Niamh Donnellan talks all things bookish for the companion series to our popular podcast, Burning Books
Little Irish Folklore Friends by Niamh Donnellan, illustrated by Brian Fitzgerald (Gill Books) is inspired by The National Folklore Collection.
Join Liam the Leprechaun, Betty the Banshee, Pádraig the Púca, Willow the Wisp, Fiadh the Fairy, and Seán the Selkie for lots of bedtime giggles.
A book from your early days?
One of my favourite memories is the little weekly paperback stories my father bought in Bus Áras while waiting for the bus home to Meath. I don’t remember their titles, just that they were more substantial than comic books but still had lots of illustrations. After a long day in the office, he never forgot to bring them home to us. I try to do the same for my children now.
Dog ears or book marks?
Definitely dog ears. I’m not precious about my books. The most well-loved books on my bookshelf can be identified by their torn covers, tea stains or sand between the pages. One of my favourite books, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, is the copy I studied at school so is graffitied with notes, scrawls and cartoons drawn to pass the time in dull English classes.
A quote you can say by heart?
No so much a quote as an economic theory. In the brilliant Terry Pratchett’s Discworld book Men at Arms, Sam Vimes sums up the poverty trap perfectly. I adore Terry Pratchett but of all the wonderful words he has written, this simple but profound idea stuck with me.
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. … A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. … But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.”
Do you lend without expecting a book returned?
No! I think it stems from lending a primary school friend an incredible compendium of quotations and word puzzles. I never got it back and never managed to replace it. Although I have mellowed in recent years and will happily lend a good crime or thriller if I know a friend will enjoy it as much as me. I’m evangelical about a good book.
Best book someone gave you?
My mother-in-law gave me a collection of old family cookbooks. It’s very precious. I haven’t made my way through all the recipes yet but they’re a fascinating insight into Irish food history. Anyone for stewed eels?
A book you return to over the years?
There is a handful of authors I reread every few years; Jane Austen, PJ Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Terry Pratchett and Charles Dickens. They’re masterclasses in great writing, as comforting as a cup of tea and as invigorating as a shot of whiskey.
A book that taught you something important?
Michael Pollan’s In Defence of Food changed my perspective on food, provenance and ethical eating. The poet Wendell Berry’s meditations on the symbiotic relationship that can and should exist between farming and nature should sit next to it on any bookshelf.
A book that makes you laugh?
The Book With No Pictures by B.J. Novak. Yes, it’s written by the guy from The Office and if you’re a parent of small kids and don’t have this on your bookshelves yet you are in for a treat. It is laugh out loud funny for kids and adults, an absolute treat from beginning to end.
One of your own books you would save?
My first children’s book Little Irish Folklore Friends was published by Gill this year. It was such an incredible experience to hold it in my hands, see it in the windows of my favourite bookshops, and read it to my children at bedtime. It’s physical proof that I’m a writer.
You can save one non-book item: what is it?
Old family photos and maybe, if I could manage a fireman’s lift, my little antique bookshelf. I need somewhere to put all these books I just saved, right?
