Literary Fiction

Tom Darling's Summer

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:19:57 +0100

His first novel, a limited collectors’ edition entitled Glass People, was published in 2008 by To Hell. He reveals that the process of getting his first novel published was very difficult: “You finish the book and you think the hard work is done – and in some fundamental ways it is, because nothing will ever compare with working alone on a novel without any idea if people will be interested in this world that you’re creating – but then you have to find an agent who believes in the book....

Careless by Nature

Wed, 04 May 2011 15:34:41 +0100

Afterwards, she went to a commercial college for young ladies, which was a disaster. ‘I lasted about three months.’ Her dad, who was a self-employed contractor, said, ‘Well, you’re not sitting on your arse around here, you can come out and work for me.’ So at the age of fifteen she was working as a labourer. ‘A great life altogether, but it was a hard life. It was grand for a while – paid for a few flagons of cider – but then I decided to go back to school and did my Leaving Cert....

Noelle Harrison's Inspiration

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 17:01:51 +0100

The young Noelle grew up as the daughter of a cook/housekeeper living mainly with employer’s families. Early on, she informs me, she became a keen observer of other people’s families and their “domestic dramas.” She learned to watch and listen to others almost as though she was not even present, just a silent onlooker. Noelle recalls how “this feeling of being an outsider” always helped her to write and is probably why she moves around quite a bit to this day and has...

Catching up with Claire Kilroy

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 16:03:09 +0100

When did you first know you wanted to become a writer?

I never didn't know that I wanted to be a writer, and I never remember not writing. I was quite small when I embarked on my first story - I'd say it was in second or third class, so I was seven or eight. It was a ghost story about a haunted house that a child breaks into at night. All the furniture was covered in white sheets, and then these floating figures drifted down the stairs rattling chains and chasing the child, and...

Finding the Right Words with Julia Kelly

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 21:11:03 +0100

Did you always want to be a published writer? How did you go about getting published?
I dreamt of being a published writer from a very young age, but was told again and again how incredibly difficult it would be. I suppose I got lucky. I sent away the first three chapters of my debut novel, With My Lazy Eye – the only ones I’d written – and got my book deal based on these. I then had the mixed blessing of having the pressure of a deadline but also the motivation I needed to get it done.

H...