Debut Roundup for Books Ireland. March and April 2019.
The Failing Heart by Eoghan Smith. Dedalus. This strangely mesmeric tale opens in the aftermath of a death. A graduate student has secreted himself away from his friends and family, intent on completing his overdue dissertation….
Summer Sizzlers
Ireland is enjoying a golden age in literature right now. Our three Man Booker Prize winners, John Banville, Roddy Doyle and Anne Enright head a host of established and emerging literary talent. And what’s true for…
Mary Pat Kelly
Mary Pat Kelly has always been proud of being Irish. But, growing up in Chicago, with a romanticized view of Ireland, she didn’t really know what that meant. She didn’t know where her family came from,…
Ahmad Danny Ramadan
Danny remembers writing an action driven, high fantasy series about the Prince of Wind, aged 13, “I always wanted to be a writer, but everyone around me said that writing doesn’t feed you bread.” He published…
Frank Connolly
An investigative journalist for nearly 40 years, covering print and broadcasting mediums, Frank started out as a researcher. He worked in RTE, on many programmes, including the Late Late Show, before turning to print journalism. “I…
Lucia Gannon
Lucia intended to follow her mother into teaching, but, having failed to find a suit to wear at the interview, had a rethink, and ended up studying medicine. “I qualified in 1984, but it was four…
Review. Rules of the Road. Ciara Geraghty
Ciara Geraghty has been publishing books for ten years now, and in that time, has proved to be a sensitive writer, whose novels combine a serious theme, with humour and characters so gorgeous, one wishes they…
Chip Cheek
Chip wrote a novel aged 8, which included the great depression and contained volcanoes. After taking a degree in journalism, he turned to fiction. “During Grad school I focused on short stories – some were published…
Jane Casey
Jane Casey has the sweetest smile. She’s pretty, with gloriously thick brown hair, and large, kind eyes. It’s hard to believe that behind all that softness she has murder on her mind. Yet for the past…
Jessica Andrews
As a child, Jessica spent all her summers in Donegal, where her grandfather is from. “Ireland is my second home,” she says. Jessica is much travelled. She spent an Erasmus year in Santa Cruz, before taking…
Christina McDonald
Christina has been telling stories as long as she can remember, and has always wanted to be a writer. “I went into journalism as a way to make money from writing.” Graduating in America just after…
James Butler
James’s mother died when he was 10, leaving him, and his seven siblings in the care of their father, a farm labourer, who treated them with benign neglect. He loved comics, but didn’t develop a love…