Hamnet author Maggie O'Farrell on her new novel on the Irish famine and keeping her Bafta in the basement

As I ringing the doorbell of Maggie O'Farrell's Edinburgh home, I wonderment with immoderate trepidation whether the acclaimed novelist mightiness person go a spot starry aft the whirlwind fewer months she's conscionable had.

She's been jet-setting betwixt the UK and the US, attending reddish carpet events and won a Bafta and a Golden Globe for adapting her caller Hamnet for the large screen.

O'Farrell's caller novel, Land, is being published disconnected the backmost of her immersion into the glitzy Hollywood awards race. "It benignant of feels similar thing that I dreamt," she tells maine aboriginal during our interview.

I needn't person disquieted that she has had her caput turned by LA goodie bags and limos connected tap.

She opens her beforehand door, sporting a large grin and a achromatic and reddish jumper that says LOVE connected it, with 1 of her 3 cats successful tow, and instantly offers maine and my BBC workfellow immoderate tea.

This is an acclaimed novelist who chose her ain apparel for the awards ceremonies. "They said, 'Do you privation a stylist?' but it seemed specified a weird thought to me".

Instead, she decided "I'm conscionable going to bask it" and wore - appropriately - a reddish quill headpiece to the Baftas.

For the Oscars she opted for a achromatic veil and Victorian pitchy mourning necklace, not conscionable due to the fact that she was saying goodbye to her creation, but besides due to the fact that Shakespeare's lad Hamnet "died erstwhile helium was truly young and helium was real".

The awards she won are present hidden distant successful her basement "until I get utilized to the idea."

More of that later, but we're with her to speech astir Land, her sweeping caller communicative centred astir the communicative of an Irish mapmaker moving for the British service successful the mid-19th Century.

"I wanted to archer the full communicative of Ireland conscionable by 1 crippled of land," she says.

She shows maine the handwritten bluish publication afloat of her aboriginal notes. The archetypal enactment says "a caller astir emigration", with consequent pages afloat of stuck successful post-it notes of writing.

"I was connected a bid and the archetypal condemnation of the publication conscionable came into my caput - it was, 'His begetter was ever a antheral of fewer words'."

"I wrote an atrocious lot," she says. "I bash retrieve being precise excited and I cognize the travel went precise fast".

The publication was inspired by her great-great-grandfather who she discovered made Ordnance Survey maps for the British from 1848, towards the extremity of the Great Famine successful Ireland, which killed astatine slightest a cardinal radical and forced galore much into exile.

"They were doing revisions to the 2nd mentation of the representation of Ireland - and it's evident wherefore those revisions were needed. Because this immense cataclysm had swept done the country."

Land is her astir governmental novel, the communicative of a household trying to find their mode aft what had happened. The publication is astir colonisation and devastation, acceptable against a backdrop of families near to dice of starvation connected estates owned by British aristocrats and landowners.

"Whole villages had been wiped out, estates were redrawn and truthful galore radical had been evicted, it was indispensable to bash those revisions. But I couldn't truly get my caput astir what it indispensable person been similar doing that work, being idiosyncratic who'd lived done it."

I inquire whether she thinks Britain's relation successful the Great Hunger is inactive unresolved.

She says it's "complicated."

Multiple factors caused the famine, including the murphy blight that destroyed the main root of food, and the governmental and socioeconomic circumstances of British assemblage rule.

Other nutrient crops were exported to Britain arsenic Irish radical starved. The ballad, The Fields of Athenry, refers to it arsenic "Trevelyan's corn", aft the civilian servant who had work for administering alleviation during the famine, Charles Trevelyan.

O'Farrell calls his cognition to the famine "upsetting and horrifying".

"He describes it successful a missive arsenic an enactment of God for an idle, indolent, ungrateful, unself-reliant people. A twelvemonth aft helium wrote that missive helium was fixed a knighthood for his enactment successful famine relief."

But the knighthood stands. "I would rather similar the British Government to rescind it. I don't deliberation helium should person it".

O'Farrell was calved successful Northern Ireland and moved to Britain arsenic a child, to Wales past Scotland.

Being displaced means "you locomotion alongside, each your life, a benignant of shade self. There's ever a consciousness of 'who would I person been if we'd stayed?'"

References to past selves and ghosts are a thread successful galore of her novels.

The household moved successful the 1970s erstwhile tensions betwixt Britain and Ireland were fraught and "it was not casual really to beryllium Irish successful Britain astatine that time".

She describes "teachers looking maine successful the look arsenic a kid and saying, 'is your dada successful the IRA?'"

Years aboriginal she recalls moving for a London newspaper, wherever a workfellow took a connection from her begetter and past told her: "It's truthful funny, whenever I talk to your dad, I ever deliberation he's going to springiness america a five-minute warning."

O'Farrell called them retired for "implying my dada is simply a violent bomber. It was a unusual moment. Everybody was somewhat offended by my fury".

Relations betwixt Ireland and Britain person improved since, and galore radical volition person differing opinions arsenic to why.

O'Farrell wonders if it's "because radical are little racist oregon due to the fact that possibly determination are newer waves of immigrants who are absorbing that benignant of hostility".

'Not hating different people'

The struggles astir borders and ownership of onshore are arsenic painfully felt successful galore parts of the satellite today. We met soon aft the attacks successful Golders Green.

"I deliberation the emergence of racism is really, truly concerning for everybody, not conscionable Jews, not conscionable Muslims, everybody, I think, and everyone who tin beryllium considered by immoderate radical to beryllium 'an other'," she says.

"It's truly frightening. And I deliberation each of america request to enactment hard astatine trying to thatch our children and our children's children astir not hating different radical for being somewhat antithetic from yourself."

O'Farrell shows maine wherever she writes, taking maine down her garden, "my commute to work," past a treehouse and a tally for the rescue tortoise, to her glass-framed studio.

"It's a precise bully spot to be. It's conscionable thing astir the daylight and the peacefulness of it. The cats travel with maine and sometimes the tortoise arsenic well."

She shows maine her postulation of vintage fountain pens, telling maine she's "very fetishistic astir stationery".

Despite her 10 novels, a Women's Prize for Fiction for Hamnet and the movie awards, O'Farrell tin inactive "absolutely" suffer assurance successful her ain abilities.

She has weeks "where I beryllium with my caput successful my hands reasoning 'I'm going to person to retrain, this is simply a disaster, I request to get a antithetic job.'"

In fact, she's successful her prime. She's sold much than 8 cardinal books worldwide and is translated into 44 antithetic languages.

Land has been optioned by the aforesaid shaper down Hamnet, and O'Farrell confirms she plans to constitute the screenplay. "I deliberation I privation to. I conscionable find it hard to fto it spell due to the fact that it's truthful personal."

Perhaps it volition pb to different Hollywood awards race. "Peculiar" and "very surreal" is however she sums up the past one.

At the Academy Awards successful March, she was waiting to instrumentality her spot and heard a dependable down her.

"I thought to myself, 'That's truthful weird, that feline sounds precisely similar George Clooney'. And past I thought, 'That's due to the fact that it is George Clooney'".

We transportation her to instrumentality america into her basement to look astatine her Hamnet gongs. She unlocks the door, saying she's "feeling truly ungrateful now" and reiterating that "this is conscionable wherever they are astatine the moment".

The Golden Globe and the Bafta are inactive wrapped up successful their boxes connected a shelf. "I bash attraction but I conscionable find it a small spot excessively flashy to person them out…"

The Golden Globe is peculiarly heavy.

"Somebody handed it to maine connected signifier and I truly astir dropped it connected Steven Spielberg's foot. Can you imagine?"

For now, her children are the ones enjoying the awards, by playing with them.

"There's a batch of, 'And the grant for champion sister goes to…'."

She has tentatively started different caller but has "a superstition talking astir things that I haven't finished yet".

Spielberg mightiness privation to get immoderate protective footwear conscionable successful case.

Land is published connected 2 June 2026.