"The real writers are tenacious creatures, and they found a way long before there were writers workshops and creative writing courses in the universities. In the absence of formal frameworks, personal initiatives and informal frameworks become more important."
Philip Ó Ceallaigh is an Irish short story writer and translator who lives in Bucharest.
"I write to discover something, not so much to set down what I already know. I see ignorance and confusion all around me. I see these things in myself. Im subject of all kinds of fears and conflicting desires. But one of those desires, the sanest one, is to see through the confusion."
"I called the boss a ‘fucker’ one day – not to his face, but it got back to him – so that was the end."
"I was kind of solitary. Id spend a lot of time on my own, reading books. I didnt integrate very well."
"Tolstoys War and Peace is overblown – do yourself a favour and read his Death of Ivan Ilych."
"I used to write in the Rathmines public library. I was on the dole and living in a bedsit down the road. It was too cold to write at home. I had one of those meters that you had to put 50p into. So Id go down the library every morning and after lunch to scribble stuff in longhand in the study room there."
"I dont want to become the kind of writer whos putting out a book every two years. Money is not my primary concern. Ive been broke before and Ill do it again."