24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Beginner's pluck: Artist and writer Gethan Dick
Before Gethan was eight years old, she had lived in Belfast, Downpatrick, Sussex, and several locations in Ireland.
'My dad was a doctor. We travelled while he trained, and until he was assigned to a GP practice in Sligo.
'By then, I'd been to six primary schools. I was the eldest of four girls. We had a lot of freedom.'
Originally wanting to work in film, Gethan changed her mind during her degree, and switched to writing.
'After my MA, I wrote performance poetry and some text-based art.
When I met my partner, Myles, we started making art together.
And in 2011 we moved to Marseilles working as visual artists.
All that time, Gethan was thinking about writing a post-apocalyptic novel, including childbirth.
'But until I had children I didn't know how. In first lockdown, we lived in a stone cabin in Provence, with no electricity, running water, toilet, or internet.
'I started thinking how annoying it would be if the world ended before I got around to writing my book.'
With Myles's encouragement, they cleared some weeks, and she wrote a first draft.
'Then I contacted an editor I'd met during my MA, who was now an agent.'
Who is Gethan Dick?
Date/ place of birth: 1980/ Belfast.
Education: Sligo Grammar School; Dublin City University, Communication Studies. Goldsmiths, MA in Creative Writing; Camberwell College of Art.
Home: Marseilles.
Family: Partner Myles, children Kaï, 11, and Zeéleie, 9.
The day job: 'I work as an artist/writer.'
In another life: 'I might have been a marine biologist. I love being out in the world.'
Favourite writers: Kurt Vonnegut; Jean Giono. 'And I love reading popular science.'
Second book: 'Maybe I should write about what happens to my characters next.'
Top tip: 'Myles's advice was, 'stop talking about it and write the fucking book'. And be lucky.'
Website:
The debut
Water in the Desert, Fire in the Night
Tramp Press, €16
Famine has left London a morgue. Hearing of sanctuary in the Southern Alps, an underachieving millennial, a retired midwife, and a Rastafarian Dubliner cycle there on a journey fraught with danger.
The verdict: An optimistic debut, this centres on love, motherhood, childbirth, and resilience and it's glorious — funny, thought provoking, and wise.
