Best Bookish Bits of 2019

Everyone else seems to have compiled and published their favourite reads of 2019 list already. I’m holding out until January 1st. There are still fifteen perfectly serviceable reading days left in the year and I fully intend to spend about ten of them with my feet up in front of the fire, glass of red in one hand, book in the other. I fully expect to be blown away by at least one book I’ll read in the next few weeks so it’s worth waiting until the end of the year before I decided which books were my favourites.

In the interim I thought I’d blog about my best writing bits of the year instead. I finished my last official event of an incredibly hectic year on Friday and don’t have any commitment, writing aside until January 2nd. I did a quick tally and I think I’ve done around 200 events this year in about 20 different countries. I’ve shuffled around so much I’ve got a bit blurry on exactly where I’ve been and what I’ve done so it was really nice spending an hour this afternoon flicking through my diary and reminding myself of some of the highs and lows, (let’s never mention Portugal again), of 2019. Here, for anyone at all interested, are the ten things I don’t want to forget about this year.

India and all things Indian – I’ve been fortunate enough to visit India twice this year; once in January when I read at the Jaipur Literary Festival and again in September for the Pune Literary Festival and Long Night of Literature Delhi. I also got to take part in JLF Belfast. I’ve met some amazing Indian writers, really had my eyes opened to the importance of reading work in translation, developed a lifelong obsession with paneer and survived my first, and hopefully last, attack of Delhi belly. I’m pretty sure I’ll be back in India again. Here’s a blog about India and here’s another one.
Sea Border – This January I got to tick a lifetime ambition off my list when I was asked to develop and present my first Radio 4 documentary with producer extraordinaire, Conor Garret. Though it did involve braving a snowstorm on Rathlin Island and venturing into a nuclear reactor, I can honestly say it was one of my favourite projects I’ve ever worked on and really helped to confirm my interest in writing for radio. If you missed it you can still have a listen here.
Being Various – I’ve been reading Faber’s Anthologies of Irish Short Stories for years and it was such an honour to be asked by current editor, Lucy Caldwell to contribute a story to the latest edition, Being Various. It’s an amazing book full of incredible stories, many of which are written by my all time favourite writers. It was even nicer to be able to talk about the anthology and read from my story Pillars with Lucy and fellow contributor Yan Ge at Ilkley Book Festival in October. Despite the current mad state of British politics, I’ve never felt a stronger connection to the Irish writing community. I’m incredibly grateful for all the support and encouragement they offer me. I still get a touch of imposter syndrome every time someone calls me an Irish writer. Looking at the calibre of writing that’s come out of Ireland this year alone, you have to admit, it’s a pretty impressive group to be associated with.
The Fire Starters – I published my first book with Doubleday this year. My absolute favourite thing about this experience has been working with an incredible team of wonder women who really support me and believe in my writing. I don’t think I’d have muddled through this year without my fantastic agent Kate Johnson, Fiona Murphy and Alice Youell, my killer editors at Doubleday, and my kick ass team of PR legends: Patricia McVeigh, Hannah Bright and Fiodhna ni Ghriofa. It’s so much easier to release books into the world when you know there are stellar people behind you all the way. The Belfast and Dublin launches were a real highlight of the year, the best part of which was probably watching Hannah McPhillimy cover Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and almost remember all the words. It’s still a really lovely feeling to have so many people to celebrate books with. Here’s a blog with some photos of the book launch.
The EU Prize– The Fire Starters also won the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland which was nice because it meant I had enough money to buy a new bathroom and some amazing pink Nikes and it also opened the door for translations in almost ten countries and allowed me to go to a swanky reception in Brussels and meet lots of other incredible European writers and get a wee bit emotional about the implications of Brexit and eat chips with mayonnaise in the street.
Frankfurt Book Fair – I got to read with lots of people this year, many of whom are writers whose work I’ve long admired. It’s also been really encouraging to see programmers taking a risk and pairing me with writers who aren’t also novelists. (More of this please). Conversations with playwright Inua Ellams and essayists Emilie Pine and Ian Malaney have been particularly enjoyable. Here’s a cheeky blog I wrote with advice to festival programmers about how to arrange a good literary event. I have to say that reading with activist and writer, Bonnie Greer at Frankfurt Book Fair definitely has to be the highlight of my year. What a woman. She had the audience absolutely enthralled and was just as inspiring at breakfast as she was talking politics and activism on stage. I’m afraid I was a complete fangirl throughout.
Cove Park – In August I spent a month living in a converted shipping container as part of a very generous funded residency offered by Cove Park, Scotland. I made friends with the bats and the Highland cow in the field next door, rambled for two hours every day, discovered, (and consistently devoured), the best fish and chips in Scotland and wrote my first full length play about a man living with Aphasia which I hope to see produced in 2020. Funded residencies are the stuff of dreams and Cove  Park was the dreamiest of them all. Huge thanks to Rebecca DeWald for support and encouragement throughout. I wrote a blog about my rural adventures here.
Slovenia – There have been some strange gigs this year, but none so strange as the cookery panel I took part in at the Slovenian Book Fair in late November. I appeared with a Slovene TV chef and a cardboard cut out of Nigella Lawson to talk about Irish culinary traditions. It was a nice change from talking about Brexit and Borders but possibly not my most erudite moment of 2019. At the end there were three types of cake and stew. I suspect most people in the audience were only there for the free food.
The Museum of Us – It’s proven difficult to keep up all my Community Arts Project whilst traveling so extensively. I’m still facilitating the monthly Dementia Friendly Screenings at the QFT cinema but have only been able to fit in one other community arts project. However, the Irish Writers Centre funded, Museum of Us writing project I facilitated with women from the Falls and Shankil was an absolute blast. I don’t think I’ve laughed as much or drunk as much tea in years and I was so proud of the work the women produced, the friendships they made and the risks they took in sharing their stories. It’s a project I’ll be talking about for years.
Ty Newydd – I’ve facilitated some fantastic writing workshops this year at the John Hewitt Summer School, in Poland at Literary Sopot, in high schools in the Karmoy area of Norway and at the University of Ulster, but my week long short story residency in the Welsh writing centre Ty Newydd was my secret favourite. I’ve never had students work this hard or this enthusiastically at their writing and, as a tutor, I’ve never been prouder of the stories they’d produced by the end of the week. Also, it should be noted, that the food in Ty Newydd is so good it’s almost on a par with Annaghmakerrig.
Write Around the Royal – I’m rubbish at this. There were too many good things in 2019. I couldn’t possibly leave out my amazing week as writer in residence at the Royal Hospital Belfast, reading with staff and patients and writing tiny microstories about the goings on in the Royal. A huge thank you to Paula McHugh the Trust’s Arts Coordinator for moving Heaven and Earth to make this possible. If you want to find out more or read some of the stories, you can check out a wee blog I wrote about it here.