‘Incubator’ is reprinted in “Autonomy”

My short story ‘Incubator’ will be reprinted in Autonomy: a book about taking ourselves back in order to raise funds for the Repeal of the 8th amendment to the Irish constitution (referendum on May 25th 2018). What is bodily autonomy? What does it feel like when it’s taken away? Autonomy is a women-led collection of creative writing published […]

Oh My Podcast!

My friend and I have just launched Oh My Podcast! It’s a podcast where we delve into the history of things we are interested in, mainly pop culture, feminism and folklore. We’re very much learning as we go but please join us on this adventure! All feedback is welcome. You can find us on our […]

‘Incubator’ published in Banshee Lit

My story ‘Incubator’ was published in issue #3 of Banshee. I love this journal, edited by three amazing writers, and am delighted to be included in the same pages as some amazing writers such as Deirdre Sullivan, Amy Blythe and Lisa McInerney. ‘Incubator’ is about a very politically controversial issue here in Ireland at the […]

‘Omega’ published in “The Queen’s Head”

      My short story ‘Omega‘ is published in the latest edition of The Queen’s Head. It’s a quirky, illustrated, literary publication and their latest edition is science fiction themed. It’s free to read online but hardcore print traditionalists can always buy a copy for the low price of £5 (P&P included). ‘Omega’ is […]

Over the Edge New Writer’s Award

I’m absolutely delighted to announce that my Short Story ‘Smithereens’ was longlisted for the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year award. You can view the longlist here. It’s my third time entering the competition but first time making it this far, which goes to show: “try again, fail again, fail better.” It’ll all […]

50 shades of bad and a few shades of good

50 shades of Grey has been lambasted from here to eternity. I’ll agree that in most cases it has been rightly lambasted. The prose is appalling and the dialogue is cringeworthy (‘Holy crap”, “my inner goddess is doing the merengue with some salsa moves”), the plot meanders about forever, the one-dimensional characters… I could (and […]

Personal Writing: Granddad George

So I’ve been doing workshops with some sixth year students about how to answer the composition questions on their upcoming Leaving Cert Exams. The composition question is compulsory and it’s worth 25% of their total mark. Along with old favourites like the short story, one of the most popular options is the personal essay. I’ll […]

New Office Reveal (Ooo, Ahhh)

Finally, I’ve spent long years writing at the kitchen table or at a desk crammed into the corner of my bedroom or in cafés or libraries. This means that I always have to pack up after every writing session and spend good long whiles looking for notes and trying to find things and put up […]

2015 “Resolutions”

I don’t like resolutions. Once something becomes an obligation I tend to lose interest and use every excuse I can to get out of it. I don’t think they’re inherently bad, I’m just bad at them. The only thing I managed to maintain for 2014 was not ironing (for a whole year, that kind of […]