Ryan Love: 'I first attempted suicide when I was 14 and a half'

Ryan Love: new novel is out this month via HarperCollins
I’m from a big family. In typical Irish fashion, mum’s one of eight, and dad’s one of nine. So family has always been hugely important in Enniskillen, where I’m from. I was a very quiet, shy, hide-in-the-corner-with-a-book type. Reading was my thing — I loved being tucked away with a book and writing my own stuff. That’s where it all started, thanks to mum introducing me to the Roald Dahl collection. The Harry Potter series was a huge influence too.
My book (
) is definitely up there with my proudest achievements because that was my childhood dream that I had almost given up on. I just had this urge to make it happen during lockdown and thank God, I don’t know who was looking down on me, but I got there. Even with the incredible luck I’ve had with the book experience, there are still bad days.Another one [proud moment] would be my resolve to keep going because of what happened when I was at school — an overdose and attempted suicide. I sort of lost my path. As a 15-year-old, I left school, I was homeschooled. I lost sight of the goals that I had because I always envisioned going to uni and doing all the completely normal things, and having a career.
I definitely developed resilience and the ability to do things for myself. I wasn’t being spoonfed at school. I was very lucky to have a good relationship with my parents and to have them to guide me. Being removed from the school environment really made me stand on my own two feet.
Mum has been the biggest inspiration in my life. No offence to dad, but mum was just that person. From day one, I was a mama’s boy. She always had my corner, even through the tough times. One of the proudest things for me was to be able to dedicate this book to my mum.
- (HarperCollins) by Ryan Love is out on April 13.