In conversation with... Nuala O'Faolain

In August of 2007, I had the privilege to speak with Irish writer and journalist, Nuala O’Faolain. The topic was feminism, and in particular her upcoming symposium on that subject with Marianne Finucane and Anne Enright at the Merriman Summer School. An unknown neighbour - I grew up just a mile from her Bartra home in Clare - I had only recently became aware of her written work and her memoirs. Unbeknownst to all, four months after our chat she was was diagnosed with cancer and she passed away on May 8, 2008. Ten years after her death, with the referendum on the Eight Amendment on the horizon, we can only wonder what O'Faolain would have added to the conversation.

Naula O'Faolain who passed away on May 8, 2008

The feminist struggle. It’s a fight that many in mainstream western society have consigned to a box of forgotten things, filed safely in the dusty recesses under the title ‘Old News – For The Archive’.

Conflict and division in western nations is now, after all, driven by more 'contemporary' masters. These days religion, race and, above all, wealth are the factors which mark where a person stands when the line is drawn in the sand.
Mary Robinson and Sex in the City surely put an end to gender inequality, didn’t they?

“I think that this [the feminist struggle] has barely begun. The position of women in Irish public life as late as the 1960s was so unjust, they were so unfairly treated, that there was bound, by the late 20th century, to be an effective protest against this,” says O’Faolain.

Click HERE to read this interview in full as well as other interviews with John Connolly, Ann Enright, John Arden, Kevin Barry, Colm Tóibin, Julian Gough, Donal Ryan, Colin Barrett, Ian Rankin, Catherine O'Flynn and Danielle McLaughlin.

In conversation with... John Connolly

Irish mystery writer, John Connolly, has found himself in the middle of a great bromance. A friend’s chance meeting with Stan Laurel set the wheels in motion - wheels that nearly 20 years later have brought him to his latest novel, he. He spoke with Andy Hamilton.

There was something about Laurel and Hardy that struck a chord for the young John Connolly. Gathered round the Saturday morning TV, a bowl of cereal in his lap, it was the honest friendship between these two men that made them so compelling. A great bromance.

Years later, during his first American book tour, the spectre of Stan Laurel once again found John. This remembrance of the man and his friendship with Oliver Hardy planted a seed in his imagination, a seed that eventually blossomed into his latest novel, he.

“They were very much part of my childhood and I always had an affection for them, more so than for Chaplin or for Buster Keating. I think that there is something in the friendship between them that resonates with kids - kids get them,” says John.

Click HERE to read this interview in full as well as other interviews with Ann Enright, John Arden, Kevin Barry, Colm Tóibin, Julian Gough, Donal Ryan, Colin Barrett, Ian Rankin, Catherine O'Flynn and Danielle McLaughlin.

In conversation with... Ian Rankin

Dirty, divorced and often depressed. A stereotypical Scottish hardman, externally fierce and gruff, seeks willing companion for decades long bout of heavy drinking, detective work and self-destructive behaviour. Unwilling to make an effort.

Detective Inspector John Rebus does not make a good personal ad.

Yet, for the last 20 years, Ian Rankin has carried Rebus with him - in this work, in his heart and always, always on his mind. Is it any wonder that after spending 17 books in conversation with the Strawman of Edinburgh, a break-up would eventually have to come?

But a break can bring a lot of things. When Inspector Rebus was forced into retirement two years ago, there were fears that freed from the trials of the no-nonsense cop, the creator would find greener and happier pastures to roam in. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In  2010, I spoke with Scottish writer Ian Rankin about the recent retirement of literary muse, John Rebus. Perhaps the most interesting part of the interview however was when Rankin talked about the place of crime fiction in the broader world of literature and the subtle work that writers like Ian McEwan, John Bandville [as Benjamin Black] and himself were doing to make crime fiction and literary fiction one and the same. 

 

Click HERE to read this interview in full as well as other interviews with Ann Enright, John Arden, Kevin Barry, Colm Tóibin, Julian Gough, Donal Ryan, Colin Barrett, Catherine O'Flynn and Danielle McLaughlin.