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Olivia Fitzsimons
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Kate O' Brien Award 2023

Selection: Screen Ireland Mentorship Scheme

Books Ireland: The First Page

The Limerick Literary Festival is delighted to announce the shortlist for the 8th annual Kate O'Brien Award. This is an Award for the best novel or short story collection by an Irish female writer. The judges for this year's Award are committee member Marie Hackett, writer and critic Niall MacMonagle, poet and committee member Vivienne McKechnie, writer and Children's book buyer for O'Mahony's Bookshop Grainne O'Brien and novelist Donal Ryan. The 2023 shortlist is as follows:

  • Ruth and Pen by Emilie Pine.
  • The Quiet Whispers Never Stop by Olivia Fitzsimons.
  • How to Gut a Fish by Sheila Armstrong.


https://limerickliteraryfestival.com/kate-obrien-award/

Books Ireland: The First Page

Selection: Screen Ireland Mentorship Scheme

Books Ireland: The First Page

Olivia Fitzsimons reads the first page of her debut novel, The Quiet Whispers Never Stop (John Murray).


https://booksirelandmagazine.com/the-first-page-olivia-fitzsimons/

Selection: Screen Ireland Mentorship Scheme

Selection: Screen Ireland Mentorship Scheme

Selection: Screen Ireland Mentorship Scheme

Screen Ireland is delighted to announce that 25 mentorship pairings have been selected for the fourth iteration of the Screen Mentoring scheme following this year's competitive selection process. 


https://www.screenireland.ie/news/screen-ireland-announces-25-new-mentorship-pairings-for-the-screen-mentoring-scheme

The best books of 2022 from Irish writers

The best books of 2022 from Irish writers

Selection: Screen Ireland Mentorship Scheme

Irish Examiner Best Books of 2022 from Irish Writers


https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-41030339.html

Totally Dublin Review

The best books of 2022 from Irish writers

Totally Dublin Review

"Fitzsimons has exposed a fascinating divide in attitudes directed at men who quit families and the unthinkable and unnatural women who do the same"


https://www.totallydublin.ie/book-review/book-review-the-quiet-whispers-never-stop-olivia-fitzsimons/

Short Works: Un Hôtel Tranquille

Olivia Fitzsimons: Meet the artists showcasing at the Dean Art Studios

Olivia Fitzsimons: Meet the artists showcasing at the Dean Art Studios

An original short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 from the writer Olivia Fitzsimons. As read by Aoibhéann McCann.




https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001b4fy

Olivia Fitzsimons: Meet the artists showcasing at the Dean Art Studios

Olivia Fitzsimons: Meet the artists showcasing at the Dean Art Studios

Olivia Fitzsimons: Meet the artists showcasing at the Dean Art Studios

Olivia Fitzsimons is just one of many artists exhibiting her work at the newly-opened Dean Art Studios on Chatham Row in Dublin. Here she shares more about writing, the most invaluable thing she’s learned in her career and her debut novel.


https://www.image.ie/agenda/olivia-fitzsimons-meet-the-artists-showcasing-at-the-dean-art-studios-520644

DEAN ART STUDIOS: 1 yr Residency

Olivia Fitzsimons: Meet the artists showcasing at the Dean Art Studios

THE INDEPENDENT: Maeve Binchy and me: 16 well-known writers on her influence and legacy

The Dean Arts Studio is a new, multi-disciplinary artistic hub located on Chatham Row, in the heart of Dublin city centre.

Both established and emerging practitioners across visual arts, literature, photography, sound, music, art curation, comedy and more are in residency in what previously housed the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. Each residency runs for one year, and it is envisaged that more than 20 artists, cultural institutions and arts organisations will benefit from the Studio, which will be wholly funded by Press Up Hospitality Group for the benefit of the artistic community.

The Dean Arts Studios is a celebration of creativity. We strive to be an inclusive space representing the cultural, artistic, and social diversity that make up Ireland today.


https://deanartstudios.ie/

THE INDEPENDENT: Maeve Binchy and me: 16 well-known writers on her influence and legacy

IRISH TIMES: Irish writers and their dreams: ‘I take a lot of naps, and wake up with a missing link’

THE INDEPENDENT: Maeve Binchy and me: 16 well-known writers on her influence and legacy

Ten years ago this month, Irish fiction lost one of its most endearing, vivid characters. Credited for tackling the big issues, from abortion and depression to infidelity and divorce, with an impressively light touch, Binchy was one of the first big chroniclers of a quickly changing Ireland. Her successful career spanned 17 novels, three plays, countless collections of short stories and a treasure trove of journalism.

“Though her pages were rife with faithless lovers, alcoholism, unwanted pregnancies and even murder, Ms Binchy resisted being described as a romance novelist. For one thing, she pointed out, her heroines were less inclined to win the dashing hero than they were to learn to live, quite capably, without him,” The New York Times noted in its obituary of the writer.


https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/maeve-binchy-and-me-16-well-known-writers-on-the-influence-and-legacy-of-one-of-irelands-most-loved-authors-41818204.html

IRISH TIMES: Irish writers and their dreams: ‘I take a lot of naps, and wake up with a missing link’

IRISH TIMES: Irish writers and their dreams: ‘I take a lot of naps, and wake up with a missing link’

IRISH TIMES: Irish writers and their dreams: ‘I take a lot of naps, and wake up with a missing link’

I often drift off into my imagination and my kids do too. We have sanctioned dream time in our house; everyone gets to go off and potter or daydream if they need it. My eldest son will say “I’m dreaming” and then no one interrupts him. Of course they interrupt me but after years of fragmented sleep I rarely dream. When I do, my dreams are very vivid, I wake from nightmares in tears, so I prefer daydreaming. My youngest experienced some night terrors when he was little – he appeared completely awake but was locked in a trancelike state – so I’m very aware of the power of dreams and nightmares.


https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2022/07/09/fiction-and-dreamscapes-irish-writers-and-their-inspiration/

IRISH TIMES: Seeking a summer read? Critics and authors pick the best books of 2022 so far

IRISH TIMES: Irish writers and their dreams: ‘I take a lot of naps, and wake up with a missing link’

IRISH TIMES: Irish writers and their dreams: ‘I take a lot of naps, and wake up with a missing link’

Kit de Waal

This is Not a Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan is a memoir by one of the country’s leading screenwriters on a terrible change in her family’s life and her own diagnosis of breast cancer. It’s exactly as the title says, not pitying nor maudlin but brutally honest and very, very funny. The Quiet Whispers Never Stop by Olivia Fitzsimons, a confident debut from a new voice, is a multi-voiced family drama set in Northern Ireland in the 1980s. Well worth a read. Homesickness by Colin Barrett is another majestic collection from one of the best short story writers around, a whole world contained in a few pages. Excellent.


https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2022/07/23/the-best-books-of-2022-so-far/

The Stinging Fly: Notes on resilience

The Irish Independent: ‘I wanted to upend expectations about Northern Ireland’

The Irish Independent: ‘I wanted to upend expectations about Northern Ireland’



https://stingingfly.org/2022/05/04/notes-on-resilience/

The Irish Independent: ‘I wanted to upend expectations about Northern Ireland’

The Irish Independent: ‘I wanted to upend expectations about Northern Ireland’

The Irish Independent: ‘I wanted to upend expectations about Northern Ireland’

Interview by Niamh Donnelly


https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/olivia-fitzsimons-on-the-quiet-whispers-never-stop-i-wanted-to-upend-expectations-about-northern-ireland-41574816.html

The Irish Independent: "Passion, troubles and war in 1994"

The Irish Independent: ‘I wanted to upend expectations about Northern Ireland’

The Irish Times: "Difficult women and the good little girl syndrome"

Review by Estelle Birdy


https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/review-of-the-quiet-whispers-never-stop-passion-troubles-and-war-in-1994-41577279.html

The Irish Times: "Difficult women and the good little girl syndrome"

The Irish Times: "Difficult women and the good little girl syndrome"

The Irish Times: "Difficult women and the good little girl syndrome"

Essay by Olivia Fitzsimons


https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/difficult-women-and-the-good-little-girl-syndrome-1.4851708

The Irish Times Review: "Powerful, uncompromising debut novel"

The Irish Times: "Difficult women and the good little girl syndrome"

The Irish Times Review: "Powerful, uncompromising debut novel"

Review by Neil Heggarty


https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-quiet-whispers-never-stop-powerful-uncompromising-debut-novel-1.4841366?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fculture%2Fbooks%2Fthe-quiet-whispers-never-stop-powerful-uncompromising-debut-novel-1.4841366

The Examiner: "Beginner's Pluck"

The Irish Times: "Difficult women and the good little girl syndrome"

The Irish Times Review: "Powerful, uncompromising debut novel"

"Beginner's Pluck" interview by Sue Leonard (click image to enlarge).

Irish Examiner: 10 Books for April

Honourable Mention: The Writers' Lab NYC

Irish Examiner: 10 Books for April

10 Books for April

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-40841381.html

CCI Residency Paris

Honourable Mention: The Writers' Lab NYC

Irish Examiner: 10 Books for April

The annual residency programme offers great opportunities for artists of all disciplines to tap into the resources of Paris and the CCI, as well as being an important means of showcasing Ireland's dynamic contemporary culture on an international stage.  Since 2015, CCI have partnered numerous Irish cultural organisations so as to be able to appoint up to forty artist residents every year who form the heart of the Centre Culturel Irlandais’ creative community. 


https://www.centreculturelirlandais.com/en/whats-on/exhibitions-events/cci-residencies-2022-2023?nb=1

Honourable Mention: The Writers' Lab NYC

Honourable Mention: The Writers' Lab NYC

Books to look out for in 2022: It’s going to be a bumper year

The Writers Lab UK & Ireland is produced by co-founders Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon, with UK partner Untamed Stories, helmed by producers Julia Berg and Ruth Spencer. It is presented with support from Dirty Films, in association with Birds’ Eye View, Screen Scotland, Northern Ireland Screen, Screen Skills Ireland, Ffilm Cymru Wales & BFI NETWORK with funding from the National Lottery, and New York Women in Film & Television.


https://thewriterslab.nyc/twl-europe/

Books to look out for in 2022: It’s going to be a bumper year

Books to look out for in 2022: It’s going to be a bumper year

Books to look out for in 2022: It’s going to be a bumper year

In The Quiet Whispers Never Stop (John Murray, April) by Olivia Fitzsimons, a mother and, years later, her daughter plot to escape the stultifying, troubled North.


https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/books-to-look-out-for-in-2022-it-s-going-to-be-a-bumper-year-1.4758202

Irish fiction to look forward to in 2022

Books to look out for in 2022: It’s going to be a bumper year

Read all about it: the hottest books of the year ahead

The Quiet Whispers Never Stop by Olivia Fitzsimons

  • John Murray, April

This novel is also set in Northern Ireland, in the 1980s and 1990s, and is written by a Co Down native. It’s about Nuala Malin, who is struggling with her life – and then finds unexpected refuge with a 17-year-old boy. When she’s subsequently given a chance to leave the north, she does. That was in 1982 – fast forward to 1994, and her daughter Sam Malin plans her own escape. 


https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-books-coming-out-in-2022-5624648-Dec2021/

Read all about it: the hottest books of the year ahead

Books to look out for in 2022: It’s going to be a bumper year

Read all about it: the hottest books of the year ahead

The Quiet Whispers Never Stop by Olivia Fitzsimons (John Murray)
Northern Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s is the setting for this story of a dysfunctional family by debut novelist Fitzsimons. Mother Nuala Malin struggles to connect to her husband, motherhood and the smallness of her life. She finds unexpected refuge in a 17-year-old boy. Years later, her daughter Sam plans escape and finds solace in an older man.


https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/read-all-about-it-the-hottest-books-of-the-year-ahead-41175124.html

Request The Quiet Whispers Never Stop on Netgalley

Request The Quiet Whispers Never Stop on Netgalley

Request The Quiet Whispers Never Stop on Netgalley

Description

In 1982, Nuala Malin struggles to stay connected, to her husband, to motherhood, to the smallness of her life in the belly of a place that is built on hate and stagnation. Her daughter Sam and baby son PJ keep her tethered to this life she doesn't want. She finds unexpected refuge with a seventeen-year-old boy, but this relationship is only temporary, a sticking plaster on a festering wound. It cannot last and when her chance to leave Northern Ireland comes, Nuala takes it.

In 1994, Sam Malin plans escape. She longs for a life outside her dysfunctional family, far away from the North and all its troubles, free from her quiet brooding father Patsy, who never talks about her mother, Nuala; a woman Sam barely knew, who abandoned them twelve years ago. She finds solace in music, drugs and her best friend Becca, but most of all in an illicit relationship with a jagged, magnetic older man.

She is drawn to him, and he to her, in a way she can't yet comprehend.

Sam is more like her mother than she knows.


https://www.netgalley.co.uk/catalog/book/242269

IWC Evolution Programme Awardees 2021

Request The Quiet Whispers Never Stop on Netgalley

Request The Quiet Whispers Never Stop on Netgalley

We’re delighted to announce the 12 awardees for the IWC Evolution Programme 2021; Arnold Thomas Fanning, Deirdre Cartmill, Kevin Curran, Maeve Galvin, Máire T. Robinson, Melatu-Uche Okorie, Michelle Gallen, Liz Quirke, Olivia Fitzsimons, Sheila Armstrong, Sue Divin and Helen Blackhurst. They were selected by our professional judging panel Maria McManus, John Kenny and Mike McCormack.

The Evolution Programme was established to mark the Irish Writers Centre 30th Anniversary, and is an opportunity for published writers resident on the island of Ireland to avail from a series of sustained supports, which are partly tailored to their specific needs. The suite of supports will include bespoke career development with professional editorial, practical or creative support by way of a mentor.


https://irishwriterscentre.ie/iwc-evolution-programme-awardees-2021/

NOVEL FAIR 2020

Request The Quiet Whispers Never Stop on Netgalley

SKIN DEEP - MARY RUTH WALSH

"You have everything to gain. Be brave." Olivia Fitzsimons on her Novel Fair journey. September 11, 2020Irish Writers Centre - News https://irishwriterscentre.ie/blogs/news

SKIN DEEP - MARY RUTH WALSH

SKIN DEEP - MARY RUTH WALSH

SKIN DEEP - MARY RUTH WALSH

SKIN DEEP explores skin’s parallels to architecture and continues Walsh’s obsession with architecture.
Using Arnold Bocklin’s ‘The Isle of the Dead’ (1883) as a reference, SKIN DEEP brings us to an imaginary
island, a medical-tourism destination for the pursuit of the perfect skin.

Writer: Olivia Fitzsimons

Narrator: Shashi Rami
@maryruthwalsh @highlanesdrogheda @wexfordartscentre @artscouncilofireland


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