Writing offers Nuala real freedom from daily rules

Arts Week with Judy Murphy

Nuala O’Connor likes order and structure and is, she says, “obsessed with being on time”.  The only place where that doesn’t apply is at her desk. “With my writing, I’m very loose, which I love. I can lose hours, just sitting writing and not trying to control everything,” says Dublin-born Nuala who lives in Ballinasloe.

Novelist, short-story writer and poet Nuala has a new book under her belt, her 13th, and it’s a delight. Joyride to Jupiter is a collection of short stories, which begins with a husband who is trying to come to terms with his wife’s Alzheimer’s as their grown-up daughter insists on offering practical solutions. The title is related to a shopping experience the couple have in Penney’s, involving nail varnish.

From then on, we’re off on a series of adventures, historic and contemporary, local and foreign, sometimes poignant, frequently happy, and peppered with humour.  The broad thrust is optimistic, as once-powerless characters regain power over their lives.

As for the cover, it’s feminine and fantastic, reflecting Nuala’s love of surreal art – and clouds. One corner of her kitchen is devoted to surreal depictions of clouds.

Brought up in an English-speaking home, Nuala was educated in a Gaelscoil in Glasnevin where one teacher, especially, was a major influence.

“She was a very cultured woman and used to bring us to the digs at Wood Quay and to the National Gallery.”

Writing in Irish, the young Nuala won second place in a national poetry competition for schools – it was judged by poet Michael Hartnett who praised her highly.

She graduated from Trinity in 1992 with a BA in Early and Modern Irish, emigrating to Scotland for a time and later being awarded and MA in Translation from DCU.

Everything she ever did was writing-related, she says with a laugh.  But despite always having dreamed of being a writer, she only realised this was possible after moving to Galway City in the 1990s. Working with Punchbag Theatre, dealing with playwrights and colleagues who wrote creatively, was a revelation.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.