Megan Nolan interview: A relationship with writing

The intensely confessional writer has drawn high praise for her debut novel, Acts of Desperation, which deals with the ‘emotional minutiae’ of relationships

Megan Nolan: ‘I thought that the kind of ways I write and the kind of things that I write about weren’t publishable in a serious sense.’ Photo: Daniel Lynch

Few writers are as honest about their own obsessions and foibles as the Irish author and journalist Megan Nolan. From revealing the role that alcohol has played in her romantic relationships to describing how the pandemic has stripped away the pleasures of being single, Nolan’s writing is both self-lacerating and deeply assured.

At 30, Nolan’s intense, confessional style has helped propel her into the upper echelons of British and US journalism, with her essays, criticism ...