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AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

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Beginner’s pluck: French-born writer Claire-Lise Kieffer
Beginner’s pluck: French-born writer Claire-Lise Kieffer
Many of the stories featured in 'Tenterhooks' started as submissions on her creative writing fiction class

Sat, 22 Feb, 2025

Author interview: A novel about the women who leave — and the ones who stay
Author interview: A novel about the women who leave — and the ones who stay
To write her book, Airey herself had to do some leaving of her own — moving from London back to her ancestral home in West Cork

Sat, 15 Feb, 2025

Author interview: Trusting her instinct paid off as Scarlett follows up ‘Boys Don’t Cry’
Author interview: Trusting her instinct paid off as Scarlett follows up ‘Boys Don’t Cry’
There are many issues covered in 'May All Your Skies Be Blue' — from early onset Alzheimer’s to how the effect of alcoholism runs through a family 

Fri, 14 Feb, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing Garrett Carr
Beginner’s pluck: Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing Garrett Carr
'The Boy from the Sea' is a mesmerising, meditative debut; reminiscent of John McGahern and Jon McGregor

Sat, 08 Feb, 2025

Author interview: ‘The greatest things that we do in life are always about a group’
Author interview: ‘The greatest things that we do in life are always about a group’
Joseph O’Connor’s novel celebrates forgotten heroes of the Second World War, and reminds us that we’re at our best when we work together

Fri, 07 Feb, 2025

Beginner’s Pluck: Cork County Council writer in residence Leeanne O’Donnell
Beginner’s Pluck: Cork County Council writer in residence Leeanne O’Donnell
With the distraction of small children, it took Leeanne 10 years to complete her debut

Sat, 01 Feb, 2025

Author interview: A powerful depiction of the fight for independence from coercive control
Author interview: A powerful depiction of the fight for independence from coercive control
Roisín O’Donnell: 'My challenge was, can I tell this story in an engaging way with hope and light'

Fri, 31 Jan, 2025

Author interview: ‘Writing is exploration, as opposed to experiment’
Author interview: ‘Writing is exploration, as opposed to experiment’
Adrian Duncan's freestyle approach to writing is very much antithetical to that of his previous job as a structural engineer

Fri, 31 Jan, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Dublin-based writer Estelle Birdy
Beginner’s pluck: Dublin-based writer Estelle Birdy
'Ravelling' follows five friends from the Liberties as, in Leaving Cert year they negotiate life, facing racism, poverty, danger from drug gangs, and garda harassment

Sat, 18 Jan, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Oslo-based Irish writer Catriona Shine
Beginner’s pluck: Oslo-based Irish writer Catriona Shine
In 'Habitat' we follow seven of the inhabitants, who, affected by different calamities, don’t realise they’re dealing with a shared crisis

Sat, 11 Jan, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Former Garda forensic expert John Sweetman
Beginner’s pluck: Former Garda forensic expert John Sweetman
'Identity' provides a fascinating look into an unusual branch of law

Sat, 04 Jan, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Researcher and writer Noel Russell
Beginner’s pluck: Researcher and writer Noel Russell
'The Saved and the Spurned' is a meticulously researched account of the plight of persecuted Jews who sought refuge in Northern Ireland in 1938

Sat, 28 Dec, 2024

Carlo Gebler, Novelist.
Author interview: ‘You’ve been swallowed up and absorbed into the ecology’
Carlo Gébler's 'A Cold Eye' looks back over his 35 years living in Northern Ireland one day a year

Fri, 27 Dec, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Running coach and journalist Lucy Waterlow
Beginner’s pluck: Running coach and journalist Lucy Waterlow
'The Ultimate Guide to Parkrun' tells you everything you need to know about parkrun, with contributions from numerous parkrun addicts.

Sat, 21 Dec, 2024

Louighinisland Massacre
Author interview: Busy Birney digs deep for truth in the North and tackles Saipan next
No one was ever arrested in relation to a pub massacre in Loughinisland, Co Down, only the journalists who investigated those responsible

Fri, 20 Dec, 2024

Beginner's pluck: Writer Julian Stannard
Beginner's pluck: Writer Julian Stannard
A brilliant satire on the rise of bureaucracy in education

Sun, 15 Dec, 2024

Books are my business: Founder of Colmcille Press Garbhán Downey
Books are my business: Founder of Colmcille Press Garbhán Downey
Garbhán Downey is founder and director of Colmcille Press, which was established in 2019 and is based in Derry.

Sat, 14 Dec, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Historian Maurice J Casey
Beginner’s pluck: Historian Maurice J Casey
'Hotel Lux' is a fascinating, highly readable account of women’s role in Russia’s revolution

Sat, 07 Dec, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Architect Dominic Stevens
Beginner’s pluck: Architect Dominic Stevens
Having already written two creative non-fiction books, the author says writing fiction is much closer to designing buildings

Sat, 30 Nov, 2024

Author interview: If home is where the heart is, then Taylor’s readers are her family
Author interview: If home is where the heart is, then Taylor’s readers are her family
Alice Taylor says that in 'A Place Called Home' she is exploring how to reconcile the positive and negative of the past and the present

Fri, 29 Nov, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: English writer Miranda Acland
Beginner’s pluck: English writer Miranda Acland
'Far from Home' is a multi-faceted and atmospheric story that spans continents as it explores identity and loss

Sat, 23 Nov, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Ornithologist and environmental communicator Seán Ronayne
Beginner’s pluck: Ornithologist and environmental communicator Seán Ronayne
This wonderful memoir detailing Seán’s passion and deep knowledge of birds, also shows how it feels to live with autism and Attention Deficit Disorder

Sat, 16 Nov, 2024

Author interview: One of Britain’s darkest killers gripped the nation for decades
Author interview: One of Britain’s darkest killers gripped the nation for decades
Kate Summerscale's eye for an ingenious angle and her ability to keep the pages turning are evident in 'The Peepshow'

Fri, 15 Nov, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Northern Irish writer Laura McLoughlin
Beginner’s pluck: Northern Irish writer Laura McLoughlin
McLoughlin's debut novel 'The Many Ghosts of Donahue Byrnes' is an original, fun read

Sat, 09 Nov, 2024

Author interview: Boyne offers an eerie insight into the dynamics of abuse
Author interview: Boyne offers an eerie insight into the dynamics of abuse
Though prolific author John Boyne admits he didn’t initially plan on writing a series, he has recently released the third of four linked novellas exploring abuse

Fri, 08 Nov, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Ferdia Lennon's 'Glorious Exploits' is mind-blowingly good
Beginner’s pluck: Ferdia Lennon's 'Glorious Exploits' is mind-blowingly good
Son of an Irish mother and Libyan father, Ferdia was brought up by his mum in Tallaght. As a child, he adored narrative and would make up stories using his toys. “I loved cinema too.

Sun, 03 Nov, 2024

Author interview: Eibhlís Carcione: 'My love of spooky stories goes back to my childhood'
Author interview: Eibhlís Carcione: 'My love of spooky stories goes back to my childhood'
Writer's spine-chillingly scary book Black Gables is set beside a lake in the creepiest school in the world

Fri, 01 Nov, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: 'The Faerie Isle' is a magical book to treasure
Beginner’s pluck: 'The Faerie Isle' is a magical book to treasure
Síne Quinn's stunningly beautiful book tells of 16 types of Faeries in Irish folklore, giving us facts and history followed by imaginative retellings and new stories

Sat, 26 Oct, 2024

Hay Festival 2022
Author interview: Rankin and Rebus raise a glass to their silver anniversary
'Midnight and Blue' is the 25th outing for Ian Rankin’s complicated, cranky but much-loved protagonist, Detective John Rebus

Fri, 25 Oct, 2024

"Isolation Island" By Louise Minchin - Book Launch
Beginner’s pluck: TV presenter and journalist Louise Minchin
The surprises and shocks keep coming in the clever, atmospheric, and twisty 'Isolation Island'

Sat, 19 Oct, 2024

Prime Suspect 30th Anniversary: Lynda La Plante - Photocall
Author interview: By the book: La Plante recounts a life defined by crime writing
The 81-year-old has utilised her storytelling skills  to great effect in her memoir, fittingly titled 'How to Get Away With Murder'

Fri, 18 Oct, 2024

Author interview: When something about brand Beatles strikes a chord
Author interview: When something about brand Beatles strikes a chord
There are very few biographies of The Beatles, Patrick Humphries' 'With the Beatles' covers their career in three parts, 1940-1963, 1964-1970, and 1970 to the present day

Fri, 18 Oct, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Comedian and podcaster Killian Sundermann
Beginner’s pluck: Comedian and podcaster Killian Sundermann
'Country Fail: Some C***t’s Guide to the countryside' is highly original; an inventively funny spoof

Sat, 12 Oct, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Journalist Laura Kennedy
Beginner’s pluck: Journalist Laura Kennedy
'Some of Our Parts' is clever, humourous, and profoundly thought provoking. It makes you question your core values, and reevaluate your story

Sat, 05 Oct, 2024

Author interview: Cauvery’s West Cork novel has links to her love for the area
Author interview: Cauvery’s West Cork novel has links to her love for the area
Cauvery talked so much about her love for west Cork that finally she persuaded her husband that she needed a house there to write in

Fri, 04 Oct, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Harriet Constable hits the right note with debut
Beginner’s pluck: Harriet Constable hits the right note with debut
'The Instrumentalist' is a brilliant look at patronage, musical genius, and the power of a patriarchal society

Sat, 28 Sep, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Debut poetry collection of Gustav Parker Hibbett
Beginner’s pluck: Debut poetry collection of Gustav Parker Hibbett
This superb collection examines what it feels like when you don’t fit in; whether that’s through blackness or queerness, and it does so in the most inventive and lyrical way

Sat, 21 Sep, 2024

British journalist and author Robert Har
Author interview: A moment when the world tips over into something else
In 'Precipice' Robert Harris sees 1914 — the year of the outbreak of the First World War — as the great watershed in Western history

Fri, 20 Sep, 2024

Sally Rooney: I don’t want to be the centre of attention like that ever again
Sally Rooney: I don’t want to be the centre of attention like that ever again
Sally Rooney on romance, writing about sex, the Normal People phenomenon and her new novel, Intermezzo

Mon, 16 Sep, 2024

Roddy Doyle
Author interview: Roddy Doyle on the unexpected side-effect of working with Roy Keane
Doyle's new book 'The Woman Behind the Door' revisits the unforgettable character of Paula Spencer who has appeared in several of his novels

Sun, 15 Sep, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Evie Woods self-published her first book in 2013
Beginner’s pluck: Evie Woods self-published her first book in 2013
'The Story Collection' is a perfect mix of everyday life and the supernatural

Sat, 14 Sep, 2024

Author interview: Location for a story is very important to me
Author interview: Location for a story is very important to me
Christine Dwyer Hickey has loved the English capital since she spent a brief but formative time there as a young girl; it is an experience that has informed her latest novel 'Our London Lives'

Fri, 06 Sep, 2024

Author interview: Hobby author? Graham Norton is a serious book man
Author interview: Hobby author? Graham Norton is a serious book man
He wouldn’t acknowledge it but his skills as a writer are clear on the page. However, he isn’t the slightest bit offended by any suggestion that he is not a ‘proper’ writer

Fri, 06 Sep, 2024

Beginner’s pluck: Ramzee's book shows the challenges of being an outsider
Beginner’s pluck: Ramzee's book shows the challenges of being an outsider
'The Cheat Book' is based, partly the author's own life; he wanted a refugee character who is a scamp — and is just like everyone else

Sat, 31 Aug, 2024

Beginner's pluck: 'Black Butterflies' author Priscilla Morris
Beginner's pluck: 'Black Butterflies' author Priscilla Morris
This astonishing debut shows kindness in the face of trauma, and illustrates how art helps to overcome a part of tragedy

Sat, 24 Aug, 2024

SARAH REES BRENNAN
Sarah Rees Brennan: How my cancer treatment inspired my new book — and my 'villain era'
Sarah Rees Brennan became blind in one eye as a child and underwent treatment for stage four cancer in adulthood. The YA author has now written her first adult novel. Her experiences have shaped the narrative

Sat, 10 Aug, 2024

Author interview: Reality of rural life brought to the fore in anticipated sequel
Author interview: Reality of rural life brought to the fore in anticipated sequel
Heart, be at peace sees Donal Ryan return to the world of The Spinning Heart, which was set in his native North Tipperary in the aftermath of the financial crash in 2008

Fri, 09 Aug, 2024

Beginner’s Pluck: 'I always knew I wanted to be a writer'
Beginner’s Pluck: 'I always knew I wanted to be a writer'
Penelope Slocombe's 'Sunbirds' is immersive, atmospheric, and beautifully written

Sat, 03 Aug, 2024

UAE-ENVIRONMENT-AVIATION-ENERGY-EMIRATES
Author interview: The battle to beat emissions and reach net zero can indeed be won
Reaching net zero will require switching energy use from fossil fuels to electricity, which will come from renewable sources, like solar panels and wind turbines

Fri, 02 Aug, 2024

Beginner’s Pluck: Writer and producer Karen Fitzgibbon
Beginner’s Pluck: Writer and producer Karen Fitzgibbon
'The World's End' is page-turner that keeps you guessing throughout

Sat, 27 Jul, 2024

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