Up Close With: Eilís Ní Chaoimh
By: Lauren Mcmenemy
Tags: Writers On Medium, Writing Community, London Writers Salon, Writing Life, Writers Life

Up Close With: Eilís Ní Chaoimh

With an aim to write the gay Pride and Prejudice, Eilís Ní Chaoimh is a Gold Patron at LWS and often found at their parent’s kitchen table during writers hour. They write because they have to, and because they’re done being silenced. World, meet this awe-inspiring Irish writer who’s driven by a need to counteract the narrative that non-binary approaches to gender are a modern phenomenon.

Eilís Ní Chaoimh (She/They), 28

Based in a small town beside the sea in the Southeast of Ireland

Writes historical fiction, queer history, the odd poem

What are you working on right now?

A queer historical fiction set in Ireland at the end of the 18th Century and based on real life.

Where and when do you write?

My brain works better in the mornings. So I’m usually first up, and found typing away at my parents’ kitchen table while the rest of the house is asleep.

How do you write?

My novel is on my laptop; I pretty much adore Scrivener. I write articles directly onto Medium and then copy and paste them out if I’m sending them elsewhere (weird, I know, but I kind of like how things look when you type them on Medium). Poetry and morning pages are done in a growing collection of notebooks.

Why do you write?

I write because I have to — I write because it feels real to me. It feels like a moment when I get to be my truest self. I write because it fills me with joy. I write because I was silenced and I’m done with that. I write because I was pretending to be someone else, someone I thought I was supposed to be. And I’m done. It’s exhausting, pretending. I write because it feels good to be authentic. To pour myself into my words and craft a story that’s meaningful. Spending time with my characters, creating something and sharing it with others makes me really bloody happy and so I’m going to keep doing it.

What inspires your creativity?

My novel is driven by a belief that this story deserves to be told. It’s a story I would have loved to read when I was growing up. I want people to read it and think that’s it’s OK to love whoever you want to love.

My work on uncovering the nuances of gender and sexuality throughout history is driven by a need to shout these stories from the rooftops to counteract the narrative that non-binary approaches to gender are a modern phenomenon. Humans have always been like this.

Eilís is driven to discover more about gender and sexuality throughout history

What’s your favourite book?

Pride and Prejudice. I adore Austen, so I’m aiming for my book to be the gay version!

What’s the best advice you’ve received about creativity?

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

―Maya Angelou

I joined a women’s creativity circle last February and it has been life-changing. We meet once a month to discuss what we are experiencing in terms of creativity and someone shared that quote with me at a time when I was struggling with this feeling that if I didn’t write ferociously non-stop, my creativity would somehow disappear. I’m trying to de-condition myself from the mindset of scarcity. It’s a challenge but I use this quote to remind myself that I’m not going to wake up one day and be unable to write.

What’s the one thing you would tell other/aspiring writers?

Everyone who has ever written anything has started exactly where you are right now.

How can we discover more about you and your work?

You can find links to it all over here on Linktree.

Eilís gets their writing done at the kitchen table

✍️ Write with Eilís and hundreds of other writers each weekday at Writers’ Hour (it’s free).

Connect with fellow writers and build a successful, creative career with London Writers’ Salon.