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.