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Michael Magee is the fiction editor of The Tangerine and a graduate of the PhD Creative Writing programme at Queen’s University, Belfast. His debut, Close to Home, was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in October of this year. Magee's powerful novel centres on Sean, newly returned from university to his home city of Belfast, where the jobs have dried up and his degree isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. Skint and disillusioned with his milieu, one night Sean loses control and assaults a stranger at a party, tipping everything into chaos as he scrambles to find a way towards the life he wants for himself and a place in a city split by class and politics. Close to Home is shortlisted for the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year. (Photo credit: Kate Donaldson)
Congratulations on making the shortlist for the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year! How does it feel to have this recognition?
It feels great! I’m very grateful and humbled.
When did you begin your writing journey? And what has it been like?
I’ve been writing since I was very young, it’s something I’ve always done, mostly for fun, and then I started taking it seriously, probably when I got to university and realised there was nothing else I wanted to do. The dream was to never have to go to work. I wanted to sit at home all day and write. If I can keep doing that for a while, that would be nice.
Tell us a bit about your book?
It’s about a young man, a university graduate, who assaults a fella at a house party one night. That’s the opening scene, and the rest of the book deals with the repercussions of that assault. He’s also the first person in his family to have gone to university, he’s the only person amongst his group of friends, but his life hasn’t changed in any significant way, as he hoped it would. He can’t find much in the way of work, he’s skint, and the people around him are deeply disenchanted with how their lives have panned out. It’s also a post-conflict novel, so the Troubles loom. The protagonist comes from a generation of young people who were told they would reap the spoils of peace. But there are no spoils. Not for the people who are from the place he comes from.
What were your aims and ideas when it came to this book? And what do you hope readers take away from it?
It’s hard to say, you don’t really set out with any aims beyond writing a good sentence, and then following that sentence with another good sentence, and so on. As for readers, I can only hope the story speaks to them in some way, and that it surprises them, or makes them rethink some assumptions they might have had about the people and the place I’ve written about.
Ireland is a literary powerhouse - do you think it’s supportive of its new writers?
I think there’s a lot of very good literary magazines in Ireland, and that’s important. The Stinging Fly is indispensable, really, and there’s a flourishing magazine culture that goes a long way towards finding, cultivating, and championing new writers. The Pig’s Back is my new favourite, but there’s also Banshee, Tolka, Dublin Review, The Tangerine… the list goes on.
What’s next for you?
I’d like to learn how to drive. I did some lessons a few weeks ago and didn’t enjoy it at all. Everything moves so fast.
Who are your favourite Irish writers?
All the good ones, especially John Banville.
What An Post Irish Book Awards shortlisted book is next on your to-be-read pile?
I’m really looking forward to reading Molly Hennigan’s book, The Celestial Realm, which I’ve heard nothing but good things about.
Explore the Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year Shortlist here.