Clare O’Dea

Clare O’Dea is the author of Voting Day (2022), a Fairlight Moderns novella, and Before the Leaves Fall (2025), which are loosely connected.

Originally from Dublin, Clare O’Dea has lived in Switzerland since 2003. After studying French and Russian at Trinity College Dublin, she had a varied career in the Irish and Swiss media. Clare has also published three non-fiction books: The Naked Swiss: A Nation Behind 10 Myths (2016, with an updated edition in 2018), The Naked Irish: Portrait of a Nation Beyond the Clichés (2019) and All About Switzerland (2024). Her short story ‘The Favour’ was shortlisted for the 2018 Hennessy New Irish Writing Awards and another story, ‘The Obituary’, was highly commended in the 2019 Irish Book Awards.

Clare grew up in a bilingual home speaking English and Irish. She now speaks five languages. She lives in the bilingual (French/German) town of Fribourg with her husband and three daughters.

A short Q&A can be read below:

How did you start writing, and what does writing mean to you?

Writing has been my job for most of my working life in one way or another, mainly journalism. Though I’d always had a hankering to write fiction, I found myself unable to produce more than scraps. Until finally, ten years ago, I made a commitment to move on from chapter one and finish my work in progress. Even though that novel was never published, it gave me the keys to the writing kingdom, and I realised I could enter any time. That means the world to me now.

What’s your favourite book and who is your favourite author?

Sometimes I read a book and it makes me want to read all the author’s work. That’s happened with writers like Sarah Moss, Kate Atkinson, Jonathan Coe, Andrey Kurkov and Nuala O’Connor. If I had to choose one favourite, it would be Elizabeth Strout. One book – The Springs of Affection by Maeve Brennan.

Do you have a writer’s habit that helps you ‘get in the zone’?

Not really. I just read the last scene I’ve written and carry on. For practical reasons, I usually write for not more than one or two hours at time.

Read our full interview with Clare about Voting Day (along with an exclusive extract) here.

Clare’s website can be found here.