Posted by Sue Leonard on Friday 21st July 2017
A keen writer as a child, Meg stopped at college because she was too busy. When she left she was feeling a bit down, and she moved, with her girlfriend, to Donegal.
“It was a snap decision. My girlfriend came from there, but I’d never even visited before we moved. Luckily, I love it!”
Meg worked for the Donegal Music Education Partnership, as the performing groups coordinator organising the orchestras.
“I did that for a while. I loved it, but I gave up because my anxiety was catching up with me.”
Hemmed in at home by her anxiety, Meg started writing her debut in April 2016.
“It came in a flash. I wrote it, mostly, because mental illness is hard to talk about. There is an embarrassment. I thought, if I write it down nobody will see it. It was the sort of book I would have like to have read.”
In the future, Meg hopes to write more books.
“And I’d love to write plays. But mostly, I want to be happy, and be able to do the things I couldn’t do before.”
Who is Meg Grehan
Date of birth: 30th November 1991 in Dublin.
Education: St Louis secondary school, Dundalk. “I loved it!” Technical Theatre in Inchicore.
Home: Letterkenny, Donegal.
Family: Girlfriend, Caoimhe, and a King Charles Spaniel, George.
The Day Job: “I write a lot, and am still recovering.”
In Another Life: “I’ve always wanted to be a librarian, but in a massive, gigantic library.”
Favourite Writers: Emma Donahue; Patrick Ness; Sarah Crossman; Deirdre Sullivan; Shakespeare.
Second Novel: “I’ve finished a second book. It’s verse again, but a very different story.”
Top Tip: “If the writing isn’t working, take a dance break. Dance until your brain works again.”
Twitter: @megcathwrites
The Debut: The Space Between. Little Island: €9.10
Written in verse, this tender tale takes Beth through a year of acute anxiety. At the start, all is panic, but when she meets a dog, Mouse, and his owner, things start to improve.
“It’s about pushing through anxiety. It contains an amalgam of the things you can do for yourself.”
The Verdict: A tale of redemption through love; a beguiling read for anyone who suffers depressive illness, or who wants to understand it better.
Published in The Irish Examiner, 15th July, 2017
© Sue Leonard. 2017