Billy O'Callaghan on how the loss of his mother inspired his short story Dead of Winter

"Once I was writing the story, I knew that was what was behind it. I am not sure it was something I was necessarily thinking about, but maybe it was all I was thinking about for a while"

Fri, 24 Dec, 2021 - 06:00

Marjorie Brennan

Christmas is a time to make merry — pandemic notwithstanding — but it is also a time for reflection and, for many, a time when we remember those we have loved and lost. For author Billy O’Callaghan, it will be the first Christmas without his mother, Gina, who sadly died in October.

It is a loss that has hit hard and one that is echoed in Dead of Winter, the Christmas short story O’Callaghan has written especially for the Irish Examiner. “Once I was writing the story, I knew that was what was behind it. I am not sure it was something I was necessarily thinking about, but maybe it was all I was thinking about for a while,” he says.