WITH LOVE FROM IRELAND
The Emerald Isle is long-known for its storytelling tradition, so this month we’ve compiled a list of our favourite Irish writers to look out for now.
Eimear McBride. McBride’s debut,
A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing, scooped six major prize wins. Her new book
The Lesser Bohemians (out now) covers themes of lost innocence, sex, and girlhood. Beautiful and powerful in equal measures.
Emma Donoghue. Best known for her 2010 novel Room, which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film, Donoghue’s latest offering is The Wonder (out now). This psychological thriller is set in 1850s rural Ireland and features a little girl who stops eating, a nurse hired to keep watch over her, and a journalist desperate for a story. Lisa McInerney. Following a group of characters from the underside of Cork society, McInerney’s debut The Glorious Heresies, released April 2015, offers a darkly comic look at the aftermath of an accidental murder. It’s already won this year’s Baileys
Maggie O’Farrell. The scenic seventh novel to come from O’Farrell, This Must Be The Place (out now), jumps around from modern day rural Ireland to Nineties Brooklyn, telling the story of Daniel Sullivan and his reclusive film star wife, Claudette.
Claire-Louise Bennett. Magical, experimental and sharp, Bennett’s debut collection of short stories, Pond, has been garnering critical acclaim since its release late last year. The 20 interwoven stories are narrated by the same unidentified woman who lives a secluded life on the west Irish coast.