Tag Archives: Nuala O’Connor

BRENDAN O’CONNOR SHOW & SUNDAY TIMES – SEABORNE

The link to my interview with Brendan O’Connor on RTÉ Radio 1 is HERE. We talked autism, sobriety, anxiety meds, secrets, Anne Bonny, and more. He was very nice and friendly and I enjoyed the chat.

More chat from me in the Sunday Times yesterday – this time an essay I wrote about autism, tiny fictions, stims and more. See below.

GALWAY BOOK LAUNCH & ARENA INTERVIEW

We launched Seaborne in style at the Druid Mick Lally Theatre in Galway on Tuesday. Huge thanks to launcher Edel Coffey, my gorgeous editor Aoife K. Walsh, Marketing & Publicity Manager at New Island Des Doyle, all who came out to set sail with Anne, and to Manuela Moser and all the Cúirt team.

And I was on RTÉ Radio’s ARENA last night with lovely Seán Rocks. You can listen back here.

First Review – Seaborne

The first review of #Seaborne is in, from Mairéad Hearne at Swirl and Thread: ‘Seaborne is a superb novel, bursting with a buzzing vitality and sensuality. O’Connor has captured a time and place with an outstanding clarity. A powerful and remarkable portrayal … an exuberant and passionate novel…’

Delighted with that. Read more here.

SEABORNE (and other) EVENTS 2024

April’s here and SEABORNE hits the shelves on the 19th, so I’m gearing up for events in Ireland and elsewhere. Hope to meet some of ye along the way. You can pre-order the novel here.

SEABORNE EVENTS:

19th April                     Publication day, SEABORNE

23rd April, 7.30pm      Launch event, Cúirt                            Mick Lally Theatre, Galway

1st May                        Launch event                                      Hodges Figgis, Dublin

19th May, 4pm             ILFD                                                   Dublin

12th July, 8.30pm        West Cork Lit Festival                        Marino Church, Bantry       

26th July                       Hewitt School                                     Armagh

4th to 6th Oct                Kinsale Literary Festival                    Cork

OTHER EVENTS:

14th May                      Nuala interviewing Anne Enright       NLI, Dublin

4th – 10th June              Short Story Festival                            Croatia

15th June                      Bloomsday event                                Gallery X, Dublin

ACQUISITION ANNOUNCEMENT

New Island Books Acquires Nuala O’Connor’s Sensational New Novel, SEABORNE, publishing April 2024.

New Island Books (Dublin) is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Nuala O’Connor’s new novel, SEABORNE. Aoife K. Walsh, commissioning editor at New Island, acquired English -language, Ireland, UK and Commonwealth rights from Gráinne Fox at United Talent Agency (New York). SEABORNE will be published by New Island in April 2024.

About:

After the huge success of her 2021 novel, Nora: A Love Story of Nora Barnacle and James Joyce (Irish bestseller, Vogue and New York Times recommended, One Dublin One Book), Nuala O’Connor’s sixth novel is her most ambitious yet. In crisp, shimmering prose, she conjures a completely unexpected portrayal of Anne Bonny, giving us so much more than just the 18th-century, Irish-born pirate of lore. In the hands of one of Ireland’s most brilliant fiction writers, Bonny is a young woman of privilege who is anything but comfortable, hell-bent on a voyage of self-realisation with or without the consent of those around her. Novelty-seeking, contrary, stubborn and bisexual, she is also neurodivergent, brave, and capable of deep and enduring love.

Records show that Anne Bonny spent all of two months actually being a pirate. SEABORNE is the thrilling and sensuous imagining of the loss, frustration and desires that steer this lonely daughter of a plantation owner towards elopement, two marriages, two pregnancies, violence, trial for piracy, and legendary status.

Comments:

Commenting on the acquisition, Nuala O’Connor says, ‘It’s a pleasure to once again publish with New Island – my sixth volume with them – they’ve always been great champions of mine and they take such warm, meticulous care with the books. I know the team will safely steer SEABORNE, my tribute to pirate Anne Bonny, into reader’s hands.’

New Island commissioning editor Aoife K. Walsh said, ‘Everyone at New Island Books is truly delighted to be working with the master storyteller Nuala. Obviously, we were hooked at the first mention of pirates but soon we were utterly captivated by Nuala’s rich, complex and sensual portrayal of the oft-mythologised Anne Bonny. As an independent Irish publisher, it feels right to be publishing this Irish origin story and we can’t wait for today’s readers (wherever they may be) to meet this fiercely independent, queer, neurodivergent, brave and passionate 18th-century pirate.’

NUALA O’CONNOR is a novelist, short story writer and poet, and lives in Co. Galway with her family. She is the author of five previous novels, including Nora (2021) and six short story collections. She has won many prizes for her short fiction including Short Story of the Year at the 2022 Irish Book Awards, the Francis MacManus Award, and the James Joyce Quarterly Fiction Contest. Her work has also been nominated for numerous prizes including the Edge Hill Short Story Prize, the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, the Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year and the International Dublin Literary Award.

For further information contact Des Doyle, Marketing and Publicity Manager, des.doyle@newisland.ie

FIBROMYALGIA ESSAY – HEAL

I have a short essay in HEAL (Humanism Evolving through Arts and Literature) about what it’s like to have fibromyalgia. HEAL is a medical narratives journal from the Dept of Medicine at Florida State University, edited by Tana Jean Welch and Liz Ruelke.

‘Fibromyalgia is a joyless, ever-present, prismic garment, complex and invisible.’

Download the issue pdf here.

Switzerland, alcohol, autism, & me

Meiringen vintage poster

I have a new essay ‘Cailín Deas, Cailín Dána’ published in Trasna today. The essay is about many things, including Switzerland, sibling loss, autism, giving up alcohol, Maria Edgeworth, and photographs…it’s a braided/hybrid piece, a mixumgatherum. You can read the essay here. Hope you enjoy it!

NORA IN NEW YORK

Nora Barnacle

I’m off to NYC next week for the last of my NORA events – it’s been a wild, action-packed two years.

Anyone NY-based can catch me at one (or all!) of the following events – I’d love to see you. Register early!

Thurs 8th Dec: On the 8th I’m at the Jefferson Library (where the trial for Ulysses took place) for a film, launch, and in-convo with Jane Applegate and Kerri Maher, and you can register here.

Fri. 9th Dec: I’m doing a Meet the Author lunch on Fri. Dec. 9th, with my agent Gráinne Fox, at the Irish Business Organization of New York. More here.

Fri. 9th Dec: Also on the 9th I’ll be at the Center for Fiction with the James Joyce Society and there is more at this link here.