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Ask the Author: Emma Donoghue

“Ask me a question.” Emma Donoghue

Answered Questions (19)

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We have finally produced a radio play of Man and Boy, with your permission pre pandemic, as we were never able to do it in a live onstage version. I have adapted your story with excerpts from Matthew Scott’s autobiography. My husband Sean Sullivan has done the reading and the sound engineering. Needless to say, we hope we have your blessing and would be thrilled if you would give it a listen and allow us to send it?
Emma Donoghue Lynnie, to discuss any changes to what we agreed, you'll need to email my agent Caroline Davidson (caroline@cdla.co.uk) right away with full details about this adaptation and what you hope to do with it. I can be reached as ever at emma@emmadonoghue.com
best
Emma
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Beyond the obvious, are there any hidden meanings to the chapter titles?
Emma Donoghue No, they're really just markers of deterioration of a flu patient with cyanosis. I usually like double meanings but this time they are what they are!
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Is there a subject matter that you wish to write but don't know how or where to begin?
Emma Donoghue Yes, sometimes very controversial modern debates interest me but I can't see any way into them without making people angry!
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Hi Emma Donoghue, Do you feel from a young age you wanted to write? Is that why you pursued your career in writing? Thanks for your reply, Joanne Donoghue DeCenzo (County Kenmare/Deerfield, NH - USA) Congratulations on such a successful journey!!
Emma Donoghue Yep, I got the bug at 7. Nothing else thrills me this much.
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Did you begin Pull of the Stars after corona-19 was identified and had begun to spread? Thanks for answering and thank you for the novel.
Emma Donoghue No, the novel was sold and completely finished by the start of March 2020. All I changed in the copyediting, re: Covid 19, was that I let myself use 'pandemic' rather than 'epidemic' because around then the word changed from jargony to on-everyone's-lips.
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Emma, When did you realize yourself as a writer? After writing first book, publishing , success or …? You know this feeling inside «I am truly a writer»
Emma Donoghue Actually I think I felt it (as that sense of profound certainty) when I wrote my first poem, at seven - it wasn't based on the success of the writing but on how right the experience of writing it felt.
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I love the Lotterys books so much! Are you planning on writing any more in the series? Or any other middle grade books?
Emma Donoghue Thanks Nicola! I have more ideas for the Lotterys but no current plans to write any more in the series as I've so many other books on the go... I did really enjoy writing for middle grade readers who are so appreciative of little details and willing to immerse in a fictional world!
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I just finished The Pull of the Stars. It was so amazing! I loved it and Nurse Julia and Bridie are fantastic characters. How did you first learn of Dr. Kathleen Lynn? I had never heard of her before reading your book. What an amazing woman! I'm so glad you gave her the light she clearly deserves. I'm interested in learning more about her. Do you have a resource you could recommend to do that?
Emma Donoghue Thanks Elizabeth. There's a biography of Lynn that I found really useful: https://irishacademicpress.ie/product...
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Just finished POTS....what a beauty of a book. It will stay with me for a long time. (Sorry, not a question)?
Emma Donoghue Thanks Tiffany!
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on a book with a midwife delivering babies and have read Call of the Midwife—that was really helpful. Are there any books in particular you would recommend? Perhaps I should pick up your book next :-) I need another Donoghue book to get me by.
Emma Donoghue One book that really influenced me was Naomi Wolf's Misconceptions - the way she presents having a baby as a heroic transition (with its painful losses) rather than natural/easy/sweet. Enjoy reading!
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I'm impressed with the research you do for your work. I live around the corner from where Frog Music takes place, you got the history and geography just right. My question: With Pull of the Stars, it seems like you know enough now to deliver babies, no? How did you learn all that detailed medical stuff?
Emma Donoghue Just lots of reading, Frederick - modern websites (by doctors and midwives), 1910s obstetric manuals with scary drawings... Plus my memories of what my two births felt like from the mother's point of view. Glad it all rings true for you!
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I recently reread How Beautiful The Ordinary (five years after I first read it--it was the first LGBT book I ever read) and teared up at "Dear Lang". So poignant and beautiful. I know I'm ten years late on this one, but I need to know--in your mind, did Lang ever write back? What happened?
Emma Donoghue Whoops, sorry I've taken nearly a year to get back to Goodreads and these questions. In my mind, Lang did write back - the young are generally so generous-spirited, I think it's likely.
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Hi. I read your book The Wonder and absolutely loved it. Recommended it to a couple of people. I'd like to know if you can recommend another one of your books to me - I want to read something similar, something clean - nothing gory, sexual, and with unclean language ('Room' wasn't my style.) Are you able to help me out with this? Thanks.
Emma Donoghue I've been mulling over your question, Chaya... I don't remember anything explicit in LIFE MASK (set in the 1790s) but I published it back in 2004 so I can't quite trust my recall.
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Good evening Dr, I need your email to contact you because my thesis will be about your fantastic novel ROOM Can you please send it to me? My best regards
Emma Donoghue Sorry for the delay, I'm not often on Goodreads! You can reach me at emma@emmadonoghue.com
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This question contains spoilers... (view spoiler)
Emma Donoghue There's a very good study of the fasting girls by Joan Brumberg - that's one that stands out for me - and an amazing cross-cultural study called Hunger by Sharman Russell. Otherwise I just imagined hard! and looked at my hearty-eating little daughter to figure out the natural impulses that might get thwarted.
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Hi. I just wanted to tell you that kissing the witch changed my life. thank you so much. The wonder was amazing too! do you have plans for a sequel?
Emma Donoghue Thanks so much! No sequel to THE WONDER - I prefer a fresh world every time, except for my kids' book series THE LOTTERYS. But I am working on the screenplay now, so I hope you'll enjoy the film of THE WONDER one of these years.
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How do you deal with writer’s block?
Emma Donoghue Never had it. Stave off boredom by multi-tasking (several projects at a time) is what I recommend.
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Can you elaborate the process you use to write your novels?
Emma Donoghue Years of daydreaming, detailing planning, then at least three drafts.
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Hi Emma, When is The Lotterys Plus One coming out in Ireland?? Eimear.
Emma Donoghue 20 April, woohoo!
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This question contains spoilers... (view spoiler)
Emma Donoghue SPOILER ALERT. Hm, I haven't heard about Irish uncle-niece marriages and that's certainly not allowed by the Catholic church. For first cousins you had to seek permission. And neither of those cases is like brother-sister full sibling bonds, which I feel pretty confident was absolutely taboo.
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