Michael Grothaus Q&A: ‘Don’t worry about the first draft. It’s always going...
What was the first book to make an impression on you? The very first book to make an impression on me was the novel Shibumi by Trevanian. It’s a philosophical exploration about democracy, consumerism,...
View ArticleMelissa Hill Q&A: ‘The Secret Garden inspired my love of the mystery genre to...
Melissa Hill is the author of 13 novels, including Something from Tiffany’s, The Charm Bracelet and many more. A Gift to Remember was published by Simon & Schuster last year and her new novel, The...
View ArticleA sneak preview of next Saturday’s books coverage in The Irish Times
On the fiction front this week, Irish Times crime-writing columnist Declan Burke reviews Belfast Noir, a Northern anthology edited by Stuart Neville and Adrian McKinty. Eileen Battersby reviews Uppsala...
View ArticleEbooks: Can’t decide what to read? Let somebody else choose for you
I spent last month following the lead of Louisa Cameron, patron of my local bookshop, Raven Books, who was making a concerted effort to read and promote the work of women writers in translation....
View ArticleUCD academic Áine Mahon on Eggshells by Caitriona Lally: ‘a delightful debut’
In Caitriona Lally’s Eggshells we meet Vivian – nine tenths fictional creation and one tenth our own personality. Vivian is independent, creative, brave. She lives alone in Dublin in what was once her...
View ArticleEva Dolan on embracing rejection
Eva Dolan is an Essex-based copywriter, who was shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Dagger for unpublished authors as a teenager. Her first novel is Long Way Home and the second book in the...
View ArticleLouise O’Neill: ‘I try and constantly cut back on the excess in my writing’
What was the first book to make an impression on you? The first book that I remember making an indelible impression on me was The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. I’m a voracious reader so it takes...
View ArticleBrought to Book: John Boyne on Noddy, Homer Wells, ‘Birdsong’ and a Kindle tip
John Boyne’s latest novel is Stay Where You Are And Then Leave. His new novel for adults – his first set in contemporary Ireland – will be published by Doubleday in September, titled A History of...
View ArticleCaitriona Lally on Eggshells: The Irish Times Book Club podcast
The Irish Times Book Club’s in-depth look at Caitriona Lally’s Eggshells reaches its climax with a podcast in which the author reads a passage from her debut novel and discusses...
View ArticleMaria Duffy Q&A: ‘I can get a week’s work done between 1am and 7am’
Maria Duffy is a bestselling Irish author and her latest novel, One Wish (Hachette Ireland) is out now in paperback. mariaduffy.ie What was the first book to make an impression on you? Other than Enid...
View ArticleAlex Miller: ‘Simple prose is valued more now than a decade ago’
Alex Miller is an Australian author, who won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1993 for his novel The Ancestor Game. His eleventh novel, Coal Creek, was published in 2013. What was the first book to...
View ArticlePhilip Hensher: ‘Don’t aspire to be an author. Just aspire to write a...
What was the first book to make an impression on you? The Wizard of Oz, and especially the very weird sequel The Marvelous Land of Oz, where the hero undergoes a sex change in the penultimate chapter....
View ArticleDublin, what a character
Dublin features in my novel, Eggshells, almost as a character in itself, a sometimes magical but occasionally sinister character. For Vivian, the protagonist, Dublin is the place she hopes will show...
View ArticleNiall Williams on the quote that made him ditch the piano and take up writing
What was the first book to make an impression on you? Boy’s Cinema Annual 1949, a large format annual with an olive binding, an ad for Cadbury’s Bournville Cocoa on the back with a giant drawing of a...
View ArticleEggshells by Caitriona Lally: ‘priceless thoughts on words and the world’
I sometimes show up to my book club without my homework: I’ve decided I only have time for books worth every moment spent on them. From the first page of Eggshells, I knew it was worth its word count...
View ArticleBrought to Book: Kerry Hudson on the long line of Aberdonian fishwives from...
What was the first book to make an impression on you? I read To Kill a Mockingbird sitting on the steps of my council estate block when I was around 13. It portrayed a tenderness that it wasn’t...
View ArticleFrankie Gaffney’s advice to writers: ‘give up the booze and break some rules’
What was the first book to make an impression on you? My Ma started reading to me long before I can remember, so I can’t recall a first book. Where the Wild Things Are made an early impression, though....
View ArticleAnthony Glavin on Eggshells by Caitriona Lally: a novel that keeps its promises
I’ll confess it was with fingers crossed that I opened Caitriona Lally’s beguiling debut novel, Eggshells, of which I had previously seen the first 10,000 words as one of three judges for the Irish...
View ArticleReview: Eggshells, by Caitriona Lally: full of action and humour
In his analysis of the works of James Joyce, the novelist, linguist and literary critic Anthony Burgess maintained that there are two types of novels – those focused on the world at large, with plot...
View ArticleMark Billingham Q&A: ‘Cops solving crimes with supernatural powers strikes me...
Mark Billingham’s latest novel is The Bones Beneath, published by Grove Press. A former actor, television writer and stand-up comedian, his series of novels featuring DI Tom Thorne has twice won him...
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