A switch from sculpture proves author Sara Baume’s got the write stuff

Sara Baume has never found writing easy, but a slew of awards have been apt reward for her toil, writes Colette Sheridan.

WHEN Sara Baume sits down at her desk to write, she sometimes has an existential crisis. “There’s this crushing sense of ‘Oh my god, this is so hard. I should be doing something else’,” says the 30-year old author. Born in England and reared in Lisgoold, Co Cork, she recently won the Hennessy New Irish Writer Award 2015, and last year won the prestigious Davy Byrne Short Story Award worth €15,000.

Her debut novel, Spill Simmer Falter Wither was recently published by Tramp Press. Baume, who lives in Whitegate, Co Cork, has a two-book deal and is currently working on her second novel. So why the angst?