Sally Hanan.
The second of six children brought up in County Wicklow, Sally was an early reader. “I was always reading,” she says. “I started school aged three. At National School we had to write our news…
Olivia Fitzsimons.
After studying history at university, Olivia went to London and worked as a business manager in advertising. After two years, moving to Dublin, she took an MA in Film. “I met my husband there, and stayed…
Catherine Prasifka.
Catherine wrote her first story – about two witches and a dragon when she was nine; and as a teenager wrote two novels as a practice project. “I always said I wanted to be a writer,”…
Audrey Magee
Audrey Magee simply has to write. It’s as essential to her, as breathing. It’s through writing that she works out what she thinks about the world and explores its many complexities. She conveys and illustrates these…
Sophie Haydock.
Books formed a huge part of Sophie’s childhood. “My Mum was always writing,” says Sophie. “She was never published but she always encouraged me. I felt writing was possible.” Sophie started writing in the final…
David Butler and Tanya Farrelly
When David Butler met Tanya Farrelly back in 2014, the writers hit it off at once. Within a month the friends became a couple and, shortly afterwards, Tanya moved into David seafront home in Bray. Two…
Alison Weatherby
After moving from California to Texas, Connecticut and Missouri, the teenage Alison lived in Seattle. After university, she worked there for Microsoft, before moving to New York to take an MA. “Then I moved back…
Louise Phillips
Louise Phillips has always wanted to write. And she started in her early twenties, when, having left school to start work at 15, she returned to education. She adored the craft, but before she’d had any…
Rosemary Hennigan
Rosemary has always read voraciously. “I wrote my first novel at 12 – it was about the 1916 rising, and my second as a teenager. I loved drama and ballet, always, but studied law to…
Amy Cronin
A bookish, non-sporty child, Amy was always writing stories, and they were always dark and edgy. After college she moved to Northampton with her boyfriend, now husband. “I worked in the Avon headquarters, and…
Eddie Hobbs.
Eddie comes from an artistic family. “As a child I was always happy to entertain,” he says. “I was a ventriloquist for a while.” Leaving school at 16, with his Leaving Certificate, Eddie worked for Cork…
Sheila Armstrong
An imaginative child who read constantly, Sheila started writing in her teen years, finding the process cathartic. From university Sheila worked in publishing interning with New Island, Lilliput, and The Irish Writer’s Centre before going freelance…