Delight for local author as she publishes third book

Kilkenny-based author Ann Murtagh has published her third children’s novel titled, The Climbing Boys, about the dangerous lives of the children employed as chimney cleaners in Dublin in 1830.

The novel follows protagonist Hugh ‘Scholar’ O’ Dare as he leaves school to become a chimney sweeper to provide for his family after his father gets injured. 

Later, Scholar comes across another young sweeper whose circumstances are much worse than his own, and a shocking secret comes to life.

Ann said that there was a ‘huge amount of research’ done into the history behind which the story was set but it was something she took pleasure in doing.

 “I nearly have to pull myself back from it,” she said. 

Ann has a strong background in history. 

She qualified as a primary school teacher and received a degree in Local History from Maynooth College. 

She is also a council member of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society. 

“I would be very faithful to the history in anything I write.”

Meticulous research into the day-to-day lives of the real people whom her protagonist was based on allowed Ann to get an ‘authoritative grip on the worldbuilding of the time’ which helped inform her writing.

Some of Ann’s sources included commissioner’s reports on schools and education at the time as well as newspapers and street directories.

With this being the release of her third book, Ann has noticed how her approach to writing has developed over time.

“I would be much more forgiving of the first draft now, I wouldn’t make as many demands as I did in book one,” she said.

She remembers expecting an ‘unrealistic standard’ with her first draft when she was writing her debut novel, The Sound of Freedom, but this time she was more focused on getting the first draft done and then getting to work editing it.

Ann remembered having to learn the craft behind writing fiction when she first started out, despite having previously designed and facilitated history courses for teachers both locally and nationally. 

She is still learning and perfecting her craft to this day and is thoroughly enjoying it.

She added that her skin was getting thicker with each book she publishes. 

In 2022, Ann was a recipient of the Agility Award from the Arts Council which aided her in the writing and research process.

The Agility Award aims to support individual professional freelance artists and arts workers at any stage in their careers. 

“That endorsement as a writer is hugely supportive and encouraging, any of those supports are so empowering for a writer or an author,” she said.  

She is also a part of a campaign known as Discover Irish Children’s Books, which is an initiative aiming to champion children’s books written by those living and working in Ireland.

“We are proud of our culture and our own unique way of seeing the world and if we want to transmit that to our younger people we have to support Irish literature,” she said.

She said that it is really important to connect a younger audience with Irish history. 

"It is part of the culture we are passing on," she added.

The Climbing Boys was published on September 4.