5 Questions for an Author: Sally Rooney

Literature editor Sarah Upton recently sat down with writer Sally Rooney, a graduate of English Studies at Trinity College. Her debut novel, Conversations with Friends, was bought by Faber and is set for publication in June. Here Rooney discusses her influences, methods and her upcoming projects.


 

W.B. Yeats said that ‘There is no great literature without nationality, and no great nationality without literature.’ Do you think that the term “Irish writer” is a useful category when describing your identity as a writer?

I was born in Ireland and I still live here, so it would be hard to argue that I’m not an “Irish writer,” but I don’t think that’s what Yeats meant. Big fan of Mussolini, W.B. Yeats. I just feel like we don’t talk about that enough. In conclusion, if there really is no great literature without nationality, I can safely say I’m not interested in writing great literature.

 

To what extent do social issues at home and abroad inspire your writing?

I rarely find much room in my work for the direct discussion of politics, in part because I tend to write pretty low-stakes, observational prose about friendship and love. At the same time, I think it’s impossible to be a good observer of reality without being open to observing the workings of ideology. Even a single conversation between two people can reveal a lot about the world we live in. So the broader question of power and how it’s distributed is everywhere in my writing; it couldn’t not be.

 

How important is research to your writing process?

I rarely need to do any difficult research, but I do end up researching a lot of unbelievably boring things. Was the summer of 2012 warm? How long does the average cold last? Things like that. I wouldn’t want any of my characters to spend an implausibly long time recovering from a cold.

 

Who, would you say, is the most influential writer working in Ireland today?

I think a case could be made for Kevin Barry, in part because his work has influenced so many writers who are now influential in their own right-the original influencer. A case could also be made for Thomas Morris, who is neither Irish nor technically in Ireland, but who did so much to shape the current Irish literary scene during his time as editor of the Stinging Fly. His superb collection, We Don’t Know What We’re Doing definitely had an influence on the development of my book.

 

What is your next project?

I’m working on a second novel right now, told from the alternating perspectives of two characters as they finish school and go to college. In a way it’s a coming of age novel, but not so much about an individual as about a relationship. I think.

 

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