Kildare-based writer publishes new collection of short stories

A Kildare-based author has published a new collection of short stories entitled, Walking Ghosts.

In this book, Straffan resident Mary O'Donnell explores the subtle fractures and quiet transformations that shape modern Irish life.

Her characters navigate a society in flux, where traditional certainties give way to new complexities.

A gay man and his trans partner face casual hostility on city streets. A tarot reader takes a fateful gamble during a session.

In Edna a woman discovers the sharp edge of urban life while offering aid to strangers.

On a sun-drenched Canary Islands beach, vacationing couples witness the arrival of migrants, forcing a confrontation with privilege and fate.

From pandemic lockdowns where a chocolate maker watches his business and sanity unravel to nightclubs where identity is both celebrated and challenged, O'Donnell's stories serve as litmus tests for contemporary society.

With unflinching precision, she reveals how quickly our certainties dissolve, leaving us to navigate a world of shifting possibilities.

These stories capture the secret sorrows and resilient hopes of characters caught between who they were and who they might become.

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Mary O'Donnell is an acclaimed Irish poet and fiction writer, recognised for her role in expanding Ireland's literary landscape. She has published eight poetry collections, including Unlegendary Heroes and Massacre of the Birds, as well as several novels.

O'Donnell's work has been translated into multiple languages, and she has co-edited an anthology of Galician women's poetry and the Fish International Short Story Competition.

O'Donnell's literary achievements include winning the An Post/Irish Book Award in 2023 for her poem 'Vectors in Kabul'.

O'Donnell has held writing residencies internationally and taught creative writing at university level.

A member of Aosdána since 2001, she is an influential figure in Irish literature and has served on various literary adjudication panels.