Eimear Ryan

Eimear Ryan is the author of a novel, Holding Her Breath (Penguin Sandycove, 2021), and a memoir, The Grass Ceiling (Penguin Sandycove, 2023). Other writing has appeared in Granta, The Dublin Review, The Stinging Fly, Winter Papers, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. She is a co-founder and editor of Banshee literary journal and its publishing imprint, Banshee Press. From Co. Tipperary, she now lives in Cork city.

My main research interests are centred around the practice of creative writing, particularly the novel, the short story, and memoir. As a creative practitioner, researcher and former athlete, I'm also interested in women in sport and have written extensively in this area. A non-exhaustive list of my research interests includes: creative writing (fiction and memoir); women in sport; writing the body; embedded narratives in the novel; page to screen adaptation; cultural memory and transmission.

My main teaching interest is in creative writing, with a focus on fiction and memoir. My teaching is very much informed by my work as a publisher, editor and journalist. A non-exhaustive list of my teaching interests includes: contemporary American short fiction; editing and publishing; trends in contemporary Irish literature; pop culture, video games and the internet in contemporary fiction; genre fiction. I primarily teach EN6032: Serving the Idea and EN6033: Writing the Self on the MA in Creative Writing. I have also delivered lectures for EN6034: The Business of Writing (EN6034), EN1103: Problems in Literature and EN1101: Contexts – The Production and Reception of Literature and Film. Writers that regularly appear on my reading lists include Rumaan Alam, Kevin Barry, Alexander Chee, John Cheever, Anne Enright, Roxane Gay, Amy Hempel, Ben Lerner, Deborah Levy, Carmen Maria Machado, Janet Malcolm, Sarah Manguso, Lorrie Moore, Maggie Nelson, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, Karen Russell, George Saunders, Leanne Shapton, Brandon Taylor, Jia Tolentino, Tobias Wolff and ZZ Packer.