Beginner’s pluck: Freelance TV producer Gráinne Lyons

Heading north from Cape Clear 'Wild Atlantic Women' tells the story of 11 pioneering women along the way

Gráinne Lyons, at Aughris Head in Co Sligo: 'In England I felt constantly Irish, and in Ireland, constantly English.' Picture: James Connolly

Brought up in London, Gráinne spent her summers in Ireland. 

Graduating from her MA, she worked at Harper Collins as an editorial assistant.

“But I didn’t enjoy it.” 

Getting into the BBC by a temporary pool in admin, Gráinne started as a personal assistant and became an art history researcher, then a producer. She was also writing fiction.

“In 2017 I was shortlisted for the Mslexia award for unpublished first novels.”

When, on a visit to Ireland, she examined her Irish identity, she came up with a non-fiction idea.

I realised that, working in programme development, I was learning about the whole world, but didn’t know my own history.

In 2019, recently 40 and single, Gráinne felt unmoored.

“I was newly freelance as a TV producer, and I was struggling to put myself together.

“In England I felt constantly Irish, and in Ireland, constantly English.”

She took a walk along the Atlantic Way, looking at women who had made a living by engaging with the coastal landscape.

She wrote a newspaper article, which tweaked the interest of a publisher. A second trip followed.

Who is Gráinne Lyons?

Date/ place of birth: 1979/ East London. “Mum is from Limerick, and Dad is from Sligo.”

Education: Woodford County High School for Girls; York University, English literature, with a term in Italy; Goldsmiths, MA in creative and life writing.

Home: Hackney, London.

Family: Mum, Dad, and elder sister. “I live on my own and have amazing friends.”

The day job: Freelance TV producer.

In another life: “I would love to have gone to art school.”

Favourite writers: Hilary Mantel; Haruki Murakami; Colm Tóibín; Edna O’Brien; Roger Deakin; Seamus Heaney; Olga Tokarczuk.

Second book: “I have another travelogue in the making — and an idea for a novel.”

Top tip: “Write longhand, so that you can put some space between your past and present self.”

Instagram: @MSGrainneLyons.

The debut

Wild Atlantic Women

New Island, €12.95
(Illustrated by the author)

Heading north from Cape Clear, home to her pioneering great-grandmother, a lacemaker, Gráinne travelled the West coast, telling the story of 11 pioneering women along the way — including Ellen Hutchins, Queen Maeve, and Edna O’Brien — while examining her own place in life.

The verdict: A simply gorgeous book. I loved it.