TV 3 Ireland AM Interview - Last Kiss Irish Book Awards

Click on image below to watch clip!!

Mark Cagney Ireland AM "Final line of prologue utterly chilling..."

FLASH 500 - Winners!!!

I was delighted to be a judge for the Flash 500 competition - and after hundreds of entries, the winners can now be revealed!! 

Congrats to each one of them and to everyone who made the short list and long list.

First: Bit by Bit by Pauline Brown

Second: Tie Die by Steve Startup

Third: Nothing to Do But His Laces by Russell Reader

Click on the titles to read the three winning stories

Highly Commended: On the Tissue Paper Wings of Angels by Rachael Smart

Read Judge’s Report for the third quarter’s competition 2014 from  Louise Phillips HERE

Ireland boasts a fascinating crime writing scene says Declan Burke - Sunday Independent

READ FEATURE HERE

TV 3 Ireland AM!!

Woohoo....I'll be on TV3 IRELAND AM this Wednesday the 12th November, talking Irish Book Awards and LAST KISS...so tune in a little after 9 o clock in the morning...takes deep breaths to practice being calm!! - TIME CHANGE TO 8.45!!

FOUR of our favourite novelists experiment with a new genre - IRISH INDEPENDENT

I never thought I would be sharing the pages with the wonderful John Boyne, Joseph O'Connor and Sinead Moriarty - Irish Independent WEEKEND MAGAZINE....

A NEW CHAPTER! Click HERE to read full feature

4 of our favourite novelists experiment with a new writing genre......

Flash Fiction 500 - the short list!

Today I'll be working through the short-list of the Flash Fiction 500 Competition. It won't be an easy task to choose the winners from this array of fictional stories but I will certainly enjoy re-reading them all again. See you on the other side!

Short Listed Entries — in alphabetical order

A Man of Means by No Means

A Place More Silent

After Life

Bats

Beekeeping for Beginners

Bit by Bit

Cyan Summer

Dressing Up

Egg on my face

Five Minutes

Hide and Seek

How to Clean Out a Cupboard…

Just One

King of the Castle

Nothing to Do But His Laces

On the Tissue Paper Wings of Angels

Record Breaker

The Alphabet Game

The Cleaner

The Glass Ballerina

Tie Die

Tomorrow, Maybe

Want a Thrill, Enjoy a Spill?

Weight Matters

Which Came First, the Name or the Legend?

Feeling emotional!!

Feeling all emotional today seeing the cover of one of my ex-students new novel...isn't it beautiful?? Launch the 25th November in Rome!

Halfway to crazy!

It was such a lovely evening last night at Tallaght Library, and many thanks to Emma Perry of the library staff for organising it.

I always enjoy chatting about my novels and the writing process, but an unexpected question from one member of the book club got me really emotional and tissues were required. I won't go into the details but the group were so lovely and supportive, along with plenty of cups of tea and treats.

Sometimes, I have to pinch myself, and especially on evenings like last night when so many people tell me how much they enjoyed a story and adopt the characters as real people the way I do when I'm writing them. Yes, I know, halfway to crazy, but that's how I look on it - if your characters don't feel real to you, they won't feel real to anyone else either!!

Flash Fiction 500!

I have been blown away by the standard of entries for the Flash Fiction 500 Competition!  We are now down to 25 stories at this point which I will be rereading and rereading over the coming week. Thanks to everyone who submitted work!

Books, Readers and great day in Belfast!

Lovely ladies from Ormeau

I was up with the larks this morning to catch the early morning train from Dublin to Belfast for Readers Day.

I love trains - you get to see the landscape whizzing by in a nice comfortable seat where the only thing you have to do is enjoy it all, or when the mood takes you, work on your laptop. I did both and I was well chilled by the time I got to Belfast.

Thanks to Margaret and Barbara and all the library staff from the region, who brought so many book clubs together for an afternoon of LAST KISS surrounded by books and readers.

I've never been in the company of nearly 100 people who had all read my book in the last few weeks. I felt I had arrived home to lots of new friends.

It's been a long day but one I will remember with fondness!