Young Irish Writers Part 2: Claire Kilroy

Three emerging Irish writers offer insight into their lives, their work, and what it’s like to be a writer in Ireland right now

    SL: What is it like to be a writer in Ireland right now, particularly in light of the economic crisis?
    CK: It’s easier, in that basic necessities are cheaper, getting by is cheaper, and there’s no longer shame in not having the money to go out to dinner.  It’s quite peculiar too, in that suddenly the government is looking to writers as the innovators who’ll get us out of this economic crisis.  Anything to do with Fianna Fail makes me suspicious. Having said that, writers are on the other side of the fence to the builders and bankers who brought the country to its knees, in that writers create, they invent something new, whereas the builders and bankers simply destroyed. They extracted wealth from the land and left the country with ghost estates, a black hole of debt.  A writer starts with the black hole of the blank page and imagines things into being – characters, stories, places. We make something out of nothing. So the country has moved from a period of destructivity back to celebrating its opposite: creativity.  That can’t be a bad thing. 

    SL: Will you stay in Ireland?
    CK: In the past, it’s been economic stagnation that has forced people to leave.  Bizarrely, the fact that Ireland was thriving was the thing that was driving the likes of me away, for the simple reason that I could barely afford to live here anymore.  Yes, I’ll stay, absolutely.  Delighted to.  I love it here.  I always have.  I was reared for export, and dreaded the prospect of it, so I still can’t quite believe my luck that I’m here. 

    SL: What are you working on now?
    CK: A novel about the boom and bust. It’s a tale of folly and hubris. 
 

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