Margaret Grant

1. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your work.
I am from Ireland, but have lived outside of my home country for much of my adult life, including eleven years in Japan. I currently live and work in Thailand. I am a teacher. I mostly teach English to speakers of other languages, but have taught other subjects too, including creative writing. And I completed the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University in 2015.

My novel Three Eleven was published in 2021 and won the Premio Emotion at the City of Cattolica Literary Festival the following year. Over the years I have had occasional short non-fiction pieces published too.

2. Has writing always been a focus for you or was it a Plan B?
I never exactly made a plan to have a child, because I was never in a position to do so. It was something that I hoped and sometimes assumed would happen for me. Sadly, it didn't. Writing hasn't always been a focus, but it was not a response to childlessness. I started writing in my thirties when I was still hopeful of becoming a mother.

My current job and my move to Thailand was not directly a response to childlessness either. My life in Ireland had become difficult, if not impossible, I needed to escape. This volunteering opportunity in Thailand appealed to me. My mental state was quite fragile at the time, and it was clear that the position in Thailand would be challenging. But I sensed that this was the kind of challenge I could handle, and it turns out I was right.

Choosing to stay on here could be regarded as a Plan B. I work at the Suthasinee for Children and Youth in north-eastern Thailand. The foundation is basically an orphanage, but it also supports children to stay with their families or extended families where that is possible. My role is to teach the children English. The English Language Programme is funded by an Australian charity that provides me with a stipend, while the Foundation provides bed and board.

As a Plan B, it works well for me. It allows me to express the nurturer in me. At some point, I think I will have to move on, because while I get a lot out of the work here, it also takes a lot out of me. It is very draining and leaves me little time or energy for anything else. When the time comes to move on, I hope I will be able to make writing a more central part of my life.

3. How do you explore ideas or find inspiration for your work?
Life inspires me. The world around me inspires me, both my own personal world and the larger world with its political and social developments.

4. What does the process of writing involve for you?
I play with ideas, characters and storylines in my head for a long time before I put pen to paper. And then I do tend to put an actual pen to a real piece of paper, be it a scrap of paper I've found lying around or a dedicated notebook. I later type up what I've written, often barely glancing at the page where I originally put down the words.

My job is all consuming and for now I am happy to be consumed by it. So, these days all I am doing is a little journaling and, on my one day off, I might write a few paragraphs in response to a prompt. I take writing holidays for myself when and if I can.

5. And what does writing then also give you in return?
Writing puts a pep in my step. It gives me some juice. I feel more alive when I include writing in my life.

6. Has seeing your work in print changed how you view yourself, and also how you view your NoMo status?
I don't think so.

7. Tell us about the wider reception that you’ve had to sharing your story - has it changed how others have viewed you and your identity as a non-parent?
I have not shared my own personal story with regards to being childless in writing. But, while I don't bring up the topic myself, if ever it comes up, I am honest about my sorrow around childlessness and my regret that I haven't had a child of my own.

My published novel featured several childless characters. None of whom are me, and all of whom are me at one and the same time. My novel hasn't reached a wide audience, but the feedback from those who have read it has been positive.

8. How do you feel about the current representation of childless and/or childfree people in literature?
I have just finished reading The Running Grave, the latest Cormoran Strike novel by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K Rowling). It's a fantastic series. Neither Cormoran nor his partner in detecting are parents. He is in his early forties and doesn't want children. Robin is in her early thirties and ambiguous about motherhood. Her ex-husband, her friends and her siblings are all becoming parents, so it is on her mind, and I like how the issue is explored.
An older childless couple feature in the series too. They are Cormoran's aunt and uncle who helped raise Cormoran and his sister. This couple is handled thoughtfully. As a childless Auntie, I found Aunt Joan's portrayal, and her niece's and nephew's appreciation of her, quite moving.

Two of the elderly amateur sleuths in Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club are childless if I am not mistaken. And, of course, Agatha Christie's marvellous creations, Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, are both childless. As is Sherlock Holmes. So, in crime fiction, at least, childless people are well represented. (I do not, by the way, write murder mysteries myself. Although who knows, maybe someday I will try my hand at one.)

9. What would you like the publishing world to know about non-parents, both as writers and readers, and our stories?
I would like the publishing world to know that many non-parents are readers, and that they are interested in childless and childfree characters and themes, and that there are a lot of us out there.

10. What future plans do you have, especially for your writing?
My work in progress is a novel featuring a post-menopausal childless main character. The working title is The Dawn Centre for Awakening. The first draft is almost complete. I hope to take a writing holiday before Christmas and another early in the new year, and finally finish that first draft. Then I will probably put it to one side before rewriting and edits.

Novels require time and energy that I cannot easily find in my current position, so once I get The Dawn Centre for Awakening out of the way, I am hoping to concentrate on personal essays and short form memoir for the foreseeable.