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Represented By: Sallyanne Sweeney
She has worked on eight other books as a ghost writer, two, for Penguin Ireland, were best sellers. She is the author of Keys to the Cage (New Island, 2010).
As a journalist, Sue has written for The Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the Irish Examiner, The Evening Herald, Image Magazine, and numerous other publications. A former columnist with the Evening Herald she currently writes the ‘Beginner’s Pluck’ book column for the Irish Examiner, and the Debut Roundup Column for Books Ireland. She has interviewed countless authors, including eleven winners of the Man Booker Prize.
She teaches Freelance Journalism, and Ghostwriting at The Irish Writer’s Centre , IEL Abroad, and on line, and gives one to one tuition on both subjects. She also hosts public interviews, including at The West Cork Literary Festival where she has interviewed Zadie Smith and Nick Laird, Fay Weldon, Anne Enright, Paula Meehan, John Boyne, Patrick Gale, Kit De Waal, Kate Mosse and Linda Grant among others.
Represented By: Sallyanne Sweeney
She has worked on eight other books as a ghost writer, two, for Penguin Ireland, were best sellers. She is the author of Keys to the Cage (New Island, 2010).
As a journalist, Sue has written for The Irish Times, the Irish Independent, the Irish Examiner, The Evening Herald, Image Magazine, and numerous other publications. A former columnist with the Evening Herald she currently writes the ‘Beginner’s Pluck’ book column for the Irish Examiner, and the Debut Roundup Column for Books Ireland. She has interviewed countless authors, including eleven winners of the Man Booker Prize.
She teaches Freelance Journalism, and Ghostwriting at The Irish Writer’s Centre , IEL Abroad, and on line, and gives one to one tuition on both subjects. She also hosts public interviews, including at The West Cork Literary Festival where she has interviewed Zadie Smith and Nick Laird, Fay Weldon, Anne Enright, Paula Meehan, John Boyne, Patrick Gale, Kit De Waal, Kate Mosse and Linda Grant among others.
Author: Sue Leonard
Genre: Non-Fiction
Whispering Hope is the heart-wrenching story of five women who were confined in Magdalene Laundries in Ireland during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The women are now between the ages of 56 and 79 and recount the harrowing physical and psychological abuse they endured in the institutions run by the state. In first-person accounts they reveal the shame and secrecy surrounding these desolate places.
In 2011, a turning point occurred when the women joined the Magdalene Survivors Together charity, founded by documentary marker Steven O’Riordan. Here they were able to try and move forward by fighting for justice through their forged friendships. However their battle isn’t over yet; feeling misrepresented by the media, these five women are passionate about discussing the plight of women at the hands of the Catholic Church and ensuring their side of the battle is never forgotten.
Exploring the social history of the women of Ireland, Whispering Hope is a deeply moving account of survival, friendship and courage.
Author: Sue Leonard
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
‘Prepare for the probable, work for the possible, and hope for the future.’
When Ronan Smith was in his twenties, his father, the theatre impresario Brendan Smith, developed obvious signs of early onset Alzheimer’s disease but steadfastly refused to acknowledge it. Brendan ran the Olympia Theatre and had founded the Brendan Smith Academy of Acting and the Dublin Theatre Festival. A theatre and film actor, Ronan later became a producer and manager, and part of the worldwide phenomenon of Riverdance. It fell to Ronan to protect his father, and eventually, as Brendan’s condition became more challenging, to commit him into care, a traumatic but pivotal event in their father-son relationship.
So in 2014, when Ronan himself was diagnosed with the same illness, he knew exactly what the coming years would hold. But, unlike his father, Ronan chose to face his future positively, turning from work towards family, improving his diet and advocating for the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. In doing so, Ronan’s radically diff erent approach to this all-too-common disease has significantly changed the narrative around it in Ireland.
Written in real time, If Memory Serves Me Wrong is a rare first-hand account of the experience of being both a family carer and of living with dementia. It is also a heartrending, sometimes harrowing and very often humorous memoir about the power of love in facing an uncertain future.