Episode 29 - Donal Ryan

The 738am podcast - talking to people about stuff

My guest this week is author Donal Ryan.

His breakout book 'The Spinning Heart' was long-listed for the Booker Prize and won the Guardian's First Book Award in 2013. It captured small town Ireland at the height of the recession, and the way it affected individuals, families, communities and more.

That was followed up by a second novel 'The thing about December', to my mind one of the best books I've read in years.

I chat to Donal about his influences, how he started writing and the challenges he's overcome even to get his words down on paper and leave them there. We discuss his writing process, dealing with success as well as criticism and bad reviews, taking a sabbatical from his job to working as a full time writer (he's the Writer in Residence at the University of Limerick), and loads more.

He was an absolute pleasure to talk to and I hope you enjoy the show. Remember, you can leave comments below, or if you're so inclined you could give the show a rating or review on iTunes – it'd be much appreciated.