Writing my memoir began with a phone call. After retiring from the Trade Union in 2008, I received a call from Francy Devine to do a customary long interview for...

Fifty Years On is my eighth published book and I have a few others that need a bit more work on them and might never be published. All of my...

The Shepherd and the Morning Star is inspired by rejection. My father’s life, which was colourful rather than exemplary, I portrayed as a novel and submitted the MS to several...

Meditating, Writing and the Wisdom of Confucius Writing about meditation is a little like dancing about architecture: you can certainly do it, but what exactly does it mean? And, for...

‘You should publish a selection of your columns,’ said my partner, sounding a bit less irritated than usual. ‘My Collected Works, you mean,’ I said, with brief grandiose visions of...

Becoming a Mother – Reflections on Adoptive Parenthood took five years to write but realistically I have been mentally working on it since adopting my first child in 1999. The...

As our wedding day draws nearer, it may come as no surprise that “commitment” is on my mind. But the truth is, it had emerged as an important theme in...

I didn’t plan to write this book. I’d begun work on a new novel about a family wedding in Italy but I couldn’t concentrate; I was too overwhelmed by what...

The Cow Book is the story of my life as a farmer in rural Ireland. It is also the story of my family, community and the animals I live with:...

I first came across Maria Edgeworth when I married in 1964 and came to live in Co. Westmeath, 15 miles from Edgeworthstown. Pakenhams and Edgeworths had intermarried in the early...