Ketil Bjornstad: ‘The novel is the best weapon against multi-tasking’
Ketil Bjornstad is a Norwegian pianist, composer and author. ketilbjornstad.com What was the first book to make an impression on you? It must have been Saint Exupéry, The little Prince. My father read...
View ArticleMadame Bovary at 160: a bourgeois sex revolutionary
Flaubert’s anti-heroine, the original Desperate Housewife lost in the dreams of romantic fiction, was a scandal on publication and still challenges our morality...
View ArticleThe 100 best novels in English? Irish writers and critics have their say
Fair play to Robert McCrum. Compiling a list over two years entitled The 100 best novels written in English for the Observer and guardian.com is not simply sticking your head over the literary parapet,...
View ArticleGavin McCrea: ‘when I finished John McGahern’s Memoir, I wept for an entire day’
What was the first book to make an impression on you? The one that I watched my mother read in her chair in the corner of the kitchen. What was your favourite book as a child? Roald Dahl’s Matilda....
View ArticleRagnar Jónasson Q&A: ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd had a great impact on me’
Ragnar Jónasson is the Icelandic author of the Dark Iceland crime series set in the northernmost town in Iceland, Siglufjordur. Snowblind (Orenda Books) is the first book in the Dark Iceland series....
View ArticleMichael 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 ArticlePeter Swanson: ‘Being lost in a book is one of the greatest feelings in the...
Peter Swanson is the author of two novels, The Girl with a Clock for a Heart, and The Kind Worth Killing (Faber & Faber, £14.99). His poems, stories and reviews have been published in journals such...
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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....
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