It was a small advert for a white cottage by the sea on a remote Scottish island, available to rent for the summer. Just the thought brought tears to my...

In 2006, I started writing an adventure story in the vein I grew up reading. In June 2011 it was published – Get Lenin. Five years of rewrites, excruciating edits,...

I finally managed to visit Palermo, Sicily in June 2017. I’ve been living in Italy since October 1986, but Palermo was one of the very few places still on my...

Last year I boarded the train for Dublin, clutching the manuscript of my novel (then called Einar’s Saga), one of many hopefuls who had won a “Date with an Agent”...

I introduce the target readership of my first published book, Turas Ailse (A Trip through Cancer), this way: I hold my hands out wide apart in front of me, as...

I’ve long wanted to write a novel set in Victorian times and was particularly drawn to the narratives of the Irish settlers in London. They’d done what members of my...

They say time waits for no man (erm, or woman), but when it comes to writing time waits for everyone. Whether you’re waiting for submission feedback on your debut novel...

Short of giving you a recipe that includes mixing petals from a rare mountain flower, a peregrine’s feather and three teardrops from a unicorn, there is no clear-cut answer to...

The Last Hour is the first novel that came to me almost fully formed in one image. The hero, Ballista, was standing on top of the Mausoleum of Hadrian. The...

I was born into a family with a strong military tradition on both sides. As a child I assumed that everyone had parents who had ‘been in the war.’ Growing...