Jamie Guiney

Jamie Guiney is a literary fiction writer from Country Armagh, Northern Ireland. His debut short story collection The Wooden Hill is published by Epoque Press. Jamie’s short stories have been published internationally and he has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize.

Jamie is a graduate of the Faber & Faber Writing Academy and has twice been a judge for the short story competition The New Rose Prize. His work has been backed by the Northern Ireland Arts Council through several Individual Artist Awards and he has also been chosen by Lagan Online as one of their New Original Writers.

Jamie favours the short story genre, believing it to be the closest written prose to the traditional art of storytelling.

‘Jamie’s stories are fantastically written—with vivid characters moving through evocative landscapes. You can feel the bitter winter wind in ‘Christmas’ and the brooding summer dust bowl of ‘Changes’—a real treat for the eyes and imagination!’  SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR, Miranda Dickinson

‘Rising Star.’  CULTURENORTHERNIRELAND.ORG

‘I read the wonderful Catch-22 by Joseph Heller on holiday around fifteen years ago, and perhaps hungry to create something, I felt compelled to write a novel.’

Fast forward to 2017 and he has just finished his second novel. Most of his success has been with short stories and he has had sixteen published internationally, with two nominated for The Pushcart Prize.

Q: If you could travel in the past, which one of the great writers would you like to meet and why?

A: It would have to be Ernest Hemingway. Aside from his masterful writing, he seemed like such a character. I’ve been to the bar where he used to drink in Havana, Cuba. It’s called ‘El Floridita’ and they have a bronze statue of him inside. What a place to have your statue!

Q: Do you have a favourite quote? (from a book, movie, song, speech…)

A: I have two.

The first quote is from Hemingway and I love this one because it so perfectly embodies the unique emotional response that you get from reading a story – something which I value greatly:

‘All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.’

The second, is an old Latin phrase:

‘Solvitur Ambulando’ which means “It is solved by walking.” My wife and I love to hike and know how powerful something as simple as a walk in nature can be for the human soul. We have adopted this as our family motto!

Q: Is there a book that you keep going back to and how many times have you read it?

A: There are a few books that I like to reread, but my favourite is ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens.

I love Christmas and this tale captures the spirit of it so well! I try to reread this book every December.