Beginner’s pluck: Cork-based author Patrick Holloway

He was sporty too.

“I loved tennis and started off studying sports studies at university. But I hated it and switched courses.”

During his degree, Patrick took a year abroad at university in North Carolina. He met his wife there, and, after completing his MA in Creative Writing, moved with her to Brazil.

“I took my PhD and once I’d completed started teaching classes.”

I learned Portuguese and opened my own language school.

All that time, Patrick was writing.

“I gained my agent, Eleanor Byrne, from there, but I had to be at home to get funding opportunities. We moved to Cork in 2021.”

He worked in University College Cork as project manager of the International Hub, then moved to Munster Technological University as chief Erasmus programmer.

Patrick’s awards include the Bath Short Story Award, and the Molly Keane Creative Writing Prize. He received the Paul McVeigh Residency in 2023.

Who is Patrick Holloway?

Date/ place of birth: 1988/ Chichester, England, but moved to Crosshaven, Co Cork, aged five.

Education: Coláiste Mhuire in Crosshaven; University of Stirling, English Literature and Journalism. Year abroad at University of North Carolina, Wilmington; University of Glasgow, MA in Creative Writing; University of Porto Alegre, Brazil, PhD in Creative Writing.

Home: Cork.

Family: Wife, Cintia, daughters Aurora, aged 7, and Luna Faye, aged 4, dog Lyra, and cat Will, “who we rescued and brought from Brazil”.

The day job: Erasmus coordinator.

In another life: “I’d be an actor or a tennis player.”

Favourite writers: Anne Enright; Donal Ryan; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; Elaine Feeney; Kurt Vonnegut; Sylvia Plath.

Second book: “I sent it to my agent the evening before my debut came out.”

Top tip: Enjoy the process, and don’t be precious.

Instagram: @hollowaywriter2

The debut

The Language of Remembering

Époque Press, €15.99/ Kindle, €8.28

Oisin returns from Brazil with his wife and young child, but he can’t settle. 

A linguist, he learns Irish to communicate better with his mum, who’s sinking into early onset Alzheimer’s. 

In alternate chapters, we hear her teenage story of pregnancy.

The verdict: A powerful, original family story from a wonderfully talented writer.