Beginner's Pluck. Katherine Farmar,

Beginner’s Pluck.
Interviewed by Sue Leonard.
Published in the Irish Examiner on March 9th, 2013.

Beginner’s Pluck: Katherine Farmar.

Katherine’s parents were publishers and authors, so she’s been around books all her life.
“I went to my first book launch at the age of four; and I’ve been going to them ever since,” she says.

Katherine has worked as a legal secretary; as an editor and book reviewer; and as a writer. She Co wrote Dublin on a Shoestring with Ben Murnane, and ‘ghosted’ a book in Little Island’s Nightmare Club series.

Who is Katherine Farmar?

Date of birth: 24th June, 1979 in Dublin.

Education: Pembroke School. Trinity College; Post grad at Edinburgh University. (Philosophy,) and is currently taking a Masters in Theatre at NUI Maynooth.

Home: Dublin.

Family: Parents, a brother, and a close extended family. “I have twenty cousins.”

The Day Job: Fulltime MA student.

Interests: Theatre; philosophy, books generally, playing role play games, and taking a Clowning Class with Raymond Keane of Barabbas.

Favourite Writers: Diane Wynne-Jones; Ursula Le Guin: Terry Pratchett.

Second Novel: I’m currently working on a lot of projects for the MA. But I do plan to write more novels for teenagers.

Top Writing Tip: Don’t worry about getting it perfect the first time. Worrying will stop you from starting. It’s so easy to get frozen. And don’t worry about running out of ideas. It won’t happen.

Web: www.katherinefarmar.com Twitter: @sorrowlessfield

The Debut: Wormwood Gate. Little Island: €8.99.


Aisling and Julie are on a night out, when suddenly, they’re transferred to a land of burning castles, and seagulls who’re at war. Can they get back to normal life? And if so, will their relationship deepen into more than friendship?

“I was working near Thomas Street. Walking to the Four Courts I passed by Wormwood Gate. I thought it was a brilliant place name, and sounded like a place you’d be taken from to a fairy land. When Siobhan Parkinson asked me to write for Little island, I pitched that idea, and went for it.”

The Verdict: Original, inventive, and very funny. The characters have oodles of ‘attitude.’




© Sue Leonard. 2013.