Cathy Kelly on cancer and the importance of mental well-being
One of Ireland's most beloved novelists, Cathy Kelly has garnered a global readership and commercial success that once saw her out-selling literary giants such as J.K. Rowling and Dan Brown.
Before transitioning to fiction, Cathy had a distinguished career as a journalist, working as a feature writer, agony aunt, film critic, and columnist. She made her literary debut in 1997 with Woman to Woman, which became a number-one bestseller.
After publishing two more successful novels, she left journalism behind to become a full-time writer.
Nearly three decades and 23 novels later, Cathy remains as prolific as ever. Her latest novel, Sisterhood, was released in paperback earlier this year, marking a significant milestone in her career following a personally challenging period.
In recent years, Cathy has faced a breast cancer diagnosis, a divorce, the sale of her family home, and a new chapter with a new partner. Despite these upheavals, her writing continues to resonate with readers worldwide.
In this insightful episode, Cathy opens up about her writing process, coping with her recent breast cancer diagnosis, and the importance of mental well-being during treatment.
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Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Rose of Tralee Night Two: 'We need festivals to celebrate women. We need these spaces'
Just when the Rose of Tralee appeared to have finally shed its image of a Father Ted parody centred around a fictional Lovely Girls competition, RTÉ's Kathryn Thomas revived it all over again. The co-presenter of this year's second of two selection nights asked the Limerick Rose what she thought about critics of the contest who label it a 'beauty pageant' or a 'lovely girls competition'. In those few short seconds, she reopened a debate many have long since believed is over. Commentators have long since grown tired of referencing any notion that contestants - who this year include a diplomate, a barrister, and a financial consultant - have anything in common with the 'happy maidens'. They were nostalgically referenced in Éamon de Valera's now infamous, and often misquoted, 1943 radio address about his vision for an ideal Ireland. Limerick's Leah McMahon, a financial planner and mother-of-one, seemed surprised by the question. She replied: 'We need festivals to celebrate women. We need these spaces. 'We are not asking to be more. We are just asking to be on the same level.' Of the critics, she added: 'I think critics don't get it.' Earlier in her appearance, Kathryn's co-presenter Dáithí Ó Sé brought out a surprise birthday cake for her daughter, Ella, who was eight last night. The entire audience sang Happy Birthday to her. A diplomat and a consultant with one of the biggest accountancy firms in the world were also among contestants in last night's Rose of Tralee. Highfliers Ottawa Rose Aidan Russell and Queensland Rose Siobhan Edwards joined 12 other roses for the second of two selection nights. But while Cork Rose Nancy Lehane had led most of the festival as the favourite to win, a new favourite to emerge was the rose who opened last night's selection night, Celeine O'Meara. Those odds changed before the United Arab Emirates' first rose contestant, who is a 28-year-old primary school teacher and musician from Limerick, had even appeared on stage at the Kerry Sports Academy at the Munster Technological University (MTU). According to Ladbrokes, Celeine - who was welcomed on stage by co-presenter Dáithí Ó Sé - was the favourite to win, with odds of 5/2, as Nancy dropped to third favourite at 6/1 to win. She and the other roses were all following on from the first selection night on Monday, which saw a number of mothers, a judicial assistant from the Four Courts, and a clinical research associate among 18 of the 32 contestants appear. The two nights were the culmination of more than five days of the roses being judged in a variety of settings by this year's panel of judges former Rose of Tralee Clare Kambamettu, RTÉ's Nuala Carey, fashion designer Don O'Neill, and Aisling Murphy of sponsor Murphy's New Homes. Model Celeine, who is on a career break from Scoil an Spioraid Naoimh, Limerick, spoke of her teaching work in Sharjah, UAE, performing at various events across the UAE. Next up, Sarah Anne Fritz, the German Rose, told show co-presenter Kathryn Thomas about how her German father wooed her Irish mother with the help of a dictionary as he couldn't speak English and she couldn't speak German. She also said that she only entered the rose competition after she had a dream about the festival, and woke up deciding she would give it a go. Ottawa's Aidan Russell, who works as a diplomat, told Daithi of how the highest and the lowest point of her life since her father died have been at the Rose of Tralee festival. Her father had died just before Christmas, and she is currently involved in a number of legal issues around the settling of his estate.' 'My highest point was also the lowest point,' the 27-year-old, who hopes one day to be a hostage negotiator, told Daithi. 'We had a really tough night, and I had to step away to deal with some of the legal stuff.' But she said that what helped her get through it was the 'outpouring of love' from her fellow roses. Also appearing last night was Toronto Rose Rachel Hoare, who delighted in telling Kathryn how she had been treated so well by air crew when she was flying over to Ireland for the contest. She told of how she had been given 'extra pillows, free drinks, free wifi'. The audience heard how she is a stroke survivor, who has learning difficulties, including having Dyscalculia - a learning disability that affects a person's ability to understand and work with numbers and mathematics. Despite this, the audience heard, Rachel has a successful job in the banking industry. Kathryn told her: 'You are amazing. You are incredible.' The presenter revealed singer Daniel O'Donnell would be performing later, as Rachel dressed to do some Irish dancing. Aside from all the singing and dancing and associated parades and festivities associated with the festival, which is open to females or those who identify as female aged between 18 and 29 who are Irish-born or of Irish origin, remains a huge money spinner for Kerry. Each rose is said to be worth an estimated €200,000 to the economy of the town and surrounding areas - based on the fact that they will attract at least 200 close family members — including parents, brothers, sisters, and partners — along with relatives, friends to Tralee. Friends and relatives across Ireland and even around the world will also make the trek, along with a cohort of festival fans from the county or country each rose represents. It is estimated that these will all spend at least €1,000-a-head during the festival, and with this year's number of roses being 32, that works out at €6.4m. The year-round publicity from festival-related events, including the selection of each rose in Ireland and around the world, continuously promotes the town as a tourist and go-to destination. After all the local, regional and national media appearances are accounted for, the sheer volume of publicity for Tralee, Kerry and Ireland from the festival alone is valued at up to €15m. A big part of this will be the coverage afforded to the festival by RTÉ, with more than a million of viewers expected to have tuned in over Monday and Tuesday night, with the last night usually getting more than 500,000 viewers on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player.
Sunday World
6 hours ago
- Sunday World
Ryan Tubridy's fiancée ‘saddened' by increased levels of racism and online hatred
'Nobody wants someone they love and care about to experience that' Ryan Tubridy's fiancée, Dr Clare Kambamettu, has said increased levels of racism and online hatred in Ireland has 'saddened' her. The clinical psychologist who was the 2010 Rose of Tralee has returned to the festival this year as chairperson of the judging panel, along with Don O'Neill, Aisling Murphy, and Nuala Carey. She said she 'feels a great deal of empathy' for people who are subjected to the 'lawlessness' of online hate, having witnessed it first hand when her now-fiancé was caught in the centre of the RTÉ payments scandal. Dr Clare Kambamettu with Ryan Tubridy Today's News in 90 Seconds - August 19th 'Nobody wants someone they love and care about to experience that,' she told the Irish Times. Dr Kambamettu said her late father who had been welcomed to Ireland in the 1970s had talked about how he was experiencing increased racism in the years before he died. 'My dad moved here from India, he had barely even heard of Ireland at the time in the 1970s, and he always spoke about how welcoming he found it,' she said. 'But he did in his latter years, he died six years ago, talk about how he was experiencing increased racism in Ireland. 'I'm really saddened by it, because I think that as Irish people, we have our own story of having to leave our country for various different reasons or choosing to leave us, and we faced our own struggles in terms of how we have been welcomed by other people in different parts of the world.' She added: 'I do think that there is a lawlessness to the online world, in particularly social media. 'There's an increased tolerance for speaking really, really horribly and in a hateful way about other people online that I just don't think there is a tolerance for in our day-to-day lives, for the most part.' Dr Clare said her Irish Indian heritage 'is something that I'm extremely proud of'. 'It's something that during my year as the Rose of Tralee was hugely important and shaped probably the whole year,' she said. 'I think Ireland has long been a place that has welcomed diversity and inclusion. Clare said that as a psychologist, she tries to understand where racism and hate are coming from. 'I think when hatred occurs, it occurs because of, lots of reasons, but because of misinformation, I think that violence towards people from ethnic minorities comes from the places that most violence stems from,' she suggested. 'Which is for people who often grow up not feeling included in mainstream society for a variety of different reasons, who experience an emotional pain at that disconnection from society, finding a way to feel a sense of belonging, and sometimes that sense of belonging comes from a group or a perspective that is quite antisocial or is bigoted towards another group of people.'
Irish Examiner
6 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
'Two of the best yeses I've ever said': First Dates couple announce engagement
Two former First Dates Ireland contestants have shared the news of their engagement, four years after meeting for the first time on the dating show. Ginine Power and Andrew Martin were matched for a first date on the show in August 2021, and their date was aired in January 2022. Following a successful first date, the pair opted to see each other again and now, four years later, have said yes to forever together. The pair shared a video post on Instagram and TikTok, which showed them sitting in the hot seat following their first date at the restaurant, where they were asked if they would like to see each other again romantically, and then skipped on to the clip of Martin popping the question to Power in Knocknarea. Ginine and Andrew on First Dates Ireland back in 2021. In the caption, Power wrote: '07/08/2021 'Do you want to see each other again? 07/08/2025 'Will you marry me?'' Tagging RTÉ in the caption of the post shared on TikTok, she wrote: 'Two of the best 'yeses' I've ever said. Never thought this would happen when I applied for the show.' Comments of congratulations and well wishes poured in on social media following the news, with RTÉ also chiming in to offer their congratulations to the happy couple.
