Paraic O’Donnell
After College Paraic entered the translation industry, working in IT. He continues to work there. In 2011 Paraic joined Twitter, and began to put together spontaneous fiction in serialised form. Starting small, after a while, his […]
Dr Keith Gaynor
At 15 Keith wanted to be a barrister; but shadowing one during a murder trial, it was the suffering families who interested him; not the crime itself. That’s when he decided to study psychology. “After UCD, […]
Clár Ní Chonghaile
Brought up as the eldest of seven, Clár was always interested in words. Gaining a place on the Graduate Training Scheme run by Reuters, She worked in London, Madrid and Paris, where she met her future […]
Fiona Barton
The daughter of a journalist, brought up in a house full of books, Fiona always loved writing. She was senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at The Daily Telegraph, and chief reporter at The […]
Helen Blackhurst
Helen was a big reader as a child, but initially theatre interested her more than writing. “I didn’t write stories as a child, but I have these notebooks with dialogue of animals talking.” After university Helen […]
Julia Forster
A prolific reader, Julia didn’t start to read like a writer until she was 15, and read Jane Eyre. She took an MA in Creative writing, but concentrated on poetry. It wasn’t until the end of […]
Averil Douglas Opperman
Rebelling against her parent’s wishes that she attend Trinity College Dublin, Averil joined the Irish Times as a cub reporter. Working in news, she frequently covered the Dáil, because of her family contacts. She became the […]
Kate Dempsey
Brought up in a house full of books, Kate loved reading, but also science and maths. After studying physics she went into IT, and worked in London before being transferred to Holland where she met her […]
Hilary Fannin
Hilary worked in a lot of menial jobs and as a classroom assistant before she discovered that it was possible to have a career in writing. First she worked in theatre. “I trained at the Oscar […]
Emma Comerford
Emma was brought up in a house full of books. Her father, a solicitor, wrote some legal textbooks, and in the sixties he wrote plays which were performed in the Abbey Theatre. Emma didn’t write as […]
Sloane Crosley
A lifelong reader, Sloane started writing at college with some short stories, and afterwards, after a brief spell in Scotland, she worked in publishing for 12 years. “I was an assistant in a Literary Agency for […]
Cesca Major
Cesca became addicted to writing whilst at university. But, following an early ambition, and became a freelance TV presenter, working for ITV West. She left, and became a history teacher, because she wanted a more regular […]