Beginner’s
Pluck.
Interviewed
by Sue Leonard.
Published
in The Irish Examiner on October 19th
Beginner’s
Pluck. Colin Barrett
Colin
can’t remember a time when he wasn’t writing. He read randomly, too.
“There weren’t many books in our
house, but I remember reading The English patient at thirteen. I didn’t
understand it all, but I was fascinated by the language and kept reading.”
After
college, Colin worked for Vodafone for five years, but all that time he read
widely, absorbing influences, and experimenting with writing. He left work to
take a Masters in Creative Writing, completing four short stories that year.
“Two were published by the end of
the course, and Declan Meade of The Stinging Fly said he would be interested in
publishing a collection.”
Date
of birth: April 1982, in Canada.
Education:
St Muredachs College in Ballina, Mayo. UCD, English. UCD Masters in Creative
Writing. (2008.)
Home:
Mullingar.
Family:
Girlfriend, Lucy Perrem; parents, and four younger brothers.
The
Day Job: Fulltime writer. “I was working until June, on and off.”
Interests:
Football. “Playing as well as watching. I find it therapeutic. I play twice a
week.”
Favourite
Writers: Influences have been, Kevin Barry; Flannery O’Connor; Barry Hannah and
David Foster Wallace.
Second
Novel: “I’m working on a novel.”
Top
Writing Tip: Don’t be afraid of overwriting in your first draft; you can always
cut it back.
Twitter:
@colinbarrett82
The Debut: Young
Skins. The Stinging Fly:€12.99. Kindle: Available soon.
Set
in a fictional town in County Mayo, these stories examine the minutiae of the
lives of the young in post-boom Ireland. Superbly observed, many show the
vulnerability of young men compared to the relative strength of the women.
Tug is obsessed with the case of a missing
child; Bat fears socialising after a random attack leaves him with a messed-up
face and constant headaches; Doran and Eli take refuge in a pub, reluctant to
attend a funeral of a women they both loved.
The Verdict: Every
sentence counts in these mesmerising stories from an exciting new literary
author. Although vicious, they show a tender side of humanity.
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