Megan Nolan
Megan was a bookish child from an artistic background. “My father was a playwright and theatre director,” she says. “He founded Red Kettle Theatre Company. I had social anxiety, so I buried myself in books because […]
Nicole Kennedy
Nicole was born in England to Irish parents. “I have lots of family in Mayo, and my mum lives in Boyle.” She won prizes for English at school but went on to study law. “After my […]
Kevin Doherty
An academic child who loved music and reading, Kevin wanted to be a doctor. He loved the science of it, but when, after studying it for three years, the training became more practical, he realised that […]
Liza Costello
Lisa always loved reading, but having made a mistake on her CAO form, she studied Social Research instead of English Literature, and that led to a career in the subject. “I did qualitive studies for the […]
Kirsty Capes
Kirsty was taken into care aged two. She had a positive experience, staying with the same family until she ‘aged out’ at 23, but she’s aware of the system’s downside. “There are always social workers […]
Louise Neylon
Growing up on a farm in County Kildare, Louise wanted to be Jacqueline Wilson’s editor. But when her mum took her to Easons to meet the writer, she was devastated. “She just signed my book and […]
Brian Keogh
Brian wrote his first book, aged five, called Professor Souto goes to the moon. Since then, he has been trying to write a novel. “I had all sorts of plots. I’d write a few chapters but […]
Fiona Scarlett
Fiona never thought about writing when she was a child- though she was always an avid reader. At 35, she began making up funny stories for children, and found that she couldn’t stop writing. “Two years […]
Catherine Mangan
As a child brought up in the country, Catherine loved inventing games. And at secondary school she was renowned for writing good stories. “I’ve always written. There are notebooks everywhere!” After college, Catherine moved to […]
Nick Geoghegan
The youngest of three, Nick has always been interested in illustration. “I was always drawing. At the beginning, I’d copy the characters from my comic books, and when I was 7 or 8, I wrote stories […]
Eimear Lawlor
As a child Eimear loved reading. “I read everything,” she says. “My three elder brothers were all into science, and I wanted to be a scientist, but it didn’t happen!” Studying in London, she met […]
Louise Kennedy
An avid reader, devouring 3 or 4 books each week, Louise didn’t start writing until 2014. “My creativity was knocked out of me in secondary school,” she says. Louise worked at FAS, then moved to […]