Irish Times article: Book Prizes are a fishy business

Here’s a short piece I wrote for Saturday’s Irish Times on the matter of trying to stuff my dinner under a chair at the First Novel Prize event at the Four Seasons in TO.

“When I learned I’d been shortlisted for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award for my debut novel, Malarky, and would be travelling to Toronto for the award event, I immediately invited everyone in Toronto who had ever done me a favour.

As I don’t know many people in Toronto, this included a woman working in the Bloor Street Mac makeup shop I’d met once. Sadly, she did not reply.

Happily, I gathered a further four women to join me. My entire focus for that event was on the snacks we would be served on the night. I would anticipate them, study them and live tweet them.”