94: Caitriona Lally on her memoir Home Economics

On today's show we travel down the road to Carlow University Pittsburgh's MFA in Creative Writing Program during its annual June residency at Trinity College, Dublin where we have been invited to interview novelist Caitriona Lally about her latest book, the memoir Home Economics. So grab that flat white, latte, tea and rasher sandwich and have a listen to Caitriona's fascinating account of balancing life as a cleaner in the housekeeping department of Trinity College with the life of a successful writer.

Bold and thought-provoking, self-deprecating and soaked in Caitríona Lally's singular voice, her first memoir quietly but forcefully puzzles over personal/home economics, creativity and the true impact of 'success' and 'failure' on a writer's life.

'Since I've had my first book published, I've earned more from cleaning than from writing. The home economics don't add up.'

Between 2015 and 2021, Caitríona Lally published her first two novels, Eggshells and Wunderland. To buy her time to write during those years, she returned to the housekeeping department at Trinity College Dublin, a job she once held as a student. This begins a negotiation between the practical and creative demands of her life, further complicated when she becomes pregnant and almost impossible when the pandemic hits.

Reviews for Home Economics

"This is absolutely one to read about the reality of 'making it' as an artist, and how to live, make money and create."
– AOIFE BARRY, THE JOURNAL

"Hilarious, audacious, and deeply felt. An idiosyncratic hymn to the drudgery of life!"
– SARA BAUME

"I thought I'd be interested in Home Economics because I too work a manual job that pays a pittance, yet still provides more income than writing books. And yes, Lally is wonderfully insightful about the difficulties and advantages of such a life. But in the end it was her wit, her ever-curious and amused outlook on the daily trials and joys of life, that had me hooked. This book has that delicate quality of seeming simple while containing all the complexity of trying not simply to make a living, but to live."
– LUCY SWEENEY BYRNE

"A remarkable piece of writing ... As a fellow writer, I read the book with a profound sense of respect for what Caitríona has achieved, particularly given the difficult circumstances under which much of this work has been produced. Her account of sustaining a writing life alongside paid labour and motherhood is both unsparing and generous, and it resonated deeply with me ... There is something quietly bracing in encountering such a lucid account of a writing life, one that refuses myth-making while still allowing space for ambition, desire and joy ... This is a generous, intelligent and finely wrought book."
– PATRICK HOLLOWAY

Logo designed by Freya Sirr.

Intro/outro music: Colm Mac Con Iomaire, 'Thou Shalt Not Carry' from The Hare's Corner, 2008, with thanks to Colm for permission to use it.