Off the Record! Limerick writer Helena Close on mental health and women rugby fans

IN HER last novel, Limerick writer, Helena Close, touched on topics that are difficult – and often taboo - but necessary to write about.

Through ‘Things I Know’, Helena tells the heart-breaking story of what it is like to grow up in rural Ireland, while being surrounded by people who don’t understand you. While touching on difficult topics such as mental health and suicide, the writer still manages to give hope to her readers, as well as keep a touch of humour.

Speaking of her latest book, Things I Know, Helena Close said: “It was an extremely difficult book to write, it was about mental health, particularly with young people, and it was about suicide. I found it very difficult to engage with it to the point where, I had written a second draft and I had a whole other story on top of the mental health one. And I only did that to kind of avoid writing the really tough story that needed to be written. So, I had to strip all that back and do a whole rewrite.”

The Corbally resident laments that teenage mental health is in dire straits and so underfunded in Ireland.

“I had experience of that myself, I have four grown up children now, so I really felt that was a subject I had to write about,” she said.

According to Helena, her approach to writing is influenced by the words of American artist and civil rights activist, Nina Simone.

“I suppose my philosophy has always been what Nina Simone said about the arts and about writing, that your art should reflect the times that you live in, and I feel very strongly about that.”

Is there something the author would never write about? “I'd have to be comfortable in my knowledge to write about something to reflect the world by living. I wouldn't rule anything out, really.”

For Helena, a writer is like a little excavator looking for “little nuggets” everywhere. And once an idea for a story pops up, it’s impossible to get it out of your head – which means you have to write it, in some form or another.

“I might write it as a short story first, and if that doesn't satisfy the fly buzzing in my head, I'll go on and maybe write a novel. Most of the time, writing is not fun, it’s really hard work. And anyone who says it isn't, well, I don’t know what they're writing,” she stated.

Recently, the Limerick author also wrote for theatre. A “passion project” that united her with co-writer, Marie Boylan.
After discovering their shared obsession for Munster Rugby, the pair wrote Red Army, through an intersecting lens - the play focuses on four women drawn to each other for their love for Munster Rugby, and the sudden death of Munster coach, Axel Foley.

Speaking of the play, Helena said: “That was a passion project really because I’m totally obsessed by rugby - and by Munster Rugby in particular. It was very hard work, but it’s wonderful to write about something that you love,” she said.
As rugby is “such a male centre topic”, Helena and Marie wanted to write about female Munster fans – and everything else followed.

“We could not believe how well it was received. It was fantastic to see four women on stage in roles that are unusual for theatre, who weren't nannies or grannies, it was about these women and their passion for a sport,” she commented.

As our conversation comes to an end, this reporter wonders who would be at her table, if she could have dinner with three people – dead or alive.

“Edna O’Brien. I love her attitude and her work, she’s her own woman. Lady Heath, she was an incredible Limerick woman, and she was the first woman to fly solo from Africa to London.”

Last but not least, she’d invite Limerick poet, Michael Hartnett.

“There’s just something I always find in his poems. Collected Poems, I always keep Collected Poems near me, and I’ve been reading it for years, it’s like my top companion,” Helena concluded.