Shane Dunphy
Before I start reading a novel, I turn to the page of Acknowledgments. You can learn a lot from them. Can the writer form a good sentence? Is he/she over fond of exclamation marks? Are they […]
Carmel McMahon.
The second in a family of nine, brought up in poverty, Carmel was always close to her mother. “As a teenager I had a good group of girlfriends. I liked to hitchhike to Dublin and […]
Kathleen MacMahon.
Kathleen MacMahon has writing in her blood. As a Granddaughter of the short story writer, Mary Lavin, and niece of the late Caroline Walsh, former Books editor of the Irish Times, whose husband, James Ryan is […]
Joseph Murray
A creative kid, who wrote screenplays in his teens, Joseph spent the year after university in Los Angeles, living in Beverley Hills and working as a media content specialist. Returning home, he moved to Drumcondra, and […]
Karina Molloy
A tomboy who adored sport, Karina loved watching war movies with her father. At 19, she worked in the Sports Complex in UCD, as a sports assistant. After five months, and an initial rejection from the […]
Anya Bergman
Anya’s Mum was a housekeeper in England, and she was brought up in other people’s houses. “I played make believe games about children in orphanages,” she says. Living in Ireland, Anya published some women’s fiction books […]
Suad Aldarra
As a teenager Suad wrote thrillers and romantic stories to explore a different world. “And later, In Damascus. I wrote romantic essays and diaries,” she says. “I had two essays published in a Lebanese newspaper.” After […]
Sam Blake
Sam Blake has always been passionate about words. And she likes nothing more than writing – losing herself in her characters and intricate plots. She’s published eight crime fiction novels since 2016 – many of them […]
Catherine Newman.
Catherine was a bookish, nerdy child – who would rather be at home writing a family newspaper, than out with friends. “I had a crazy inner life,” she says, “and I felt so weird and […]
A Second Life by Dermot Bolger.
New Island: €13.95. Kindle: €6.96. Sean Blake, a press photographer and father of two young children is involved in a near fatal car crash outside the gates of the Botanic Gardens. His heart stops for a […]
Maureen Gallagher
As a child, Maureen spent a lot of time with her grandmother – time she spent reading voraciously. Maureen taught in primary schools in Dublin for a few years, ending up in a school for travellers […]
Tom McGrath.
Tom had a happy childhood until his parents died. “I was at boarding school at the time,” he says. “I was 14 when my mother died, and my father died a year later.” He met […]