Behind the Bestseller #12 | Sam Blake talks to ER Murray
Shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards, ER Murray is the author of the One Book One City Dublin City Read The Book of Learning, the first in her Nine Lives Trilogy.
Elizabeth Rose Murray, represented by Sallyanne Sweeney of Mulcahy Associate, London now lives in West Cork where she fishes, grows her own vegetables and enjoys plenty of outdoor adventures. Originally from a working class British family, where writing as a career wasn’t even an option, Elizabeth has created her own opportunities and draws on her childhood experiences of rejection in her writing. A traveller by nature she has worked as a writer in residence in some of the most exotic and remotest places in the world.
Elizabeth writes novels for children and young adults as well as short fiction and personal essays. Her books include The Book of Learning – Nine Lives Trilogy 1 (2016 Dublin UNESCO Citywide Read for Children.), The Book of Shadows – Nine Lives Trilogy 2 (shortlisted 2016 Irish Book Awards and 2016 Irish Literacy Association Award), The Book of Revenge – Nine Lives Trilogy 3 (Feb 2018) and Caramel Hearts (May 2016).
She also has short fiction and essays published in reputable journals across Ireland, the UK, US and Australia, and has been shortlisted for several notable competitions including Francis McManus and Aesthetica Creative Works. Recent anthology publications include The Elysian: Creative Responses (New Binary Press), Reading the Future (Arlen House) and Autonomy (New Binary Press).
In 2012, Elizabeth performed in Ciudades Paralelas: Station – a live writing installation at the Cork Midsummer Festival – and in 2017 she co-created Things That Go Bump in the Night, a gothic storytelling event for children, with author, Caroline Busher. She is currently working on a performance project that fuses fiction and music.
Keen to encourage new and emerging writers, Elizabeth regularly facilitates workshops for both adults and children. She also provides manuscript reports and online workshops for Big Smoke Writing Factory and Inkwell Group, and is the social media machine for writing.ie.
You can find out more about or chat to Elizabeth via twitter @ERMurray, facebook or instagram.
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