Cork author Eamon O’Leary  has penned his first book at age 72, and he tells Anglo&Celtic about his trip down memory lane of life in Ireland. 

“This time last year I was in Brisbane having a wonderful time with my daughter and her family. I also put the finishing touches to my first and, at the ripe old age of 72, probably my last book – I’m a Big Boy Now.

“At 72, I’d say I’m one of the oldest people to have their first book published.”

Eamon is a regular on RTE Radio1 where he reads his vignettes in the Word in Edgeways slot on the Rising Time Programme.

I’m a Big Boy Now is a passport to an Irish boyhood in a less frantic, more adventurous age, reliving a time of skinned knees and home-made go-karts, clean dirt, Saturday night baths and the kind of sweets that’d nearly cost you your teeth, back when it always seemed to snow at Christmas, the summers were long and golden and friendships were forever.

The book is in four parts. It starts with The Dubs, then Heading West, then The Kingdom and finally The Real Capital! 

Eamon, tell us more about your book.

“Well, try to Imagine a world before the internet. Before smartphones. Before a hundred channels on a flat-screen TV, and a round-the-clock news cycle pumping out endless, depressing stories. Imagine a world that quiet. That peaceful. That completely different from the here and now. In I’m A Big Boy, I’ll take you into that world. The world of an Irish childhood in the late 50s and 1960s. An age when we gathered our mates by walking around to their places. When we rode our bikes together for hours. When we found adventure, or mischief, or both, any chance we could – and if it wasn’t there, we invented it.

“A time of cowboys, hopscotch, playing football on the road, and all the lessons that go into becoming a Big Boy. Even towards the end, the dreaded Lesson About Girls.

“You’ll meet my family – Ma, Da, and The Brother as I chronicle, not just the lessons and adventures that turned me into a Big Boy, but also the air of the time and place that was 1960s Ireland. As we travel from Dublin to Kerry, from Roscommon to Cork, all the laughs are amplified, all the privations normalized, through the eyes of someone who was just trying to have as much fun as possible.

“Setting the house on fire was just a mistake!”

When did you start writing?

“After retiring, I soon realised I needed something more than hacking up the golf course to keep me occupied and got a notion to start writing short stories. Unfortunately, I’m ashamed to admit, I was at an immediate disadvantage because at school I didn’t see the point in studying English. I was one of those geniuses who thought being able to speak the language was sufficient! Therefore, metaphors, hyperbole, onomatopoeia and the rest of the gang were and still are a bit of a mystery.”

Where do you get your ideas for a story?

“The first seed is usually sown when I’m out walking.  After germinating, the story can rattle around my head for weeks before it’s time to get it on my computer.

“And then the torture begins. I’m not able to type and it’s agony using, at snail’s pace, the two-finger method of typing. Punctuation is always a problem! When finished, I close the file and let it hibernate for at least three months.”

Why let it hibernate?

“It’s a tip I picked up at an early stage and it’s amazing the changes one makes on reopening the file. I’ve learned that the secret to success is edit, edit, and then edit again.”

You mention success. How have you done?

“Thankfully, it turns out I’m far better with the pen than I am with the putter or driver and many stories have caught the eye of editors on both sides of the Atlantic. The most notable success was winning an international competition with the dark story, No Answer.”

Where did the idea for the book come from?

“Well, my Da worked for Córas Iompair Éireann, the forerunner of Irish Rail and Bus Éireann. Every time he got promoted and got the princely monthly increase of two and sixpence, he was transferred. That was the practice and the time and so, like nomads we covered the length and breadth of the country. I’d no shortage of material.

“I’m fortunate in that I found a publisher who covered all the costs and they will make a few bob if it sells. Anyone hoping to make money from publishing a book is in dreamland. I’ll be happy to take four copies, put a little note in each and put them away for my grandchildren. And who knows when they grow up and read it, maybe one of them might proudly say ‘My Granda wrote this’.”

Anything else to add?

“Yeah, I’m still playing terrible golf.”

The book is available for purchase in stores or online via Amazon Australia.