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After a long career as a screenwriter and editor in film and television, Lauren Mackenzie returned to fiction in 2o17. She was shortlisted for the Cuirt New Writing Prize, Hennessy New Irish Writing, and Fish Short Story Prize, and her debut, The Couples, was a winner of the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair 2021. The Couples explores mid-life dissatisfaction after a wild weekend of partner-swapping, interweaving together this cast of characters in the wake of a night that is hard to forget. The Couples is shortlisted for the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year. (Photo credit: Steve Humphreys)
Congratulations on making the shortlist for Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year! How does it feel to have this recognition?
It has been absolutely thrilling and an incredible honour to have been nominated. It means The Couples engaged readers enough to nominate it and suggests I’m doing something right. Also, on a very personal level, having made Ireland my home thirty years ago, it was very significant to have been recognised as an Irish writer.
When did you begin your writing journey? And what has it been like?
I work in film and television as a screenwriter and script editor. I read voraciously as a kid and wrote stories and a good bit of bad teenage poetry, but I always needed to earn a living. In 2017, when my children went to college, I decided to return to university myself and study creative writing. I was looking for a challenge and UCD delivered that, along with a precious dose of inspiration and validation. I had short stories and poetry published and The Couples formed my thesis. But everything really took off when I made the final twelve of the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair in 2020. Through the fair, I met my agent who found a publisher for my novel, John Murray Press. And here I am. I have been very lucky.
Tell us a bit about your book?
The Couples is set in Dublin, two years after the financial crash. Three middle-aged couples, all long-term friends, juggling bills, kids, stepkids, exes, and ageing parents - the whole catastrophe - go away for a weekend without the children to celebrate a 48th birthday. It’s a mad night, not unlike one they would’ve had twenty-five years ago when they had nothing to lose. A proposal to swap partners for the night - the women’s choice, no obligations, no expectations - feels deliciously, irresistibly reckless. In the cold light of the morning after, it’s clear there’s no going back and everything they thought to be true of themselves, their partners, and their friends begins to unravel.
The Couples looks at the intricacies of love and desire, the myriad compromises of marriage, and the reckoning of middle age.
What were your aims and ideas when it came to this book? And what do you hope readers take away from it?
My first intention was to write about love - marital, platonic, romantic, first love and long-term love. From where I stand as a child of divorce, it’s what comes after the grand romance and the big declarations that interest me, the stuff that happens in the daily dance of living with someone else. The one reckless night as the catalyst for the story raises the question of how do we find the balance between what we need as individuals and what we owe our families. The financial crash as backdrop, when the actions of a few impacted the entire population, offers a mirror to that question.
Secondly, I wanted to write about the Dublin that I know and love, around South Circular Road, where the Dublin mosque sits next to the National Boxing Stadium and people from all over and all backgrounds have chosen to live.
Ireland is a literary powerhouse - do you think it’s supportive of its new writers?
Absolutely. It’s no accident that so many Irish writers have achieved global renown. It’s remarkable how much love there is in this country for the written word. Whether it’s a stranger in the pub quoting poetry, or the way writers support and promote each other’s work, to the financial support from the State. Even so, love alone is not enough. Money will always dictate who and how and where art is created. The Basic Income for Artists scheme is a beacon of hope for many, but there still needs to be more support in place to enable everyone, no matter their circumstances or responsibilities, to participate.
What’s next for you?
I’m writing my second novel about an elderly mother who just wants to be left alone, but her two adult daughters have other ideas. It’s a look at what it takes to thwart society’s expectations.
Who are your favourite Irish writers?
That is a question I’d rather not answer. Lets just say I will be very happy to meet a good number of them at the An Post Irish Book Awards.
What An Post Irish Book Awards shortlisted book is next on your to-be-read pile?
I’m in the middle of Anne Enright’s The Wren, The Wren. She writes vital, complex women who immediately enthral. I’m loving it. Up next is Molly Hennigan’s fearless and tender, The Celestial Realm.
Explore the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year Shortlist here.