Beginner’s Pluck: Frankie Gaffney

STARTING life in Balbriggan, Frankie moved to inner-city Dublin at 12. He mitched from school, and in his early 20s, working in nightclubs, saw Dublin’s underside.

“I partied like crazy.” He did a radio course in Ballyfermot at 24; that inspired him to apply to Trinity College as a mature student. That’s when he started writing; completing three short stories before turning to the novel.

“I’d always wanted to write,” he says. “Even when I was wild I was thinking, some of this material would be great in a book.