In conversation with author and PhD student Eimear Ryan
Kelly Moran Moloney speaks to acclaimed novelist and winner of the An Post Irish Book Awards Sports Book of the Year 2023, Eimear Ryan
In conversation with author and PhD student Eimear Ryan
Kelly Moran Moloney speaks to acclaimed novelist and winner of the An Post Irish Book Awards Sports Book of the Year 2023, Eimear Ryan
Creative Writing PhD student Eimear Ryan Pictures: Diane Cusack
In conversation with author and PhD student Eimear Ryan
Kelly Moran Moloney speaks to acclaimed novelist and winner of the An Post Irish Book Awards Sports Book of the Year 2023, Eimear Ryan
Creative Writing PhD student Eimear Ryan Pictures: Diane Cusack
People are starting to embrace stories about women in sport, and maybe even recognise that there’s a rich vein of women’s sports stories waiting to be told
Tell us about your PhD research?
I’m in my second year of a PhD in creative writing, working on a novel that combines historical, contemporary and speculative fiction.
I’m interested in exploring what happens when we adapt the story of a real-life person for entertainment – what do we get right, what do we get wrong, are there unintentional consequences, is the story received in the way we intend it to be?
There’s a meta element to it as well, because I’m asking myself the same questions as I’m writing the historical fiction portion of the book.
How has your writing benefitted from your PhD?
It has been brilliant to have the structure and guidance of the PhD, and to have the permission and support to go and do deep research.
I think before, I would have felt that I had to be writing all the time, and that reading and researching didn’t really count as ‘working on the novel’ in the same way, but the PhD has made it clear to me that all these aspects are essential and all feed into one another.
What attracted you to University of Limerick?
The people! A few friends of mine had studied creative writing at UL and only had great things to say about the staff there.
My supervisors are Donal Ryan and Dr Carrie Griffin, who are both brilliant and so sound to work with. I’m very lucky to have their support.
Do you remember when your interest in writing first began?
From a young age. I always loved reading, and reading and writing were intertwined for me.
I went through all the usual writers kids go through – Road Dahl, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie – and I was fascinated by the ‘Also by the author’ lists that appeared at the start of their books.
I thought it was incredible that some people did this for a job, and I wanted to do it myself if at all possible.
Congratulations on winning Sports Book of the Year in the 2023 An Post Irish Book Awards. How did that feel?
It felt amazing! It was especially gratifying because it was such a strong category with so many brilliant writers and sportspeople.
And it made me happy in a broader sense, because it indicated that people are starting to embrace stories about women in sport, and maybe even recognise that there’s a rich vein of women’s sports stories waiting to be told.
Why do you think your latest book, The Grass Ceiling, resonated with so many?
Even though I was writing my own very personal story, I also knew that it wasn’t unique – so many of us in sport go through the same things.
I wrote about experiences that are widely felt but not often centred in the sports narrative – frustration, failure, disillusionment, isolation.
Put simply, most sports books are written by winners, the best of the best, whereas I was writing from the perspective of the ordinary club player, who’s not winning championships year after year.
I think it’s also a book with multiple entry points, because when you write about sport, you end up writing about all aspects of your life – your childhood, community, school, family, identity and more.
I’ve had lovely feedback from women who never played sport but nonetheless recognised many of the gender dynamics in the book, and also from men who were surprised at how much their experience of sport overlapped with mine.
I always loved reading, and reading and writing were intertwined for me
As an accomplished camogie player, are writing and the sport complementary of each other for you?
I retired from camogie at the start of 2023, and even though I think it was the right decision, I do miss it. I used to find them very complementary – there was no greater stress relief after a frustrating day at the desk than going training!
They are similar in the sense that both are totally absorbing and impossible to perfect.
They both require a lot of repetitive practice. But camogie requires you to be very present, and to do the right thing in the moment, whereas the beauty of writing is that you get unlimited opportunities to get that sentence or paragraph right.
What was the process like to combine two of your passions, writing and camogie, when creating The Grass Ceiling?
It felt very intense, as they are probably the two pursuits that have shaped me the most, and they’ve both been a fundamental part of me since childhood.
I had been writing about the GAA for a number of years as a sports columnist, but that was quite outward-facing, whereas this project meant going inward, and back into my own past.
Thankfully I had lots of material to sift through – diaries, photos, match programmes, old clippings from local newspapers.
My parents were a big help – my mam had loads of useful material stashed away, and my dad has great recall when it comes to the details of various matches played over the years.
Your writing has spanned many forms including short stories, newspaper columns, novels, and non-fiction. Do you have a favourite genre?
I started out writing short stories so I think they’ll always be my first love – though I’m growing to love the challenge of the novel as well.
What are the next steps for you as a writer?
I’m about two-thirds of the way through a first draft of a new novel. I love the drafting stage – you have great freedom, and the pressure’s off because you’re just trying to get the story and the themes down.
I find editing tough, because you’re having to confront your own sentences again and again. Sometimes you’re pleasantly surprised, but most of the time you’re wincing and trying to find a way to fix it. But that stage is still a while off with this project!
What advice would you give to novice writers, or those who might not have put pen to paper yet?
Read widely and be open to everything as a potential influence.
When something really impresses or affects you, try and figure out how the author achieved that. Was it a particular image? A line of dialogue? The rhythm of the sentences? The vulnerability of the characters? You can then try to apply these techniques in your own writing
Secondly, write towards your own obsessions and fascinations. If you can’t stop thinking about a particular story or theme or mystery or setting or character, there’s a reason for that – get in there and figure it out.
Don’t worry that other people won’t get it – if you’re fascinated by something, it stands to reason that other people will be too.
Finally, just write. I know it can feel nearly impossible to transmit what’s in your head onto the page. Just know that every book – even your favourite book – is a compromise between the author’s vision and their craft. It’s worth doing anyway.
