Ellen Ryan

1. What do you love most about your job?

The writing, certainly, but I also discovered how much I love research. To compose my stories about ancient Irish goddesses, I drew from over thirty medieval texts and was blown away by how relevant their stories still are today.

2. What has been your career highlight to date?

My debut children’s book was published in September and since then, each week tops the last with a new career highlight. Seeing my book in shop windows for the first time. Surviving a live radio interview. Making the children’s bestseller list, finding out I was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award. And quieter moments, like visiting schools and having the privilege to tell girls about their local land goddesses.

3. What are your favourite hobbies/ activities outside of work?

I used to work in public relations, and back then, writing was my hobby. So now, I find myself writing in both working hours and personal hours. But I also love spending time with my husband and four-year-old daughter, Martha. We love going to the pool, negotiate over teddy bears and glittery shoes in the shops and take day trips. I love all of it, except standing around in playgrounds. They are the coldest places on earth, and we can never leave without tears.

4. What is your daily routine?

My husband and I wake to Martha asking, loudly, if we’re awake. Breakfast is usually cereal but could be Maltesers, depending on how the week is going. Once Martha is at school, I sit down to my desk and start writing. I collect Martha from the day-care in the afternoon, and we play, run errands, or visit family until her dinner and bedtime routine. Rob and I eat dinner at 7.30pm. It’s nice to carve out that alone time, together. Two nights a week he goes to football, and I snuggle down to read.

5. Do you have a specific fitness regime?

I go for a twenty-minute jog, three mornings in a row. Then I may do nothing at all for three weeks to three months. After that, I start the process again. I’ve never been great with balanced exercise.

6. Do you have any tips for staying positive?

I dip into Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now at least once a week. His book reminds me to live in the present, as much as possible, a place where fear and negativity struggle to thrive. To aid my efforts, I try to meditate. I am also lucky enough to live by the coast and find sea-swimming a powerful tool for becoming present.

7. What do you think is the best thing about living in Northern Ireland? The people. I moved to Belfast, from Wicklow, when I was 23. It was my first big career job in PR, and I had no idea what I was doing. In my first week, I failed spectacularly at every task, big and small. When I was sent to the post office, on Lisburn Road, the clerk behind the counter took one look at my face, left her desk, and came onto the shop floor to give me a hug. We had never met before, but I cried into her shoulder. No-one in the queue complained that I was holding them up. Instead, strangers told me things would get better. I’ll never forget that kindness, and I found it often in Belfast. After that, I did improve at my job. I also moved in with a local girl named Laura who knew everyone and took me firmly under her wing. Belfast became a home for me, thanks to her. And we’re still firm friends now.

8. What is your mantra or favourite quote that you live by?

In difficult times, my Grandad, Shea Wood, always said ‘This too shall pass’. I found it comforting, though I suspect that was primarily because he was the one saying it. When he told me something would be okay, I trusted him. He passed away last year but I still hear his words of advice and encouragement in my head when I need him.

9. Who has been your biggest influence? My grandmother, and mother. My grandma, Carmel, left school at 14 to work and went on to marry and raise five children. But in 1987, when it was still unusual for a woman her age, she re-joined the education system, sat her final year school exams, and went on to get a BA from UCD, studying Classics and Archaeology. My mother followed a similar path. In her forties, she secured a place in NCAD, Ireland’s most prestigious art college. I love seeing women reinvent themselves at every age, not feeling like once they get married and have kids, that’s the end of their journey. And seeing the women in my family follow their dreams, has inspired me to go after mine. This hasn’t always been possible for women, but it is now, and that’s wonderful.

10. FAVOURITE

Movie: I thought this year’s An Cailín Ciúin / The Quiet Girl, was beautiful and brilliant.

Band/musician: Every naptime and every night for the past four years, Hozier has lulled my daughter to sleep. I know the words to all his songs and am eternally grateful to him.

Book: The Woman in White by Wilke Collins.

Restaurant: Nu Delhi restaurant Belfast, which I believe was recently, and rightfully crowned Restaurant of The Year NI. As a vegetarian, I live on Indian cuisine.

Holiday Destination: One of the best parts of writing my book was the excuse to visit incredible parts of Ireland and Northern Ireland, in pursuit of local knowledge about our gods. Our countries are unrivalled, not only for their beauty, but for the rich mythology etched into every river and mountain.

Drink: My husband’s margaritas.

Shop: No Alibis on Botanic Avenue, Belfast, and Little Acorns in Derry/ Londonderry, two wonderful, independent bookshops that are cultural hubs in their communities. Their teams are incredibly knowledgeable, and they work so hard to encourage reading among children. If we want local bookshops to have a future, it’s important to support them, at Christmas more than ever.