AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

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Beginner’s pluck: Full-time writer Shane Tivenan
Beginner’s pluck: Full-time writer Shane Tivenan
The compassionate stories in this collection examine outsiders — showing interactions between the ‘lost’ and the ‘normal’ world

Sat, 12 Jul, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: English teacher and Waterford native Rose Keating
Beginner’s pluck: English teacher and Waterford native Rose Keating
These weird, unsettling stories in 'Oddbody' focused on the body explore themes of desire, anxiety, and shame. How far can the human form be pushed and subverted?

Sat, 05 Jul, 2025

Booker prize 2023
Author interview: ‘Gay life and history keeps on developing and changing’
The world of LGBTQ+ fiction is a completely different proposition now, and is flourishing thanks in no small part to writers such as Alan Hollinghurst

Fri, 04 Jul, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Full-time writer and mother Daria Lavelle
Beginner’s pluck: Full-time writer and mother Daria Lavelle
'Aftertaste' is a gourmet delight; it's highly original and hugely evocative, it definitely tugs at the heartstrings

Sat, 28 Jun, 2025

Author interview: ‘I don’t really think too much about writing when I’m doing my day job’
Author interview: ‘I don’t really think too much about writing when I’m doing my day job’
In 'The Benefactors', a cast of memorable characters coalesce when teenager Misty Johnson, from a hardscrabble background, is sexually assaulted by three boys with a more privileged upbringing

Fri, 27 Jun, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Belfast-born and Newcastle-based Gráinne O’Hare
Beginner’s pluck: Belfast-born and Newcastle-based Gráinne O’Hare
'Thirst Trap' is a brilliant portrayal of grief — and of growing up and it's written with humour, hope, and warmth

Sat, 21 Jun, 2025

Author interview: America’s ‘high-brow’ Cold War propaganda operation
Author interview: America’s ‘high-brow’ Cold War propaganda operation
A secret American programme put 10m Western books and magazines in the hands of intellectuals and professionals in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union for 37 years

Fri, 20 Jun, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Counsellor and psychotherapist Sinéad Nolan
Beginner’s pluck: Counsellor and psychotherapist Sinéad Nolan
Nolan's debut novel 'The Counting Game' is clever and compulsive and the plot is lifted by the psychological insights

Sat, 14 Jun, 2025

Author interview: Dizzyingly inventive narrative exploring the nature of time
Author interview: Dizzyingly inventive narrative exploring the nature of time
The concept of time, and the privilege of having it, is explored by Cork writer Caroline O’Donoghue in her latest book, 'Skipshock'

Fri, 13 Jun, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Freelance writer and editor Anna Carey
Beginner’s pluck: Freelance writer and editor Anna Carey
Anna’s first book, 'The Real Rebecca', won the Senior Children’s Book of the Year at the 2011 Irish Book Awards.

Sat, 07 Jun, 2025

Author interview: Fighting past the pain barrier to deliver a riveting mystery
Author interview: Fighting past the pain barrier to deliver a riveting mystery
Michelle McDonagh’s third novel focuses on a murder investigation in Blarney, Cork, where multiple layers of the search for truth connect in an immensely well-paced offering

Fri, 06 Jun, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Virginia Evans
Beginner’s pluck: Virginia Evans
When she was 32 and still unpublished, Virginia was accepted on the MFA for creative writing at Trinity College, Dublin, moving her family over 'an life has never been better'

Sun, 01 Jun, 2025

Edinburgh International Book Festival
Author interview: 'What are the politics of belonging if you don't have it'
Sarah Moss’s ninth novel, 'Ripeness', centres on Edith, a happily divorced 73-year-old who has found utter contentment since settling in the Burren

Sun, 01 Jun, 2025

'Female friendship is not a perfect love story any more than a romantic relationship is'
'Female friendship is not a perfect love story any more than a romantic relationship is'
From Sex and the City to The White Lotus, the complexities of women’s companionship has been a source of fascination for many. Vicki Notaro tells Elle Gordon how the idea of ‘the one’ in female friendships inspired her latest novel

Sat, 24 May, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Artist and writer Gethan Dick
Beginner’s pluck: Artist and writer Gethan Dick
An optimistic debut, this centres on love, motherhood, childbirth, and resilience and it’s glorious — funny, thought provoking, and wise

Sat, 24 May, 2025

Author interview: Psychiatric care left wanting — ‘I lost so much’ as a psychosis patient
Author interview: Psychiatric care left wanting — ‘I lost so much’ as a psychosis patient
In this compelling and affecting memoir Mary Ann Kenny describes how the experience of psychiatric care left her feeling dehumanised and even more traumatised

Fri, 23 May, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Writer and freelance journalist Caroline Madden
Beginner’s pluck: Writer and freelance journalist Caroline Madden
'The Marriage Vendetta' started off as a historical novel but after many rejections, Caroline rewrote it in a modern setting and sold it at auction

Sat, 17 May, 2025

Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025
Author interview: From Alaska to Afghanistan, and the Marines to a PhD in writing
Christopher Bryde trained for a time to be a monk, but ended up joining the US Marines. Deployed to Afghanistan, he lost both legs below the knee due to wounds

Fri, 16 May, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Dublin-born writer Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin
Beginner’s pluck: Dublin-born writer Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin
'Ordinary Saints' is pretty perfect. It’s informative, original, heartfelt, very real, and stunningly written

Sat, 10 May, 2025

Author interview: Harding back to college days with love of campus novel
Author interview: Harding back to college days with love of campus novel
'The Wildelings' is set in a fictionalised version of Trinity College Dublin in 1992 — when the author was a student there

Fri, 09 May, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Long-term volunteer and GP John Travers
Beginner’s pluck: Long-term volunteer and GP John Travers
These beautifully written narratives of John’s training, volunteering, and practice focus on stories of remarkable people — the vulnerable, the brave, and the disadvantaged

Sat, 03 May, 2025

Beginner's pluck: Teacher and newspaper columnist Jennifer Horgan
Beginner's pluck: Teacher and newspaper columnist Jennifer Horgan
Jennifer has been writing poetry since the age of 10 and now brings us her first collection of poems

Fri, 25 Apr, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Former literary agent Claire Anderson-Wheeler
Beginner’s pluck: Former literary agent Claire Anderson-Wheeler
Claire has always loved 'The Great Gatsby', and close to the centenary, she started thinking of how she could have fun with it

Sat, 19 Apr, 2025

Author interview: Sizzling story on the border of life and death during Troubles
Author interview: Sizzling story on the border of life and death during Troubles
Eoin McNamee’s life had always been touched by the Troubles; as a small boy, he remembers seeing people injured by the British army around the house

Fri, 18 Apr, 2025

Author interview: ‘If I can ever help anybody the way Maeve Binchy helped me, I will’
Author interview: ‘If I can ever help anybody the way Maeve Binchy helped me, I will’
The message from Patricia Scanlan's new book, 'City Girls Forever',  is to make the most of your friends

Fri, 11 Apr, 2025

Cork author Louise Hegarty on her first novel: ‘I’ve been training for this for 25 years’
Cork author Louise Hegarty on her first novel: ‘I’ve been training for this for 25 years’
Every so often, a debut novel stands out from the pack. This year, that book is ‘Fair Play’, says Aoife Barry. Cork author Louise Hegarty talks growing up in Glanmire, learning her craft from Agatha Christie, and the joy of being a debut novelist in her 30s

Sun, 06 Apr, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Sligo-based author Elaine Garvey
Beginner’s pluck: Sligo-based author Elaine Garvey
Elaine has published short stories in 'The Dublin Review' and the 'Winter Papers'

Sat, 29 Mar, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Cork-based author Patrick Holloway
Beginner’s pluck: Cork-based author Patrick Holloway
'The Language of Remembering' is a powerful, original family story from a wonderfully talented writer

Sat, 15 Mar, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Dublin-born author Sharon Guard 
Beginner’s pluck: Dublin-born author Sharon Guard 
'Assembling Ailish' captures a time and a place with authenticity and eloquence

Sat, 08 Mar, 2025

Author interview: Art and culture can save us, even in the most desperate of times
Author interview: Art and culture can save us, even in the most desperate of times
Tallaght native Ferdia Lennon has been making waves in the world of literature since graduating with a masters in prose fiction from the University of East Anglia

Fri, 07 Mar, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Full-time writer Nussaibah Younis
Beginner’s pluck: Full-time writer Nussaibah Younis
'Fundamentally', centred around a programme to deradicalise ISIS women in Iraq, is informative, funny, clever, and quite beautifully observed

Sat, 01 Mar, 2025

Author interview: ‘Women’s fear of being unkind can limit what we challenge’
Author interview: ‘Women’s fear of being unkind can limit what we challenge’
(Un)kind is a fascinating and well-researched study of how a deceptively positive slogan can have a far-reaching impact on how women are viewed and treated

Fri, 28 Feb, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: French-born writer Claire-Lise Kieffer
Beginner’s pluck: French-born writer Claire-Lise Kieffer
Many of the stories featured in 'Tenterhooks' started as submissions on her creative writing fiction class

Sat, 22 Feb, 2025

Author interview: A novel about the women who leave — and the ones who stay
Author interview: A novel about the women who leave — and the ones who stay
To write her book, Airey herself had to do some leaving of her own — moving from London back to her ancestral home in West Cork

Sat, 15 Feb, 2025

Author interview: Trusting her instinct paid off as Scarlett follows up ‘Boys Don’t Cry’
Author interview: Trusting her instinct paid off as Scarlett follows up ‘Boys Don’t Cry’
There are many issues covered in 'May All Your Skies Be Blue' — from early onset Alzheimer’s to how the effect of alcoholism runs through a family 

Fri, 14 Feb, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing Garrett Carr
Beginner’s pluck: Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing Garrett Carr
'The Boy from the Sea' is a mesmerising, meditative debut; reminiscent of John McGahern and Jon McGregor

Sat, 08 Feb, 2025

Author interview: ‘The greatest things that we do in life are always about a group’
Author interview: ‘The greatest things that we do in life are always about a group’
Joseph O’Connor’s novel celebrates forgotten heroes of the Second World War, and reminds us that we’re at our best when we work together

Fri, 07 Feb, 2025

Beginner’s Pluck: Cork County Council writer in residence Leeanne O’Donnell
Beginner’s Pluck: Cork County Council writer in residence Leeanne O’Donnell
With the distraction of small children, it took Leeanne 10 years to complete her debut

Sat, 01 Feb, 2025

Author interview: A powerful depiction of the fight for independence from coercive control
Author interview: A powerful depiction of the fight for independence from coercive control
Roisín O’Donnell: 'My challenge was, can I tell this story in an engaging way with hope and light'

Fri, 31 Jan, 2025

Author interview: ‘Writing is exploration, as opposed to experiment’
Author interview: ‘Writing is exploration, as opposed to experiment’
Adrian Duncan's freestyle approach to writing is very much antithetical to that of his previous job as a structural engineer

Fri, 31 Jan, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Dublin-based writer Estelle Birdy
Beginner’s pluck: Dublin-based writer Estelle Birdy
'Ravelling' follows five friends from the Liberties as, in Leaving Cert year they negotiate life, facing racism, poverty, danger from drug gangs, and garda harassment

Sat, 18 Jan, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Oslo-based Irish writer Catriona Shine
Beginner’s pluck: Oslo-based Irish writer Catriona Shine
In 'Habitat' we follow seven of the inhabitants, who, affected by different calamities, don’t realise they’re dealing with a shared crisis

Sat, 11 Jan, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Former Garda forensic expert John Sweetman
Beginner’s pluck: Former Garda forensic expert John Sweetman
'Identity' provides a fascinating look into an unusual branch of law

Sat, 04 Jan, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Researcher and writer Noel Russell
Beginner’s pluck: Researcher and writer Noel Russell
'The Saved and the Spurned' is a meticulously researched account of the plight of persecuted Jews who sought refuge in Northern Ireland in 1938

Sat, 28 Dec, 2024

Carlo Gebler, Novelist.
Author interview: ‘You’ve been swallowed up and absorbed into the ecology’
Carlo Gébler's 'A Cold Eye' looks back over his 35 years living in Northern Ireland one day a year

Fri, 27 Dec, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Running coach and journalist Lucy Waterlow
Beginner’s pluck: Running coach and journalist Lucy Waterlow
'The Ultimate Guide to Parkrun' tells you everything you need to know about parkrun, with contributions from numerous parkrun addicts.

Sat, 21 Dec, 2024

Louighinisland Massacre
Author interview: Busy Birney digs deep for truth in the North and tackles Saipan next
No one was ever arrested in relation to a pub massacre in Loughinisland, Co Down, only the journalists who investigated those responsible

Fri, 20 Dec, 2024

Beginner's pluck: Writer Julian Stannard
Beginner's pluck: Writer Julian Stannard
A brilliant satire on the rise of bureaucracy in education

Sun, 15 Dec, 2024

Books are my business: Founder of Colmcille Press Garbhán Downey
Books are my business: Founder of Colmcille Press Garbhán Downey
Garbhán Downey is founder and director of Colmcille Press, which was established in 2019 and is based in Derry.

Sat, 14 Dec, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Historian Maurice J Casey
Beginner’s pluck: Historian Maurice J Casey
'Hotel Lux' is a fascinating, highly readable account of women’s role in Russia’s revolution

Sat, 07 Dec, 2024

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