I thought I’d let you know where I’m at at the minute. Every Sparrow Falling was released in 2019 at the end of a really busy year which, thanks to the NI Arts Council, I spent researching a new novel and working as the Online Writer in residence for the Irish Writers Centre. I’ve never travelled so much in my life, it felt like constant motion. I was in Granada, New York, London, Pennsylvania, Manchester, Dublin; some of those places several times. I also made my first appearance at Deptcon, Ireland’s foremost YA Convention and had a meeting with a Norwegian Masters student who was writing her dissertation on my novels. 2020 was set to be busy too. I attended and spoke at a symposium at Manchester Metropolitan University entitled Europe and the Child (how I wish I was back at university. It made me miss it so much. Anyone want to fund me through a PhD?), and finished up my residency for the IWC, and then… well we all know what happened then. As with every other artist I know, everything stopped.
In 2020 I completed work on the novel I had researched the previous year. It is called Grapefruit Moon and it is set in Belfast and Lisburn, the story of a boy from the estate and a girl from the posh part of town. It looks at the interplay of gender and toxic masculinity with poetry, and is inspired by the life and work of Federico Garcia Lorca and drag art in Belfast. It is dark and funny, and, I hope, a compelling story. I’m currently in talks with a publisher and hoping that a contract will be signed soon although publication might be delayed for a while. I really, really love this book and so I’m crossing everything that I will be able to share it as soon as possible.
In the meantime I’m writing something new. It is such early stages that it’s impossible to talk about just yet. I seems like such a long time since Every Sparrow Falling came out and it was very hard to promote anything in 2020, so I’m going to post some reviews taken from Goodreads here. It means a great deal to hear feedback from readers. I am sure people don’t realise how much.
If you want to read Every Sparrow Falling then you can get it from your local library (some of them are doing an order and collect service) or the usual outlets, but I’d recommend supporting your local indie bookstore or using www.bookshop.org which supports indie booksellers.
Shirley-Anne McMillan 