Beginner’s Pluck: Belfast-born writer Aimée Walsh

'Exile' is a brilliant novel about friendship, consent and displacement from a vibrant new voice

Freelance journalist and writer Aimée Walsh's  debut novel is 'Exile'.

A voracious reader, who read way above her age range, Aimée was constantly writing stories.

She started work as a journalist for a regional youth paper, and then she backpacked around Australia and Asia.

“When I got back to Belfast I started my MA. And then worked in an office job, in HR before taking my PhD in 2020.”

By then, she was living in London, working in editorial in academic publishing, and then in fiction.

I started writing the novel in 2018 but wrote seriously during lockdown.

“In 2022, I did a Faber course with Lucy Caldwell, and a year later was accepted onto the Irish Writer’s Centre Evolution programme. Through that I taught in Galway and was mentored by Lucy Caldwell and Colin Barrett.”

Aimée has written articles and reviews for The Irish Times, the Independent, and the Observer among other publications, and in 2023, her short story, ‘Drop Out’, was longlisted for The London Magazine short story prize.

Who is Aimée Walsh?

Date/place of birth: 1990/ Belfast.

Education: Belfast Royal Academy; Liverpool John Moore’s University, Literature; Queens University, MA; Liverpool John Moore’s University, PhD in Irish Literature and Cultural History.

Home: Belfast.

Family: Husband James. An 18-year-old Chihuahua and a cat.

The day job: “I freelance, mainly for The Irish Times and RTÉ.”

In another life: “I was torn between my MA and retraining as a vet.”

Favourite writers: Ali Smith; Deirdre Madden; Anna Burns; Toni Morrison; Thomas Hardy; Tolstoy.

Second book: “It’s set in New York in the 1980s.”

Top tip: “I don’t think you need to write every day, but you do need to read every day. Read as widely as you can. Also, carry a notebook and write down ideas as they pop into your head.”

Website: aimeewalsh.com

Instagram: @thereadparts

The debut

Exile
John Murray, €17.40/ Kindle, €10.93

Fiadh wakes one morning with no memory of the night before. But when the details emerge, in shocking flashes — her life goes into free-fall.

And just when the Belfast girl was settling at University in Liverpool too. Now she feels adrift at college, and at home. Can she get her life together again before the chaos costs her everything?

The verdict: A brilliant novel about friendship, consent and displacement from a vibrant new voice.