Sarah Bannan
SARAH BANNAN hasn’t always wanted to be a writer. Passionate about reading, she has been more than content to work in the book world, and mingle with the writers she so admires. American born and bred, […]
Rosita Sweetman
Fathers Come First Published by Lilliput. Rosita Sweetman published her first novel back in 1974, when she was just 25. The coming of age story set in sixties Dublin showed a young professor’s daughter, Elizabeth, struggling […]
Liz McManus
“Retirement is blissful, it’s like being young again. “It was about civil rights, not nationalism” LIZ MCMANUS wrote her debut novel, Acts of Subversion, in the 1980s. Well-received, it was shortlisted for the Aer Lingus/Irish Times […]
Ben Elton
Time and Time Again Bantam Press: €16.99; Kindle, €3.58 If you had one chance to change history, where would you go? What would you do, and who would you kill? This was the question posed to […]
Paula Hawkins
Paula Hawkins tells Sue Leonard that the success of The Girl on The Train will allow her quit journalism. The Girl on The Train Paula Hawkins Doubleday, €15.99; Kindle, €7.88 EVERY now and then a book […]
Rose Tremain
Rose Tremain is one of England’s most significant writers. She’s won The Orange Prize; The Whitbread and the The James Tait Black Memorial Prize. She spoke toSue Leonard about her latest collection of short stories. The American […]
Colm Tóibín
It’s Dublin on a rainy Autumnal afternoon, and Colm Tóibín is serenading me over the teacups. He’s singing some notes in dulcet Bass tones to demonstrate how, during the audition for a Catholic Church choir in […]
Marian Keyes
The Woman who Stole My Life Penguin/Michael Joseph: €14.99; ebook, €8.92 Stella Sweeney’s life is a mess. Returned to Dublin from New York, her marriage is over, her son hates her, and her divorced best friend’s […]
Nadine Dorries
Nadine Dorries is in a spin. The controversial MP whose just flown in from England for a round of interviews, has been texting her three daughters all morning, making arrangements for tomorrow morning. “We’re converging on […]
Persistence pays
It was an itch that would not go away and in the end Mary Costello could not help becoming a writer, a very good one at that. She spoke to Sue Leonard about her debut novel […]
A History of Loneliness by John Boyne
A History of Loneliness by John Boyne. Published by Doubleday Reviewed by Sue Leonard. Published in Books Ireland, November, 2014. ‘I did not become ashamed of being Irish until I was well into the middle years […]