Lisa Owens
After university Lisa got a job in a literary agency in London. “I was there for about 18 months, then I moved into an Independent publishing house, as an editor of non-fiction, where I worked for…
Catherine Ryan Howard
At 22, a few years after dropping out of college, Catherine became a campsite courier in the Netherlands. Then it was off to Disney World for 18 months; an experience that she wrote about. Back home,…
Janet Shepperson
Janet has wanted to be a writer since she was 5 and discovered books. Starting as a trainee journalist, finding it didn’t suit her, she moved to Northern Ireland and worked as a community volunteer. “I…
Phaedra Patrick
Brought up believing people like her could not become writers, it wasn’t until Phaedra was in her twenties, and read Bridget Jones’s Diary that she gained the confidence to write. Treating writing as a project, she…
Patrick Deely
Wanting to find his way out of East Galway, Patrick escaped to Teacher Training College. He spent his entire teaching career at De La Salle National School in Ballyfermot. Passionate about poetry, he and the children…
Bernice Barrington
Bernice’s father was a great storyteller, and she has always loved the medium. A journalist, she worked as an intern for Image Magazine, doing a writing course in the evenings. That led to an MA in…
Ted McDermott
Inspired by the spare writing of Henry Miller and Denis Cooper, Ted started writing in his teens. “It wasn’t good. I wrote journals and personal diarist stuff.” At college, Ted wrote his thesis on Flann O’Brien;…
Dave Rudden
As a young kid, Dave told stories to his classmates. A lonely child, he would walk, and make up movies in his head. Dave started writing at college, posting on fan forum sites. “They were my…
Kate McQuaile
After school Kate set off for London pursuing the early music scene. Working in temp secretarial jobs, she took singing lessons and took part in amateur music making. Then, after a spell with the Royal Aeronautical…
Mona Awad
As a child, Mona wrote fairy stories for her mother. “I’ve been enjoying stories and trying to write them for as long as I can remember.” After studying in England and Scotland, Mona married an American,…
Andrea Hayes
Andrea always loved performing. She left college early to work in Windmill Lane. From there she went to TV3, working in Continuity before becoming a presenter. She also worked as a hostess in Lillie’s Bordello. Throughout…
Paraic O’Donnell
After College Paraic entered the translation industry, working in IT. He continues to work there. In 2011 Paraic joined Twitter, and began to put together spontaneous fiction in serialised form. Starting small, after a while, his…