Trish Kearney: Writing about what she knows as Cork-based author turns to fiction
Trish Kearney is one of the author's taking part in Cork International Short Story Festival this week. Picture: Larry Cummins
Having written a bestselling memoir, about her abuse by paedophile former swim coach, George Gibney, Cork-based Trish Kearney has turned her hand to fiction.
She will read from her short story, at the Cork International Short Story Festival this week.
The story, which she originally wrote for a challenge set by The Stinging Fly to write a story in 48 hours, is published in the anthology. The story is about a boy in his early teens who is in foster care. He is taking part in a workshop group comprising four other young people who are all being fostered.
The workshop facilitator says that everyone has a suitcase. The boy eventually realises that this means carrying ‘baggage,’ the accretion of life experiences that are generally negative or challenging.
Originally from Dublin, the mother of four works as a swim coach in schools, including coaching children with special needs. She writes about what she knows. She and her husband have been fostering children for years, sometimes in an emergency capacity or providing respite to teenagers.
“It’s like someone is unwell,” she says, “You can give them all your attention and kind of spoil them until they’re better. We get them for anything from a week to six weeks. We had one child for a year and another for two years, but normally, they’re short term. We’ve had many children come and go. It’s actually lovely. Even though it’s only for a week or two, they have all been good experiences.”
With her own children now grown up, Kearney says her house is relatively empty. “My children are very aware of fostering needs. Often, kids come from frantic places. The place itself might not be frantic but their heads are and we offer them a quiet space.”
Kearney reckons her talent for writing comes from her late father. “He was a fisheries inspecting officer who was a wonderful writer and speaker. He wouldn’t have had a great education. He left school very young and says he learned to spell by looking at the ads on the buses in London.
"He told me he did an online English course at one stage. I would have been heavily influenced by him. He was quite an emotional writer. He died quite young of motor neuron disease. He left his mark through some beautiful writing.”
Read More
Kearney, who is currently working on a novel, is happy to get support from her peers. “Cork is a good community for everything. There’s probably a good community for writers everywhere you go, once you find your tribe. If you don’t meet writers, you’ll find them online. I have a writing friend, Kathleen, who lives in Wicklow. Every three weeks, we check in with each other and keep each other on track.”
But Kearney admits that she had an attitude problem when it came to describing herself as a writer. That changed when she visited the UL Doolin Winter School for emerging and mid-career writers.
“Up to then, I had my blog, I wrote a column for two years for the I had even written my memoir but I still didn’t feel that I was a writer. It was just an attitude, an insecurity. In Doolin, I was among a group of writers of all types, at all stages writing in different genres. From going to the workshops you began to believe what they were telling you – that you are a writer. It was a confidence thing for me. And to be honest, what does it matter if you say you’re a writer or not, as long as you’re writing?”
Describing herself as an emotional writer, Kearney says she isn’t a highly descriptive writer and would find writing about nature quite difficult. But she says she found her voice early on. “That was partly through writing my blog. I felt quite comfortable at it. I did it for six years and absolutely loved it. But it took up a lot of writing time so I needed to settle down and write fiction.”
Kearney, whose novel is a family drama inspired by a remarkable woman she met several years ago, says that when she was writing her memoir, she thought it would be so much easier to write fiction. She wouldn’t need to cross-check facts. She could make everything up.
As the latest chapter in the George Gibney saga comes to a close with his sentencing to more than 15 years in jail, Kearney explains how her 2021 memoir was very much written for her children. “They didn’t know my story. They only knew it in very broad terms. Even my husband wouldn’t have really known much. It all blew up with the podcast [ ] and covid which helped give the memoir sales.”
Kearney says her memoir is a written history for her children. “And by speaking out, it has made others speak.”
To Kearney’s regret, her mother didn’t live to see the memoir published. “She was a big part of my story. She struggled to understand what the abuse was but she was my greatest supporter. And because my dad meant so much to her, I think she got tremendous satisfaction knowing I could write, like my father.”
- Cork International Short Story Festival runs from October 14-17. See www.corkshortstoryfest.net
From the Well showcase features Trish Kearney, Ross Browne, Rafael Mendes, Lorna Mulvany and Róisín Ní Chonaill on Thursday 15th at Cork City Library at 2.30pm.
are screen adaptations of Frank O’Connor’s stories, on Wednesday 14th at Cork City Library at 2.30pm.
Niamh MacCabe, who is a visual artist as well as a writer and Louise Hegarty, whose stories have featured on BBC Radio Four, will be in discussion moderated by Laura Cassidy, on Thursday 15th at the Cork Arts Theatre at 7.30pm.
Eoin McNamee (who has been nominated for the Man Booker prize) and Uche Okonkwo, author of will be in discussion moderated by Danny Denton at the Cork Arts Theatre on Thursday 15th at 9pm.
Órfhlaith Foyle whose most recent publication, a short story collection, and John O’Donnell, whose latest short story collection is Mr Hoo and Other Stories, will be in discussion with Jennifer Horgan on Friday 16th at the Cork City Library at 4pm.
Lucy Caldwell, whose recent publication is a short story collection, and Guy Ware whose latest story collection is will be in discussion moderated by Patrick Holloway on Saturday 17th at Cork Arts Theatre at 4.30pm.
Billy O’Callaghan, author of four novels and four short story collections, and Simon Van Booy (who won the Frank O’Connor international Short Story Award in 2009) will be in discussion moderated by Laura Cassidy on Saturday 17th at the Cork Arts Theatre at 7.30pm.
Dermot Bolger, whose most recent collection of short stories, will be in discussion with Liz McManus, the writer and former politician, moderated by Patrick Holloway on Saturday 17th at the Cork Arts Theatre at 9pm.
- If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please click here for a list of support services.
