Author Louise Kennedy sat down with Totally Dublin before Dublin Book Festival’s opening event, discussing her new, unannounced book.
The Dublin Book Festival launched its 20th programme with a podcast-style event on opening night featuring Irish women writers and their rise and influence through the past two decades. Four Irish authors joined The Women’s Podcast Book Club from the Irish Times with host Róisín Ingle to discuss their careers, speed bumps, and where they draw inspiration.
Before the event in an exclusive with Totally Dublin, Louise Kennedy, author of award-winning novels Trespasses and Stations, hinted at a third book. Kennedy, as witty and charming in person as she is on the page, said she has seven chapters of the book written, which will be set in the 90s. “My brother, who thinks he’s really funny, said ‘Oh, so you’ve done the 70s and you’ve done the 80s, so I suppose this one would be set in the 90s.’ Yeah, it is, and he can feck off,” she said.
Kennedy grew up a few miles from Belfast and her writing focuses on the area. Place generates a story for Kennedy, who said she starts her writing process with a strong sense of her main character over plot. “I’m not a plotter,” Kennedy said. “But I have to put them somewhere that I can nearly see and smell before I can generate any action.”
Kennedy’s novels center on class, identity, and what it’s like to be a woman, especially in Ireland. Trespasses, her debut novel, has been translated into over twenty languages and won many awards, including the Eason Novel of the Year, Book of the Year: Debut Fiction at the British Book Awards, and the McKitterick Prize.
Although the book centers on themes implicit to Ireland, including the Troubles, her writing resonates with readers around the world. She said the idea of displacement and trying to escape conflict, but also being aware of where you’re from is an experience many have had.
“Ireland was the laboratory for colonialism, so for other people who’ve experienced that all around the world, they absolutely see things,” she said. “For anybody who’s ever had to emigrate or leave, they see things too.” Maybe the stories that affect people are universal, she said. Ireland is especially supportive of its authors, Kennedy said, and the very idea of a basic income for artists is groundbreaking.
“There’s a world here for writers that probably doesn’t exist in other places,” Kennedy said. Kennedy and three Irish women authors, Jan Carson, Sue Rainsford, and Sheila Armstrong spoke to a sold-out crowd at the Dublin Book Festival’s opening event.
Julian Mooney Siron, director of the Dublin Book Festival, said when she joined the festival’s team in 2010, she felt overwhelmed with arranging twenty events for two days. This year’s festival boasts 120 events over five days.
Programming runs through Sunday, November 8th. Events include literary walking tours, performances,
workshops, book launches, and all things literary.
Words: Roxy Ekberg
Feature Image: Louise Kennedy by James Connolly
More information is available at dublinbookfestival.com
