Rebecca Ryan
Rebecca won prizes for her short stories when she was in primary school. “I’ve always had a big imagination. Writing on the computer was my equivalent of playing with dolls.” As a teenager, suffering full blown […]
Anne Joyce
After leaving school, Anne moved to Dublin to train as a dressmaker; then she worked for a couple of designers. “After that, I opened a business in Portarlington. I ran it for 14 years.” Back problems […]
Herta Feely
Born in Yugoslavia, Herta grew up in Germany, and then, from when she was seven, in the USA. After College she moved to Washington DC, where she worked as a freelance doing publicity and press for […]
Caroline Busher
An only child of Irish parents, Caroline has always written. But her first job was as a housing officer in Manchester, allocating properties to people. “I like to be involved in the social aspects of life.” […]
Emelie Schepp
A prolific writer since childhood, Emelie worked as a project manager in advertising, but after 10 years she tired of it, because writing articles for work didn’t satisfy her. “It meant limiting my words, and I […]
Olive Collins
After dropping out of college, Olive managed a lab in Thurles before moving to England. From there it was off to Israel to work in a Kibbutz. “That was horrendous, so I went to Tel Aviv, […]
Orla McAlinden
Orla practiced as a veterinary surgeon for 10 years, in England then Ireland, before training to become a secondary school science teacher. “I was married to a veterinary surgeon who works with racehorses. We both worked […]
Paul Gamble
Paul wrote short stories when he was in school, but always wanted to write a longer prose piece. At university, when he had some spare time, he wrote letters to radio and TV stations, and some […]
Michael Hughes
Michael has always loved the theatre; his father was an aficionado; so although Michael had an idea that he wanted to write, he saw acting as a more accessible career. “I was excited by acting at […]
Helen Sedgwick
A scientist, Helen has always been passionate about astronomy. Her father is an astrophysicist. As a child, she loved reading, but was not interested in writing. Brought up in England, she spent her summers near Dublin […]
RB Kelly
Daughter of a scientist, Rachael Kelly grew up loving science fiction, and she has always written. “I wrote my first book at 8 years old, and I finished three or four novels when I was in […]
Paul McVeigh
One of 7 children, Paul grew up in abject poverty at the height of Belfast’s troubles. After university he set up a theatre company, creating plays and giving new context to existing ones. Then, moving to […]