Una Mannion
Although Una has always been a prolific reader, it wasn’t until she was an adult that she felt a hunger to write. “That came at 20,” she says. “But I took another 20 years to actually…
Allie Reynolds
An outdoor child, Allie started snowboarding when she was 20. “I went to a dry slope.” Afterwards university, Allie took a TEFAL course in Barcelona. “I went to Andorra to snowboard every weekend, and I spent…
Rachel Ryan
Rachel has always wanted to be a novelist. She wrote her first book, running to 16 chapters, when she was at primary school. “I was always into imaginary worlds,” she says. After University, Rachel hopped from…
Eleanor Hooker
Eleanor has been a secret writer all her life. After School she trained as a general nurse in Jervis street, where she met her husband, and became a staff nurse in intensive care. She trained as…
Helen Corcoran
Helen decided to become a writer at eight years old. “I read an Amelia Jane book by Enid Blyton, and realised it was what I wanted to do. I wrote my first book at 11. It…
Eoin Lane
Eoin won his first art competition aged six. And at seventeen, following his father’s death, he won a Francis McManus inaugural award for a short story. Spending childhood holidays in Connemara, he loved painting the landscape….
Susan Farrell
A prolific reader, Susan had read her way through most of Conan Doyle’s books by the age of 11. But her passion, as a child, was cooking. “My school didn’t encourage it, so I took my…
Maggie O’Farrell
Some years ago, Maggie O’Farrell was in the back of an ambulance with her middle child – who – since birth, has suffered from extreme, sometimes life-threatening, allergic reactions. “That night she was very sick and…
Elaine Feeney
From a farming background of five children, Elaine was a quiet, observant child – a watcher. “I read a Kavanagh poem in secondary school and felt his isolation. I read Dylan Thomas aloud to myself at…
Lisa Bradley
Lisa dreamed of becoming an author as a child but was happy when her MA got her into journalism. “I got offered my first reporting job on the Wakefield Herald two thirds of the way through…
James Bailey
Mad about football, at 13, James decided to be a journalist. He reported for the local press; he founded a school newspaper and wrote a blog. At 17 at a random ECG screening, he was diagnosed…
Jim O’Donoghue
Jim has been involved in The Neptune Basketball club since its inception in 1947. “My brother, Donal, was a founding member. At 9, I’d tag along with him as ball boy, and at 14, I togged…