Roisín O’Donnell was born in Sheffield in 1983. She is an award-winning Irish author currently living in County Meath. Her collection of short stories was listed for the Kate O’Brien Award.
What’s your earliest memory?
I remember being in my grandad’s terrace house in Derry when I was three or four and watching him light the coal fire.
What book last changed your thinking?
Don Hennessy’s Steps to Freedom. It’s both enraging and enlightening.
Who are your heroes?
I knew I wanted to be a writer from a very young age, so my heroes were authors, for example Roald Dahl or Enid Blyton. My adult hero is every woman who has ever experienced a controlling relationship.
What would be your Mastermind specialist subject?
Seanfhocail (old Irish proverbs). I collect the good ones I find on sugar sachets.
What political figure do you look up to?
I really admire Mary Robinson, who was the first female president of Ireland, for her record on promoting human rights and speaking up against injustice.
In which time and place, other than your own, would you like to live?
Dublin in 1916, to the roots of Irish independence. Women played a pivotal role in the Easter Rising but for a long time were left out of history.
Who would paint your portrait?
Let’s time travel and go for Renoir. Now I’m over 40, the blurry soft-toned impressionist style would be ideal.
What’s your theme tune?
“Mission: Impossible”. That’s just single parenting most days.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Someone told me: “Don’t try to write how you used to. Embrace what is new in your work.” I followed this advice, and the result is by latest book, Nesting.
What’s currently bugging you?
The old black leather sofa in my rented house. It is scratched and torn. I feel embarrassed about it, so I spend a daft amount of time covering it with throws and cushions, which just slide right off again.
What single thing would make your life better?
Following on from the last answer: owning my own home. I’d like to furnish a home, paint it any colour I like, and create a real sanctuary. It would be great not having to worry about rent hikes, or panicking when someone draws a unicorn on their bedroom wall. But as a single applicant with two dependents, its hard to get a mortgage. So just a pipe dream for the moment.
When were you happiest?
On Portrush Strand with my children last summer. I bought bodyboards for them, and we played in the sea for ages, catching the waves. Blue sky, laughter and the stretch of the Atlantic. It was the way life should be.
In another life, what job might you have chosen?
Well, I already have another job. I’m a teacher. Recently, though, I am very interested in occupational therapy for children, and how our sensory perception shapes our experiences.
Are we all doomed?
Researching my book, I spent the last few years listening to stories which made me question humanity at times. But I also heard stories of unbelievable kindness. Are we doomed individually? Possibly. But collectively, if we band together against the evil in the world? Nope. Not even a little bit.
Roisín O’Donnell’s “Nesting” is published by Scribner UK
[See also: Robert Icke Q&A: “Shakespeare is apparently infinite”]
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This article appears in the 29 Jan 2025 issue of the New Statesman, Class War