February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
What is your latest book about?
“The Princes of Ireland,” which is just out in paperback, is a big saga that follows the story of several imaginary families through Ireland’s history from the days of the High Kings of Tara, before St. Patrick came, through the coming of Patrick, the coming of the Vikings and the making of the Book of Kells, the reign of Brian Boru, the coming of the English and the Reformation. There will be a sequel next year.
What is your writing routine?
Are there ideal writing conditions?
The ideal writing condition is absolute silence. Time expands in silence, and so one can get more work done. I write my best drafts in the evening and revise them in the morning; though sometimes I get cabin fever, and you’ll find me writing quietly in a corner of my favorite, well-lit cafe. The other important thing is not to listen to the news or read the paper until I have finished my morning’s work. If the world has come to an end, I shan’t know until lunchtime.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Never worry that your first draft is pretty bad. One’s first several drafts are often terrible. Writers are just people who kept on revising their drafts. The others all gave up.
Name books that are memorable in terms of your reading pleasure?
“The Tale of Genji” the great classic of Japanese literature, written by a woman around 1,000 years ago. There are three English translations, all of which I have. James A. Michener’s “Chesapeake,” wonderful not only for telling the story of the people of that area, but also the wild geese and the water currents as well. “Summer Lightning,” P.G. Wodehouse’s classic country house story, because he was one of the great masters of language and word play, and a man completely without malice.
What book are you currently reading?
While I work on my second Irish novel, “Finnegans Wake,” James Joyce’s great, incomprehensible classic. I read one page a day, and laugh out loud at the word play, even if I only partly understand it.
Is there a book you wish you had written?
I wish I had written Sidney Sheldon’s “The Other Side of Midnight.” It may not be literature, but it is one of the most perfectly constructed stories I know, and the characters are memorable and truthful.
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Name a book you were presently surprised by?
I was dreading Frank Delaney’s recent novel “Ireland,” because his subject seemed too close to the novel I was writing myself. But his treatment was completely different: instead of a huge saga in the Michener mold, he has written a delightful and moving tale about a boy learning about Ireland’s story and his own personal history in a voyage of self-discovery. It’s a really beautiful book, and everyone who loves Ireland should read it.
If you could one author, living or dead, who would it be?
The one author I’d love to meet may in fact be two people; but assuming it was one man, then St. John the Evangelist. Not only one of the greatest spirits ever to write, but the person who wrote his general Epistle was obviously a writer of wonderful insight — and compassion.
What book changed your life?
“Rodney Stone” by Conan Doyle. He made a fortune writing Sherlock Holmes, but his real love was his historical fiction. “Rodney Stone” is a brilliant evocation of the regency era, with a perfectly researched account of the business of prize-fighting, unequalled anywhere I know of. I was about 9 when I read it.
What is your favorite spot in Ireland?
St. Kevin’s monastery at Glendalough, up in the Wicklow Mountains.
You’re Irish if . . .
I think, if your ancestry was Irish, wherever you are. But I believe that if you live in Ireland, and you were born there, you can call yourself Irish too, as people have been doing for more than 2,000 years. After all, Ireland is originally a country of immigrants too.