SÍOFRA O’DONOVAN

History informs what I write. My first story, at nine years old, was about a Russian girl called Anna and her cat who got lost in the snow. I’ve always been a time traveller, so historical fiction is natural to me.

There are writers behind me in the family tree- Rev. Robert Haskins Crozier in Texas wrote fire and brimstone novels like ‘The Confederate Spy’ during the Civil War. We had an outrageous great uncle who fled priesthood in 1908 to write novels in London, like Father Ralph. He ended up at the edges of the Bloomsbury Circle and his family were so ashamed they said he died at sea. His daughter Brigid worked for T.S. Eliot in Faber and Faber and fell in love with T.S., writing a love poem to him called ‘The Lovesong of Brigid J. O’Donovan.’

My father Donal O’Donovan, who taught me to write short sentences, was a journalist who wrote historical biographies such as this one about Kevin Barry.

In 2020 I published a biography of Kevin Barry called ‘Yours Til Hell Freezes’ (Currach Books). A labour of love for my own ancestors, and in particular my father, who published his biography of Kevin Barry in 1989.

My novel ‘Malinski’ came out of my years in Poland,  a book about two old estranged brothers, their  story of betrayal, loss and distorted memory during world war two and the communist years.

Malinski , Lilliput Press

My travelogue Pema and the Yak, Pilgrims books 2008, was forged when I was sent by a Tibetan lama to India to become a translator of Tibetan. I collected stories on the Indo Tibetan borderlands, met Himalayan royalty, double agent spies, nomads, poets, oracles and lamas. It was republished in 2023 by Seagull Press.

Buy here.

Now I’m writing ‘The Curse of Melusine’ historical fiction set in 12th century France and England. It is the story of Eleanor of Aquitaine’s incarceration by Henry II Plantagenet. It is the story of a dysfunctional family with a curse it can’t shrug.

I have a blog on Substack, called Out of Dark Waters, Over Mountains, about myth, folklore and peculiar things. I love faery tales, myth and other worlds. I love history as it always informs us of who we are, and why we are here. 

I give scintillating writing workshops teaching you how to awaken your creativity through Creative Writing.  Guaranteed to slap you out of your writer’s block. See my Workshops Page for more details…