After seven years of breaking into the writing industry and being involved with Dublin’s spoken word scene, DAVE RUDDEN is a creative force to be reckoned with. Just fresh from his Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards win last week, he talks to SOPHIE GRENHAM about his love of Dublin, the RISE OF YOUNG ADULT FICTION and how to get published …
In a gloomy year where popular culture lost many beloved icons and a controversial US president rose to power, it’s comforting to know that someone out there has enjoyed good fortune. That person is children’s author Dave Rudden and his star has reached stratospheric levels.
It was recently announced that the Cavan native’s enchanting debut novel Knights of the Borrowed Dark has been chosen as UNESCO Dublin City of Literature 2017’s Citywide Read. All over the capital from January to March, readers will attend many events with Rudden at the helm. The icing on the cake came last week, when Dave scooped up the Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year (Senior) accolade at Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards.
While Dave is experiencing commercial success, he still knows a thing or two about the hard graft. For many years the author has been heavily involved in the theatre, storytelling and spoken word scenes, performing at such events as Milk & Cookies, Shore Writers’ Festival, Electric Picnic, Culture Night and RTÉ’s The Works. His short fiction and poetry have been published in many journals and anthologies. Dave continues to be one of the busiest writers around and shows no sign of running out of steam. The second novel in his trilogy, Knights of the Borrowed Dark – The Forever Court, is due for release in April 2017.
On home
I currently live in Drumcondra, within a crowd’s roar of Croke Park. I’ve spent eight of my ten years in Dublin here nestled in its quiet red-brick heart and I know it like the back of my hand. It actually pops up in book two simply so I could describe it. I like it because it’s close enough to the city centre that I can be there in fifteen minutes and yet far enough away that if you turn a corner it’s like nothing exists but the street. I love it.
On creating
I work from home – I have a cheap little IKEA desk that fits into the corner of my bedroom and I’ve festooned the wall with cards and pamphlets and posters and badges and theatre tickets. I have prints of my favourite comics on the walls and there are stacks of books everywhere. Occasionally though, if I’m really fighting with a scene, I have to get out of my house. I usually set up shop in a café or bar where you can nurse tea for eight hours and there are lots of plugs. Something about changing scenery really helps me beat writer’s block.
On treasured bookshops
I’m very much in love with the Booksmith in San Francisco because it’s the very definition of an independent bookshop for me – a completely different experience than any other place on the planet, down to the birthday cards. If I had to choose one in Dublin, I’d choose the Gutter Bookshop in Temple Bar for simply being brilliant at what they do.
On essential reading
I’d have to say Neil Gaiman’s Sandman. It’s staggeringly gorgeous and huge in scope, and to be able to balance a whole multiverse of characters and still be human and intimate and beautiful …
On Young Adult fiction
I think that there have always been really brilliant books out there for young people, but it’s only now that adults are starting to realise that just because a book’s target audience is younger doesn’t mean their fiction should be any less complex and ambitious and worthy. That’s having a sort of knock-on effect. I think publishers are taking chances more and trusting young audiences more. I also think that there is a much-needed push towards diversity, which is giving us really amazing stories and perspectives that were previously denied a platform. A particular example I love is the new Ms. Marvel, about a teenage Muslim female superhero. It’s brilliant and everyone should be reading it.
On getting involved
You’ve hit on something I think about a lot. My background is in performance poetry and storytelling, and through that, writing short stories. By the time I wrote Knights of the Borrowed Dark I had seven years of experience getting rejected from journals and competitions, seven years of paying very close attention to audiences and understanding that as an artist you have a limited amount of time to convince someone you’re worth listening to. That experience was essential – it hones your craft, it gives you experience in dealing with rejection (which will always be a part of being a writer) and, most importantly, reminds you that there are other writers out there going through the same struggle as you. That said, it is tough. Writing and the actual business of getting your work out there are very different things. Writing is performance for me, but for others it’s about solitude and distance and the chance to communicate on your own terms. There’s an entire spectrum in between and all viewpoints are equally valid.
However – I do think that if at all possible, you have to engage with the industry if you want to be a part of it. Get on Twitter just to follow agents, publishers and awards, even if you never tweet yourself. Research cover letters and synopses and the publications you want to be in so that when you do have to communicate, you avoid misunderstandings and give your work the best chance to succeed. Watch interviews on Youtube, go to events and talks even if you don’t do any talking to yourself. You’re guaranteed not to be the only person doing that there. I found my people through writing, people who advised me and supported me and edited me long before I ever thought I could write a book, and there’s every chance you might as well.
But even before that – submitting work is essential. There’s a fantastic list here that has literally hundreds of journals for all types of fiction. Be sure and read the submission guidelines to give your work the best chance of succeeding. Check out Bare Hands, the Stinging Fly, the Moth Short Story Prize, the Bath Short Story Prize, The Bridport and the Fish for poetry, prose and memoir. For agents, check out litrejections.com, a database of the best agents in the UK and the US. Most counties now have their own literary festivals, and every one I’ve been to has been really great. For children’s fiction and YA, check out Mountains to Sea and Towers & Tales in Lismore. Listowel and International Literature Festival, Dublin, are also brilliant and staffed with the nicest people you’re ever going to meet.
On escapes
I am terrible. I’m supposed to be on vacation now and instead my logic is ‘oh good I’m on holiday that means more time for work’. I love what I do, but the flip-side of that is that I never stop thinking about it. My mind is always working. If I really need to get away, I organise a party or have friends over so I have to stop thinking about work because they’ll call me out for being rude.
Knights of the Borrowed Dark (€9.80) is published by Puffin and available from bookshops nationwide.
Image by Eoin Rafferty, taken in Trinity College, Dublin
Sophie Grenham @SophieGrenham
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