Columns - Irish Examiner

Louise O’Neill

It’s funny, isn’t it? The things you remember, and the things you forget

Memory is a strange thing. It is unreliable, malleable, hauntingly transient, and yet we allow it to shape our present lives.

Sat, 14 May, 2016

I think I would be a good mother; I just don’t want to be one.

I think I would be a good mother. I just don’t want to be one. Maybe I’ll change my mind. (You don’t know. People change. You might change your mind.)

Sat, 07 May, 2016

'I could probably live with making a complete idiot of myself on a Saturday night if it wasn’t accompanied by the Horrors on a Sunday morning'

Whenever I start work on a new novel, I make a conscious decision that I’m going to give up men and alcohol.

Sat, 30 Apr, 2016

I'll explain some of the reasons why I’ve rejected people in the past so that you can learn from their mistakes

Dylan: Strong. Very strong.

Sat, 23 Apr, 2016

The conflation of anorexia with vanity is misguided. Believe me, there is no vanity attached to starving yourself

Deirdre O’Shaughnessy, a co-presenter of Cork’s 96FM programme The Opinion Line, recently interviewed a woman named Sharon whose daughter has been hospitalised with severe anorexia. 

Sat, 16 Apr, 2016

I dislike that I have to proclaim repeatedly that no, I don’t hate all men, and no, I don’t think all men are misogynists

Once you declare yourself a feminist, there are certain stereotypes that you have to face.

Sat, 09 Apr, 2016

Be yourself. Speak your truth. You are who you are and that’s good enough.

Sometimes I look in the mirror and tell myself, “Yes, Louise. You are 31. You are in your thirties now. You are an adult.”

Sat, 02 Apr, 2016

What a privilege it is to think that I might have touched other peoples lives in some small way

I celebrated my 31st birthday last week (I know! I think I’m freakishly young looking too) and I was reminded of a birthday from some years ago.

Sat, 26 Mar, 2016

What our reaction to Kim Kardashian says about us as people - and feminists

In January, the Philosophical Society at Trinity College Dublin asked me to take part in a debate entitled “This house would use its sexuality to get ahead”.

Sat, 19 Mar, 2016

'Men have blatantly insulted me, my family, and my choice of career, but in a hilarious way'

I think it’s fair to say that, as a nation, we are terrible at flirting.

Sat, 12 Mar, 2016