Bright Lights: Ones to watch in 2021

Danielle McLaughlin: "Writing happened for me quite late"
It was a big life change that made Cork author Danielle McLaughlin first consider taking pen to paper. A serious and rare reaction to medication caused her to need to take time out from a career in law. It was during this time that she first started to write.
“Writing happened for me quite late. I didn’t have a word of fiction published until I was into my 40s. My first book was a collection of short stories,
. I was very happy practising law for a long time - I think law and writing are very similar. Writing happened for me when I got sick, very suddenly, about 10 years or so ago now and had to stop practising law. It was while I was sick, I started writing.She took a writing workshop and found it of enormous benefit. “I’m all for people doing writing workshops. It was a revelation for me to find that writing could be taught the way other things are taught.”
The book of short stories was a success and now Danielle has an agent and a novel on the way.
, published by Hachette on February 4, unfolds in Cork and centres around a woman trying to repair her marriage and secrets that reveal themselves.“It’s been really long time in the making,” says Danielle from Dunmore, near Blarney. “It’s set in Cork City and West Cork, and my main character Nessa is in her 40s. Her marriage is coming back together again after her husband’s affair and work is looking good for her - she’s very excited about a project that she’s involved in. She’s arranging a retrospective art exhibition for a renowned sculptor.
“But then her past influences her present at the worst possible time and things start to unravel. She also has to decide if she can live with a lie or can she live with the consequences if everything is brought out. So it’s about her past catching up with her and complicating things. And then the decisions she’s faced with making after that, and the consequences.”
Danielle is currently working on a second novel and putting the finishing touches to some more short stories. “There’s a sense of possibility that comes from so many new writers being published over the last ten years.”

Actor Dónall Ó Héalai got to spend a very special period filming in his native Connemara on the movie
(Monster). The Irish-language feature film is drawing quite a buzz in film circles in advance of its 2021 release and the actor’s performance has already landed him an IFTA nomination.Now the Oscars could well be on the horizon, with
selected by Ireland on the longlist for Best International Feature Film at April’s Academy Awards. We’ll discover if the film reaches the shortlist in February.The actor plays the lead role of Colmán Sharkey, a fisherman who takes in a stranger on the eve of the Great Hunger. A run-in with an English landlord leads to tragedy and despair, but redemption may come in the form of a local girl who needs his help.
It’s a highly impressive debut feature from filmmaker Tom Sullivan, with a standout performance from the Spiddal actor. “It’s a hugely competitive category but to be even in the running is a huge honour,” he said of the Oscar nomination.
“This was my first lead in screen acting and I was really keen to work with Tom again (they had previously collaborated on a short film). He’s a really talented storyteller, his stories have tremendous heart and that applies to Arracht as well. The emphasis was on the human telling of that experience, the experience being the famine.”
He credits cinematographer Kate McCullough with bringing the west of Ireland to life on screen in black and white.
“She brought an authenticity to the place which is Lettermullan in Connemara. It was shot in 20 days. It takes a village to make a film and the community really got behind the film. I don’t think we’d have the film we have without them. I was taught how to row a curragh. I learned a lot about that and the sea. The character I was playing has a great affinity with both the land and the sea. Integrity and authenticity were the big things when it comes to telling this story. The language also helps that.” Ó Héalai, who studied acting at Dublin’s Bow Street, will next star in another feature in the Irish language,
(Shelter).
Lifelong friends and music nuts Ryan Hill, Adam Rooney and Ronan Hynes this year released their first song as a new band and
proved to be a popular earworm, promptly becoming 2FM’s track of the week.The band have taken inspiration in its naming, from the biblical story of ‘Noah and the Ark’, which is centred around the theme of new beginnings - an idea that is fundamental to the band’s vision and core values.
Over the past seven months, the band spent much of their time together writing new material and hope to go on tour in 2021 as the world opens up again. They previously played together as Electric Shore.
“We knew we wanted to start again and revisit our music and the way we put it out there,” said bassist Adam. “Noah felt like a good name for taking stock and starting again.”
The band members, from Ratoath in Co Meath, formed in January 2020 not knowing the chaos that lay ahead. At first, they worked remotely and sent ideas back and forth. “Having our own time and space probably brought something new to our music,” says Adam. “For lockdown two, we decided to move in together to be as safe as possible and work on our music.”
It gave them the time and focus to really hone their new material as a band. “I find our songs are definitely more matured. We’ve taken a lot of inspiration from other bands like U2 and Kodaline. We like bands like Kings of Leon, The Killers and from there everyone’s taste spreads out.”
Another single is due for release and the band also plans to do some livestream gigs, including with Laura Whitmore on BBC Radio 5 Live. “We hope to have our first headline gig in April but everything is TBC. Our last gig was on Valentine’s Day and that seems like a long time ago now!”

Niamh Dunne was already doing some part-time modelling when she started studying to be a science teacher. But client demand for the Co Kildare woman has grown so much that the studies have been put on hold.
“I was trying to do both but I was getting many jobs and after two years I decided to defer. It’s been going well since.”
Now one of the busiest newcomers on the books of Morgan the Agency, Niamh last year got to work in world fashion capital Milan for the first time, taking to the catwalk for a live show.
“It was a bit overwhelming. That was my first show and I didn’t know what to expect. I remember seeing all the cameras and thinking this is really happening,” she says.
Niamh was scouted after a top fashion photographer and art director got in touch through Instagram. A meeting with her and her mum was arranged with then-agent Andrea Roche. In recent times, she has worked in such high-profile brands as Diesel Ireland and top Italian fashion house Laura Biagotti.
Working in the fashion industry has meant she has been able to indulge her interest in photography. “I was always interested in photography and making videos when I was younger. It was only when I got scouted that I thought I could do this. And being surrounded by stylists and creative people I’ve gotten into fashion myself. And my agent Rebecca Morgan has been great and helped me confidence-wise.”
Though her primary focus is to work here in Ireland, she has enjoyed the opportunity to travel that work has given her, and recently signed with Major Models in Milan.
“I’m hoping to return to Milan for Fashion Week again.”