Beginner’s pluck: Journal.ie columnist Carl Kinsella

This collection of funny, thought provoking essays investigate the way millennials relate to the world

Carl Kinsella says he has a totally unrealistic wish to have been a professional footballer: 'Nothing would compare with the exhilaration footballers must feel.' Picture: Ciara Quinlan

As a child, Carl assumed he could be whatever he wanted.     

“I was egotistical,” he says. “But I wanted to be a writer more than anything. I loved the written word.”

Graduating in 2015, Carl took an internship with joe.ie.

“I began to write opinion pieces for them, on social and political commentary.”

Moving to thejournal.ie, he tackled areas of concern, including disinformation and media literacy.

“Then I became part of their news and editorial team, and a columnist.”

In 2016, Carl took a year’s J1 Visa to the States, working in an internship for a think tank.

I worked for six months and travelled for three.

During the covid lockdown of 2021, living in London, Carl took a break, deciding to write a novel.

“I submitted it to the Irish Writer’s Centre Novel Fair. It didn’t win but was commended and I kept working on it.”

In 2023, deciding to take an MA, Carl moved to Amsterdam.

“I completed more than half but still have to finish my thesis,” he says.

After he returned to Dublin, he was approached and asked to write a book of essays.

“The turnaround was tight,” he says. “I was working at the journal.ie and on other projects but, once it was in my mindset and planned, the writing wasn’t difficult.”

Who is Carl Kinsella?

Date/place of birth: 1993/ Dublin.

Education: Terenure College; Institute of Education for Leaving Certificate; Trinity College Dublin — philosophy, political science, sociology, and economics.

Home: A studio apartment in Dublin.

Family: Parents and younger brother.

The day job: Columnist for Journal.ie.

In another life: “I have a totally unrealistic wish to have been a professional footballer. Nothing would compare with the exhilaration footballers must feel.”

Favourite writers: Douglas Coupland, Donna Tartt, Toni Morrison, Eleanor Catton, Fedor Dostoevski, Eimear McBride.

Second book: “My priority is to work on my novel.”

Top tip: “Keep the ratio of writing to aspiring to write top heavy.”

Instagram: @carl.kinsella

The debut

At Least it Looks Good from Space

Hachette Books Ireland, €18.99

From examining internet algorithms to describing a sojourn in America through a haze of spiralling mental instability, these essays investigate the way millennials relate to the world.

The verdict: Funny, thought provoking, and quite beautifully written.