For a trio of young Irish people emigrating in the wake of the financial crash, Australia represents both a land of opportunity and a vast, unforgiving place where they find they can’t escape themselves.
This is the world of working visas, “hellish eternal house parties”, outback farms and guilty freedoms portrayed by EM Reapy in her compelling debut novel Red Dirt.
In this podcast, recorded at the Irish Writers Centre, Reapy explains how the award-winning book was partly inspired by the Irish people she met during her own time in Australia.
The Mayo writer discusses how Red Dirt, a novel with themes of moral responsibility, self-destruction and generational rage at its heart, evolved as a project and what’s next for her as a writer.
Check out the series of articles about Red Dirt here.
