Hilary Fannin
Hilary worked in a lot of menial jobs and as a classroom assistant before she discovered that it was possible to have a career in writing. First she worked in theatre. “I trained at the Oscar…
Emma Comerford
Emma was brought up in a house full of books. Her father, a solicitor, wrote some legal textbooks, and in the sixties he wrote plays which were performed in the Abbey Theatre. Emma didn’t write as…
Sloane Crosley
A lifelong reader, Sloane started writing at college with some short stories, and afterwards, after a brief spell in Scotland, she worked in publishing for 12 years. “I was an assistant in a Literary Agency for…
Cesca Major
Cesca became addicted to writing whilst at university. But, following an early ambition, and became a freelance TV presenter, working for ITV West. She left, and became a history teacher, because she wanted a more regular…
Jane Talbot
Daughter of schoolteachers, Jane has always loved storytelling and folk tales, but she didn’t start writing until she got the idea for her debut. After university she worked in marketing for four years, then, taking redundancy…
Michael O’Higgins
Michael started life as a journalist. He worked for Hotpress, writing news based stories, and eventually moved to Magill. He was at the stage of gaining a staff job, but he’d always wanted to study law….
Mary Phelan
From the moment Mary Phelan and Catherine Conlon met in primary school back in 1974,they have been best friends. But at 18, Catherine left Ireland for an au-pair job in France, and she hasn’t lived in Ireland…
Frankie Gaffney
Starting life in Balbriggan, Frankie moved to inner-city Dublin at 12. He mitched from school, and in his early twenties, working in nightclubs, saw Dublin’s underside. “I partied like crazy.” He did a radio a radio…
Eleanor Fitzsimons
Eleanor worked in consumer research for years; first in Dublin, then London, but after the birth of her first child, she decided not to return to work at once, and the new family returned to Dublin….
Kieran Fanning
Kieran had written two novels by the time he was ten years old. The first was called The Magic Sword, and the second, The Samurai. “I’ve always written short stories, and when I left college I…
Jo Spain
Jo started her career as a Freelance journalist, but she’s always been interested in politics, and in 2007 she ran for election, and almost won. After that, she joined Leinster House as a parliamentary administrator, working…
E.R. Murray
From a difficult background, Elizabeth excelled at school. “Books were my sanctuary.” Working to put herself through university, she then became a primary school teacher, working with children with special needs and emotional problems. After six…