What was the inspiration for her latest book? ‘I think life is moving at a fierce pace, we’re nearly jumping over each over so this is an invitation to sit down for a minute. ‘I remember I went home to North Cork when the book of poems came out, to feel safe, as I was so nervous!’ She compares publishing a book as like ‘taking your clothes off in public’. I came from a farm on the Cork-Kerry border and I absolutely loved the village – it was totally different to how it is now, no traffic lights for starters! I was very conscious that a way of life was ending and I wanted to preserve it, which I did through a collection of poetry,’ she said. ![]() But I actually wrote a book of poems before that, called The Way We Are which was all about village life in Innishannon. ‘He was a superb interviewer, and that was a time when the whole country listened to radio. ![]() She was on his morning radio show several times as well, which she said ‘made the book’. It was a huge success and saw her invited on The Late Late Show, when it was still hosted by Gay Byrne. Her first ‘official’ book was the global bestseller To School Through the Fields, which was translated into numerous languages including Japanese, and published in 1988, when she was 50. Now in her 80s, Alice said she was a late starter when it came to writing – she was busy running a shop and guesthouse in Innishannon with her husband Gabriel and raising her family of five. I’d write early morning and late at night!’ I could go for months without writing and then get a notion and there’d be no stopping me. ‘I don’t write every day though – I envy people who have the discipline to sit down and do that. ‘I just love writing, it’s my safety valve,’ says the wellknown and much-loved Innishannon woman. She’s just launched her 30th book called Come Sit Awhile which is all about taking a moment to lift ourselves out of our everyday busyness, as well as penning her first children’s book Ellie and the Fairy Door which she wrote with her daughter.
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