devouring 3 or 4 books each week, Louise didn’t start writing until 2014. “My creativity was knocked out of me in secondary school,” she says. Louise worked at FAS, then moved to…
Sue Divin
Sue wrote poetry as a teenager, and considered journalism, but instead studied European Studies. After taking an MA, she taught in secondary schools in Derry for seven years. “I loved teaching teenagers, but I…
John Patrick McHugh
John Patrick moved a lot as a young child, living in Tipperary, Mitchellstown, Mallow and Macroom before settling in Galway aged 12. “Achill was my concrete place,” he says, remembering time spent there with his grandparents….
Ericka Waller
An avid reader, Ericka devoured books from the library. “If I didn’t like the ending of a book, I would rewrite it,” she says. “I was good at rhyming poetry, and I wrote songs for…
Catherine Talbot
Catherine is a lifelong prolific reader. “As a child, I loved libraries, and I was always interested in the lives of writers.” After school Catherine started a marketing course, but disliking it, began working in the…
Trish Kearney
After school, Trish became a nurse – working for five years after she qualified. “I went to Australia, and when I came home I got married. The following year I had my first daughter and stayed…