Beginner’s Pluck

Darran has always adored books. His elder sister encouraged his reading, and his school was an enlightened place for the arts.

“I read the Catcher in the Rye at 10, and the Great Gatsby at 11. And I was always writing.”

After College, he worked for the Irish News in Belfast as a news reporter. Then, in 2006, he left to study creative writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queens University where his supervisor was Glenn Patterson. His first novel was his PhD.

The Viva supervisor came from East Anglia — and he recommended Darran to an agent.

who is Darran McCann?

Date/place of birth: April 10, 1979/Armagh.

Education: St Patrick’s College Armagh. Trinity College Dublin, English. Dublin City University, Journalism.

Home: Belfast

Family: Wife. Son David, 2, and daughter Alex, 4 months

The Day Job: Full-Time Writer

Hobbies: Music. “I used to be a drummer in a band. I now play the guitar.”

Favourite Writers: Flannery O’Connor, VS Naipaul, Mark Twain, and Kurt Vonnegut.

Second Novel: It’s set in the fifties, and is set in Dublin and Armagh. Due for publication in 2013.

Top Writing Tip: Always keep the story at the front of your mind. Don’t drift away from it.

Twitter: @darranmccann1

THE DEBUT

After the Lockout. Fourth Estate: €14.99. Kindle: €10.50

It’s Ireland, 1917. Victor Lennon, a radical, after his experiences in the Rising and the Lockout, returns to his village a hero. At least to some. There to save his father, who is descending into alcoholism, Lennon soon finds himself in an unholy war with the parish priest.

“Lennon feels that the world is run for those of wealthy interest, to the detriment of everyone else. That view, widely held in 1917, could equally apply today. This period, after the Rising but before the War of Independence has not been explored much. You’d be forgiven for thinking not a lot happened. I wanted to address that.”

The Verdict: Entertaining and enlightening. This book teaches you about humanity.

— Interviewed by Sue Leonard