Saturday with Leona Forde: We are spoiled rotten with the phenomenal writers we have here

Irish Examiner

24-05-2025

09.00
I naturally wake up about 9am unless my six-year-old daughter Indy comes in to wake me up. I am spoiled! Tony (Speight) my husband owns West Cork Coffee and it's a joke in my house that I don't get out of bed until there's a flat white brought to me. We get the Irish Examiner delivered so my ritual is to stay in bed, sip on my coffee and start with the Weekend magazine, then the Property section and then 'Books' are my business. Then I'll go from the front to the back of the paper and read the whole thing.
10.30
I'll get up around 10.30am – a big contrast with weekdays when the alarm goes off at 6.45am before there's people running around, fighting for the bathroom, someone remembers it's Green Day and needs a green t-shirt or can't find their soccer ball.
It's chaotic during the week, so I like the chill of a Saturday. I tend to make a big breakfast such as eggs, tomatoes and sourdough or yoghurt and granola. During the week, a milky coffee gets me through till about 11am.
11.00
Our sons Rian and Isacc will go to soccer practice and then Isaac will go on to tennis and will meet up with his cousin there. While he's at tennis I'll nip to the WCC Brew Bar in Bandon which we also own and Tony will be popping in and out. Myself and Indy will then head over to the library to pick up the week's supply of books and then we'll pop to the market and the crepe stall which she loves. Then we'll all reconverge at home for lunch.
14.00
Indy has gotten into horse riding so I'll bring her to the stables where she'll meet her cousin. My sister lives quite close to us so the girls will have their pony session while myself and my sister catch up. When that's finished I'll collect my older daughter Asha to take her to her drama class. While she's in class, I'll do some writing. There's always random notebooks, envelopes with ideas, and receipts that are scribbled on in the car. I quite like the challenge of seeing how much I can get done in that hour.
If I'm in the middle of a story I'll think of a 'What if' for my character Milly: 'What if it was raining?', 'What if someone came along?', 'What if Milly fell'...? If I can't think of anything at the time, I'll pop up a book from the back seat – as soon as I start reading other books, it usually sparks ideas. Milly has almost become another member of our family. My kids will say: 'What would Milly say to that?' or 'What part would Milly get in the play?. I've had lots of parents come up to me and say that they have a Milly in their family and I know that they have a kid who's larger than life.
Some times all six of us will be at a food or a literarly festival. This summer is looking pretty hectic as Milly's Wild Atlantic Antics has just come out.
18.00
Myself and my husband might go out for an hour on a Saturday evening. My teenager is very good at minding the little ones and my sister often helps out with the minding. I love the Bay Leaf restaurant in Bandon.I'm vegetarian. Because I usually cook two dinners every day I like someone else to cook for me on a Saturday. If I'm cooking it will be nothing fancy – it's veggie pasta or a curry for myself and something else for the rest of them. My Mam does Sunday dinner in her house and the kids love going there because there's usually roast beef and chicken.
19.00
Sometimes I'll bring Asha to the Opera House or Tony might bring the boys to the cinema – we're usually doing tag team. If it's the summer we might go out together on a sunny evening. We'll drive to Inchydoney for a walk on the beach or we'll go to Castlefreke and the kids will run through the trails.
20.00
Indy will go to bed first and will demand a bedtime story. The others will go up around 9pm to read in bed. Myself and Tony will watch something on TV till about 11pm. I love to read before I go to sleep. I just finished a book called Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose - I really enjoyed it.
I read anything and everything from kids books to YA fiction. I tend to favour Irish authors – I've only gotten into the literary scene in the past two or three years and I've gotten to meet lots of lovely people - we are spoiled rotten with the phenomenal writers we have here.
I'll go to sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow – even more so on weekends because they're so busy and I'm so relaxed.
Leona Forde is an English and History teacher and a children's writer who lives in Bandon with her husband Tony, founder of West Cork Coffee, and their four children. Leona's latest book
Milly McCarthy's Wild Atlantic Antics , published by Gill, is in all good bookshops. Leona will be appearing today in Eason Mahon Point along with illustrator Karen Harte from 12pm.