Writer's Block in The Gloss Magazine

Here’s my interview with the lovely Sophie Grenham for her Writer’s Block column earlier this year. I talked about multi-generational living, winning an Irish Book Award, and the best places in rural Meath to unleash your toddlers…

“O’Donnell’s astute observance of an ever-changing Ireland through the eyes of the foreigner has caught the attention of many literary commentators. She has the mind of a visual artist, due to her powerful use of colour and the sheer clarity of her images. Her wit and effortless realism gives her work an addictive quality”

— Sophie Grenham, The Gloss Magazine

Dublin One City: One Book - April 2018

Back in 2015 one of my stories 'Infinite Landscapes' was selected for inclusion in a very special anthology... This year, The Long Gaze Back, an anthology of short stories by Irish women writers, has been chosen as the book choice for the Dublin One City: One Book festival. I couldn't be happier for all the fantastic women writers involved in this groundbreaking literary project, and for New Island Books. 

Throughout the month of April there will be readings and other events to celebrate The Long Gaze Back. The book has been selected as the choice for the Irish Times Book Club, and the Book on One for RTE radio. The event listings are now live on the Dublin One City: One Book website. Here are a few photos from the launch... 

Listen Back - Short Stories with Danielle McLaughlin

You can now listen back to the reading I did with Danielle McLaughlin as part of the Dublin City Libraries reader series. In this extract, Danielle reads from the stunning title story of her collection Dinosaurs on Other Planets, and I read from Infinite Landscapes, which appeared in the BGE Book Award winning anthology The Long Gaze Back. Enjoy! 

Short Stories with Danielle McLaughlin and Roisín O'Donnell

I'm thrilled to have been asked to contribute to The Glass Shore, an anthology of stories by women from the North of Ireland

Last autumn, I took part in an event at the Belfast International Arts Festival in which the four Northern contributors to The Long Gaze Back read from and discussed their work. Joining editor Sinéad Gleeson in conversation were myself, Lucy Caldwell, Anne Devlin and Bernie McGill. One of the questions raised at the event was 'why hasn't there been an equivalent anthology of stories by women from the North of Ireland?' 

Not one to turn down a challenge, Sinéad has now announced the forthcoming publication of 'The Glass Shore.' The anthology will be published by New Island Books in autumn 2016, and features a beautiful cover by designer Martin Gleeson. The anthology will include work by: 

Linda Anderson, Margaret Barrington, Mary Beckett, Caroline Blackwood, Lucy Caldwell, Ethna Carbery, Jan Carson, Evelyn Conlon, Anne Devlin, Martina Devlin, Polly Devlin, Erminda Rentoul Esler, Sarah Grand, Rosemary Jenkinson, Sheila Llewelyn, Bernie McGill, Alice Milligan, Rosa Mulholland, Anne-Marie Neary, Mary O’Donnell, Roisín O’Donnell Tara West, Una Woods

I'm excited to see how the new anthology turns out. I have a sneaking feeling it might be quite different from The Long Gaze Back, but I'd better keep my predictions to myself for now!