Naoise Dolan: Autism, (Un)happy Couples & The Joy Of Being A Foreigner

This week’s guest is author Naoise Dolan. I am absolutely thrilled to have Naoise on this season – she’s widely consider of the millennial generation’s most talented writers, ever since her Sunday Times bestseller debut novel Exciting Times was published in 2020. It’s currently being adapted into an Amazon Studios TV production starring Phoebe Dynevor. We’re here to discuss her hotly anticipated follow up book, The Happy Couple, which is a sort of anti-rom counting down to the wedding of a boy and girl who probably shouldn’t get married. During this recording, we chat about Naoise’s experiences of being an expat in Berlin – where she’s lived less than a year. Fans of Naoise, who is originally from Dublin, will know that she is no stranger to the experience of living abroad – her first book, Exciting Times, was heavily inspired by her own expat experience living in Hong Kong, while she’s also lived in Singapore and Italy. From an alone time perspective, this is an interesting position to be in – and Naoise describes how this sense of being a foreigner has enabled some of the incredibly perceptive social observation in her writing. We also discuss Naoise’s autism diagnosis, and how it might or might not reflect itself in her writing – plus, whether framing writing as ‘neurodivergent’ is useful in the first place. I found Naoise incredibly thoughtful and intelligent – she has a dark sense of humour, which I really appreciate, and she has one of the best laughs I’ve ever heard on this podcast. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. 

We discuss, among other things:

• Naoise’s decision to relocate to Berlin [4:56]
• Navigating cultural differences as an autistic person [9:01]
• Why Naoise structured her book around a wedding narrative [19:25]
• Main character syndrome, in relation to Naoise’s protagonist Celine [24:08]
• Naoise’s characters’ self-sabotaging tendencies (in The Happy Couple & Exciting Times) [30:26]
• How Naoise’s neurodiverse perspective influences her writing [34:23]
• Naoise’s love of drawing in her alone time [38:30]

You can purchase Naoise’s book, The Happy Couple, now online and in bookstores.

Subscribe to my weekly email newsletter at francescaspecter.substack.com to follow my personal writing plus podcast bonus content. My book, Alonement: How To Be Alone and Absolutely Own It, based on this very podcast, now from Amazon,  Waterstones and Bookshop.org.

Thank you so much to WestLab for sponsoring this season. Visit westlabsalts.co.uk/products/dead-sea-salt and quote the code ALONEMENT15 for 15% off when you spend £10 or more, expires 31st August 2023.

Twitter:

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@ChezSpecter

@NaoiseDolan

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