Philip Ó Ceallaigh

"I called the boss a ‘fucker’ one day – not to his face, but it got back to him – so that was the end."

"I don't want to become the kind of writer who's putting out a book every two years. Money is not my primary concern. I've been broke before and I'll do it again."

"I used to write in the Rathmines public library. I was on the dole and living in a bedsit down the road. It was too cold to write at home. I had one of those meters that you had to put 50p into. So I'…"

"Tolstoy's War and Peace is overblown – do yourself a favour and read his Death of Ivan Ilych."

"I think if you've got something to say and you can say it with less, that's the way to go."

"I write to discover something, not so much to set down what I already know. I see ignorance and confusion all around me. I see these things in myself. I'm subject of all kinds of fears and conflicting…"

"The real writers are tenacious creatures, and they found a way long before there were writers workshops and creative writing courses in the universities. In the absence of formal frameworks, personal …"

"The ‘novel’ is a publishing convention that deforms the story. If more attention were given to form there would be fewer novels and better stories. There's no reason a publisher can’t put out a story …"