WRITING – I write from necessity. If I’m not writing, I’m miserable. I’ve written lots of non-fiction over the years but I reached a turning point in 2009 when I was short listed for the Virginia [Woolf] prize for my novel, Bone and Blood, published in 2014. Now every day is a writing day wherever I am.
Gunther
Gunther will be my third novel. It is about writing and AI Das Buch erscheint im Herbst. Stay tuned!
Michel-Michelle
My second novel Michel-Michelle challenges fixed notions of gender and seeks to increase awareness of diversity in ourselves, our friends, our families, and others.
Bone and Blood
My first novel, Bone and Blood, was inspired by a visit to Ravensbrück concentration camp near Berlin where I found out some Irish women had been imprisoned during the Second World War.
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B for Binary and Bisexual
In my youth in the 1970’s bisexual meant being sexually attracted to both women and men. Radical feminists saw it as a betrayal of lesbian identity so I came out as a lesbian which was a betrayal of myself. Roots…
Age and Androgyny
A for AGE. My white hair and whiskers remind me that society, economy and culture influence stereotypes of gender and of old people. A for androgynous reminds me of the mix of masculine and feminine qualities in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando…
A Sense of Self
In 2022, despair knocked my sense of self back through seven decades. I survived the failure of my novel, Michel-Michelle, launched in the Irish Writer’s Centre in Dublin, while Covid lurked quietly out of the limelight. I managed my way…
River Termon runs under the bridge marking the border Rivers and wildlife cross the border. There are more than 208 border crossings between Northern Ireland in the UK and the Republic of Ireland with more crossing points than any other…
Ulster Border Twenty
Donegal has 311 kms of European border which cuts through a scattered villages, farms, and rural roads. Only 9kms connect Donegal to the rest of the Republic. Language can give us insights into where the battle for survival meets self-deception.…
UlsterBorder Nineteen
“It is not the literal past, the ‚facts‘ of history, that shape us, but the images of the past embodied in language”. The words of Hugh in #Brian Friel’s play Translations highlights the complexity of the relationship between language, landscape, culture,…