Tell us about your new novel, Such a Good Couple, which Marian Keyes says is \u2018exactly what I crave from popular fiction and so rarely get\u2019<\/p>\n
With all my novels, I start by picking a kind of anchor question. I remember sitting at a bar in Bantry at the West Cork Literary Festival and my husband asked me what the new novel was about and I told him the anchor question: Why stay married when there\u2019re so many better options?! He said: \u201cThanks!\u201d And laughed a lot. <\/p>\n
So the novel kind of began as an exploration of millennial relationships, where we are all at now in our 40s. Many of us are nearly 20 years together in a world that looks a lot different to the one we got together in. <\/p>\n
In the writing the book expanded into exploring groups of friends whose connection might be somewhat predicated on all being couples and what happens to the group when a bomb goes off in one of those relationships? How it can leave the others questioning their choices. <\/p>\n
What is the secret of a happy relationship?<\/p>\n
Staying playful and goofy. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s your sixth novel. Give us a quick rundown on the previous five.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t ask a novelist to be quick about anything! The other novels are all very different but they are mainly stories about how we live our lives right now in this incredibly absurd and endlessly fascinating time. The one outlier is my horror novel, Where I End.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve also written two nonfiction titles: Corpsing and Recipes for a Nervous Breakdown. They sound serious, but hint at a comic streak?<\/p>\n
Ah yeah, they\u2019re a bit of craic. Lots here about my addiction issues (drugs and alcohol are the best but also not always!), grief, mental illness etc. They\u2019re ostensibly memoirs which is a genre I believe to be sometimes unfairly maligned as self-indulgent. I think quite the opposite \u2013 though I would say that. A memoir, to my mind, is very much a conversation with the reader.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve \u2018played Whack-a-Mole with genres\u2019, from romcoms to literary fiction, memoir to horror. Do you delight in being various?<\/p>\n
Yes. I wouldn\u2019t say I particularly set out to genre-hop. Usually the question\/story comes first and then I figure out where it might sit. <\/p>\n
You\u2019ve documented your struggle with mental illness and spoken of the inspiration of becoming a parent. How have these very different experiences fed into your writing?<\/p>\n
Well, the story of my first nervous breakdown at 22 was the first story I felt qualified to write. I wouldn\u2019t say I write about my mental illness as therapy, it\u2019s more just that I am a bipolar artist so it\u2019s kind of the lens through which I see the world. Becoming a parent was an amazing surprise when it happened and so when my first son was born it was a real kick in the face for me to kind of get moving and try and make something of my life, for him. I think before that I was still in recovery mode, living in the aftermath of my first breakdown. Having children seemed to drag me into the world. And my God, having kids is fun. <\/p>\n
You co-host two podcasts and write a weekly newspaper column. Does that complement your life as an author or distract from it?<\/p>\n
They very much complement my life as an author because I think to be a writer you need to be out in the world having conversations and participating in life! Also as a novelist, I\u2019m working day in, day out on something that could take a year or more to come about so I like that I get to make work to a weekly deadline as well. It\u2019s satisfying.<\/p>\n
Tell us about those podcasts, Mother of Pod and The Creep Dive<\/p>\n
Mother of Pod is a comedy podcast about parenting that I co-host with my friend Jen O\u2019Dwyer. Our tagline is: two vadge-owners who want a refund. And The Creep Dive is a comedy podcast where me and Jen and our other co-host, Cassie Delaney research and tell the most messed-up stories we can find on the internet. The Creep Dive\u2019s tagline is: We go deeper than any normal person has time for.<\/p>\n
Which projects are you working on?<\/p>\n
Not to be that annoying person but it\u2019s a project I can\u2019t talk about yet.<\/p>\n
What is the best writing advice you have heard?<\/p>\n
The usual one: Read!<\/p>\n
Who do you admire the most?<\/p>\n
My mother. <\/p>\n
Which current book, film and podcast would you recommend?<\/p>\n
Caveat: I\u2019m a big horror fan. The book is The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica. Film-wise, I just watched Bring Her Back<\/a>. It\u2019s like a two-hour panic attack \u2013 I loved it. And my current fave podcast is The Girlfriends on Wondry.<\/p>\n Which public event affected you most?<\/p>\n Brian Wilson<\/a>, Vicar Street, 2007. It was just a beautiful, bittersweet night and it really made me understand the power of making art. <\/p>\n The most remarkable place you have visited?<\/p>\n Inis Me\u00e1in always and forever.<\/p>\n Your most treasured possession?<\/p>\n My hammock.<\/p>\n What is the most beautiful book that you own?<\/p>\n