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Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Author interview: Fighting past the pain barrier to deliver a riveting mystery
I was keen to talk to Michelle McDonagh about her third novel — and not just because it's a great read. I've been thinking about her recently, because her first crime drama, published in 2020, centred on a murder suicide taking place on a farm — and the deaths occurred in the farm's slurry tank. With the tragic case of Mike Gaine currently in the news, Michelle is getting goosebumps. 'I wrote that after I'd heard of the tragic case of the Spence family in the North,' she tells me over Zoom. 'That was in 2012, where a father and two sons went into the tank after a dog, and the sister was the only one who survived. 'I remember being so horrified by it that it always stuck in my head.' Her first two novels were set in Galway, the county Michelle comes from, but she's switched to Co Cork for this third novel, and centres the story in Blarney — where she's lived for the past 18 years. But there's a Boston link too — and that city was Michelle's starting point. I've always wanted Boston to come into a book because I went there on a leave of absence. 'I worked for The Irish Voice which had just opened an office there,' she says, 'but came back after a few months because I'd fallen in love with a crazy Galway man.' She's speaking of her husband, Greg: 'I had to go halfway round the world to meet him, but it was a brilliant summer.' The book starts when an American tourist is found dead in Blarney. She's identified as Jessie De Marco, who travelled from Boston looking for the father she's never known. She's been searching via social media, and is found on the grounds of Blarney Castle. 'Rock close, where its set — and the Wishing Steps are so atmospheric,' says Michelle. 'The rocks go back to Druid times — and are 2,000 or 3,000 years old. 'It even smells ancient, and there's a rock shaped like a witch's profile. It's an incredible place. 'I was standing at the steps one day, and I thought, the American tourist could be found at the bottom of the steps.' A crime technician told me that a fall is the hardest murder to prove. 'I didn't know what had happened at the outset, or until I had my plot.' Hearing of the death, Jessie's estranged mum Dani arrives to identify her daughter's body. She recognises a respected local, Tadgh, claiming he's the father Jessie came to find. Convinced someone killed Jessie, she starts a media-fuelled frenzy of an investigation, which sees everyone taking sides. As the plot weaves and twists, it appears that there are many people who might conceivably have caused the girl's death — certainly they have something to hide. The plot covers many issues: Grooming; childhood trauma; good and bad mothers; how far would you go to protect your child? Which was the most important to Michelle? 'It's in the title, Some of This is True,' says Michelle. 'It's about who is telling the truth here and what is the truth? 'Your memory can change your perception of what actually did happen; did that person mean what they said? Dani and Tadgh have different versions of events, but they both start to question their versions. Could Tadgh have done something that Dani misconstrues?' Switching from journalism to being an author A former journalist with the Connacht Tribune, then The Irish Times, Michelle started writing her debut during a Faber course she took in lockdown. How did she find the switch from journalism to author? 'Writing a novel is totally different,' she says. 'Before I sent my first book out, I got a UK editor to look at it, and she said: 'When you're writing, leave your journalist outside the room, and when you're editing, let the journalist come back.' 'When you're writing a news piece, you want to get as much information and facts into it as you can, and I was going down all these rabbit holes, and dumping all the information in. 'She said:'No! People don't want to read all that stuff. They want to know what happens next.'' Although Michelle plots quite thoroughly and has photos of her setting pinned around her office walls as she types — she doesn't stick rigidly to it. 'The plot changes along the way, and changes further when I get my editorial notes,' she says. 'Pacing is always an issue. I'm too slow at the beginning and put everything into the end. 'It's a matter of moving things around and bringing some things up to the front. 'I usually cry for a week when I get the notes, and think, I can never do this! But when you start, it is never as bad.' For the record, Some of This is True is perfectly paced. I, literally, could not put the book down. I loved the complete picture of a contemporary small town that Michelle presents; we see the hero-worship afforded to GAA coaches and stars; we're shown right-wing protestors and social media trolling. It's a heady mix. Michelle says she's nervous about this book, and not just because it's the first she's set outside Galway. She's suffered from chronic pain for the past six years, and recently it's been particularly severe. I was in so much pain writing this book, that I missed my deadline and had to ask for an extension. 'That's the last thing you want, as a journalist,' she says. 'I've seen nearly 20 consultants across a range of specialities. 'I've had numerous surgeries and bits removed, and nobody has been able to find a cause for the pain. It's constant. Painkillers don't work. I can't sleep. 'I'm so drained that I can't stand, and sitting is agony. My GP said all he could suggest was CBT [cognitive behavioural therapy], and that I learn to live with it.' Recently, Michelle met a brilliant physiotherapist, who, diagnosing 'The Hidden Prankster' — a problem with a deep-seated muscle — believes he can help her regain equilibrium. He has started working with her, and she feels a great sense of hope. As well as this, Michelle suffers from anxiety — a condition she passes on to a character in each of her books. How does she gain a semblance of calm? 'It's simple things,' she says. 'It's reading. It's being around my family [Michelle has three children, Lucy, Jake, and Kiana]. 'It's being around my dog, Brody, and my daughters have a pony stabled on a nearby farm. Sitting there, surrounded by nature is sustaining. Female friends are massive, and my sister is my best friend. 'I do a podcast, Natter, with Kate Durant. She energises me. She's the glass half full, and I never got the glass in the first place.' Michelle McDonagh hosts the 'Natter' podcast with Kate Durrant: 'She energises me. She's the glass half full, and I never got the glass in the first place.' Three books in, is being a published author all Michelle believed it would be? 'When you dream about something for so long, you think, when you've got it, you will be a different person,' she says. 'You'll never have anxiety or low mood, but you're the same person. My dream was to go into a bookshop and see my book on the shelf. 'I can do that now. My name is there, but its surreal. It doesn't even feel like it's me.' The best part, she says, is meeting other authors: 'And particularly crime writers. We have a WhatsApp group, and from the beginning, they've been so welcoming. 'And it's not just crime writers. I've grown up reading people like Patricia Scanlan and Sheila O'Flanagan, and amazing writers like that have reached out the hand, and said: 'Come on in. Join our group.''
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Intel "Xe4" and AMD "GFX13" codenames surface for next-gen 'Druid' GPUs
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. It seems that the software divisions at AMD and Intel are setting the stage for their next-generation GPU offerings. The internal codenames for these GPUs, Intel's Xe4 and AMD's GFX13, have been spotted by Kepler and x86isdeadandback at X, as noted by VideoCardz. While this does not allude to the specifications, it shows that both teams are actively pouring resources into the development of their future graphics products. Intel officially confirmed its fourth-generation Arc GPUs would be codenamed Druid, employing the Xe4 architecture, a while back. The firm has been notably quiet regarding its future GPU roadmap following Alchemist. With limited pre-launch hype, the desktop launch of Battlemage (Xe2) last December was also somewhat of a surprise. That being said, the successor to Battlemage, codenamed Celestial (Xe3), will arrive with Intel's Panther Lake CPUs, which are scheduled for HVM (High Volume Manufacturing) later this year. Based on employee reports, Celestial has reportedly reached pre-silicon validation, where hardware design flaws are identified and resolved before committing to manufacturing. Tom Peterson's comments support this, stating Celestial's hardware is "baked", with software optimization the remaining task. He also added that the hardware teams have moved on to the next project, Druid (Xe4). Based on commits to the Dawn repository, developers are starting to integrate support for Xe4, which should fall under Intel's Gen15 umbrella. Internally, AMD uses GFXxx codenames to represent or identify different GPU IP blocks. We often find these designations, tied to the GPU architecture, like GFX12 for RDNA 4, in Linux kernel patches or firmware packages. According to a patch shared by leaker Kepler, AMD's next-generation GPUs will be part of the GFX13 series. As of now, the exact architecture has not been revealed, so the likely choices are between UDNA 1 and RDNA 5. AMD has outlined its intent to unify the genome of its gaming-centric RDNA and compute-centric CDNA families under the banner of UDNA, similar to Vega. For comparison, Nvidia has taken a mixed approach with its products. Volta and Turing were separate architectures for data centers and consumers. Ampere combined the two foundations, but with the rise of generative AI, Nvidia dissected the two again with Hopper and Ada Lovelace. Blackwell now serves as the unified backbone of these two segments. A unified architecture leads to simplified development and better software support, but it might require compromising on specialized applications, which in this case will probably be gaming, if not carefully handled. That being said, we're still several years away from both of these GPU launches. Since Celestial on desktop is anticipated for a 2026-27 reveal, it would be logical to expect Druid to follow sometime in 2028 or later. Assuming AMD adheres to its typical two-year cadence between GPU launches, desktop products based on GFX13 might be slated for late 2026 or early 2027. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Intel Nova Lake CPUs reportedly get a GPU overhaul — Xe3 Celestial and Xe4 Druid IPs used for graphics, media, and display
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Intel's upcoming Nova Lake chips are expected to advance their modular design philosophy by bringing together future Xe3 and Xe4 IPs to handle different engines on the chip. Jaykihn, an avid Intel leaker, asserts that Nova Lake-S will allegedly use Celestial for its graphics engine. At the same time, Druid will handle media and display functions, likely on a separate SoC Tile. The disaggregated chiplet design, introduced for consumers with Meteor Lake, provides Intel with the flexibility to manufacture less critical chip elements using mature and cheaper fabrication nodes. Meteor Lake splits the media and display capabilities from core graphics. The media and display units were placed on a separate System-on-Chip (SoC) chiplet, manufactured using TSMC's N6 process, while the graphics engine resided on a separate tile produced with TSMC's N5 technology. A similar strategy has been observed in Lunar Lake and Arrow Lake, however, Nova Lake reportedly is poised to advance Intel's chiplet approach by using separate and specialized IPs for these blocks. Jaykihn claims that the integrated graphics (iGPU) on Nova Lake-S (S: Desktop) will be powered by Xe3 (Celestial), meanwhile, the graphics and media engine move to the more advanced Xe4 (Druid). This means that while the integrated GPU will be impressive, the most notable improvements could be in hardware codec support, owing to the shift to a next-generation architecture. Meanwhile, Bionic_Squash reports that the graphics engine will utilize a slightly modified version of Xe3, for better or worse. Should it be an improvement over vanilla Xe3, which we'll see in Panther Lake, it might be comparable to the evolution from Meteor Lake's Xe-LPG to Arrow Lake's Xe-LPG+ (mobile-only), the latter of which introduced XMX engines. Beyond Nova Lake, this is a positive indication for future graphics products from Intel. We could see the first Druid-powered engines by as early as 2026, while Celestial, which is already undergoing pre-validation, is slated to power Panther Lake CPUs next year. It is plausible to say Nova Lake might serve as a test vehicle for Druid, serving as a precursor to a full-fledged product in the future that employs Druid graphics as well. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
RTÉ News
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Galway International Arts Festival unveils 'most ambitious' programme
Organisers of the Galway International Arts Festival have unveiled what is billed as the event's most ambitious programme, for the annual celebration of culture in the city. Among the highlights are a production by the Abbey Theatre of 'The Cave' by writer Kevin Barry and a double-bill of plays from the Druid Theatre Company. The fortnight-long festival begins on 14 July. Artistic Director Paul Fahy has described the programme as "a tribute to the transformative power of the arts", expressing hope that the schedule will provoke, entertain and delight audiences. The popular First Thought Talks series of discussions will feature contributions from Fintan O'Toole, US Congresswoman Parmila Jayapal and Palestinian photojournalist Eman Mohammed among others. Druid will mark the fiftieth anniversary of its founding with JM Synge's Riders to the Sea and Shakespeare's Macbeth directed by Garry Hynes. Several concerts at the festival Big Top have already sold out and new additions to the line-up include former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, iconic songwriter Richard Thompson and legendary Irish band The Blades. The career of President Michael D Higgins will be marked in a photographic exhibition at Galway City Museum, while the programme also features extensive dance, street theatre and visual arts elements.
Irish Times
22-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Death announced of Wildfire Films producer Martha O'Neill
The death has been announced of the television and film producer Martha O'Neill, founder of the award-winning production company Wildfire Films . O'Neill's credits include programmes for RTÉ, TG4, BBC, Channel 4 and PBS, among them the drama Grace Harte and the documentaries Our Town , Hidden Impact: Rugby and Concussion, OCD and Me, and John Lonergan's School Principles. Her film credits include Ordinary Decent Criminal and Last of the High Kings. O'Neill, who also served on the boards of Screen Ireland, Screen Producers Ireland and the Irish Film Institute, was married to Garry Hynes , artistic director of Druid. Wildfire produced a series of films in collaboration with the Galway-based theatre company: DruidSynge, recordings of the six plays of JM Synge; Mighty Talk, a behind-the-scenes documentary about the production of DruidSynge; Playboys and Rebels, an exploration of the history of Synge's work at the Abbey Theatre; and DruidShakespeare, about Druid's production of Richard II, Henry IV (Parts 1 & 2) and Henry V. READ MORE O'Neill died on Easter Sunday at the Beacon Hospital, in Dublin. She is survived by Hynes, her family Anne, David, Eoin, Sinead (Moyles), Valerie O'Riordan, sister-in-law Betty, brothers-in-law John and Robert, nieces Jenny and Kate, and nephews Mark and Tom.
