Beginner’s Pluck

Christy Fleming

Christy and his three siblings were brought up by their widowed mother. “My father died when I was 13 months old, so I can’t remember him.” Christy walked out of school aged 12. He did various […]

James Kavanagh

James has always been interested in food. “My mum was always cooking for her friends, and she made sure I knew how to cook. And I did home economics at school.” Leaving college half way through […]

Aoibheann McCann

Book mad, Aoibheann taught herself to read aged 3, and by junior infants was reading the Famous Five. After college she worked for an environmental theatre before moving to London with her husband to be. She […]

Daisy McNally

The third of five children, Daisy gained her love of books from her mother. “She was a great reader.”   After university, Daisy moved to London and worked in publishing, starting out as an editorial assistant. […]

Eoghan Smith

Brought up in Balinteer, Eoghan was a prolific reader. “I wrote terrible poetry as a teenager, but any other writing I tried, never worked out.” He pursued an academic career, working in a video shop between […]

Nick Richards

Mark and Shane met on the first day of college and have been good friends since. In 1998, when Shane was in Dublin, and Mark in Limerick, they would email back and forth and they invented […]

Fiona Gartland

A huge Enid Blyton fan, Fiona read to stave of childhood boredom. She became a dental nurse, eventually working at The Dublin Dental University Hospital, but when her children came along she took an eight-year career […]

Lynn Buckle.

A voracious, indiscriminate reader, Lynn’s first love has always been art. “Painting was my thing.” Lynn spent a year after university working for the civil service, then the county council as a groundsman, before attending art […]

Seymour Cresswell

Whilst he’s always loved to write, early on, Seymour tinkered more with acting. “At Trinity, after two years of dodging Players, I was asked to do a part. I got noticed and did a number of […]

Adrian Harte

Adrian came from a bookish family of five kids. “I’ve always loved reading. We went to the library in Ballybay at least once a week.”  Wanting to be a writer, he remembers sending short stories out […]

Breda Joy

Breda has always had a good imagination, and she’s been writing for most of her life. “I’ve been tinkering with poems, plays and short stories. And I tried my hand at two novels which are now […]

Louise Hall

Louise always read. “I read anything going. I started with Judy Blume and went on to Marian Keyes.” During college holidays Louise worked in a travel agency, and when she graduated the company gave her a […]