[caption id="attachment_67681" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Belinda McKeon"]
Page Turner / Edited by Peter McDermott
Belinda McKeon, who grew up on a farm in County Longford, has described her first novel "Solace" as the "story of an Irish family dealing with sudden change. It's set during the last years of the Irish economic boom and moves between Dublin and the rural Midlands."
The Irish Independent's reviewer approached it with caution, though. She'd heard the advance hype about young writers before and had been let down, but on this occasion she wasn't, the novel being, in her view, a "gorgeously written love story; an understated tale of duty, loss and hope and an accurate reflection of where we are in Irish society, post-boom." The reviewer, Claire Coughlan, concluded: "A new literary star has most definitely emerged."
The Economist agreed: "'Solace is a warm and wise debut from a new literary talent.
"She hooks the reader with words unsaid; stolen glances; simmering anger," the magazine's critic added, saying it was an "excellent musing on families and relationships."
The Boston Globe called the book an "assured, astute debut novel," while the New Yorker said it was "artfully constructed" and praised its "lush streams of consciousness."
McKeon did a U.S. tour for "Solace," but as reported elsewhere in this week's Echo she has also spent a great deal of her time promoting other writers' work as the curator of the literature portion of Imagine Ireland, the year-long celebration organized by Culture Ireland. She will fly back to New York to help oversee this weekend's PoetryFest, which is organized by the Irish Arts Center.
Year of birth: 1979
Place of birth: County Longford
Spouse: Aengus Woods
Residence: County Leitrim
Published work: Solace (Scribner, 2011)
What is your writing routine? Are there ideal conditions?
I try to write for three hours or so every morning, regardless of where I am. No point waiting around for ideal conditions, as they never come...
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
Just keep writing.
Name three books that are memorable in terms of your reading pleasure.
Love's Work by Gillian Rose, Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes, If I Loved You I Would Tell You This by Robin Black.
What book are you currently reading?
"The Marriage Plot" by Jeffrey Eugenides.
Is there a book you wish you had written?
No. I'd just like to write the one I'm writing now...and the next one, and the next...
Name a book that you were pleasantly surprised by.
"The Brother's Lot" by Kevin Holohan. A sharp and smart Irish satirical novel, set in a (fictional) Catholic school in the mid-to-late 20th century.
If you could meet one author, living or dead, who would it be?
W.G. Sebald.
What book changed your life?
Something by Roald Dahl, when I was seven or eight.
What is your favorite spot in Ireland?
Drumshanbo in County Leitrim on a summer's day.
You're Irish if . . .
you go through every conversation imagining how you'll describe it in another one.
