Young Blood: Ciaran McMenamin, Sally Rooney & June Caldwell
Irish writing is in rude health thanks to the arrival of a new generation of young writers, and HomePlace is delighted to welcome three exciting debut authors, who are taking the literary world by storm with their fresh and irreverent take on contemporary life in Ireland today.

Skintown is the debut novel from Enniskillen born actor Ciaran McMenamin and has been acclaimed as ‘a riot of a novel written with energy and verve’. Skintown is a drink- and drug-fuelled odyssey through fights, riots, fishing, ecstasy, sex and acid house. Bristling with a restless energy, this superb debut is a wild ride of a novel, compared with Irvine Welsh and John Niven.

Sally Rooney, one of The Observer’s Rising Stars of 2017, is enjoying success with her debut novel Conversations with Friends which captures with perfect precision what it is to be twentysomething in this part of the world. Described by Lucy Caldwell as ‘The Catcher in the Rye for a whole new generation of young women’, this startling, intimate story of high risk relationships, youth and love is set to become a modern classic.

June Caldwell worked for many years as a freelance journalist and now writes fiction. Room Little Darker, her acclaimed collection of short stories, was published by New Island Books in May 2017. Hailed by The Guardian as ‘a gothic collection of short stories that shock and fascinate in equal measure’, comparisons to William Burroughs and Kathy Acker hail her as a strong new voice in Irish literature.

Expect the unexpected as these three uncompromising authors share their thoughts with Paul McVeigh on their own work and the current state of the Irish writing scene.