2 minutes with… Anna Fitzgerald

 

At Dublin Book Festival, we love to celebrate new voices, emerging writers and debut novelists. Girl in the Making is the story of Jean Kennedy, a gentle, perceptive girl growing up in suburban Dublin in the 1970s and ’80s. This deeply moving story captures the dreams and terrors of girlhood in a difficult world, all through a unique voice. For our next ‘2 minutes with’, we caught up with author Anna Fitzgerald to find out more about her debut novel, and the experience of writing it.

 

Our narrator Jean is such a distinct and well-developed character. What came first, the idea for the story, or the idea for the character at its centre?

I think the character came first, though in a way she is the story. Jean is modelled on my own temperament and disposition when I was a child. I just had to imagine myself aged 4, 5, 10 etc. and how I would have reacted to the various crises the little girl witnesses and how she so desperately tries to make sense of it all. She’s fairly bewildered throughout, but her intention is to fix everything and protect everyone. That’s the motivation behind everything Jean does. The context is 1970s Ireland, as seen through the eyes of a child growing up in it. The Kennedy household, like much of Irish society at the time, is suffocating under a systemic and deeply entrenched misogyny. Being a wife and mother is hard, being a little girl harder still.

Jean’s voice evolves from young child to young adult. What challenges did this present as a writer?

A lot of challenges, to be frank. At all times, I had to be vigilant, keeping control of the narrative voice throughout – making sure for example, to avoid using vocabulary that was unsuited to Jean’s age at a given moment in time. It was quite some relief when she hit around aged nine and at last, I could allow her to describe things in more detail and use more complex sentences. I also had to be very careful that she didn’t analyse adult situations, simply because she is first a child, and then a teenager, and the reader should always think of her that way. That analysis of what’s really going on in the Kennedy household, the reading between the lines, so to speak, is the creative work that is left to the reader until aged around seventeen or eighteen, Jean begins to grapple more directly with her family circumstances and the toll they have taken upon her.

What advice would you give to writers aspiring towards a debut novel?

Start with what you feel about yourself and your place in the world – the world’s small places – your family, your schooldays, your friendships, or lack thereof. If you’ve had a lot of loneliness, start there; joy, start there. Write with your heart. Never think of anyone else’s expectations – it’s your heart after all and you know it best. And put aside the question of being published or not published. It’s not nearly as important as the writing. It’s the writing that liberates you, saves you, comforts you, compensates you. That’s how it is for me in any case.

Is there another event at DBF24 you are looking forward to? 

This will be my first time at Dublin Book Festival. I never expected to be invited so I am both surprised and greatly honoured. I’m looking forward to so many of the events. Spoilt for choice, in fact. I have a particular fondness for the form of the short story. I loved my Exploring English book when I was at secondary school – great authors – Brendan Behan, among many others, so I won’t be missing The Art of the Short Story on November 9th. With my lifelong love of Cork, I am also determined to make it to Fiction on the Rails, which centres on Cork stories. I’m even looking forward to the venues. Such great settings around the city – somehow that makes it feel very welcoming, very democratic, and inclusive. It captures so much of the historical places in the city that mean so much to me as a Dubliner. I am looking forward to packing in as much of it as I can!

 

Hear more from Anna on Friday November 8th in The New Theatre in Temple Bar, where Anna will be joined by authors Orla Mackey and Alan Murrin, all in conversation with Pat Carty about their striking debut novels.  Book here to join us.

Girl in the Making is published by Sandycove and is available to buy here.

Mouthing by Orla Mackey is published by Hamish Hamilton and is available to buy here.

The Coast Road by Alan Murrin is published by Bloomsbury and is available to buy here.

This event is part of our DBF After Dark strand, supported by The Night-Time Economy Advisor: Dublin City Council.