Mayo based author to host launch for debut novel

Mayo based author Anne Walsh Donnelly's debut novel, ‘He Used To Be Me’ has just hit the shelves.

The official launch of her first published novel will take place in Castlebar on March 2.

Ms Walsh Donnelly said she wanted to have the launchh at Castlebar’s Linenhall ‘because this is very much a Mayo book’. 

“The fictional character Matt came roaring into my life during the collaborative writing and visual art Benchmark project in the Linenhall in 2019. I am looking forward to reading extracts from the book at the launch and giving the audience a glimpse of Matt’s life” she said.

The inspiration behind the book came from two things: a project in the linen hall in 2019, and that involved responding to what's called a benchmark. 

“It’s not the benchmark you and I know of but a ‘carving of a crow's foot in the wall of Glenn hall. In the 1800s, surveyors were going on Ireland surveying and drawing up maps, and they used to carve these benchmarks in the walls.

“So when I was asked to write a piece on it, what came to my mind was I saw a man looking for claws of jackdaws, and they had jumped off the walls in Castlebar” said the Castlebar author. 

The other inspiration came from her work at ATU in Castlebar, the building of which was once a psychiatric hospital.

“That kind of was an inspiration, too, in terms of wondering how the patients got there and what their history was and their life story.” she added.

Anne Walsh Donnelly, who lives in Castlebar, is no stranger to writing.

Beginning her writing journey 12 years ago after ‘going through a bit of a tough time’ her daughter ended up inspiring her to write.

“She was eight at the time, and she used to write poems for people on their birthdays. I thought that was just lovely” she said.

Her published poetry collections include ‘Odd as F*ck’, and ‘The Woman With An Owl Tattoo’, with Poetry Ireland, in conjunction with Mayo Arts Office, appointing her as Poet Laureate for the town of Belmullet in 2021.

Her play, ‘My Dead Husband’s Hereford Bull’, was performed in the Linenhall, Castlebar, in 2022.

These past projects have influenced Walsh Donnelly's style of writing of the novel. The book itself is ‘informed by [her] poetry writing’.

“Some people have described it as poetry meets prose, because it's written very poetically and in some pages, the text kind of floats on the page. It's not all like standard block text that you normally have in a novel” she explained.

The debut novel has been described as an impressive, highly original, written in vivid, memorable prose.  

Novelist and playwright Dermot Bolger praised the book, saying ‘every town has marginalised figures, roaming the streets for so long as to be barely noticed’.

He called it a  ‘sublime achievement’ for Ms Walsh Donnelly to ‘reclaim one such man’s past by allowing him space to articulate his story in a unique and fragmented manner’.

Published by New Island Books, “He Used To Be Me” is set in the 1970s and tells the story of Matt, a Mayo man in his 60s who wanders the streets of Castlebar in search of the claw marks of the jackdaws who have spoken to him since he was a boy. 

In describing the main character, Walsh Donnelly said he is going around Castle bar looking for claws ‘because he thinks these claws keep him alive’.

“Then we go back to his childhood; he had a hard childhood, and he lost a twin brother when he was young. He goes travelling, he meets his wife in Bali, and comes back to Ireland. He has an accident, which leaves him with a brain acquired injury. 

“He ends up in a psychiatric hospital, and he's there for about 30 years. After it closed down, he's put 

Mayo writer and poet Alice Kinsella called the book an ‘exquisite piece of art’. 

“The writing is crisp and poetic. It’s a story of heartache and magic, and the inner workings of a mind on the edge” she said. 

She described the main character, Matt, as ‘original and yet recognisable, the person who rarely makes it into literature, yet lives on the fringes of many communities’. 

“He Used To Be Me” is now available to buy in all good bookshops, online, and the launch.

The official launch of “He Used To Be Me” will be held in the Linenhall Arts Centre on Saturday, March 2 at 2.30pm.