RIP Nuala

2008 is shaping up to be the year of losing amazing people. First my friend Jon and now Nuala O'Faolain. I stumbled across Nuala's work by accident and fell in love with her frank, enchanting prose. She was known as a feminist and rabble rouser in Ireland - a country where one just doesn't talk about certain things. (My ancestors must be rolling over in their graves at this blog.)

Her book "Are You Somebody?" was sparked when a stranger ran into her on a Dublin street and thought she might have been a celebrity. He asked her the titular question and it set her off on an exploration of that for herself. Who are we anyway? Her novel "My Dream of You" is a rich and lyrical journey towards self-acceptance.

Check out all her works. And if you're feeling you need to do something nice today, donate to a cancer research fund. Nuala did not have a happy life but she gave her heart in her writing. Nuala, here's hoping the rains fall softly on your fields in the next world. Thank you for everything.