Tell us about your debut novel, Solo.
Solo is a novel in verse about a teenage girl named Daisy who plays the recorder. Her boyfriend has just broken up with her and when we meet her, she is struggling with not being able to play music, with a friendship loss and a stressful family life.
Music plays a huge part in Solo. Is it a passion of yours? Does it reach places beyond words?
Music is a big part of my life. I sing in a choir and have done it in some capacity since I was a teenager. For Daisy music is everything, and I wrote Solo in a style that I hoped the reader could understand. I never really even needed to say: Daisy is a musician, she is this good, she does this, she does that. The reader should be able to feel music coming from her, even when she isn’t able to play.
RM Block
Why did you write it in blank verse? Do you have favourites in the genre?
Music is the answer there as well. It came out in a beat, a rhythm I couldn’t ignore. My favourite is Moonrise by Sarah Crossan.
Family life often takes a back seat in YA, compared with friendships or love interests. Did you consciously respond to that?
I think I did. I just wanted to show a family that love each other, who have their problems but are still together.
How did completing an MFA in creative writing influence you?
Doing that course in UL changed my life. I had always talked about wanting to be a writer, but that was the point I finally said, I am committing to this. It was the first time I prioritised that dream.
You were commissioned to write a fairytale for Limerick.
I was and I had so much fun writing it. I am very proud of A Limerick Fairytale. I love how silly it is and how much people enjoyed Limerella and her white trainers. Lena Stawowy’s illustrations are the real magic of that book. When it came out, grandparents were asking me to sign it to send all over the world to grandchildren they hadn’t met yet who had never seen Limerick because of Covid.
We met at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig where we were both finishing the first drafts of our first books. How important was that residency?
I arrived with only 10 tentative pages of Solo and left with almost a full draft. That was my first time there and it gave me the space and focus I needed to push the book forward.
You are head buyer at Kenny’s Bookshop, Galway, having been named a Bookshop Hero by the Bookseller magazine in 2022 for your work at O’Mahony’s in Limerick. What does your job involve and how has working in the trade influenced you?
To put it very simply, I try to make sure we have enough books coming in for the orders going out. I love being around books. In some ways it has made my own publishing journey easier, I know how and why things are done the way they are, and I understand the mechanics of bookselling. But it also meant I was anxious about things going wrong most authors wouldn’t even dream could happen.
We share a love for The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. What makes it so special?
I love books about books. Even now I can smell and see his Library of Forgotten Books. The descriptions he uses are so vivid.
You’ve also lived and worked in California. Did that affect your taste in books?
I lived there as a child and lots of my favourite children’s books are written by American writers because they are what I had access to and I do think that has stayed with me. I love recommending them to people who haven’t heard of them.
Tell us about Rontu, the literary service you founded to support writers of fiction for children.
When it started, I was helping authors write novels but it’s morphed now and I do my best to help authors who are bringing out their debuts understand more about what happens next.
Which projects are you working on?
I am about a third of the way through a new YA verse novel and have been dragging an adult novel around behind me for about five years now.
Have you ever made a literary pilgrimage?
I went to Bath on a hen party and sought out every Jane Austen-related thing I could find. Does that count?
What is the best writing advice you have heard?
Donal Ryan on cutting words from a novel you don’t want to: “Start with the conjunctions.” He was right. He’s always right.
Who do you admire the most?
My mother.
You are supreme ruler for a day. Which law do you pass or abolish?
Libraries on every street open 24 hours a day.
Which current book, film and podcast would you recommend?
An Alternative Irish Christmas by Tramp Press; Wicked: For Good; What Did You Do Yesterday? by David O’Doherty and Max Rushden.
Which public event affected you most?
Like many people I am forever changed by what we have seen from Gaza.
The most remarkable place you have visited?
Malawi. The people are the kindest I have ever encountered.
Your most treasured possession?
My cats, but they own me. Let’s be honest.
What is the most beautiful book that you own?
A Folio Society Edition of The Shadow Of The Wind.
Which writers, living or dead, would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Nora Ephron, Judy Blume, Elaine Feeney, Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, Mary Oliver. I imagine we will laugh. And then cry and then laugh again.
The best and worst things about where you live?
Limerick does not care what you think of it. It’s scrappy and always gets up when it is put down. I admire that about the city and the people who live here. But as a Clare native I cannot support their hurling record.
What is your favourite quotation?
“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” – Nora Ephron
Who is your favourite fictional character?
Eloise. She lives in The Plaza.
A book to make me laugh?
Less by Andrew Sean Greer.
A book that might move me to tears?
Notes From A Coma by Mike McCormack.
Solo (Little Island) is the Irish Book Awards Teen & YA Book of the Year
