josephinefeeney.co.uk

Where were you born?

I was born in the back bedroom of our house in Glenfield Road, Leicester.

Do you have any brothers or sisters?

I have three brothers and fours sisters. I am the fifth child of eight children. It was a privilege growing up in a big family with so many different personalities as it taught me a great deal about the world.

What were your parents like?

They were lovely. My Dad came from County Mayo in the Republic of Ireland. He left his homeland in 1939 to look for work in England. My Mum left Count Galway in 1942 to train as a nurse in Kent. She eventually ended up in Leicester where she met my Dad.

What’s your first memory?

When I was about three years old I had my tonsils taken out and after the operation I wasn’t very well so I was taken to a children’s convalescent home. I remember returning in an ambulance from the home and being placed in an armchair in the living room in our house. I had been away from home so long that I had forgotten all about my family. That’s my first memory, sitting in our back room, looking around and wondering, “Where am I?”

Did you like school?

I loved school. I found it a bit hard at Primary School because the teachers were very strict and shouty, apart from Mrs. Farrell, the reception class teacher. I will always be grateful to her for teaching me to read. I went to an all-girls secondary school which was wonderful.

 What did you do when you left school?

I trained to be a teacher in Hull, and then I taught at schools around England for fourteen years. I also did a degree. I loved teaching but I liked writing even more so when my first play was accepted by the BBC, I resigned from my job as Head of Special Needs at a Comprehensive school in Essex.

Where do you write?

I don’t have a special room for writing as there aren’t enough rooms in our house. Most of the time I work in the dining room at the back of the house, although sometimes I work at the top of the garden in a summer house, or in the library in town.

Who else lives in your house?

My husband, Ian, and our two teenage children. My mother lives in the house next door.

Is it lonely being a writer?

It can be but I’m really lucky because I have a very supportive family and a good network of writer friends. We meet up regularly to appraise one another’s work. I also visit lots of schools, libraries and community centres so I spend a lot of time travelling by train around the country.

Who are your favourite writers?

I have lots of favourite writers. I love nineteenth century fiction by authors such as Charles Dickens, Emil Zola and George Eliot. I also love the work of Thomas Hardy and when I was a teenager I wanted to live in a village in Dorset.  For children I love The Wind in the Willows and Danny, the Champion of the World. I love Carole Shields and I wish she was still alive, writing more books. Two of the best books I’ve ever read are The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx, which has the best and most hopeful ending of any modern work of fiction. I love some of Seamus Heaney’s poetry because like Carole Shields, he turns ordinary everyday life into something special.

* For more about my life, look at the Questions page.