Earlier this week, we were thrilled to hear from our former writer in residence Nicola Cassidy who had conducted a mentorship to help writers get published, during her residency at An Táin Arts Centre Nicola told us that one of those mentee’s, Joanne Ryan Curran was now publishing her debut novel The Cards That Changed My Life.
The Cards That Changed My Life tells the story of Twenty-three-year-old, investment banker, Jane McAlister, who longs to be as successful as her famous actress sister, Gillian, and find love. She’s in love with her friend, Ben, but he’s unavailable. After she loses out on a promotion to Ben, she visits a second-hand bookshop in Dublin, where she is given a pack of magical cards, from Tara, the kindly bookseller she has known since childhood. The cards give her a change to step out of her comfort zone and make her wishes come true. But every wish has a consequence, and once you pick a card there’s no turning back. Do the cards hold all the answers or are they too much to handle?
The book will be launched by successful Louth Author Nicola Cassidy in Academy Books, Drogheda Fri 21 June at 7pm. All are welcome.
Nicola says of the mentorship, “Joanne’s work stood out among the many applications we had for the writing mentorship at An Táin Arts Centre and it is no surprise to me whatsoever that she has come so far and released her own beautiful book. She was so lovely to work with and her talent shines through. I wish her the very best with her debut and feel honoured to launch it in Drogheda on 21 June. It was a joy to be her mentor and I know this won’t be the only work we’ll be seeing from Joanne. Another Irish writer is born!“
Joanne was born and raised in Ireland, and has lived in Dublin, London and Canada. She is an accountant and a graduate of the UCD Michael Smurfit Business School, where she studied entrepreneurship. From a young age, Joanne has always wanted to write a novel, and during Covid-19 she made this dream come true. She was selected as a mentee for An Táin Arts Centre 2022 publishing programme with writer-in-residence Nicola Cassidy. The Cards That Changed My Life is her debut novel.
We are also thrilled to announce that The Cards That Changed My Life will be our Book Club’s September read and Joanne will join us for a Q&A in person upstairs at The Townhouse Bar & Restaurant on Thursday 26th September. We wish her the very best of luck with the launch and release.