The Website Dedicated to the Scribe
Colleen has requested that there be one link and one link only on her site, which I - her helpmeet, Margot d'Arcy - have constructed for her. That link is to the site of one Rory McDonagh, (see foot of page) who provided the inspiration for the male protagonist of her new novel: The Pillow Book of Eilis Ní Shúilleabháin.
Colleen has been described as the female sex’s answer to James Joyce. Her oeuvre conjures a world that is long gone, one that is roseate with nostalgia. Her lyrical, uninhibited style, with its emphasis on robust sensuality, has also invited comparison with the French writer Colette, but Colleen's use of language is more sophisticated, and is, indeed, informed by an exquisite sensibility. Her style is a synthesis of delicacy and profundity, at once oblique yet plangently eloquent. She is the recipient of many literary awards, but seldom accepts them personally as she is famously reclusive. Instead they are accepted on her behalf by her helpmeet, Margot (pictured below).
Colleen and Margot divide their time between the picturesque village of Kilrowan on the West coast of Ireland, and their house on an island on Clew Bay, which is accessible only at low tide. Colleen loves to live off the fat of the land, and luckily for her, the ‘fat of the land’ can be transmuted into gourmet treats by Margot, who has trained at the renowned Toowhittowoo cookery school. Margot’s recipe for moules marinières is the talk of those guests privileged to be invited to the island, and she rises at dawn every day to pluck fresh berries and mushrooms for breakfast, and eggs from the flock of poultry they keep. Margot is also a keen restorer of antiques, and she recently embarked on her most ambitious project to date - restoring a famine cottage on the island which had been allowed by the island's previous owner to fall into a parlous state of decrepitude.
Colleen writes all her books by hand, as she is suspicious of twenty-first century technology. Each book is written in India ink on hand-made paper, which is specially imported from Nepal. If she runs out of paper she suffers such anguish that she has been known to self-harm. On occasions such as this, Margot insists that Colleen take to her bed, and her helpmeet nurses her as one would an invalid, tempting the scribe with delicacies such as quails’ eggs and nourishing soup – concocted, of course, by Margot. It has been known to take Margot an entire day to make the soup as she gathers all the ingredients herself.
In C.Lit Magazine ™ (Contemporary Literature Magazine - the quarterly for lesbian and feminist writers) Colleen describes the creative process thus: ‘I do not write my books. I am simply a conduit for my muse. The process is, of course, one of generation. I conceive, I gestate, I labour, I give birth. Margot is midwife to me. She ministers to me, and endeavours with unstinting valour to keep me buoyant. Afterwards I am exhausted, wracked by the delivery. Like most mothers, I remain confined with my bundle of Nepalese paper snug in my arms for many days. I steal peeks at the babóg from time to time - just to make sure that all ten fingers and toes are there! – and, once the fontanelle is intact, I make the arduous journey via “Easyjet” to London, to transfer the infant from my arms to those of my editor, who is - invariably - incoherent with gratitude.’
Colleen's novels are available from Sile na Gig Press
